non-existent traffic and the power of a name

It's started again. My work day overlaps with Jer's work day by one hour for the next few weeks, which means I'll see him next Saturday. As a result, last night I managed to be fairly productive. I went to the gym and jogged in place for awhile, took the water taxi home, cleaned up cat vomit, replaced a light bulb in the hallway, and made spaghetti. So glamorous!

I meant to work on my photo site and also find some books to sell on half.com, but I'll do that another night. Or I'll sit on the couch, rub my belly, and teach myself to belch the national anthem. You know, whatever.

Yesterday I bought airplane tickets for our holiday visit with the families. It occurs to me that if I'm going to change my name, now I can't do it until after we return. I don't want to bother with worrying about getting all the paperwork changed in time, and then trying to have the name changed on my ticket.

It seems like I should be absolutely sure whether or not I'm going to change my name, that I should have strong opinions, but I don't. The new name would be simple, but would make me sound like a cheerleader. The current name is impossible to spell and pronounce but easy to find via a search engine. I'm leaning toward changing it because how nice would it be to have a simple name? Do you have any idea how much of my life is wasted saying v as in victor, blah blah, n as in nancy, f as in frank, blah blah, s as in sam? A lot, I say. And it's not even our original family name, it was butchered at some border crossing somewhere, presumably Ellis Island, so ties to tradition don't hold a lot of weight. The only thing I'd really lose is the conversation aspect, when the person stumbles over my name and asks if it's Greek, and I say yes. Again, not a huge loss. It's not like my name has ever gotten me a free gyro at the Greek festival or anything.

In other fronts, if you're not watching Seattle news, you probably don't know the I-5 freeway is closed off and on between Spokane Street and I-90 for the next two weeks, and how some folks call it Freeway Fright '07. So far it hasn't been particularly frightful, which is good. I've been riding the next earlier bus from my normal one, and haven't experienced any problems. Knock on wood that it stays that way. It's the main reason Jer switched his hours to night-time, to avoid the mess. Part of me almost hopes we see some fright soon though, so the inconvenience feels worth it.