Name Game

I received a few intelligent and well-thought-out suggestions for names form my latest automotive acquisition. Thanks, gentle readers. However, I'm not going to use any of them. Instead, I'm going with "Zelda" for the following reasons:

• "Zelda" conforms to my established pattern of two-syllable female name ending in A.
• It strikes me as kooky and fun, which seems appropriate for such an exuberant vehicle.
• It offers the nickname "Zel," which is even kookier.
• Zelda Gilroy was my favorite character on The Many Loves of Dobbie Gillis.

I'm afraid I can't offer even a tenuous connection to Legend of Zelda franchise, since I'm probably the only person in America under 40 who has never played any of those games.

Thank you again for your suggestions.

NameMapper

Do you, like me, enjoy exploring the temporal evolution of the popularity of given names in the United States using the NameVoyager?  If so, you might also be interested in the new NameMapper, which offers useful ways to look at the popularity of names in time and space. That is, you can see the popularity of any name over time and in each state.  (select a year map, the hover over a state to get the name's rank then and there.)  Neat!

Put Down the Bottle and Pick Up a Comb

Joss Whedon is My Master, as previously stated.  But Joss, could you put just a little effort into cleaning yourself up?  I mean, you look like you've been on a bender.

Back in Red

I've returned the blog to (a version of) its classic black/white/red color sheme.  I liked the green, but it just didn't say "Team Grondul" to me.  Your opinion?

Green

Does anyone care to offer an opinion on the new color scheme?

Oh, the Hairanity!

(Warning: This post contains spoilers for Seasons 3 and later of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.)

I don't want to turn this blog into a pale imitation of Go Fug Yourself or The Superficial, but what is the deal with Alyson Hannigan's hair lately?

I mean, her 'do was quite cute---even sultry---in its various and sundry incarnations while she was portraying Willow on Buffy, even when she was playing Willow's vampire doppelganger or Willow Gone Bad. It's been attractive since then, too. While filming How I Met Your Mother, her hair has been pretty in both red and even brown. (Seriously, brown.) She's even looked cute in a slightly crooked ball cap and driving suit. But now she has these long, blunt bangs that hang down to her eyelashes. Not only does this cut look very 70s, but it makes me feel like I need to brush something out of my own eyes.

(By the way, I'll be sorely disappointed if I don't get a comment from Nick on this post.)

Booties! Not the Knitted Kind.

(This post contains unsolicited Miata content. Please feel free to skip it.)

When I purchased Mia, her interior looked like this:


I replaced the red-stitched, black-leather Mazdaspeed shift knob with a 400-gram, stainless-steel, aftermarket part in an effort to smooth out the shifting. That downside to this change was the that the knob no longer matched Mia's schmancy Mazdaspeed steering wheel and parking brake handle:


While browsing around a mazdaspeed-miata-specific forum, I discovered Redline Accessories, a little business in Poland, of all places, that makes leather bits for a large number of cars and trucks: shift boots, brake-lever boots, armrests, and so on. Redline offers a wide array of leather colors and thread colors, and they will assemble their goods with leather stripes, panels, or piping using multiple rows or colors of thread, whatever you want. So, as I'm sure you've guessed, I ordered up a black leather shift boot with a double row of red thread. The boot arrived after about a week---pretty fast from central Europe. The boot seemed to be quite well made; certainly it was much more solidly assembled than the flimsy, vinyl stock part. Here's the result of the installation:


I think the boot ties the wheel, brake, and shifter together very well, and the stainless knob now parallels the silver button on the brake lever. Here's a photo of the entire cockpit that gives you some idea of all the red bits in this car:


Anyway, if you are into this kind of thing, I encourage you to give Redline's site a visit

White is The New Black

Has anyone noticed this trend in the last 3 years or so? Everything that used to be considered coolest in black---electronics, cars, bike bits,* the Stig---is now continually popping up in white. I'm not certain I approve of this trend.

* Grip tape, saddles, shoes, shorts, even tires.

