On-line names???

[busdriver]

I've noticed and am a bit curious as to how everyone comes up with their on-line names.
Myself, for example, busdriver, it's what I do, I'm a schoolbus driver.
Would you care to tell me and everyone else that reads this how you came up with your names?

busdriver aka Terry

[pegasus]

In 1982 I helped my son set-up his first BBS.... named "Olympia" They took names like Hercules, Zeus therefore I was left with Pegasus.
Voila!

[darkdep]

I was a one time a big Depeche Mode fan (Still like them, not die-hard anymore tho).  I was looking for a cool handle back in my younger days, and at one time used "Dark Depeche" as my handle on the BBS's I frequented (and ran).  It eventually got shortened to Darkdep, which I still use to this day.

[PaleoFishGirl]

This is a fun thread

I have a degree in Paleontology  
I studied fossil Fish.  Now I enjoy playing with live Fish - see, it overlaps, it's clever!
Oh, and I'm a Girl

[BigDaddy]

I'm 6'4 and I have 3 kids

'Nuff said 

[artw]

well, approximately 9 months prior to December 25, 1978, my parents did something that resulted in the birth of me, and I only assume that during these 9 months they came up with the name Art Williamson.

[mseguin]

Similarly (but 3 years later) my parents came up with the name Matthew David Séguin.

[RoxyDog]

I have an awesome Dog (boxer).

Her name is Roxy. 

I'm gonna like this thread, hopefully everyone contributes!   

[FishPassion]

I think if I had the chance to change my name I would have a year back but will keep it now. It just seemed like the nic that best described my hobby, mind you I had a reefer friend in Mtl that was shocked to learn that I was male first time she met me, she said but FishPassion sounds so "femme" and looking at you ur anything but femme.
Pondering changing my nic to "bigdaddy" as I too am a parent and am substantially bigger than Sean is. twirp lol

[mseguin]

How about BiggerDaddy?

[Quatro]

How about BiggerDaddy?

Nice.

Back in the years of BBS's, I was staring at a QWERTY keyboard and somehow came up with the name Quatro.  Used it ever since.  And it has nothing to do with Quattro Pro for Windows.

Mike S

[repeej]

I use to own a large modified Jeep TJ (which I sold back in May).  Needed a name for all those off-road forums and since "Jeeper" was always taken I just reversed the letters...thus repeej

Bought a boat to replace the Jeep so now I guess I should change my handle "renilyab"...or "260hp_renilyab" 

[charlie]

My middle name is Charles, hence " Charlie", talk about lame 
Regards

[mseguin]

I've always wondered Errol, now I know lol

[bitterman]

Bruce Itterman hence Bitterman

[Aiglos]

I am a big Lord of the Rings geek and my favourite Character is Gil-Galad;   Aiglos was his spear. 


>

[gonna_b_no_1]

playing euchre and hearts online, my bf at the time reached rank of #1, so I told him i was..gonna be number 1. 

[normc]

Norm Crampton  normc  At my age I need something easy to remember. I use it several different places.

[Shouganai]

I used to run a site about Japanese pop culture, gaming and animation when I was in high school, which was shouganai.net.  'Shouganai' is kind of an adaptation of a Japanese saying "it cannot be helped".  Over time on irc and forums, I adopted Shouganai as my nick as well.

[squeeker]

I'm SUPER-ticklish.  In HS, my friends would sneak up behind me and poke me in the ribs, which would cause me to emit a high-pitched tickle-laugh... sounded sort of like a squeeeeeek!  Been Squeeker ever since!

[kennyman]

This crazy kid I used to work with called me Kennyman all the time because my name was Ken and I had a ponytail. I have been using variations of this nick on forums for a few years now 

[mdugly]

First time signing up for an online (yahoo?) email account, it took me a while to guess an unused nic.
Got to the point I didn't care anymore, and would have pressed the 'random' button if there was one.
So I started to guess what others wouldn't call themselves (of course, without being too vulgar...)

mdugly -> Dr. Ugly

Haven't had a hit with it yet...

