Ricardo is right, although I don't know this person

Here is a quote from Newsweek:

"The evidence is really now quite conclusive that male circumcision is effective at preventing HIV among men." – Kevin de Cock HIV-AIDS official, WHO

I nearly ran over my neighbor this evening.

Pat Napoleon (no relation as far as I know) was in the middle of the road in her tie-dyed t-shirt and slippers, eating something out of a bucket. Not like a beach bucket but more like a the bucket one gets chicken in. Maybe it *was* a chicken bucket. I don't know. I doubt it because it was blue and from Whole Foods. If it was chicken, it was free range chicken. And well loved. Until they killed it and put it in a bucket. But I digress.

Pat Napoleon is married to Leo Napoleon. I love their names. I love saying Leo Napoleon. And it made me start thinking about names I've known that have made me laugh in one way or another.

The first odd name I ever encountered was my father's mechanic when I was a kid. I didn't understand why my mother snickered every time my father said he had to take the car in. It wasn't until I was about 12 that I clued in on his name: Dick Tingle.

Another great name from my past belonged to some neighbors we had. Avery and whatever her brother was. Their last name was Fischoder (pronounced: Fish Odor).

Of course, my maiden name is Gross. I once offered extra credit to some 9th graders if they could come us with a way to make fun of my name that I had never heard before. But they didn't, dazzled as they were by the classic "is your middle name IS?"

I knew a grad student in my program in archaeology whose name was Dusty.

I had a resident once whose name was Dr. Feeling. And another one whose name was Payne. I wondered how that would work out as a hyphenated last name?

We knew a couple in Boston who would have had the best hyphenated name ever: He was Frost and she was Wild so it would have been Wild-Frost. They totally could have been super heroes with that name.

Then there was the year at camp when I had a camper named Princess (I have since had several Princesses although none of the others have been white. And one came with a twin named Precious). Princess's brother? Jesus. Not Spanish. No "hay-soos" but Jesus as in the swearing.

One year we taught two Uniquas. I guess they weren't.

I also had a set in twins in southern Massachusetts named Rusty and Dusty (actually I have known 3 Dustys and only the grad student was female. And yes she was named for the singer).

I had a Raji and a Shakti. Both lived in an Ashram. Or maybe only one did. One's last name was Mandelkorn.

I had a school secretary whose name was Linda File. She was not a nice woman. Maybe it was all the Files she left at home. She had like six kids.

I knew a woman whose name was Dolores. She could not have been more aptly named. She had the saddest life of anyone I know.

When we were kids, my sister and I actually thought my grandmother's friend's name was Poor Marilyn. We actually asked her once when she'd visit Poor Marilyn while staying with us. That wasn't really her name.

The Students are Back.

And I don't care for the changes here in town because of them. First of all, there is a lot more traffic. Second of all, the traffic is all annoying especially at Barracks Road Shopping Center where there were always too many SUVs in the first place. Now there are more SUVs and they have students talking on their cell phones in them.

But the real issue, as far as I am concerned is what happened yesterday in the grocery store. They were all sold out of Apple Jacks.

This, in my opinion, is a Problem. Last week, Ricardo bought Cap'n Crunch which is delcious, don't get me wrong! But I was really hankering for Apple Jacks. Ever since I spotted Ryan who is one of the people I teach with, ambling down the hall with a bowl of Apple Jacks for breakfast, I have been craving them. But yesterday there were no large boxes, none whatsoever in all of Harris Teeter.

This opened me up to a dilemma. Should I buy the little boxes and suffer through the ineveitable Corn Flakes and Pops (also a fine breakfast item)? I'd only get two little boxes, enough for one bowl really. Did I switch to Froot Loops, which are a close relative but which lack the cinnamon toasty-ness of my heart's desire. Could I make do with another week of the Cap'n? Or should I just eat the frosted mini wheats I already have and get over myself.

I realize the paucity of the Apple Jacks may not in fact be the fault of the students. But it's much more fun to blame them than it is to wonder why there is a conspiracy to deny me my cereal of choice.