Chit-Chat: What's On Your Mind Today?

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Quof said:

My computer is on its last legs, and I would like to replace it (including transferring everything) now rather than wait for it to die.   

So I went to the computer sales and service shop I have used exclusively for years.   My "guy" has retired!! The nerve! 

Now I'm lost.   I'm sure the new people are competent, but I trusted my guy's advice and recommendations.  Now I don't know what to do.  I wasn't enthralled with the limited options they have in stock, so started looking at other options including large online sellers like Best Buy.  I didn't fall for the "this is the last day for this sale price" pitch at one shop.  My needs are simple.  I can even find the newer version of the brand and model I have now on Amazon.  But then what do I do to get it set up with all of my data transferred?   I've copied everything to an external hard drive just to be safe (I think I have copied everything, what do I know? At least I have copied all Word and PDF documents).  

I wouldn't ask my IT savvy friends to do it, even paying them rather than as a favour, but I'm hoping they can recommend a shop.  

I've gone through this kind of situation more than a few times.
I purchased my current laptop in October, so my experience is still fresh in my mind and perhaps relevant technologically speaking.…

37 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

I use the Geek Squad at Best Buy. They've transferred everything when I bought a new phone (last year) & tablet (this year). I signed up for a program that provides Geek Squad support whenever I need it (I've used them twice: when things got squirrely with my phone, and my Kindle was acting strange). I'm definitely renewing this coverage. I don't have any tech savvy friends & my husband loathes trying to fix these things.

After months of research and talking it over with techy friends and relatives, I wound up buying my laptop through Best Buy because it is not far from my home which would allow easily taking it back within the return window if need be. 
And apparently returning an online purchase can be fraught.
But I am the Queen of Buyers Remorse, so it was just for my peace of mind. I did not return it, and haven't returned any computers, LOL.

After decades of PCs (about 8 of them purchased between 1992-2019) I went with a MacBook. No regrets, but I've also used an iPhone for about 10 years. 
And I wanted to be able to scan and create high resolution images of my artwork created with traditional, low-tech methods (paint, chalk, etc.).

Otherwise I might've just tried a Chromebook — although I think they're not as relatively inexpensive as they were 5 years ago?

 

Edited May 29 by shapeshifter

[Yeah No]

2 hours ago, Quof said:

My computer is on its last legs, and I would like to replace it (including transferring everything) now rather than wait for it to die.   

So I went to the computer sales and service shop I have used exclusively for years.   My "guy" has retired!! The nerve! 

Now I'm lost.   I'm sure the new people are competent, but I trusted my guy's advice and recommendations.  Now I don't know what to do.  I wasn't enthralled with the limited options they have in stock, so started looking at other options including large online sellers like Best Buy.  I didn't fall for the "this is the last day for this sale price" pitch at one shop.  My needs are simple.  I can even find the newer version of the brand and model I have now on Amazon.  But then what do I do to get it set up with all of my data transferred?   I've copied everything to an external hard drive just to be safe (I think I have copied everything, what do I know? At least I have copied all Word and PDF documents).  

I wouldn't ask my IT savvy friends to do it, even paying them rather than as a favour, but I'm hoping they can recommend a shop.  

I hear you about copying everything, I do that too and have done it several times, every time worrying I'll lose something.  After losing things before years ago I still worry even though I've gotten to the point where I pretty much know what to copy by now, even those sneaky temp files and downloads.  

I have a great laptop I use mostly for the internet and doesn't have all my files on it, but I'm dragging my feet about replacing my desktop computer which is now about 6 years old, getting slower and unfortunately not upgradable to Windows 11.  It's more about my general anxiety about making the change than anything else.  I've done it many times before but every time I feel like I might make a mistake and lose everything.  And that's despite the fact that I back everything up on at least 2 cloud-based platforms.  I especially dread the email program because I use a stand-alone program similar to Outlook where I download my email to my computer.  I have emails going back to the '90s on it that have been transferred to several computers by this time!  I always worry I'm going to lose them somehow even though I have them backed up several times over.  It's more about anxiety than anything else.