-mike

[fishycanuck]

My first online forum was associated with an American group. Fishycanuck seemed like a good idea at the time. 

[damarech]

Mine came from all my family's first names.
DAlia
MArcel
REjean
CHris
= DAMARECH

[garnpet]

garnpet --> garneau peter

This is the standard username configuration at work, so I have been using this since 1988.

[Baldrick]

Baldrick was our first feline family member - the most pathetic scrap you ever saw. He was such a mess, he earned the name Baldrick after the Blackadder character (rather than the suspenders worn by Morris dancers...). He grew into a cat of such character himself that, since he died, we use his name for all manner of things - keeps him with us.
Janet

[Tyler.L]

just my name....nothing exciting, sorry.

[Seanc]

well mine is pretty obvious, but it was my second username, the first one somehow i forgot the password or something stupid like that. So Seanc stands for me and my last name. and the othere one (which is much more original) chili is hot, is my last name and then how i look. or if you don't know my last name, i am just stating that a yummy type of food is a little hot. Thats my story, hope you liked it!

[Nerine]

Nerine:
Named for the Nereids in Greek mythology. The nereids were sea nymphs and daughters of the sea god, Nereus.
nerine is also the name of a a very pretty flower

I love the water and Greek mythology and since my real name is also Greek ...Alysa which means princess...well a daughter of a sea god and a princess just seem to go hand in hand

but my oldest and longest running online name is Jo...which means sweetheart, it's been my nickname since 1990 and has stuck!

[wenkye]

Wendi and Kyler.....wenkye   

[Shrimpy]

What's better than fish??
Why Shrimp of course!

[oenology]

As mdugly said I was trying to come up with a name that wasn't taken on some vet forums so I switched to my other profession - winemaking aka oenology.

[kyonis]

nothing special in mine... kyonis is simply K. Yonis (initial and last name)

[Iceman]

In 1980 while playing in a rock band, I bought an Ibanez Iceman. My bandmates started calling me "The Iceman". It stuck.

[repeej]

In 1980 while playing in a rock band, I bought an Ibanez Iceman. My bandmates started calling me "The Iceman". It stuck.

I thought it came from being the president of the Val Kilmer fan club??? 

[darkdep]

Bruce Itterman hence Bitterman

I just thought you were a sour puss.

[Iceman]

I thought it came from being the president of the Val Kilmer fan club??? 

Isn't Val Kilmer that guy who can't act? Like he's worse than the entire OC cast.

Actually I don't get what he has to do with "Iceman". I'm a little thick.

[PaleoFishGirl]

Iceman

[Iceman]

Oh yeah, now I remember. Hope it's not on artw's list of movies to watch. 

[artw]

yeah yeah I've seen Top Gun.

On topic, when I first started keeping fish, on forums I used to be called Somonas.   that was from the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrates, (nitrosomonas bacter or something)

[Chinaman]

Take a guess??

Sam

[White Lightning]

White Lightning- I am a huge hockey fan and began playing 4-5 years ago. I hadn't played a lot of ice hockey in my younger days and oddly enough, the first time I laced up my skates I wasn't very fast compared to the guys I was playing with. We videotaped the game and watching it afterwards was quite amusing.
I was wearing a white jersey and my buddies decided to jokingly refer to me as White Lightning.
Since then, I have improved my hockey skills and lost the nick name White Lightning on the ice but decided to keep it for this website.

Randy

[busdriver]

I thought maybe it was also from the movie of the same name!

[artw]

uh I think that was Greased Lightning.
or was that a song?
somonas. lol. I am such a geek

[Adam]

Guess.

Adam

[bitterman]

I just thought you were a sour puss.

If you let me test the new Online My tank i might be less of a sour puss , but you might get sour due to the number of issue you need to deal with LMAO!

[SuperT]

Anyone seen the bugs bunny cartoon where the wile e. coyote speaks?  He builds a door, knocks, bugs answers, he introduces himself as wile e. coyote .... super genius.  When ever i did something clever at work (which isn't often!) i would say ......I'm such a super genius or Terry the super genius, eventually someone wanted to get my attention and called out hey 'SuperT'.

