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The word “avocado” comes from the Nahuatl word āhuacatl (”testicle”, a reference to the shape of the fruit). Historically avocados had a long-standing stigma as a sexual stimulant and were not purchased or consumed by any person wishing to preserve a chaste image.

As a fan of both etymology and of avocados, I found this interesting.

Speaking of words, I want to also link the word haberdasher to Brendan, to help him keep that number three rank in Google for the search term, right behind Wikipedia and Websters. Well done.

And since you are wondering now like I am…

haberdasher - 1311, from Anglo-Fr. hapertas “small wares,” of unknown origin. At first “a dealer in small articles of trade,” sense of “dealer in men’s wares” is 1887 in Amer.Eng., via intermediate sense of “seller of hats.”

When Manny left for the west coast, I was left with a tattered “24″ t-shirt and an empty spot on my favorite Red Sox player list. I had some thoughts as to where my allegiance would be placed next, but at this point, I don’t think there is any doubt. It’s Dustin Pedroia.

A loud mouthed, 5′8″, 170 pound, scrappy, intense, hit machine that owns both the plate, and the area between first and second base. He is a blast to watch, has a nutty personality, plays his ass off, and is hitting the bejesus out of the ball for the second year in a row.

“Yeah, he’s one of a kind,” Roberts says. “He and I work out at the same place in Arizona in the off-season, and I’ve seen him call out NFL players during Ping-Pong games, asking them when they’re starting Jenny Craig. He told Brady Quinn, who is a monster, a physical specimen, ‘I’m going to rip this ball right off your throat.’ He’s a piece of work.” On and on it goes. Day after day, in these pregame hours, Pedroia stirs the pot, dishing out threats and insults and mixing in bold predictions about his performance at the plate. He has already texted Millar, “Did you bring your glasses for the laser show tonight?”

How do you not love this guy?

What is the logic behind fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt? Is there any benefit to this? I want answers, and I couldn’t find much. Except this great Mitch Hedberg clip…and any excuse to post a Mitch Hedberg video makes things alright.

A couple of random things, none of which deserve a full post.

Moving Day In Boston
In case you are new to the city, or just haven’t been paying attention, September 1 is fast approaching and ye best take note. I think roughly 158% of the cities apartment leases turn over on this day, and this year it happens to fall on Labor Day weekend, so it should be a 4 day extravaganza of moving trucks (and moving trucks getting stuck under Storrow Drive Bridges), bed bugs, traffic jams, trash, and madness. Thank god I will be wrapping up my time in Newport for the weekend, and will be far-far away from the nuttiness.

The New England Coast In The Summer
Speaking of Newport, I have to say…is there anything better than the New England coast in the summertime? Having traveled to a fair enough amount of places, I can say with pretty good certainty at this point, that the New England coast during July and August is one of my favorite places on earth. Maybe it is because the summers seem so short, that they take on a higher value around here, but I also think the big cliffs, rocky shores, seafood, boats, harbors, and architecture of the areas also make it just perfect.

If you haven’t spent time on Cape Cod, Block Island, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, or been to Newport or Southern Maine in the summer, you are really missing out. There is nothing like it.

Punky Style
A big congrats to Amy (aka “Punky”), who was featured along with her blog punkystyle.com, in this month’s Stuff At Night Magazine. I’ve said it before, and I will say it again - she has done just an amazing job with that site, and is the model (figuratively and literally) that others should look to when attempting to create good, original, genuine niche content on the web. Congrats Amy!

View the article here.

Sort Of Around Part Of The World In 7 Days
I’ve got some travel upcoming at the end of September that will take me from Boston, to London, to Chicago in the span of 7 days, so if there is anyone out there that is interested in trying to meet up for professional or personal reasons in any of those cities, drop me a line. Also planning on being in NYC in November, for the annual AdTech show.