A few years ago a friend recommended a phone service called "One Support".  It's like a help desk you call for all kinds of computer/cell phone/smart device help.  They have a household plan for under $200 a year which sounds like a lot but so far it has been a godsend so it's well worth it.  The techs are very knowledgeable and amazing.  I will probably use them when I eventually get a new desktop just to hold my hand when I make the switch.  But even so I have anxiety about it!  Given that Microsoft won't be supporting Windows 10 after October 2025 I might have to break down and buy a new computer by then.

[Yeah No]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

I've gone through this kind of situation more than a few times.
I purchased my current laptop in October, so my experience is still fresh in my mind and perhaps relevant technologically speaking.…

After months of research and talking it over with techy friends and relatives, I wound up buying my laptop through Best Buy because it is not far from my home which would allow easily taking it back within the return window if need be. 
And apparently returning an online purchase can be fraught.
But I am the Queen of Buyers Remorse, so it was just for my peace of mind. I did not return it, and haven't returned any computers, LOL.

After decades of PCs (about 8 of them purchased between 1992-2019) I went with a MacBook. No regrets, but I've also used an iPhone for about 10 years. 
And I wanted to be able to scan and create high resolution images of my artwork created with traditional, low-tech methods (paint, chalk, etc.).

Otherwise I might've just tried a Chromebook — although I think they're not as relatively inexpensive as they were 5 years ago?

 

Good advice!  I would have gone through Best Buy if I didn't have Costco membership.  Costco is stellar with taking back electronics for any reason no questions asked.  And their prices often can't be beat, but Best Buy does come close at times except that Costco often gives free upgrades to memory and storage that no one else does including Best Buy.  Another lesser known reason why I would not do without a Costco membership.  It pays for itself in gas alone.  I filled up this week for 45 cents less per gallon than the going price in my area!

My husband has always been fascinated by Mac products but got a Microsoft based PC long ago and uses an i-phone.  He never realized why he could never get his iphone photos to work seamlessly with his PC until I read that one of the reasons for the lawsuit against Apple is that it makes itself incompatible with non-Apple products.  It's also why he somehow could never send me photos on my Android phone without problems (I still don't have photos he took from our Florida vacation last year).  So unfortunately he has decided that his next phone is going to be an Android device.  He is not technologically savvy enough to work around these issues and as a dyslexic experiences a lot of anxiety with them even at best.  And I don't blame him.   But I don't know why he doesn't just decide to go with a Mac computer but I guess after all these years and all the incompatibilities between the two I understand his decision especially because as he says he has too much trouble interfacing with people on non-Apple devices (like me).  So I get why you would want to have a Mac with an iphone to avoid those compatibility frustrations.

Re: the Chromebook, I was thinking about getting one when I was looking for a laptop but found out there are too many limitations to having one, so I went with a laptop that doesn't have much storage, which lowers the price a lot and I access my PC documents via cloud-based storage apps.  Google on the pros and cons of a Chromebook for more.

[shapeshifter]

11 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

Re: the Chromebook, I was thinking about getting one when I was looking for a laptop but found out there are too many limitations to having one, so I went with a laptop that doesn't have much storage, which lowers the price a lot and I access my PC documents via cloud-based storage apps.  Google on the pros and cons of a Chromebook for more.

Excellent summary of the Chromebook versus anything else, IMO.

 

10 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

Another lesser known reason why I would not do without a Costco membership.  It pays for itself in gas alone.  I filled up this week for 45 cents less per gallon than the going price in my area!

Gasbuddy.com shows the local Costco as 40¢ per gal. less than average right now, but I don't drive enough, and the Costco is too far away for me to justify it. The membership is now $60/yr for seniors, and I'd save at most $90/yr on gas. But if I was commuting regularly, it would make sense. 

