Interesting info on names

This site is so fascinating.

http://www.babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html

It has over 5000 names of the last 100 years and the popularity of that name. Whoever came up with the visual is a genius.

It's so odd to see names that were popular when I was a kid (Jennifer, Kristin, Amy, Tara) have really dropped off. Hey, my name is actually on there. Can't believe it made it. But it's all boys! Damn where are the girls?? I like my name for a girl (of course there was that one time I was placed with a guy as a roommate at a conference cause they thought I was a guy too. Fun times).


edited to add: heh. look up Xander. you know that's all from Buffy people. Ain't no one using is before! Willow too. Poor Buffy...no one wants to use that name still!

Fun with publisher

Tomorrow and Friday my company is having a booth at a Human Resources convention. We've never done this sort of thing before, and we're really trying to make the booth look professional. Over the past few weeks I designed a pen and notepad as giveaways. I also took some info from our dietitian and created a tri-fold brochure with clipart and fun colors. I'm using Publisher more than I ever had. It's a pretty easy program to use. One of the things I love about my company is that it's small enough that I can help out with marketing stuff like this. It's not all accounting work. I have also been dealing with an exhibit company on the design of our backdrop. I picked it up today and it looks awesome! It's 8ft high and 10ft long and it has all 11 doctors wearing scrubs and standing together in a group. Underneath them are our two logos. It's really eye-catching and I think it will be very different from what other people are going to have. I've been getting some crazy overtime this week getting everything ready and printed out. Tomorrow I'll be at the convention till 8:30, but Friday it ends at 5, so that won't be too bad. It's been so fun being creative, but I guess next week it's back to payroll and invoices.

I noticed that I've had some comments about Lost. Melanie and I got through 5 episodes on Sunday, and I've got to say - Damn Season 2 is slooooooooowwwww. I don't remember Season 1 being this bad. I'm glad I saved them all to watch at once! This would have been so boring if I watched them when they came on. I still want to finish it - the season's not so bad I'll just stop watching midway. Thank god for fast forward. Those music montages at the end are getting to be a bit much.

I am hooked on House now. Randy, if you see it in Japan get it!! It's a medical drama, but he's just so sarcastic and mean, I laugh at this more than I do comedies!

Keeping busy

I actually had quite an eventful week! Tues Matt came over and we watch Hoodwinked. Have you seen it? It's computer animation, and it ROCKS. It was hilarious. It's a new take on the Little Red Riding Hood story. Thursday Nathan, Tony, and I went to the Alamo Drafthouse on Lamar and saw Clerks II. Wonderfully done. Not as good as the first, but still funny and well written. I love that they got all the original actors back. Rosario Dawson kicked ass in that movie. The only bad thing was my food was horrible. I'd never been to the Lamar location, and at all the other locations the food has always been terrific. But there, not so much. And the service sucked. Never even got a water refill. Friday was movie night at Mike and Annette's house. I successfully lobbied to get The Thin Man played. I thought it would be a small crowd, since it's an old black and white movie. But 12 people were there! Everyone seemed to enjoy it. They laughed in places that I don't usually laugh at. It's such an odd experience watching an old movie on a large screen and in a crowd. You really get a different vibe than if you just watched it alone on your small TV. Hopefully we can do some more classics.

Today I went into the shelter for a few hours and then met up with Matt to go shooting at a range in Manor. He had a couple of .45s he was thinking of buying and wanted to try them out. Damn, those are some big-ass bullets. I shot the .22 again, and could barely see the holes in the paper target. That .45 just ripped right through - huge holes. He also brought his rifle - can't remember the model but it's a type the military uses. It was really heavy! I did not like standing up with it and shooting. The recoil was weird. But, sitting down and resting the barrell on sandbags was cool. I was doing pretty good with my accuracy too. I think my shoulder's going to be sore tomorrow.

Melanie's coming over around 2 and we're going to try and get through some more Lost episodes. I need to clear out my DVR before the new TV season starts.

