I find myself burnt out on politics this morning. Yes the Republicans are showing that when you allow your caucus to become addicted to hostage taking you will eventually be held hostage yourself, but it is all so predictable that I find I can’t write anything interesting about it (anyone want to buy 1,100 words about it? Great for wrapping fish or presents, really!).
So rather than inflict something that even I find boring on my fellow Kossacks I figured we could do something fun instead.
So here it is, we’re going to talk about our handles, you know that nickname that you picked out when you joined up here at the Daily Kos.
The rules of this game are pretty simple but I’ll go over them for those who don’t know or have not played before. Just let us all know in the comments section where you came up with your handle. Was it a slip of the fingers on the keyboard? Or do you have some deep and deeply personal story that informs you being forever known in these precincts as “Jimmy; Paladin of the Dog Park”?
Since this is my game, I will, of course go first. Those of you who’ve been around for a while probably know this story, so you can skip ahead if you like.
Way back in the winter of 2005 (about this time of year actually) I was arguing with a conservative friend of mine about the war in Iraq and what we should do to get the hell out of Dodge there.
He slammed his beer down and said “Your ideas are about as good as the ones that damned dog gave the Son of Sam!” (yeah, he is a real sweetheart, this guy). Anyway a few weeks later I was getting ready to sign up here and was confronted with that line that said “User name”.
At the time I was working for a very conservative privately owned company and did not really want to have the head of IT (also known as the owners wife, but that is completely different story) know that I was saying the things I really thought on the internet.
Then it hit me! I’d just let the world know “Something the Dog Said”.
This led to a long running schtick where I wrote in the third person, with the joke being that I was just typing for my talking dog, he being unable to from a tragic lack of thumbs.
Eventually a desire to be more readable (there were lots of complaints) led me to abandon that bit, but I still have the handle.
So, now that you know my story, what’s yours? As a bonus question, if you had the opportunity to change it, what would you change it too?
Me? I think at this point I’d use my real name Bill Egnor. I no longer need or want to hide who I am from anyone.
The floor is yours!