Mom and Dad gassed up at Costco until the end of their lives, living in Hawaii where gas prices were higher through 2015 than most places are now.
It also was a flat surface where they could safely walk, so a bit of exercise in their late 80s. Plus, neither of them should've been driving anymore, but since there were no senior services providing transportation or meal deliveries where they lived, at least they only had to park in one place for most everything.
Stuff to think about for the future…

 

[EtheltoTillie]

I recently bought a refurbished Dell PC tower for $168 US (yes, that's the real price) from Amazon. We already had the monitor.  I needed it to replace the ancient extra computer in my office (used by my part-time assistant).  (for a variety of reasons we don't use laptops.)  I bought it on the recommendation of my IT guy, who is a paid IT person that I have also known for years.  He bought one for another client and it worked fine.  This one is working great so far, and for the price, you can't go wrong.  We are finding that these refurbished products are quite worthwhile lately.  I bought a refurbished iPad mini for $319 US, and it's also working great.  The newer generation would have cost me $800. 

As for people to help you set up, I do rely on this IT person tremendously.  I couldn't keep my office running without his help--things sometimes go very buggy, and I run a lot of programs at the same time.  Maybe you can find someone else like your former helper.  My IT guy can log in remotely for most tasks.  

2 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

And I wanted to be able to scan and create high resolution images of my artwork created with traditional, low-tech methods (paint, chalk, etc.).

 

 

How will you be scanning your artwork?  With a dedicated scanner?  Is it that the Mac works better for artists and graphics people?  I always hear that. 

[shapeshifter]

6 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

And I wanted to be able to scan and create high resolution images of my artwork created with traditional, low-tech methods (paint, chalk, etc.).

3 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

How will you be scanning your artwork?  With a dedicated scanner?

Yes, I have a scanner that takes up to 12.5" x 17" that was given to me by a computer lab manager at my former place of work. It had been sitting on a shelf for over a year when I asked about it, and she was happy to offload it.🤷🏻‍♀️New it would be well over $1,000. It's about 10 years old now, but still works.

3 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Is it that the Mac works better for artists and graphics people?  I always hear that. 

Yes. My middle daughter does gig work with graphics and kept coming back to that point when I asked her opinion on PC v Mac. This is even more true for me since I am most comfortable with PhotoShop after 25 years. 
As that daughter pointed out, all Adobe products are designed to interface with Macs.

I was really impressed at the ease with which the images were imported from that scanner and my little deskjet into my new Mac.
With my PCs, it always seemed to require a lot of downloading of drivers and kludges almost every frickin time. 

I suspect if I'd bought a Mac when I was doing that children's ABC book, the images would have been better and would have taken much less time for me to prep the for print.

But all 3 of my daughters were very skeptical of me making the change to Mac at age 70 and tried to dissuade me — which is understandable since they knew they'd have to listen to me complaining if I regretted it.
However, as I explained to all 3 of them (and therefore reminded myself) I'd regularly used Macs at my work and I'd had 1st-gen iPad that I used at work and home until Apple stopped providing updates. And then there's my iPhone.

But, mostly, having been an early adopter of technology, I spent many years inventing the wheel when there were no YouTube videos or Google to guide you.

I get the impression that most of the folks on this thread (and many corners of social media) cut their techno teeth on WYSIWYG interfaces.
So maybe stick with what you know unless you enjoy a challenge.

 

3 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I recently bought a refurbished Dell PC tower for $168 US (yes, that's the real price) from Amazon. We already had the monitor. 

If I ever move to my "forever home," I'd like to have a large monitor, with or without a tower. I was spoiled by my 22" monitor in my office at work.
Heh, I also miss road maps that you can unfold and see entire the route.

Edited May 29 by shapeshifter

[nokat]

2 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I get the impression that most of the folks on this thread (and many corners of social media) cut their techno teeth on WYSIWYG interfaces.
So maybe stick with what you know unless you enjoy a challenge.

I'm used to photoshop on windows. I also use an Android phone.  I find both easy enough.

I did smile at WYSIWYG, because a lot of software developers used that.

[Browncoat]

If you have a Mac, and use the time machine feature to back it up, you can boot up your new Mac from the time machine backup.  I don't know if that sort of thing is available on a non-Mac.

[supposebly]

When I upgraded my desktop with a new processor, motherboard and graphics card, all I had to do was plug in the drive that had Windows on it, and it worked. A few drivers needed upgrading, but that was it. 

