A Late-Summer Night's Blog Posting

I tried and tried not to fall asleep before 10, but I did, worn out from my workout. And now here I am, wide awake at almost 2am, typing a blog entry! I'm sure if raccoons could type, they'd be doing this in addition to hunting for food at this time of night. But what would they type about? Mean ol' cars? Global warming? Bailouts? America's Top Model? Hmm...

Anyway, yet another week (and month) is flying by here in San Diego. Work has been much busier, thanks to the little scare at Washington Mutual (aka Wamu or Wamoooooooo, as one of my customers likes to pronounce it). Yes, Wamu is in a bit of trouble, but I think people are over-reacting, especially those who are fully insured by the FDIC. However, my credit union, is reaping the benefits. Our branch alone has received over $2 million from Wamu in the last week and a half. See, stuff like this happens to people who conduct good business practices - most, if not all, credit unions did not get directly involved with the sub-prime lending frenzy. But I'll stop there because I could blow a fuse thinking about how all the bad, bad, Leeroy Brown...er, businesses put us in this crisis...and are about to get away with a hefty slap on the wrist instead of being fed to the alligators or being forced to live with Kim Jung Il for eternity.

Moving away from work, I was invited to a beach birthday party for my friend Erick last weekend. Despite some confusion as far as where on the beach we were meeting (lol), it was a lot of fun. Perfect weather, some great frisbee tossing and volleyball. It had been a while since I hit a volleyball, so that hurt a little. :-( And we were near a lot of volleyball courts, so the eye candy was an added bonus.

Also, of important note, I was very happy to get to go to Cold Stone with my friend Matt...I can always make time for ice cream!!!...and spending time with Matt too! ;-)

So, can I make this a stream-of-consciousness blog and be random now? Well, it's my blog, so yeah, I guess I can! Wow, I feel like Ahmadinejad and Kim Jung Il and Venezuela's leader all of a sudden...*shudders* .... I was at the gym tonight, and I heard what sounded like a man roar on the other side of the room. Usually, you would see a beefy guy trying to squeeze out just one more rep from the overloaded barbell he's working with. Nope, not this time...this well-muscled black dude was just having a grand ol' time walking around, roaring and grunting like a wild animal. He then shouted "I just enjoy myself SO much!! YEEEEAH!!" and then marched through the room, chest puffed out, probably waiting for the females to start lining up (some suppressed giggles, at least). It was almost like something you'd see on Animal Planet. Interesting...

Moving briefly into politics...I think McCain's "suspension" of his campaign for the time being is definitely a stunt, most likely organized by his campaign manager. This has not won him any points in my eyes, just skepticism. I also think Congress does not need his or Obama's theatrics while trying to "fix" our economy. Their presence, no matter what, would only serve to polarize the parties, which is definitely not what we need right now. I whole-heartedly agree with Obama that the debates must go on. Yes, we have a crisis on hand, but we also have this itty bitty thing called a presidential election coming up in a month and a half. The debates are integral.

Moving to sports now...I almost dread Saturday's matchup between Michigan and Wisconsin. It could be bloody, or Michigan's newbies could finally come into their own. It's more likely that Wisconsin will go on to become the Big 10 champion this season.

Time for me to wrap up and get some (more) sleep.

Class triumphs cockiness and Michigan gets a W!

Today was a SWEET sports day for me! Class-act Federer sent cocky, arrogant Djokovic packing during the semi-finals, moving Federer into his 5th straight US Open final!!! Djokovic made a huge mistake when he made some insulting remarks directed at Andy Roddick AND the fans after he defeated Roddick a few days ago. As a result, the crowd was most definitely not on his side during his match with Federer. I would hate to see a man like Djokovic become the #1 player in the world someday; I much prefer the classiness of Federer and even Nadal (who IS #1... for now).

