"Who's Robert E. Lee?"

"Go ahead and jump, you Yankee scum."

BWAH! I'm so sending this to my dad. He'll love it.

I just loaned both our baby name books to our neighbors, who are expecting their second daughter next month. Their first is Alexandra, nicknamed Alex, and they kind of like androgynous names, but have taken Dylan and Ryan off the list because we'd kill them for using the former on a girl, and their best friends Ryan and Kim would do the same over the latter. We agreed that it's harder to name a second child, because you want something more or less in the same style without being so similar they sound corny together. And I grumped about the new Supreme Court nominee as probably ruining Harriet for me. (The current presidency has turned me off any form of George--before 2000 I liked Georgiana a whole lot, but...no.)

because we'd kill them for using the former on a girl, and their best friends Ryan and Kim would do the same over the latter

I think I'd do the same to anyone who thought they had veto power over what I named my own child.

Um, Jessica, there was a certain tongue-in-cheekness implied there, though as a matter of personal taste I dislike androgynous names or seeing traditionally male names appropriated for girls.

Dylan, I think I hate myself too much to be an elitist. And, obviously, was speaking of my monkey brain, not the thoughtful part. Doesn't mean it's right, and my personal history with organized religion is one with a lot of estrangement in it...it's probably affected my viewsETA: Maybe I should spend more time with religious people, if I can restrain myself from getting all Margaret Mead about it. You know, like "Can you say that again so I can get it in my notebook?"

Their first is Alexandra, nicknamed Alex, and they kind of like androgynous names, but have taken Dylan and Ryan off the list because we'd kill them for using the former on a girl

If they name their daughter Dylan, not only am I never mowing the yard again, I'm reseeding with DANDELION SEED.

Yowtch. The Pale Hose are crushing the Bosox.

With all due respect to Boston-area Buffistas: HA!!

(Sorry--my dad was scouted by the White Sox when he was still in high school so we have a teeny bit of affinity for them). I need to give him a call about the game since I'm sure he was watching.

WRT the other AL game, Damn Yankees. (3-0 NYY middle of the first.)

Dylan, I think I hate myself too much to be an elitist. And, obviously, was speaking of my monkey brain, not the thoughtful part. Doesn't mean it's right, and my personal history with organized religion is one with a lot of estrangement in it...it's probably affected my views

I was probably being a little too harsh back there, but to me I see the same sort of estrangement and elitism in these sorts of religious groups as I saw in the cliques in high school. I don't think the answer to exclusion is elitism. The answer is inclusion.

The interesting thing about Jesus is how, time and again, the exclusionary and the cliqueish get on his back for eating with the wrong people, doing the wrong things on the wrong days, touching people who shouldn't be touched. And every time, he tells them to stop being such exclusionary assholes, because the Son of God is RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM and he's telling them that if they'd stop with the stupid rules and the politics and the meetings and the personal assurances that they were first in line for Heaven they'd realize that they are the same broken people they're sitting around despising, and for Christ's sake love one another damnit.

And, you know, it's IN THE BIBLE and still you struggle to see church members getting it right.

Maybe I should spend more time with religious people, if I can restrain myself from getting all Margaret Mead about it. You know, like "Can you say that again so I can get it in my notebook?"

Never go to Tulsa. You'd be at Office Depot every day loading up on notebooks to replace the ones you'd filled the day before. I'm surprised there aren't a bunch of sociological and anthropological studies running there now. Or maybe they just camoflauged the blinds really well.

If they name their daughter Dylan, not only am I never mowing the yard again, I'm reseeding with DANDELION SEED.

For all you know, that's the most-cherished baby name of at least six Buffistas.

If any of my friends had dared breathe a word about my babies' names, they'd have gotten their heads handed to them.