If you can use your drive (it probably should be an SD drive, not one of those old big hard drive 'bricks', do they still make them?), you may be able to just plug it in. Assuming you're upgrading a desktop PC.

I would guess the same principle might apply if everything is backed up on a cloud.

[Ancaster]

 

On 5/27/2024 at 5:03 AM, Lisa418722 said:

The other day a coworker was talking about the WONDERFUL holidays we get.  Luckily I wasn't sitting in front of her because I rolled my eyes so hard I saw my brain.  We have four guaranteed holidays and another three possible, but if they fall on the weekend - SOL.  We won't get the Friday or Monday if the holiday is on the weekend. Thankfully Memorial Day is one of the guaranteed paid holidays.  

When I moved to the US thirty odd years ago and was offered my first job I literally laughed out loud in disbelief when the boss (who was the one interviewing me) told me I'd get a week's vacation after my first year.  (I was coming from a pretty unimportant admin job with four weeks paid plus 10+ public days.)

I negotiated two (weeks) - which was still ridiculously low as far as I was concerned, and we went from there.  When I left that place about a decade later I was still being thanked by those who came after me.

.

 

[Bastet]

Ugh, yes, the average allotment of paid time off in the U.S. is pathetic.  And then, as with your first job offer, there are companies that not only offer a tiny amount, but don't even give you that pittance until after you've worked there a year. 

[Ancaster]

9 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Ugh, yes, the average allotment of paid time off in the U.S. is pathetic.  And then, as with your first job offer, there are companies that not only offer a tiny amount, but don't even give you that pittance until after you've worked there a year. 

Yes, like I said, that was what was offered me - a week after a year. 

What makes it even more incomprehensible is that given the size of the country, a lot of people need more than a weekend to even get to make the journey to see their family.  Never mind travel for travel's sake.

[EtheltoTillie]

8 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

But, mostly, having been an early adopter of technology, I spent many years inventing the wheel when there were no YouTube videos or Google to guide you.

I get the impression that most of the folks on this thread (and many corners of social media) cut their techno teeth on WYSIWYG interfaces.
So maybe stick with what you know unless you enjoy a challenge.

 

 

I cut my teeth on DOS-based programs!  We had computer typesetting when I worked in publishing in the 80s, and you had to be able to code for the type faces and formats.  These were based on early word processing programs, such as Wang, which had dedicated terminals.

[ABay]

We have a collective bargaining unit and get 13 paid holidays a year plus 22 days of vacation that accrue and 15 sick days which also accrue. When we retire, we're paid for the remaining vacation and sick time (there's a cap but I don't remember the details. It's not as much as the teaching faculty, but it's better than some places. Unions. Join one if you can.

[Bastet]

3 hours ago, ABay said:

Unions. Join one if you can.

 

[Dimity]

16 hours ago, Bastet said:

Ugh, yes, the average allotment of paid time off in the U.S. is pathetic. 

My son works in Canada but for a US based company.  I don't think it's always the case but for him the holidays he gets are based on the US holidays not the Canadian.  Anyway if we hadn't realized before how few the US gets in comparison to us we certainly know it now.  On the other hand this is for stat holidays, to be fair he gets 3 weeks paid vacation which will be going up to 4 when he reaches a certain milestone (not sure what!).

Edited May 30 by Dimity

[Yeah No]

16 hours ago, Ancaster said:

Yes, like I said, that was what was offered me - a week after a year. 

What makes it even more incomprehensible is that given the size of the country, a lot of people need more than a weekend to even get to make the journey to see their family.  Never mind travel for travel's sake.

I first worked in higher ed. at a university where not only did we work a traditional "9 to 5" 35 hour week with time and a half overtime, but we also got tons of time off with pay including the week between Christmas and New Year's, many holidays, election day, Good Friday and Fridays off in July and August.  On top of that we had 20 paid days of vacation.  Fortunately from there I worked in big companies where the time off was almost as generous (it's hard to beat THAT after all).  At my next company, which was in health insurance, we had vacation AND personal time which amounted to another 5 days on top of 3 weeks (which increased to 4 weeks after 3 years).  I didn't get the week between Christmas and New Year's off again until I worked for another big Fortune 100 company that gave it to us.  Actually we could use the time on that week or substitute it on any week of our choosing.  It was similar at the next and last company I worked at as well, although by that time they had gone over to a "PTO" or paid time off structure.