Tropical Storm Hannah's arrival in New York caused the thrilling Nadal-Murray semi-final to be postponed till tomorrow (damn!) along with the women's final. What REALLY blows is that the men's final will have to be pushed back to MONDAY in mid-afternoon (my time). Ugh! So, now I don't get to watch it live. Stupid tropical storm...grrrrrr.



Michigan got its first W today, but they still are struggling. The defense will probably do fine against the tougher teams on the schedule, but the offense is still very much a work in progress. It was good to see them get a win today, but the fact that they mostly won because Miami of Ohio played pretty badly too takes a little bit out of the triumph. I'm betting they will have a few more losses this season and be much better next season. It's obvious many of the players have talent; they just need to fine-tune it, and that could take a little while.

I heard that the game's attendance was one of the smallest in quite a while, but I think that had more to do with who Michigan was playing than what happened last week. Michigan's fans aren't the fair-weather fans of all of San Diego's pro teams, after all lol.

Over in Columbus, Ohio State barely survived an upset from Ohio. Damn!! But one good thing to come from this will be a drop in the rankings for Ohio State...hopefully. Their very small win over Ohio should shake the confidence of the voters in the next poll.

I love that I don't have to work many Saturdays nowadays, so I can enjoy the college football season!!

Whitney

Over the last 28.5 years, I've come to enjoy the fact that I have a pretty unique male name: Whitney. According to facts on Babynames.com, my name ranked #563 on the Social Security Administration's list. I'd say that's not very popular. My name (of English origin) apparently means "white island", which in many ways fits me very well (I'm pretty independent and very much enjoy my alone time, though I'm not a complete recluse!).

Growing up in the 80s and 90s, I had to endure constant references to Whitney Houston, whose heyday came at the worst time (for me). Kids constantly called me "Whitney Houston"...even my 5th grade art teacher got in on the fun, giggling every time he said my name with "Houston" added on. Bastard. lol

It got to the point where I begged my parents to let me change my name somehow. I tried changing my name to Whit, a nickname many family members and friends had already been using. But of course, my peers remembered that I was really Whitney, so that didn't work out too well.

Shortly after my parents got the school to make sure my name was listed as Whit on the teacher's rosters, I started to realize I was letting the mean kids win. This led me to embrace my name, my full name. I corrected teachers, telling them my name was Whitney, not Whit. I then made the "Whitney Houston" joke my own, turning tears and frustration into laughter. I still use it when people can't understand my name - "like Whitney Houston", I'll say with a smile.

In college, I was inducted into an unofficial club known as The Boys with Sissy Names club, along with guys named Brook and Lindsey and possibly another I've forgotten (sorry). lol

Anyway, my parents did admit that Whitney Houston did in part play a role in my name...they liked her name (and music) and then discovered that it was a unisex name. When I first found out Whitney Houston inspired them partly, I was horrified, but now it's kinda funny. In retrospect, I'm glad my parents gave me a name that isn't common, that isn't easily forgotten, especially since it is often regarded as just a female name.

Unfortunately, some people are so shocked upon hearing my name, that their mind registers something completely different: William, Whitley, Wesley (oddly, very often get this one), Courtney, Wilford, Whitey, Wiley, pretty much anything that starts with a W that sounds like a male name. Sigh...

When I am assisting people at work and they see my name on my desk, I still get the "where's Whitney today? Are you filling in?" or "That isn't really your name!" remarks. I still get mail addressed to Ms. Whitney Wells. And there are still a few people in my company who think I am a female. But I roll with it and have fun with it. I love my name; it's pretty darn cool.


p.s. As a sidenote, I found that my dog's name, Sierra, means either "mountain", "mountain range", or "saw" (?). Kinda cool. Another interesting tidbit I wasn't aware of when I named my dog is that Mt. Whitney is a part of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Also of note (I've known this for a while) is that Mt. Whitney is the highest summit in the contiguous US - now THAT could've been a good reason for naming me Whitney, had my parents known my growth potential.

p.s. #2: This post was inspired by my friend Erick's recent post about his name.