I think my sister's boy name was supposed to be David Murdoch (David SOMETHING, but the whole thing leads to a rant on my mother's part so I sort of tune it out -- anyhow, I think it's Murdoch), but my Aunt named her son (my cousin whom I'm convinced is an axe murderer) that mere weeks before my sister was born.

She backtracks on it now, but I was told by mother that MY boy name would have been Angus George.

Then, when she finally had a boy, she named him Ian Bruce.

Of course they'll do stuff like that Hank.

Amazingly, none of my nieces and nephews call me Hank - to them I am Aunt B. When we were going through possible boys names, I had Henry on my list because I thought naming a boy after me would be kind of funny. (Had K been a boy, that boy would have been Zev.)

I love rhubarb and stash some in the freezer every summer so I can eat it year 'round.

I need to drive up and get together with the DC 'istas sometime.

::nods::

I was definitely supposed to be a boy. I think my name was going to be Mark.
 
Weekend: today roomie`s folks show up. Recording session for tonight was nixed. Sat: teach, different recording session, Symphony! Where they will be playing my SO`s first orchestral composition! Three movements. So exciting. Roommate will be taking his folks to Sat. night church where he`ll be playing drums. But not us, which is probably a good thing. I don`t know if l`m quite ready to put on my rock face in front of donors! Sun is Mother`s day stuff with the roomie`s family I guess.

Meep. They're evacuating Times Square. Here's hoping for an overreaction to nothing at all.

brenda, isn't rhubarb crisp terrific? I love any strawberry-rhubarb baked good, but it works wonderfully as a crisp.

I just found out that the Chicago-area highway oases are pick-up points for CSAs, a convenience for those of us in the 'burbs.

It was a lot easier for us to come up with girl's names than boy's names. When I was pregnant the first time, we had one boy's name (guess) and a couple variants for a girl. Took us a good chunk of the pregnancy to settle on Frances Lucy once we knew we were having a girl. We got a chance to use the boy's name soon enough.

I am preoccupied today. My MiL is getting some important test results back today. Neither option is good--how do you choose between radiation poisoning or brain tumor? And yet I am praying for radiation poisoning. That's crazy right? But it would mean no more treatments and long term better news.

Damn.

Old Navy Shooting: Chicago Downtown Store Locked Down, Two DEAD

CHICAGO — Police in Chicago say two people were shot to death in an apparent murder-suicide at the Old Navy clothing store in the heart of the city's Loop retail corridor.

Chicago Police Officer spokesman John Mirabelli says details are sketchy about Friday's shootings but that it appears the deaths were part of a domestic dispute.

I was just there, um... a month ago.

Meep. They're evacuating Times Square. Here's hoping for an overreaction to nothing at all.

Oh jeez. Seriously.

They're evacuating Times Square. Here's hoping for an overreaction to nothing at all.

I read they found a "suspicious package."

Huh. Coroner: Metra chief's death 'appears to be a suicide'

The death of Metra executive director Philip Pagano, struck by a Metra train this morning, "appears to be a suicide," the McHenry County coroner says.

Pagano -- under investigation for financial irregularities -- appeared to walk in front of the train just west of Terra Cotta Road on Hillside Road in Crystal Lake at about 8:10 a.m., sources say.