It stuck (I know I'm such a nerd).  Although its much better than my highschool nickname 'stickman' because i was so skinny.

Terry

[RedFish]

I was trying to come up with a clever fishy related name, and my kids books were lying around as usual so.....one fish, two fish, Red Fish, blue fish

[apistome]

give apistogrammas and apistogramma information to me = apistome

[gonzobluefuzz]

Acquired Gonzo as a nickname in college. Every site I visited the handle was taken well gonzo is blue and somewhat fuzzy and there you have it.

[UCGrafix]

UCGrafix
Break it down.
You See Graphics
It's my Graphic Arts Company name ( since 1985 ), I deal in visual art, mostly web work.
Taking it a step further.
I have always been amazed and fascinated of all the colors that can be found in nature, so ! I also use it for everything directly related to it.
Adding.
To put it in fish perspective, I keep saying that Salt water fish have an almost three dimensional coloration look to them, it's so vivid that it has depth to it, therefore I See Graphics on those as well. lol
Ya Ya ! I'm a want to be salt water fish enthusiast.
How doesn't right ?
When I grow up, I want a Salt water tank, a nice 90 Gal. one.

Cheers,
Denis

[aidensmomma2000]

Similarly (but 3 years later) my parents came up with the name Matthew David Séguin.

Your parents didnt name you for three years! 

[aidensmomma2000]

playing euchre and hearts online, my bf at the time reached rank of #1, so I told him i was..gonna be number 1. 

This first time I read it, I thought it was "Im going to be no one" (not number one). I've since figured out the more likely meaning- thanks for confirming 

[RoxyDog]

Your parents didnt name you for three years! 

LOL  Matt was a toddler with identity issues.   

[rkmike]

One of my other passions is motorcycling, my ride is a Harley Road King and my name is Mike... There's always too many variations of Mike on most forums at the time, so I came up with this on a biker board a while ago. Have used it ever since. Never seen a repeat either...

[freshwater]

Only have time and money for freshwater right now

[Jesse]

Well back in 1991, i was born. My parents decided to call me Jesse. Ever since then, i guess it kinda stuck to me. Im also too lazy to think of a catchy nickname.

[Underwater]

It's where my fish live (and yours, I hope)

[redbelly]

I always had neons and tetras growing up. When i moved out in 96 I caught a bad case of mts. After a while I managed to reduce my tanks down just a couple tanks of discus and angle's. When I moved to Ottawa for school i didnt think the dicus would make the trip very well so I sold all my fish. After having peacefull fish for so long I decided to get a nice pack of red belly piranha's. When I came to school I also got my first computer. So being excited to have a computer for the first time and piranha's for the first time I made "Redbelly" my nic.
I have actually seriously thought about selling my piranha's and finally going all salt water but then what would a name like redbelly mean....

[babblefish1960]

Maybe it could mean you like to rub your belly, you sat out in the sun too long, you never know, it could pass for a while.

[Mettle]

I was helping a friend of a friend think up a wrestling persona for himself. He was trying to make it in some low-brow league down in the USA back when wrestling was over-the-top popular. Good for him he ended up going the route of MMA instead - though I haven't seen him on any big events/shows yet despite the people he has trained with.

ANYWAY... I came up with the nick name 'Heavy Mettle' because of its underlying meaning. He never used it, but I thought it was clever, and used it myself, but online. Eventually I shortened it to just Mettle. And I've been using it ever since for the majority of online forums I'm on. The other name I've used consistently has been 'atari gangster'. And I have no idea how I came up with that one. It just came to me one day and after making an AIM s/n with it, it stuck...

[adam_ottawa]

Mine's pretty obvious...my name is Adam and I'm from (and still am in) Ottawa.

I'm afraid that I don't have much of an imagination when it comes to nicknames!

[busdriver]

There's still one name I'm curious about and he's the one person that got me thinking about this.
Unless, of course, that is his real name and then there wouldn't be any need for an explanation.

