Ancestry.com showed me that my great grandfather arrived here with one last name and procreated with my great grandmother under another--and not due to the common Ellis Island changes that I'd expected.

They didn't change names at Ellis Island -- it's a myth.

Both my parents' last names are misspelled from the original. My paternal grandfather didn't know how his last name was spelled when he went to school so he just winged it. His mother had divorced his father and either remarried or started going back to her last name and never talked about her first husband.

Then Mom's maiden name is misspelled because (according to the story) when my great great grandfather (??) was sent to an Indian School they misunderstood and put a d where an r should have been.

Rats, I just found out that one of my good neighbors is moving out.

In a bit of good news, I made the A team in roller derby and my league got into WFTDA--the Women's Flat Track Roller Derby Association. Well, sort of. We got wait listed until their April rounds because they don't have enough mentor leagues. But still! Our application got accepted!

Kick ass! Our next-door neighbor just got a spot on the Cincy Rollergirls. She does not have a Derby name yet.

Okay, this clip of Kristen Bell having all the feels is entirely redeemed by Ellen being awesome. I know I was just bitching about Brian Moylan, but I can't lie, I judge right along with him. I just can't deal with that.

I've had 4 glasses of wine, whee! And Brian ONCE AGAIN fed us. Damnit. I was trying to be all surreptitious, and snuck over to the server...only to learn Brian beat me to it. I swear, it's a compulsion of his.

So I found out tonight I was a bit of an unwitting catalyst in my next door neighbor and his new wife's romance! See, they'd been casually corresponding for a couplethree years (she was in Central America, and when they first met as friends through her US housemate, his marriage was collapsing, and she didn't even consider him dateable.) Anyway, the correspondence and skype had gotten pretty regular, but they still hadn't really moved beyond that. And I moved in. Apparently, I made enough of an impression on B, that he told J aaaalllll about me over several phone calls (I ended up talking to him a lot both before moving in and once I did) and was all excited. And she realized that she was feeling jealous and territorial. And then she mentioned something that made him realize likewise. So they arranged to meet up and the rest is history. Heehee.

I started whooping with laughter when she started to tell me. But awesome! She's a great deal of fun, and I think I've convinced her to go to Bhutan.

Damn, I love where I live.

My grandfather changed his name on purpose at Ellis Island, thinking he needed something short and snappy to make himself a Real American. Following which (after working his way West in the cooking tents of various mining and logging camps), he moved to a Greek neighborhood, surrounded himself with Greek friends, married a Greek woman, and lived the next eighty years, perfectly content, in a snug little expat bubble.

And my grandmother was turned away from Ellis Island because the quota for Greek immigrants had already been met for the year, so instead she went to Mexico, lived on her uncle's ranch for two years (he had emigrated a few years earlier, came back to visit, and took her back with him when he saw how wretched her wicked stepmother was making her), and came to the US to marry my grandfather as a Mexican citizen.

She also spoke five languages fluently (Greek, English, Bulgarian, Spanish and Romanian), never had a cruel word to say about anybody, and could skunk the hell out of you at blackjack. She was pretty awesome, I tell you what. And that's worth knowing, except that ancestry.com couldn't tell me any of it aside from the entry-to-US dates.

Cash, your nephew has the loveliest, most thoughtful eyes! Vibing him and his serious wee face all kinds of big-and-strong~ma.

The Enwright branch of my family has the W because someone thought it seemed fancier.

Kick ass! Our next-door neighbor just got a spot on the Cincy Rollergirls. She does not have a Derby name yet.

I love thinking up derby names! Cincy is a great league, too.

I can't wait until Reece is big enough that I can visit and hold him. He's going to catch up in size. My sister says he's as feisty as all get out.

Great news, Cash! And Reece is amazing -- his eyes are mesmerizing.

Kat, no email yet, just FYI.