I definitely don't regret choosing to work at companies that were generous with vacation and benefits.

[Ancaster]

5 hours ago, ABay said:

 Unions. Join one if you can.

I remember when I first learnt that "socialism" is a dirty word to many Americans.

[shapeshifter]

18 hours ago, Ancaster said:

When I moved to the US thirty odd years ago and was offered my first job I literally laughed out loud in disbelief when the boss (who was the one interviewing me) told me I'd get a week's vacation after my first year.  (I was coming from a pretty unimportant admin job with four weeks paid plus 10+ public days.)

18 hours ago, Ancaster said:

I negotiated two (weeks) - which was still ridiculously low as far as I was concerned, and we went from there.  When I left that place about a decade later I was still being thanked by those who came after me.

Oh, was that you?🙇🏻‍♀️
Kidding.
Still, I belatedly thank all the @Ancaster(s) out there who got employee compensation policies changed.
Very similar to where I worked: a small, private (non-union) college. When I started in 2001, you had to work a year before you got 2 weeks off. My boss generously *cough* allowed us to work 6 days a week so we could take "vacation" days (the library was open 6 days a week). 
About 10 years later they finally changed it and gave the 2 weeks vacation up front, during the first year. I honestly can't recall whether they retroactively gave the missing 2 weeks to those of us who had been hired in the Bad Ol' Days.
But, hey, like I mentioned upthread, I got a free used scanner out of the deal.
However, over the years, our benefits and time off kept diminishing. 

A former coworker who left about 8 years ago for a state school with a union mentioned recently that I really should have left with her — the pay, benefits, and especially the advancement are so much better. 

 

[PRgal]

4 hours ago, Dimity said:

My son works in Canada but for a US based company.  I don't think it's always the case but for him the holidays he gets are based on the US holidays not the Canadian.  Anyway if we hadn't realized before how few the US gets in comparison to us we certainly know it now.  On the other hand this is for stat holidays, to be fair he gets 3 weeks paid vacation which will be going up to 4 when he reaches a certain milestone (not sure what!).

So he doesn't get Canadian holidays off?  Like, he had to work on Victoria Day?  And he'll have to work on July 1?   My husband used to work for a US company and he got all the Canadian stats.

[Dimity]

33 minutes ago, PRgal said:

So he doesn't get Canadian holidays off?  Like, he had to work on Victoria Day?  And he'll have to work on July 1?   My husband used to work for a US company and he got all the Canadian stats.

Yep.  For instance he just got Memorial Day off but didn't get Victoria Day.  I have no idea what the rules are in this regard. I am surprised his company can do this but apparently they can.

[Yeah No]

7 hours ago, Dimity said:

My son works in Canada but for a US based company.  I don't think it's always the case but for him the holidays he gets are based on the US holidays not the Canadian.  Anyway if we hadn't realized before how few the US gets in comparison to us we certainly know it now.  On the other hand this is for stat holidays, to be fair he gets 3 weeks paid vacation which will be going up to 4 when he reaches a certain milestone (not sure what!).

I've worked for a few U.S. based multi-national companies with offices all over the world including Canada and I remember their holidays and vacation time being specific to their countries in all cases so hearing this is actually a surprise to me.  In fact they usually got even better vacation time than we did!  It was always my role to keep track of such things with regard to those people overseas that worked for the department I supported.

[Cloud9Shopper]

It was a day.

I will save more detail on this for the work thread, but a job rejected me because I didn’t have experience in a software program the hiring manager wanted. Never mind my other skills. It’s not like I was applying to be a cardiac surgeon when I have no medical license. I can learn a computer program FFS and this is why you can’t even give me an interview? At least make it make sense.

