After reading Jenn’s recent post, I’ve decided she’s correct. It is usual but rather dull to refer to family and friends by identifiers like "my husband", my good friend "C", "the next-door neighbor", etc. It ‘s much more fun to come up with monikers to fit their personalities.

    Drumroll, please.

    Henceforth, my husband shall be known as The Wiz – partly because of his web site, but mostly because he really IS "The Wiz" – no problem is too big or too small for him to tackle with imagination and gusto. What that man can do armed only with duct tape and a couple of twist-ties boggles the mind. In the last few days alone, The Wiz has installed a new kitchen faucet, rebuilt two noisy computers, brought my dead reading lamp back to life, and resuscitated the pool filter – all while tweaking his new website, programming 32 shows to record on four different machines, and amassing stratospheric scores for "Bejeweled".

    My good friend and neighbor "C" now becomes Steeler Girl, and her husband, Steeler Guy (what these lack in originality they make up for in accuracy). I shall continue to change or omit some names to protect the guilty - but if they’ve shuffled off this mortal coil, all bets are off.

    As for me? I’ve decided I like the idea of referring to myself in the third person – if it’s good enough for Bossy, it’s good enough for me - so just call me Chatty. Chatty hasn’t checked, and there may be others in cyberspace that have also adopted this as a nom de plume, but she asks you – are they crafty? Can they cook? OK, probably. However, she’s the Internet’s only Chatty Crafty Cook, and she has the domain name to prove it. And because we all know that a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, Chatty reserves the right to revert to "I" when she considers it more appropriate.

    Now, if the rest of you would please form an orderly line, Chatty will start passing out nicknames. Suggestions are welcome, but Chatty’s decision will be final.