The nicknames

Okay, in case anybody joined our program a little late, I use nicknames all of the place because it's not my business to call folks out by name. I will provide, however, a bit of a primer on who these people are...

PHSChemGuy

That's me. I was MtHChemGuy before that because I was teaching at Mount Healthy High School, but I opened up the Hotmail account PHSChemGuy (no longer operational) when I got the job at PHS, and I've stuck with it ever since.

The Girl

That's my wife. She and I met in junior high, began dating in high school, and got married in 2000. She's asked me to keep her name and photo off of the blog because she doesn't like her identity to be out there any more than it already is. I have, at last check, slipped a couple dozen times - most recently this summer - and used her real first name.

The Girl came about because, when we were in college, she would typically refer to me as The Boy to her friends. As in "The Boy is coming to visit this weekend." Somewhere along the way, I picked up a similar nickname for her, partially because she refused to answer to Cutie Pie - which I still use from time to time and she has come to tolerate.

The Homestead

This is home, the house, the domicile, the place where I lay my head most every night. We've lived here in West Chester for three and a half years now, having moved out here from our home in Northside, a nice neighborhood in Cincinnati proper. Before that, we were in an apartment near UC for a year.

The Homestead was chosen because of it's approximately equidistant from PHS and where The Girl was working in Hamilton until last year. It has also lead to The Girl's new job a scant 1.1 miles from The Homestead.

The Surrogate Family

That's Calen's brood, the one with whom I've subbed picking Calen's eldest up for practice once, gone to a baseball game in the Dad role, and generally hung around with a bunch. Once, the youngest member of The Surrogate Family showed up with me when you Google image searched my name. No longer, however.

The Pater Familias

That's Dad, he of minor interweb fame. I'm amazingly close to who he is and find myself growing more and more like him almost every day - though he would clearly never make something like this ever lengthening blog. He's a high school teacher and has been at the same school for forty-plus years now, the same school that he (and I and The Sister) attended. He's a general presence in The Hometown as he's taught half of its residents (or so it seems), managed one of the local community (private, admittedly) pools, has run for office (unsuccessfully), and has been a member of the Police Merit Board (in charge of the police department) for as long as I can remember. He's a member of the Indiana High School Tennis Coaches Hall of Fame. And he's a big fan of James Bond, Charles Bronson, and Chuck Norris.

The Sister

She's around here as - at different times - Amellia or Jadis. She's a teacher, too, but back in The Hometown, or at least in the same system we all went through.

The Hometown

Back home again in Indiana, this town is New Albany, colloquially known as N'Albany, right across the river from Lou'ville, KY.

CoachSullivan

He and I went to high school together. I was the best man at his wedding. If ever I end up on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, he's a contact...easy choice there.

ColdNorthGamer

Also a high school friend, and the one who's been the furthest around the world, he having lived in Singapore for a while. His kid's on the fridge a few times.

Calen

I work with her.

Joey, CMorin, Mr Echt, DanEcht, Murravener, Katydid, Grace

They're all former students of mine. I'll let their various blogs speak for themselves.

Achilles3

He's a bum...big bum. Used to teach at PHS, headed out to Korea under clearly shady circumstaces. Probably a security risk.

Did I miss anybody?