For all my pregnant relatives...

... and since my family is single-handedly populating northern Minnesota and Northwestern Ontario (and Madagascar), I can always count on having at least a couple of those. Here's some wisdom from John Tesh on naming your young offspring. And I know you always need the help so here ya have it. He says that it's proven that a person's name dramatically influences other's impressions of the person so he offers some helpful tips.
1) Stay away from androgynous names. This will only cause confusion for your little darlings and if the baby is wearing yellow and named Lynn - well, imagine the implications of that...
2) Stay away from foreign sounding names. These will only make your North American child feel like a dufus. As exception might be if the child is named after a relative or some other significant person, place, or idea. In this case, little Festus or Oakey will beam with pride that he is actually named after your favorite uncle or tree.
3) Try out potential nicknames. You might like the name Tubulias, but who really wants to be called Tubby?
4) Don't be too cute. Kids don't stay kids forever, so imagine Bambi, Misty, Buffy, and Bubbles trying to be taken seriously on a resume.

One more thing for Dr. Tesh - The saying "beside oneself" originated in ancient Greece. I guess they thought that when someone was under intense pressure, the soul left the body and hung out close by. So if you were freaking out about something, you were literally, beside yourself.

I think that is all the wisdom from him for today. My arm hurts from wildly patting my back for updating again so soon. I slept a lot last night and now I feel like a new person. The fair has come to town. I think that's about all I have to say for now.