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Some folks have asked why my blog is named Weezipedia. It’s mash-up of two facts about me.

First, my friends nicknamed me Weezie. Twenty years ago (yes, 20!), the movie Steel Magnolias came out. Shirley MacLaine played a cranky old lady named Ouiser. I can’t imagine why my friends would associate me with a character like that, but they did. About the same time as the movie came out, we were all laughing really hard about something and I laughed so hard I started wheezing. In nickname algebra, Ouiser + Wheezing = Weezie. And that is what they have called me ever since.

I HATE this nickname and I particularly hate it when they use it in public, especially in front of people that don’t know me. But you have to pick your battles and this is obviously one I have lost.

I do have to admit it helps us find each other in a crowd. If we become separated or if we’re looking for each other, I’ll hear someone yell, “Weezie!” It doesn’t take long for us to find each other after that because no one else in their right mind would answer to it.

The other part—pedia, as in encyclopedia, Wikipedia, etc.—is because people ask me random questions all the time. I LOVE being asked a question I don’t know the answer to because I find digging for the answer fun.

Just a few recent examples include:

• Do I need a visa to go to Australia?
• What’s a good book about pregnancy that won’t scare the hell out of me?
• Where can I buy test tubes in Raleigh?
• Is jurisprudence one word?

If I could make a living answering random questions, I’d do it in a heartbeat. I think the Magic 8 Ball has cornered the market on that gig. But if any random readers of this blog have a question, send it to me via comment. No existential questions like “Why are we here?” or “What am I going to do with my life?” I can’t even answer those for myself sometimes. But if you want to know the distance from one end of the U.S. to the other or the words to the Slinky commercial jingle from 1962, I’ve got you covered.

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