Tonight I had choir practice and occasionally I cantor (lead the Psalm) during Mass. At last week’s practice the director told me I could sing the Psalm this week and so tonight after practice I went to talk to him about it. He said to me how he was rehearsing with our guitarist for Mass this week (it’s just a one-off thing; we don’t always have a guitar player although the choir director does play guitar sometimes as well) and the guitarist said he could sing so my director told him he could sing the Psalm too! I acted like it was fine but it actually really hurts me that he took something away from me after telling me it was mine to handle. If he was going to change his mind on a dime he shouldn’t have promised the music to me last week. Especially because this person is just a guest and I’m actually there darn near every time the choir sings and I’ve been around for three years. I mean, at least if the solo had gone to another woman in the choir I would have been OK with it, as there are a few of us who sing solos and there is no bitterness or competition between us. 

Sometimes there is truly nothing more aggravating than Catholic church politics. Oh well. Choir season is almost over. Only two practices and two Masses left before the summer. 

[Caoimhe]

On 5/29/2024 at 11:58 PM, EtheltoTillie said:

I cut my teeth on DOS-based programs!  We had computer typesetting when I worked in publishing in the 80s, and you had to be able to code for the type faces and formats.  These were based on early word processing programs, such as Wang, which had dedicated terminals.

I did too, but in IT.  We went from “terminals” that connected to the mainframe to eventually have PCs on our desks. The department secretary had one of those Wang terminals!

Tech is where I admit I overbuy.  If my embroidery/sewing/quilting programs would run on MacOS I probably wouldn’t have a Windows machine any more but I found BootCamp and Parallels didn’t run them very smoothly so decided a big Windows desktop was the answer.  I like the towers because I can easily swap out the drives when I need more space and my 32” monitor is good for digitizing embroidery designs.  In fact my five year old MacBook really needs replacing but it will have to wait because I’ve just upgraded my six year old iPad!

[Yeah No]

19 hours ago, Caoimhe said:

I did too, but in IT.  We went from “terminals” that connected to the mainframe to eventually have PCs on our desks. The department secretary had one of those Wang terminals!

That was my experience at the university where I worked in the '80s.  At first the terminals were in a bank up against the wall.  Then we each had one put on our desks.  I remember the DOS based word processing too.  I actually had an email address to communicate with other universities to share mailing lists of prospective students.  I didn't even know at the time what an email address was, it was just a way of identifying myself to communicate with people at the other end.  I do remember that emailing someone at another university was time consuming and involved many c prompts.

When we still had the terminals I remember being able to use a mainframe chat function where I could talk in real time with my friends on campus.  We arranged lunch with each other, shot the breeze, etc.  In 1988.  I could see them typing as they typed.  You typed your message after a C prompt.  Little did we know that something like this was going to be BIG in the future, LOL.  Our messages were only received by the person we were writing to but given that they were going through the mainframe they weren't technically private.  So we were always aware of that, although back then I don't think the tech. people with that access were watching us much and if they were they didn't care.

ETA:  This post pretty accurately describes the mainframe chat function and how we felt using it, although in my case we didn't see everyone else that was logged in, only the two people in our chat:

https://prairiewest.net/2013/02/before-texting-there-was-mainframe-chat/

Edited June 1 by Yeah No

[ECM1231]

My favorite niece on my husband's side is getting married today. The wedding venue is a winery on the east end of Long Island. I'm excited because I have never been to any of our wineries, although we have visited the east end several times. It's definitely chillier there than here, but the temperature should reach 76° at the time of the ceremony. It's dropping to the 60s, quickly though, so I need to bring a sweater.

[BlueSkies]

There’s a lot of of things in my life I’m realizing can both be blessings and curses.  

[oliviabenson]

3 hours ago, ECM1231 said:

My favorite niece on my husband's side is getting married today. The wedding venue is a winery on the east end of Long Island. I'm excited because I have never been to any of our wineries, although we have visited the east end several times. It's definitely chillier there than here, but the temperature should reach 76° at the time of the ceremony. It's dropping to the 60s, quickly though, so I need to bring a sweater.

A very lovely day in NY! Wishing the best to the newlyweds!

[EtheltoTillie]

I just came from a baby naming on Eastern Long Island myself. It was so touching.  the rabbi also married the couple two years ago. 