[rockgarden]

In my case, RHAY (my name) was what I used in the workaday world until one of the Wordperfect upgrades wouldn't accept RHAY as a username. That led to various variations but one day I decided that I needed something for my hobby related nickname. 

SO, I like rockgardens particularly perennials (the outdoor flower type); I have SW tanks full of rocks covered in coral (a marine "live" rock garden); now I also have African cichlids and you all know what those tanks contain (hint: rocks);I take photos of rockgardens and rocks among other things; and have been known to scamper up mountainsides on occassion so the name ROCKGARDEN has worked across at least a few forums although for some reason I ended up with ROCKGARDEN1 at the Nikonians photo site and sympatico won't let me use ROCKGARDEN as my e-mail because someone else got to it first .

Ron

[akaBillyPrefect]

My whole family is William (great grandfather down to me on dads side ) so I'm Billy in my family.  My favourite book is Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. 

The more interesting character in the book to me was the character of Ford Prefect.. who named himself after a car from London, England, thinking it was the prevalent lifeform on the planet.  I thought the name Prefect was kinda neat, being just that close to perfect and all, so I picked BillyPrefect... which is my email address on yahoo, my sign in name here, on nanoreef, er, aquaria.ca, uhm... I forget, a million different places around the web.

Oh ya, I'm akaBillyPrefect due to forgetting what my password was after registering under a domain I used to own, and didn't bother to check with darkdepp to change the password or anything.

there... phew.

[93GTCANADA]

used to be my old car. i used to use this name in the car forums so i figured why remember another name. but i am seriously thinking about changing it.

[yellowtang]

Mine is easy. I love surgeon fish
specially Yellowtangs.......
therefore; it came to be Yellowtang.
cheers.

[beowulf]

I have been usuing Beowulf since I first started in the internet around 1990 or so.  Beowulf is the name of the hero in old english poem which happens to be the oldest known in the englsih language.

[dpatte]

dpatte = David Patte

Its not very original, but its a heck of alot better than my nickname growing up in Montreal... Pâté!

BTW - there is a real advantage of having such a rare family name. I've been able to get my own nick, dpatte, on 99% of the websites i've gotten an account onto!

In fact, I've been able to get it every time, except on Yahoo, and Gmail, where Im davidpatte

but im still wondering who the other dpatte is who beat me on those main sites.

BTW 2 - My Family name is pronounced like Pattee, or Pattie, or Patty (not Pat or Pattay). Its was French and it was originally spelled Patté (with two t's), but the sound changed after a 200 year stint in London England.

BTW 3 - Every Patte i've ever met, or found in any phone book, if they pronounce their name as I do, in any country, they are related to me.

[Saltcreep]

Hey all,

Well, I'm new here and this thread seems a good place for an introduction. I've been keeping tropicals for over thirty years and have just recently entered the world of saltwater. I currently have nine tanks running. All freshwater except for a 90 g salt tank which is mounted in a wall and a 60 g cube which I'm getting ready for a Lionfish.

As for the name, Saltcreep. I was dealing with an overfill the other day in the 90 g which resulted in the whole front of the tank (and part of the wall) being coated in salt. Just then my nephew walked into the fish room and declared that to be the worst case of 'saltcreep' he'd ever seen. Just thought it would be a clever screen name if I ever needed one, which it turns out, I did.

Great site BTW and I've already become addicted. Spending far too much time here. Is there a DIY section somewhere that I haven't found yet? I've come up with a great idea for an automatic top-up system which, so far, is working flawlessly.

[beowulf]

The one name I am curious about is Babblefish1960.

I will take a stab at it.  As mentioned above, the late Douglas Adams has a great book called the Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy.  In the book the Babblefish is a fish that you insert into your ear and that feeds on sounds waves.  During the digestion process he translates the sound into a language the user understands.  Might it be from that with a birth year added to the end?

