Super Zane and Lightning Jack were both made by my little sister, who is apparently some kind of sewing awesome. The rest of our family is unsure of where this talent comes from.

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“Speaking as a former baby don’t get too hung up on baby names. I was named Walter Jr. after my father until I was about six or so when my parents changed their minds… my brother was born and my parents felt that he better exemplified the Walter Jr. name so they gave it to him. I was given ‘Andrew’ which they got out of a baby name book.”

-Andy Bernard, The Office

I know I’m thinking too much about this kid’s name.

Twice now we have come up with numerous acceptable names for girls with no actual intention of ever naming a boy, even though we both know before the ‘tell tale’ sonograms that we are having a boy.

This worked out okay last time because we ended up giving our son the greatest name ever conceived of by human minds.

Zane’s full name is Alexander Rand.

I love his name. Because we use a nickname we rarely see his full name printed out but every time I do I just stare at it and think of how incredibly awesome it is. If it wouldn’t be inconvenient for him later in life I would have his social security card framed next to his baby picture, because his name is just that great.

Alexander is the middle name of the three generations of men preceding me. We also happened to like it.

Our last name means “warrior”. A few months ago my dad was rambling off all of the different versions of our last name and when he came to the German word I just about passed out… “Luthor”. So without even realizing it we had named our son “Lex Luthor”… sort of.

Zane, apart from being a perfectly legitimate nickname¹ for Alexander, is also a derivative of my own name, John.

Rand ‘al Thor is the name of a character in my favorite series of fantasy novels, The Wheel of Time. Brandy only conceded to the possibility of this name once, but it was the time that mattered. For months she wouldn’t even give me a “we’ll see” or a “maybe”. It was always a flat out refusal. Zane was born on a Saturday so it was two days before the people came by with the birth certificate forms… I filled out everything but the middle name, I gave Brandy the saddest look I could muster (which probably wasn’t all that sad… I had a two-day-old son after all) and asked, “Are you sure?” She hesitated and said, “fine”. I wrote the name down as quickly as I could then raced down the hall after the lady before Brandy had a chance to change her mind.

We didn’t really pick Zane’s name for its meaning, but all together it means, “Defender Shield Warrior”… which, again, is awesome.

‘Nick’! What does that mean?
Oh nothing. My dad thought of it while he was shaving.

-Top Secret

Apart from just being a good sounding name I happen to sort of like all of that information that goes with his name. He doesn’t only have a cool name but there’s a fun story behind it. I don’t know if there’s a story to my name, John David. I think it might have been the name of one of my dad’s friends… or the name of 8 or 9 of my distant relatives. Brandy doesn’t know her name’s story either, but we know it’s a type of booze. When I first brought Brandy around to meet my family one of our family friends called her by a different alcoholic beverage every time she addressed her.

I don’t really need a story because at the end of the day it’s just my name. But I like that Zane’s name has one.

I posted something about names on Facebook and one friend commented, “Did we tell you the story about picking Blake’s name out of a Dallas Stars media guide?” So I’m curious to know if any of my blog-readers have a name story to share…

¹Other nicknames for Alexander: Al, Alec, Alek, Aleksi, Alex, Alexi, Lex, Sander, Sandy, Sasha, Sashko, Sasho, Xan, Xander, Zander… just don’t call Zane any of those names.

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The DJ 3,000 says it best…

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We were in Miami a few years ago for a Photoshop convention… well, I was in for a Photoshop convention. Brandy was there because the hotel was already paid for and she wanted to go to the beach.

Since I was busy the whole time we were there we didn’t have much time to get out and do anything interesting, but we did plan one little trip out to Key Largo or someplace to take a little SCUBA diving trip. We are both certified divers (or we were, I’m not sure how long these things last when you don’t do anything with it for 9 years). But the only diving either of us had done was for our certification tests in Balmorhea State Park in Balmorhea, TX featuring 3 different species of aquatic life.

Halfway there I called to double check our reservation and was told that it was canceled because not enough people were going. So we did what anyone would do.
We followed the Monkey Jungle signs.

Monkey Jungle: “Where Humans are Caged and Monkeys Run Wild!” is an experience to be had. Despite the tagline, the monkeys are actually enclosed in a much larger cage. Presumably to prevent them from being run over by cars or from giving people Ebola.

After signing over the lease to your car and purchasing a box of raisins you enter the path and, true to the motto you are surrounded side-and-top by cages and there are monkeys climbing everywhere. Hanging from the ceiling cages are tiny chains holding little cat dishes in which you place a raisin… then a monkey pulls the chain up hand-over-hand, takes the treat, and is bitten by a larger monkey and forced to forfeit the prize.

Here’s a little bit of advice: Do not stand directly beneath one of these monkey fights. They have very few tools with which to express their distaste and they use what they have to great effect.

There are also monkey shows where a monkey wrangler gathers all of his monkey minions to him from all around the park like some sort of primate Cinderella and throws fruit in a little pool so we can see them swim.

Afterwards we hit the strawberry farm that was on the way out of town and headed back to Miami Beach.

Not feeling particularly creative on this trip I decided to head back that way… I figured a Monkey Jungle (Where Humans are Caged and Monkeys Run Wild!) souvenir would have to be cooler than some beach trinket for Zane and we haven’t been able to locate this strawberry farm online to order more of their jam.

I arrived at Monkey Jungle (Where Humans are Caged and Monkeys Run Wild) and found a little stuffed monkey with a ‘Monkey Jungle’ t-shirt.
The t-shirt did not have the tag-line on it, but it was a very small t-shirt, so I let it slide.

I asked where the restroom was and the cashier told me it was on the other side of the gate and would I like to speak to a loan officer, but since I was making a purchase she allowed me to use the employee bathroom.
As I was using the restroom I glanced out the window to find two monkeys watching me. At first that made me very uncomfortable, but then I decided that people must watch them pee all day, so I guess turnabout is fair play.

Following the Monkey Jungle: Where Humans are Caged and Monkeys Run Wild! I proceeded to the strawberry patch where I bought some jam, some jelly, some strawberries, a strawberry milkshake, a strawberry cupcake, and a hot dog.

The day was over surprisingly early… before noon. Then again I left my hotel room at 5:30 in the morning, so I guess you could call it a full day. I stayed in the room the rest of the day reading my books and waiting to hear word on when the pictures will be taken.

You had better hope it’s soon, because I obviously have no problem writing very lengthy blogs about very mundane events when I’m bored. I haven’t really done anything else other than eat pizza tonight, but it was Dominos, and they do have that new recipe… just… hope…

(posted on automatic timer at noon on 2/6/2010. written on 2/1/2010)

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