Automotive Heraldic History

Regular readers know that I am unreasonably interested in superficialities, how things look or sound. It's also clear form my posting history, that I am a car enthusiast. You can imagine my excitement, then, when Jalopnik pointed out this web page devoted to the history of automotive logos. Although the site is not entirely comprehensive and is riddled with grammatical errors*, I enjoyed it. One commenter on the Jalpnik post pointed out a more comprehensive subsite devoted to automotive iconography, including the evolution of each logo. I suggest you check it out.

* In the case of Mitsubishi, it is factually in error.

Name that Panda

In other panda news, now is your chance to name 18 panda cubs.

The Mole Man

I've just learned that Amedeo Avagadro was an extremely unattractive man.

It's Not How You Feel; It's How You Look.

Although Alison is the one who frequents a web site called The Superficial, I'm perhaps more interested in appearances than she is. Here's a breakdown of my various superficial interests, with some fun links:

• Heraldry. Yeah, yeah, I admit it's pretty dorky, but I think representing something as complex as an individual or family identity with a two-dimensional image that can easily be describe in plain text is rather fascinating. Additionally, I've always thought the sometimes silly mythological animals used in heraldry were fun.*
  
• Flags. Vexillology is much like heraldry, but with nations in place of individuals, so it's no sureprise that I'm interested in it. I'm certainly no vexillologist, but I can sometimes tell a lot about a country just by looking at its flag, and I think that's cool.
  
• Logos and Wordmarks. Logos are, of course, modern-day coats of arms, representing corporate entities, sports teams, bands or even individuals**. Plus, logos are not constrained by all the heraldic rules, so they can be extremely creative. Males in the readership may be horrified to hear this, but I'm not much of a sports fan. In fact---gasp!---I'm often more interested in a team's logo or uniform than their performance. If you are at all like me, you may want to check out the Society for Sports Uniform Research for the latest news on logo, uni, and color changes.
  
• Sports uniforms. See above entry, then go to SSUR and Uni Watch.
• Names. Even though Alison and I aren't planning on naming an children any time soon,*** I find personal names quite fascinating. The most interesting online resource I've found in this category is the NameVoyager, which uses Social Security data to plot the frequency (in children per million) of a name as a function of time, since the 1880s. If you enter a partial name, it will plot all names starting with that string. Neat, eh? For maximum fun, enter "Willow" or "Xander" and look for the spike after Buffy the Vampire Slayer hit the airwaves. Hah! Nerds, you gotta love them.

So there you go. If you are interested in these topics, too, just click on "superficialities" under "Subject Tags" to the right, and you'll see all our bloggin' in this category.

* Perhaps that's related to my passing interest in cryptozoology.
** And I'm not just talking about superheroes like the Batman or eccentrics like Prince Rogers Nelson here.
*** I repeat, for our parents, we are not planning children in the immediate future.

Newton Aloysius Grondul

Our pup's full name is Newton Aloysius* Grondul, but he has acquired several nicknames during his time with us. Here's a list of all the ones I can think of at the moment:

• Little Guy. This is the name we use most often with him. We use it more often, probably, than Newton.
  
• Fuzzface. We came up with this one because, well, his face is fuzzy.
  
• Fuzzbutt. This name's a slightly naughtier version of the previous one. Plus, it's assonant.
• Muzzlepuff. See this definition, and all will be revealed.
  
• Tiny Thunder. This is the sound he makes running down the hall after stealing a sock. This is also the name he'll use if he ever becomes a professional wrestler.
• Señor Puppers. Alison yoinked this name from Cute Overload, and I can't blame her. I mean, this little guy is really cute, and he looks not unlike Newton.
  
• Mutton Chops. I came up with this name after we had him groomed for the first time. His new 'do made him look more than a bit like General Ambrose Burnside.

* We chose this middle name because it seemed like it would be fun to yell in a fit of righteous anger.

Websites I Enjoy

I just thought I would put these few websites out there that I have been enjoying lately.