Exact definition from the book

The Babel fish is small, yellow and leechlike, and probably the oddest thing in the Universe. It feeds on brainwave energy received not from its own carrier but from those around it. It absorbs all unconscious mental frequencies from this brainwave energy to nourish itself with. It then excretes into the mind of its carrier a telepathic matrix formed by combining the conscious thought frequencies with nerve signals picked up from the speech centres of the brain which has supplied them. The practical upshot of all this is that if you stick a Babel fish in your ear you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language. The speech patterns you actually hear decode the brainwave matrix which has been fed into your mind by your Babel fish.

[PaleoFishGirl]

You started this whole thread for Babblefish?

Notice how it's 3 pages long and he's refrained from posting about it thus far? He must have known you were dying to find out muahahaha!

[mseguin]

I remember what the 1960 represents but will let jody address it :-)

[succinctfish]

Ah Matt, you think you know, but do you
As far as Babble's name goes, I am the one to ask, as I came up with the name in the first place(except for the 1960 part, that is his mystery  )

I will say that Beowulf is partially correct: there are three meanings in the name.
I would say more, except I have been sworn to secrecy, and true to my name, must remain succinct

[zippity]

well with my name it is zippity of course, i use this name too for Purolator.com, and my password isnt far off just in case you want to mess around with it, and my fiancee when it comes inside the bedroom will say "oh wow!!! honey not again you are always done in such a zippity fast time" But then again I am sure you all didn't want to hear that last part...............and it doesn't hurt that I work for Zip.ca.

Heeehaw!!!

Terry

[mseguin]

Since yuo have called me on it succinct I have no choice but to defend myself. If I recall correctly, 1960 is the year Babblefish first got a job.

[succinctfish]

Since yuo have called me on it succinct I have no choice but to defend myself. If I recall correctly, 1960 is the year Babblefish first got a job.

You mistake me Matt, I was not questioning your stellar memory(just think of all those latin fish names stuffed in your head...I am in awe ), but alluding to Babblefish's obfuscatory abilities

[mseguin]

True enough

[ryancarman.com]

well because i am a shameless self promoter... that is all

[beowulf]

I now know the complete meaning but was sworn to secrecy on pain of my and my fishys deaths!!! 

[babblefish1960]

Well then, in deference to the original query, and obvious assumptions by those who like to presume, I have chosen to emerge from the fearsome depths of my mind and spout effusively regarding my clearly mysterious nomenclature.

To begin at the beginning would be far too practical, and as obfuscatory diatribe may well be my middle names, I shall digress to a most ponderous and rambling version starting somewhere, perhaps the middle.

Unfortunately, my very best information strikes well after the witching hour, and as it is now just after 5 am, it is time to strike with both barrels. As an aside, you likely will never understand a post from me if it is at 7:00 in the morning, I'm fairly incomprehensible at that hour, so I sit quietly during that time, and smoke cigarettes instead, it is possibly a much safer practise than speaking non-sensical gibberish.

Out of respect for garnpet, I shall be sure to absorb a vast amount of bandwidth by expressing an element of my moniker by example, quod erat demonstradum.

I shall say that my father was an English Master and an English Education Director for the Ministry of Education, suffice it to say that English was spoken at home in xenagogue fashion and that my first words were literally consumed, (he accuses me of having eaten several pages one day of his Shorter Oxford English dictionary prior to being capable of bi-pedal locomotion, and my mother corraborates this account of events). There is quite some irony in eating that dictionary and spending the rest of my days never shutting up.

I've been told I mutter and splutter in the few hours I sleep, though I've no idea what about, heck, that could even be true of the waking hours. It seems to annoy the cats enough for them to pounce on my head when I'm snoring.

The point here, if there ever was one, was that I required a name for an email account way back, and quite frankly, I've always admired the ponderous tomes (okay, mere novels, but vast in scope) of Douglass Adams, so Beowolf was partially correct in his assumption. But Succinctfish actually chose the name. So, in attempting to secure an account, Babelfish was taken at least ten thousand times the world over, so I chose instead to don the reference pertinent to verbal diarrhea. I must say additionally that Marvin the manic depressive robot came into this description in a most abstruse way.(brain the size of a planet  )

Now the attraction to the babelfish is fourfold, firstly, it is that thing that you stick in your ear so eloquently described in an earlier surmise, secondly, it refers to a tower that has two meanings for me, a profoundly important bible story that sums up why we can't understand each other, and a poke at engineers who think they rule the world and tried to erect a physical manifestation of trying to speak to God directly.(I was steeped quite deeply in religious matters as a child, so this story stuck). Thirdly, I am definitely one for silence, I almost never hear it as I am forever talking, hence the babble. Fourthly, I love fish, not so much to eat, but to have as pets, (though I was an avid unsuccessful coarse fisherman for many decades). And it reminds me of more stories about the bible involving fish.