Have you seen Snakes on a Plane yet?.....Have you heard of Blanks on a Blank? No? Well, you're in for a treat. The Alamo Drafthouse had a contest for local filmmakers. Entrants were randomly assigned an animal and vehicle and then had to make a 2-5 minute disaster movie. Here's the link http://www.originalalamo.com/sites/2blanks/topfilms.aspx?i=52

I actually like the 2nd place one more than the winner. So funny. People are amazingly creative!

I guess more sun screen would have been warranted

Friday after work my neighbor Marsha came over and invited me on their boat Saturday. I love their boat (see blog entry from 9/18/05). So, I said OF COURSE! and then asked if I could bring a friend. She said they could fit one more since they already invited a ton of people from work. That night was game night at Mike and Annette's and I was able to invite Matt. Thought it was only fair after he took me out shooting. Luckily he was able to go. Game night was fun as always. There were 9 of us, and we played a new game called Wise and Otherwise. It's like Balderdash but instead of definitions it's old sayings. I really liked it. For example, one round would be 'There's an old Greek saying, The head is older than....' and then you have to make something up. Then everyone votes on which they think is the right ending, and points are awarded accordingly. It's the kind of game that works best with a large group. By the way, my entry for that saying was 'the ass'. I forgot what the right one was. There was also a really funny one about a rat attacking a hoe. Anways.....

Saturday Matt came over and we rode to Lake Travis with Marsha. I think we ended up being 12 people on the boat. We were out almost 8 hours. I put some sunscreen on, but damn did my back get burned. I haven't been this burned in years. I tried taking pictures of it, but they just weren't doing it justice. I guess when you're in the water for 6 hours, multiple applications would have been a good idea. I wouldn't say I'm in pain, just....discomfort. I'm looking forward to the peeling part. That's always fun.

Sunday I went into the shelter. They had a special presentation by a cat behaviorist and her discussion was very interesting. She talked about how cats really aren't territorial in the traditional definition and how they aren't truly dominant/submissive either. So, all the studies that have been based on dogs really can't be applied to cats. I think we're going to have her back to talk more about problems that people bring up to us (like litter box issues and clawing furniture). I stayed for about three hours afterwards and we had some really good adoptions. One cat-couple that had been there over five months finally got adopted. It's so hard to get the cat-couples adopted because they have to go home together. Especially right now in kitten season, people are just drawn to their cuteness and they ignore the adult cats. I try to explain that in six months your kitten will be a cat, but all they see are the big ears and big eyes and 'oh they're so cute!'. Argh.

Time! Time is what turns KITTENS into CATS!

Heh....do you know what that's from? I've been wanting to put it on a t-shirt but didn't think the shelter staff would appreciate it, since we do get so much money from kitten adoptions.

Do I yell or laugh?

Saturday night when I was going to bed, I walked by my kitchen table and saw a silhouette of ears where they shouldn't have been any. I turn on the lights, and what do I see? Asher all curled up in my empty fruit bowl on the kitchen table. She's never done this before, and I've never really caught them even on the kitchen table. Yes, I could have yelled at her, but it was just so damn cute.

Doing some Austin stuff

Having Nathan and Tony here will hopefully push me to do some touristy stuff in Austin that I just haven't gotten around to. Nathan called today and asked if I wanted to go to ACL. That's Austin City Limits which is an annual 3-day concert series. I've never been mainly because I didn't really have anyone to go with. So, we are going to go for the Saturday lineup. The tickets are $55, which I guess is ok for a whole day of music.

http://www.aclfestival.com/default.aspx

I heard that Rob Zombie was on tour with Godsmack. They'll be in San Antonio Aug 26, but the good tickets are $49.50. Geez. Lawn tickets are $20.00. Maybe I'll ask Angie at work if she's going. She's really into Rob Zombie, and would be fun to go with. I haven't been to a concert since college. I'll just have to buy some ear plugs - gotta save all the hearing I've got left.