Monthly Archives: July 2006

Longfellow’s laughing Allegra

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I was telling some friends about my Mom’s situation (currently in hospital), and they asked about her name (which is Allegra). When they asked me where the name came from, I didn’t know.

So today when I stopped by to visit Mom, I asked her if she knew how her parents chose her name. Mom said she believed it came from a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who had a daughter named Allegra.

From my study I see in the lamplight,
Descending the broad hall stair,
Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra,
And Edith with golden hair.

Mom told me she heard this story much later in life, from her sister. Apparently there is some question as to how true it is. Nevertheless, I thought it was an interesting story and worthy of posting here.

If you’d like to read the entire poem, here’s a link to The Children’s Hour by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Worst URLs?

Good Idea: Getting a domain name for your company.
Bad Idea: Not realizing the domain name can mean something else…

Leave the kids at home when you buy flowers or trees at the Mole Station Native Nursery. www.molestationnursery.com

Who Represents is a website where you can find the agent that represents your favorite celebrity. Just don’t forget the gifts when you visit. www.whorepresents.com

Get a custom-made pen from Pen Island. www.penisland.net

And last but not least, the website for an Italian Power Generator company. www.powergenitalia.com

Yes, these are actual domain names. Visit the Top 10 unintentionally worst company URLs for the full list.

Note: Since many of these domains no longer work, all links in this post now go through an archived version on the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

Will the dishwasher be next?

The other day I was doing laundry and the washer (which was original to my 23 year old condo) decided it had enough of this life and died. [sigh] Time to buy a new one. Might as well replace the dryer too, which is also two decades old. After shopping around a bit, I got out the credit card and bought those today.

Once they are delivered (which I hope will happen before my clean underwear runs out), I will have replaced every major appliance here, except for the refrigerator and dishwasher. New stove, furnace, air conditioner, water heater, and now the washer and dryer — all in about a year and a half. I’m betting on the dishwasher to go next, it’s the last original appliance. Any takers?

My Morning Jacket

The band I was looking forward to most at this year’s Summerfest was My Morning Jacket. Coming off the heels of one of my favorite albums of 2005, I had high expectations. I wondered how this unique band’s recorded music (which sounds elaborately produced) would come off live. I was not disappointed. The show started off with the opening drones of “Wordless Chorus.” When the lead singer got to the line “We are the innovators, they are the imitators” I thought, you can say that again.

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The Summerfest cup runneth over

I’ve spent the past few days in Milwaukee, hanging out with friends and going to Summerfest. One of the great things about the fest can be amount of talent that’s available. With the main-stage amphitheater and seven major side-stages there is of a lot of music going on. Sometimes, the quality of the acts on a given night can be so high it’s tough to decide which act to focus on. In some ways this can be a bad thing. Because there are so many bands you want to see, you can end up seeing a smattering of a lot of acts, missing out on each band’s entire performance.

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