Now the 1960 part is peculiar, I had run into a glitch on the site here some time ago, where I couldn't remember for the life of me what my stupid password was, it was something ridiculous, anyway, I had to answer a post rather quickly, as the person trying to sell me something couldn't give me the contact information because I couldn't log on. So in a blind panic, I re-joined the site, but had to modify my name, and quickly, so I picked a number I could remember, and this was the first real job I had had, and it was milking cows, I love cows, they are such wonderful animals.

There was a quote from the earlier part of the nineteenth century, where new settlers to Canada were assured great probability of success in pioneering if they had only two things they could bring, and that was a strong wife, and a good cow, or was it the other way around. So cows have always been important to mankinds evolution and they are lovely creatures that can be rather tasty too.
My absolute favourite cows are kyloes, or Scottish Highland, they are so lovable, and cute too.

I actually like cows almost as much as trucks, I'm not talking pansy fords and chevies,(I won't even mention dodge), I'm talking LandRovers and MB Unimogs and medium class military trucks. I did have my own fleet of Freightliner logtrucks in the eighties though, they were cool, I gave them all names of trees.

So what about trucks, well I drive an older Volkswagon Jetta now that I am adjusting to not treating like a truck, it's a good car Angie is, but she's no truck.

Trucks are like oxen, and I once possessed some Ayreshire oxen that were a blast, taller than me, powerful, yet gentle, not like Isaac and Newton, my black Percherons, Isaac was tractable, but Newton was nuts, and forever getting into hi-jinks in harness.

You can't really yell at horses, they're sensitive beasts with sharp hearing. Well, the first time I was training Newton to pull logs, he was doing alright for a nut, but when the log hit the gravel of the long driveway, he hadn't heard that noise before...he took off like a bolt, the log is skittering side to side like a crazy thing(I had long reins for just such an eventuality) and I am running as fast as I can in my size 14 miner's muckers, calling quietly and gently to Newton...gee-up Newton, easy, easy, whoa boy...trying not to get dragged across half the township. ( for some odd reason, Yosemite Sam and that blasted mule was rushing into my mind during this incident). Some bystanders were roaring with laughter while others were yelling in panicked voices about someone heading the fool horse off. Eventually reason prevailed, I was able to get him back on the grasses and he began to listen again. I tell you, I pulled several muscles in my legs and back trying to keep up with him and not get dragged...we had a love/hate relationship.
Margaret and Elizabeth were my Clydesdales that were a lot more sensible and were darling draughts for many years.

So what, well it is my love for useful power and utility that keeps me loving trucks, trucks are like draught animals, but without the vet bills, and cows are my absolute favourites and I began milking and hand churning butter in 1960, (my Muumuu was strong like a bull from churning). Marilyn Monroe was still alive, so was Jim Morrison, cars were beautiful and so was Gina Lollobrigida. We still had an intact ozone, and a sunburn was just a sunburn. Queen Elizabeth, whom I protect as a Royal Loyalist and have sworn an oath of fealty to, extended naturally to some of her family(Princess Anne has always been difficult) was still having her drinking water shipped to her from Loch Lomond, which was a stone's throw from where I grew up, Okay, maybe three or four stone's throw, (I'm apparently a terrible thrower, my kids were always safe from me in snowball fights, they still mock me).

In the army we never got to do much with cows or horses, so I had to transfer this love of brute strength, ignorance and power to the machinery, hence the trucks are like cows.

Now I am not done with this by a long shot, but I defer to the soon to be rising sun that I'll have to be up for, so I hope that this touches lightly enough upon a suitable explanation apropos to my station and proclivity.


