I tried to exploit some geek friends to network my computers and printers and such last night, but it all went horribly awry when one forgot something vital. Harumph. Also, he didn't bring the comic books. Harumph again.

It was not a totally wasted evening, however -- good dinner (tomato-basil lasagna with proscuitto -- I do feed those I exploit), and a productive session of coming up with names for characters in their books.

I have a lot of reference books -- character-naming sourcebooks with names and their meanings from different cultures, various books of mythology from all over the world, encyclopedias of fantasy, travel books, a kick-ass world atlas, dictionaries and Bartlett's quotations and various and sundry reference standards ... you get the idea.

But when we were looking for the name of a possibly sinister, old-money preppy character, there was only one place to turn: My high school yearbooks.

God help me.