I was thinking of waiting...

...until October 29, 2018, but now seems as good a time as ever to end this blog. In short, my heart just isn't in it anymore. (Why October 29? That's when I began writing this, almost ten years ago.)

Why is my heart no longer in it? I don't know; maybe I'm just tired of writing. I've lost interest in high school sports and the Trump Era has been positively demoralizing. But I find I even have less enthusiasm for such regular features as the Name of the Day and notable obituaries.

I remember when my friend Kevin shaved his mustache one day and explained that mustaches were "an eighties thing" and he was just plain tired of having it. I thought he was crazy but a few years later I felt the same way and shaved mine after having it for about 25 years. Now I can't imagine anyone wearing a mustache! Similarly, I couldn't understand how my blogging idol, Andrew Sullivan, could stop publishing the Daily Dish three years ago. Why would anyone stop blogging? How could you? Who would ever run out of things to say? Well, I guess I understand now. I've been doing this for almost a decade now and I think I'm just burned out.

Thanks to all of you for reading and commenting. It's been a real fun experience for me. I'll leave the blog up and -- who knows? -- if the spirit moves me maybe I'll post again from time to time. But I think I'm pretty much done.

Oh, you can still follow me on Twitter @BoringOldWhtGuy. Heck, I'm not dead.

The Name of the Day...

...belongs to Michael Tree, a violist who died at age 84.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "Tree" isn't so unusual for a last name. But consider this from his obit in the Times:

Mr. Tree was born Michael Applebaum on Feb. 19, 1934, in Newark. His wife said he adopted the last name Tree at the suggestion of Efrem Zimbalist, his principal teacher at Curtis.

And that's it. Why "Tree"? It doesn't say. How about his Wikipedia entry?

Zimbalist insisted that Tree change his name from Applebaum to advance his career.

How would changing his name to "Tree" advance his career? It doesn't say.

Of all the names in the world, why did he change his to "Tree"? Why not Smith or Jones? Well, for one thing, "Baum" means "tree" in German. Is that why he changed it, to Anglicize it? I still don't get why that would "advance his career."