Blog Names and Low Expectations

To start us off on the right foot, here's a list of names for this blog that I rejected:

• iloveemus.blogspot.com (but I don't love emus; my friend Beth does).
• iloveemuswouldbeacoolblognameexceptIdont.blogspot.com (pretty self-explanatory but far too long)
• jessielynngac.blogspot.com (simply too simple)
• jessilynninkenya.blogspot.com (but what if I go somewhere else?)
• brisketjuice.blogspot.com (there was a lot of brisket in my recent past)
• mathisniceohsonice.blogspot.com (based on a song I have my students sing, but I don't expect to do much writing about math)
• imisszeke.blogspot.com (but I don't want to think about how much I'm going to miss my dog)
  
• ioverusesemicolons.blogspot.com (but it's a habit I hope to break)

Eventually, my brother's suggestion of afrigac won out, in part because it sounds funny if you say my last name how it's spelled, and partly because it could sound like "i forgot" in a southern accent if you say the name right. It seems appropriate; I forget lots of things.

The second place finisher, thegregariousimpala, gets to be the title. It deserves an explanation. You see, a neighbor here in Los Alamos gave me a guidebook about Kenya that seems to have been written by a stymied English major; the vocabulary is extravagant and a bit out of place, and all the descriptions are a touch melodramatic. For example, below a picture of some gazelle-looking creatures is the caption, "The gentle and gregarious impala". Who uses the word gregarious in casual writing? To describe a species? And who would worry about alliteration in such a context? Certainly not me.

And on that note, keep your expectations low for this blog. I don't know how often I'll post, I don't know how clever I'll be, and I'm certain to make at least one error per paragraph. So, as my friend Wes says, "I have underbid. Now it's time to overdeliver!"