Ray Brinzer

After six days as “Baby X”, “what’s-her-face”, and so on, our child got her name: Astrid Theresa Brinzer. Astrid I got from the Heimskringla, a Norse saga I read parts of as a lad, and Theresa after the young lady’s maternal grandmother. Six days after that, I finally got around to publishing the fact; life isn’t exactly busy, but I seem to have no free time.

Astrid Eiriksdottir’s story made a big impression on me. When her husband, the king, is murdered, she flees with her faithful men and bears a son in hiding on a small island in a lake. The name stuck in my mind, and 20-some years later wound up as an afterthought on a long list of names for Felabi to consider (and, mostly, reject).

Felabi and I have almost directly contrary sentiments about names: I prefer old, traditional, literary names, preferably associated with remarkable people, while she prefers “unique”, contemporary names. This makes the naming process arduous; the winning names have been names old and foreign enough to sound striking to her.

This morning, at (I think) 9:23 am, we had a little girl. “Little” is relative; at 8 pounds 12 ounces, and 21 inches long, she seemed a bit large for her mother’s taste. Still, the whole process went quickly and easily compared to our first.

We haven’t named her yet. It’s a bit odd, having a little person with no name. We’ll do that shortly.

Update: Some pictures.

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From Instapundit, I learn that there exists a device with no other purpose than to open horribly-packaged goods.

The sole virtue of clamshell packaging being nearly impossible to open by hand seems to be to deter shoplifters. The fact that it is a serious annoyance to honest customers has not, thus far, done much to diminish its popularity with retailers. Googling about, I find that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimated there were 6,500 emergency room visits related to plastic packaging in 2004. Lovely. In the interest of public safety, I propose arming known shoplifters with Universal Package Openers, thus rendering clamshell packaging undesirable to everyone.

While that campaign is being waged, though, it seems other forces may contribute to the extinction of the clamshell. I’m not too surprised. I actually rather expect the stuff will go away, eventually; angering customers can’t work forever. I don’t think I’ll ever look back on the stuff with the same humor as, say, goofy styrofoam hamburger boxes, however.