1. If you secretly enjoy the celebrity rags at the checkout stand, but feel bad spending money on them, then check out The Superficial. This site serves up lots of good old fashioned turn-your-brain-to-mush celebrity gossip/pictures with plenty of snarky captions. Keep in mind that said captions sometimes contain content not appropriate for work. I especially don't recommend reading the comments left by the people who frequent the site. They are stupid, boring, and often profane.
2. This site is for those of us who particularly enjoy those shows or magazines where they do the best and worst dressed lists, but who really can't stand the insipid commentators or, again, don't want to spend money on the magazines. Plenty of pics of absurdly dressed celebrities with very funny, well-written comments. I also enjoy that they don't just bash people who are dressed poorly, but they also recognize people who look really good.
3. This site is for people who enjoy cute pictures. Yep, that seems to be its sole purpose. Enjoy!

So, there are three more ways for you to waste your workday. I have also posted them under my recommendations. Now go forth and surf!

Pretty in Pink, Eh?

It appears that, in an effort to broaden its fan demographic, the NHL will produce mostly-pink uniform sweaters for each and every one of its teams. (Fortunately, the sweaters will not be worn by the teams.) As a follower of sports fashion, I think this move odd at best. If I were a woman, I'd feel offended rather than catered to.

What's in a name?

Check out this guy's website. He wants to change his name and is asking the public for suggestions. He will pick his top 10 faves and then people can vote. The winner gets a hefty cash prize. So, go give this guy a name, people!

Brians Aplenty

I realize that "Brian" is far from the most popular male name in the English-speaking world. Indeed, for my entire lifetime, it has been less popular, nationwide, than my own given name. Somehow, though, by way of some statistical anomaly, I can't seem to swing a long-tailed cat without hitting two guys named Brian and one named Bryan. In particular, there are six (Count 'em!) Brians or Bryans that Alison and I have reason to refer to on a semi-regular basis:

• Brian Who Blogs at Breakfast is the author of a pretty dad-gum funny blog, and he's also a biostatistics professor. Given that he's my age, but already is a professor, is married (with pets!), and has a much cooler blog than I do, I can't help but feel inferior, or at least behind schedule.
• Krav Bryan taught krav maga at my old school in Virginia and now teaches at my new school in Maryland. He's a much better kraver (Kravist? Kravster? Kravinater?) than I am, so I always feel like an uncoordinated pansy around him.
• K-State Brian was in my research group in grad school is now a physics professor at Kansas State University. This Brian is also my age and already a professor. Plus, he knows far more about optics than I do. So, it's lather, rinse, repeat with my inferiority complex.
• Piercing Brian owns the Piercing Experience in Atlanta. He's a remarkably intelligent and surprisingly soft-spoken guy, though he's sometimes almost frustrating to talk to, since he's so obsessed with the hygiene of the piercing process and the suitability of the jewelry material . However, it seems to me that that kind of obsession is exactly what one wants in a piercer, so carry on, Brian.
• Quantum Bryan works in my current group. In addition to being a really smart and moderately funny guy, he has, sadly, been witness to every stupid thing I've done since I started my new gig. (Somehow, I've avoided doing obviously inane things in front of my other coworkers.) So blah blah blah inferiority issues yada yada yada. By the way, if you're reading this, Bryan (and if you've been able to sort yourself out from the other Brians and Bryans in this entry), I'm really not as inept as I seem. I'm thoroughly ept, I promise.
• Family Guy Brian is, of course, a character on Family Guy. So yes, he's a dog. And I don't actually know him. And yes, he is fictional. But I still find the need to refer to him frequently. (Besides, he reminds me of Todd.) This Brian doesn't make me feel inferior, and that's a nice change. I mean, I have my problems, but at least I'm not an alcoholic who is infatuated with his best friend's wife and spends most of his time with an oddly British-accented infant bent on matricide and world domination. Oh, and I'm not a dog.

So please, if you are planning to have children, it would simplify my life if you would leave "Brian" and its alternate spellings off the list. In fact, if you're called Brian, I'd appreciate it if you'd look into changing it. Thanks.

Next post: Girls named Sara(h), and why they all have to go.