What's in a name?

A lot.

Just ask the DiMera's or the Kiriakas.' In Salem, USA those names go far, their power reaches well beyond Chez Rouge, The Port of Salem and the Brady Pub. All you have to mention is one of those names and you're either in, or you're in trouble. All depends on your audience.

Take a name like Conquistador. It's a noun, profession! You decide to name your kid that, and he's got to be some sort of major player in the game of life. Of course, probably not in the US. Can you imagine an executive in a Fortune 500 company with a name like that? It's like Oranjello or Lemonjello, just isn't serious enough. But maybe he could thrive in a Latin land, he most certainly would. But then if your name is Conquistador and you virtually suck, you have no job, no car, maybe you're a convicted felon, you're not allowed to see your kid, your idea of the jackpot is a "woman" who needs prescriptive assistance to get out of bed, ha, you really have no choice but to change your name, don't you? In this case, maybe that's called an alias, and it's on file with the county.

What about a name like Towar, sounds like tower. Another noun, though misspelled, so it doesn't count. I know a guy, that's his name. He's my dad and it's his real, true, birth name. He was the second born of 3, with an older brother named Malcolm and a younger sister named Lisa. Yep, he got Towar. Now imagine a kid heading off to kindergarten and making new friends. What a big, funny name for a little, tiny boy. In 7th grade a classmate of mine was attempting to set up a sleepover and needed my phone number. 411...well she asked for Vilas, Towar and the operator said she was certain Cleveland was the wrong city and that particular tower was in Chicago. Well it's a super-cool name now, though there were likely some touch-and-go years way back when.

Let's talk about Stuart.
Preppy, strong, formal. So I'm talking to my uncle (Chip) and he's telling me about Stuart. I'm like....what, all confused like. Then he said Stuart is a woman. OK....

We have some ooddball ones in the fam for sure. Cocky, Frat, Bing, Chip, as I mentioned, oh there is one really wackadoo one but I can't remember and my dad's phone is busy, dang! He still uses a phone line for the internet, can you imagine?

At work some ladies decided to rename some of us based on our personalities, I guess. It appears our parents messed up. And I agree now that I know mine. I love my new work name even though I don't know yet whether it will be used for good or evil. It's Mallory, I will go by Mal, like Mallory Keaton on Family Ties. She was so cool, so fashionable. Like me?

Names can make or break you. Not too many CPAs named Candi or attorneys named Ziggy. Your name certainly determines a good amount of your path. I thought it would have been nice to have had the millenium baby. That kid and his parents got a lot of cool prizes and I think he's set for life. If I had I wanted to name him The Whistler. No one would ever mess with The Whistler, and no one would ever forget him either. No millenium baby though. He would be in 4th grade now, zoinks!

A few housekeeping items. Shaker would not budge on the sidewalk and did not feel it appropriate for me to pay $2 per month until it was paid off. A lost, though valiant battle.

And I never called Mario's back. Though I convinced at least one person not to go there.

I would like to give a shout out to some lovely ladies celebrating their birthday's this weekend. Happy 30th Birthday Laura! Happy 25th Birthday's to Morgan and Krostana! Hope you all have a grrrreat weekend.