[annzeepark914]

Speaking of baby names, I'm so happy that real first names are returning. I've encountered Stella, Cora, Lily, Amelia, and just yesterday, (at Wegmans) a very adorable baby boy named Miles, sitting in the cart, whose big blue eyes were attracting all the grandmas 🤗. 

[Browncoat]

There was a piece on (I think) CBS Sunday Morning recently about people who actually pay other people to pick their babies' names.  

[annzeepark914]

7 hours ago, Browncoat said:

There was a piece on (I think) CBS Sunday Morning recently about people who actually pay other people to pick their babies' names.  

Why do they let someone else name their child?

[Browncoat]

4 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

Why do they let someone else name their child?

No idea.  I was too gobsmacked by them paying someone to do it that I lost track of the rest of the story.  And wondering how you get started in that -- pay me!  I'll name your child!

[Caoimhe]

13 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

Speaking of baby names, I'm so happy that real first names are returning. I've encountered Stella, Cora, Lily, Amelia, and just yesterday, (at Wegmans) a very adorable baby boy named Miles, sitting in the cart, whose big blue eyes were attracting all the grandmas 🤗. 

Husband has been watching the ladies’ golf this weekend.  There’s a young amateur playing whose first name is Asterisk, I thought at first they were saying that as noting she was playing as an amateur.  No, her name IS Asterisk.  It makes me wonder what her parents’ thought process was!

[Browncoat]

I once overheard a woman telling her child, Tylenol, to behave.  

[Dimity]

1 hour ago, Caoimhe said:

 It makes me wonder what her parents’ thought process was!

I used to work in a place where I had to register children for various programs.  Let's just say most parents "wouldn't have a Willy or a Sam (no Sam)" the longer I was there the more out of left field the names became.  Which was fine as long as you didn't try to spell one of them.  Parents, name your kid whatever you want (they will love you or hate you for it down the road) but for gods sake buy a clue, if you want to name your child Mikelanjelandrio don't get pissed at the poor person who asks "and how do you spell that?".

Edited June 2 by Dimity

[PRgal]

1 hour ago, Dimity said:

I used to work in a place where I had to register children for various programs.  Let's just say most parents "wouldn't have a Willy or a Sam (no Sam)" the longer I was there the more out of left field the names became.  Which was fine as long as you didn't try to spell one of them.  Parents, name your kid whatever you want (they will love you or hate you for it down the road) but for gods sake buy a clue, if you want to name your child Mikelanjelandrio don't get pissed at the poor person who asks "and how do you spell that?".

Would that be Mee-kel-ahn-hel-AHN-DREE-oh?  I've had Cintia and Sinfia before.  Cintia, I get - it's a legit spelling in some languages.  I'm not sure if Sinfia is.  

Edited June 2 by PRgal

[annzeepark914]

I know someone whose govt job involved visiting day care centers around her state. She swears that one little kid was named Ninetyfivesouth (cause that's where he was born!) Some of the kids were named after automobiles, soaps, etc. Wish I could remember the names. 95S must be about 25+ now. Hope he changed his name a long time ago.

 

[Moose135]

All this talk about baby names requires me to post this...

Yes, this was a real commercial. I remember seeing it on TV a couple of times.

[Bastet]

38 minutes ago, Moose135 said:

All this talk about baby names requires me to post this...

"Aw, yuck!"

Some names are utterly ridiculous, but I like that there's so much more variety now than when I was a kid.  Even in small classrooms, there were always at least two kids who had to go by their first name and last initial to distinguish them from the other kid with that first name.  I don't remember which grade it was, but I had three Jennifers in my class, so one was Jennifer, one was Jenny, and one was Jen.  (IIRC, normally all three would mostly go by Jenny, so I don't know how they decided who'd be what name at school.)

[Annber03]

I knew so many girls named Sara/Sarah when I was in school. Jessica and Jennifer were also fairly popular names. And my sister's name was SUPER popular, too - one of her best friends even shared both her first and middle name.

