Shirley Palmer

<--------- Shirley Palmer

I don't know Shirley Palmer, pictured, but I love her name.  It sounds like a cocktail. She is the CFO of a private equity firm.

I am often asked about Eitan's name, which means 'strong,' 'firm,' and 'impetuous' in Hebrew (it is also one of the most popular names in Israel ). When Sonnet in the third-trimestre we pondered the naming-decision's powerful long-term consequences.  And, since 2000, the dawn of the dot-com era, I wanted to go with something weird like "Atom" or "Egon".  Fortunately Sonnet's judgment prevailed and, while not quite up there with the great African American names (A quick review of the NFL offers : Daunte Culpepper, Jarious Jackson, DeJuan Tribble, Melvin Bullitt .. . ) , Eitan holds its own.

My sixth-grade class, which was equally mixed blacks and whites, had Candy Jackson, Jabber Wilson, LaChantelle Williams and Phat and Trung, who only need a first-name like "Madonna." Total boat people story, too. All beautiful kids .. Sadly, at least four of my 25-class dead from unnatural causes.

As for Phat and Turng : They worked for the Golden Eye commercial fishing boat out of the Berkeley Marina for years. Then bought it. Then bought two other commercial fishing boats. Phat was always the serious one who introduced me to black fighting crickets. Trung is married with a couple of kids. Their parents opened up a Viet Namese restaurant on University Ave in Berkeley which was there for years. They recently retired. A good story.