Cat's Out of the Bag, Bun's in the Oven

That's right, if you haven't already heard, we've got a kid on the way. He's due early in September, and that initial pronoun is not a guess; we have proof. We're still working out just the right balance of classic-yet-unique-yet-meaningful names to choose from for junior. I still like Boris N. - sounds pretty good with our surname.

It's interesting. I'm getting a new bike this week and the guy I bought it from has a small shop among a few big shops in Geneva. He's a real character. Lived the life of a sportsman, racing dirt-track Harleys and Bultacos, and now he's coasting by bending ears and selling bicycles. He's a little gruff with people but that and the variable hours of his shop make it far more interesting than the other shops in town.

He's not a huckster - he knows his crap. His edge is that he buys and keeps older bikes that have gone past their shelf date (meaning new model years have come in) and only builds them on demand. So, with older versions of top-end parts, I got a deal. What does this have to do with anything? Names.

We had this interesting conversation about his first name (Elis) and my great-grandfather's name (Elias) and how he's Italian and my GG was Norwegian. He started hitting me with all kinds of ideas for a name for the boy. I think both grandfathers would be tickled if the boy had an ethnic-Norwegian name, too. I'm looking into it.

Anyhow, I feel like I got more than a bike out of the deal. I think I'm going to push for a unique name.