I was lucky in that there were a couple other girls with my name when I was in school, but I rarely shared any classes with them, so the whole "which one are you talking to?" thing wasn't really an issue. Apparently my name hit its peak of popularity in the early '70s, and I was born in '84, so maybe if I'd been born a decade or so earlier I might've gone to school with more girls who shared my name :p. 

[PRgal]

4 minutes ago, Bastet said:

"Aw, yuck!"

Some names are utterly ridiculous, but I like that there's so much more variety now than when I was a kid.  Even in small classrooms, there were always at least two kids who had to go by their first name and last initial to distinguish them from the other kid with that first name.  I don't remember which grade it was, but I had three Jennifers in my class, so one was Jennifer, one was Jenny, and one was Jen.  (IIRC, normally all three would mostly go by Jenny, so I don't know how they decided who'd be what name at school.)

When I was at a girls-only school for middle and high school, maybe 20% of my class was made up of Jennifers, Sara(h)s, Katherines (of various spellings, including a Kathryn)/Kathleens and Karens (ALL of them were Asian (I think there were five)).  There were 90-ish kids in my graduating class.  I was the only Cynthia/Cindy.  

[Browncoat]

My high school class was very small (fewer than 50 students), and there were five of us with my name.

[Annber03]

I work at a medical clinic filling out FMLA forms for patients, and sometimes I'll see someone's name and the way it's spelled, and then I'll see the year they were born, and I'll be like, "...yeah, that tracks." :p. It's always interesting the creative ways people will spell common names sometimes, in an attempt to make them stand out a litltle more. 

[PRgal]

21 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

Speaking of baby names, I'm so happy that real first names are returning. I've encountered Stella, Cora, Lily, Amelia, and just yesterday, (at Wegmans) a very adorable baby boy named Miles, sitting in the cart, whose big blue eyes were attracting all the grandmas 🤗. 

All of the kids in my son’s kindergarten class have nice, “normal” names. 

[annzeepark914]

32 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

It's always interesting the creative ways people will spell common names sometimes, in an attempt to make them stand out a litltle more. 

But what a PITA for the kids who always have to spell their names. I always had to spell my simple, 5 letter last name. It was incredible how people mispronounced it, turning it into a completely different name. When I worked on the hill, I introduced myself using only my middle name and for several years, while in DC, never had to spell my last name. Years later I married a guy whose last name always has to be spelled & is always mangled (but it's a Swiss name, so I get it). It must be great to have a name like Johnson, Anderson, Smith, Jones 🤗

[Ancaster]

21 hours ago, Browncoat said:

There was a piece on (I think) CBS Sunday Morning recently about people who actually pay other people to pick their babies' names.  

There's a good reason why the French restrict their names.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/forbidden-baby-names-france_n_5a0908b2e4b0e37d2f385889

Edited June 2 by Ancaster

[shapeshifter]

33 minutes ago, Ancaster said:

There's a good reason why the French restrict their names.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/forbidden-baby-names-france_n_5a0908b2e4b0e37d2f385889

In theory I support this, but some of those rejected names seemed fine to me and the reasons for the rejections didn’t seem adequate or likely, which made me wonder if the judges really objected because of something about the parents’ appearance, such as piercings or hairstyle.

[SoMuchTV]

2 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

It must be great to have a name like Johnson, Anderson, Smith, Jones

You mean like Johnston, Andersen, Smythe, Jonze?

ETA to be clear, I’m not at all trying to belittle @annzeepark914 ‘s gripe. More like, no telling what will cause confusion! 

Edited June 2 by SoMuchTV

[Annber03]

1 hour ago, annzeepark914 said:

Years later I married a guy whose last name always has to be spelled & is always mangled (but it's a Swiss name, so I get it). It must be great to have a name like Johnson, Anderson, Smith, Jones 🤗

My mom's maiden name is like that. It's a German name, and she lost count of how many teachers struggled to pronounce it when she was in school. It was also so long that she could never fit her full name on the Iowa Basic Skills Test. My dad used to joke that my mom married him simply because his last name was easier to pronounce and spell :p.

Strangely, despite my first name being a fairly common one, I still occasionally get people who aren't sure how to spell it. They always want to switch a couple of the letters around, or put an "i" in between a couple letters.