I hope you find this extrapolation of historical events amusing and somewhat telling in understanding who it is you may be talking to here, it has been fun making busdriver wait, and I hope it was enlightening, for some of it may even be true.

[babblefish1960]

You should all count yourself fortunate that I didn't even mention the Shakespeare portion of it, I shall soliloquise at a later date.   King Lear would be proud. sic

[beowulf]

Wow and you wrote that all in one breath and still managed to get my name wrong 

[mseguin]

I think that may have set a new babblefish record. I unfortunately could not read it all as I had to leave for work. Which says something as I started reading 4 hours before my shift.   

[babblefish1960]

Aw, crap, and I am customarily so litigious about spelling accuracy, I do apologise most profusely, as a persona created for identification should never be trifled with. Sorry Beowulf, an error nonetheless, and one truly beneath my own personal level of persnicketyness. I am cognisant of the fact that chocolate was in dire supply during the creative process of the aformentioned response, yet equally aware that one should ever resort to excuses. All previous death threats have been nullified.

post script, mseguin, you can  be such a smarmy little character, have fun at work.

[beowulf]

All good, most people seem to think it is Beowolf anyways!!!

[artw]

Excellent post Babblefish! :claps:  what I'd like to know is a) when do you actually sleep, b) how many revisions to that post did you make before you actually hit Post, and c) when are you writing your first book?

[babblefish1960]

That is the peculiarity of the my midnight ramblings Art, unlike some subjects which begin as draughts and develop into something more usable,  these wee hours meanderings are written as they come out, it is a glorious moment in the starry time that allows me to be to the point in a very obtuse and round about manner.

Thank you for your kind words Terry, I'm afraid to say that when it comes to blathering, there is always more, so much more tarradiddle. 

[wu-gwei]

I love turtles... wu gwei means turtle in Mandarin Chinese.


Cheers,
JJ

[groan]

from your signature...

130G Community Turtle & Goldfish tank; 2 x 75G Turtle tanks; 2 x 40G Turtle tank; 33G plant tank; 33G Turtle & Convict tank; 20G Turtle & fish tank;  15G turtle & fish tank; 10G turtle & fish tank; a big domocile with a wife and son; and a class full of 26 wonderful grade 2/3 students

...I'd ahve never guessed you love turtles!

Groan is simply a word/name that i chose when signing up on a forum some 10 or so years ago. I wanted a word that i didnt see too often online (as a forum name) so i did some long thinking about ti and came up with this. I use it for lots of online identities in lots of forums and games.

[babblefish1960]

95, give or take, is actually a pretty good number, and I hate to be the bearer of ill-tidings, but the number of people that have seen it is not relative to unique individuals, rather it merely reflects the number of times that anyone comes in to have a boo! Everytime the same person, such as yourself for example, peeks inside the thread, it is registered as a view, so, the question is Busdriver, how many of those 1300 plus views are yours? So you see, if you look into the thread 250 times, that leaves only 1070 for the rest of us, so quit peeking until you're serious about reading the entire thing again.   Once you've perused the thread over, there will be a test at the end that includes an essay question, so study hard.

[busdriver]

Hope nobody minds, but I'm going to bump this

[babblefish1960]

Not at all, good idea, I'm just warming up to part II, but I thought after all the silly posts I've made of late that I would wait briefly before I inundated page 4 with yet another episode of tarradiddle.

[sniggir]

my last name is riggins so riggins reverse is sniggir

Pat

[babblefish1960]

That is such a cute inversion, and here I just thought that you snickered and laughed under your breath all the time.   Snigglers also caught eels in England for food, so I have imagined you in a coracle fighting the tides in the dark and wrestling eels out of the murky waters with your bare hands.

[nickie]

   My dog is everything to me !! ... ... " nickie " and any other four-legged creature that crosses my path xxx ...  .........
theres always food for the homeless on my gallery,..  and dog cookie bones 2 , for the dog we pass daily on our poo-poo walk 
xxx John

[nickie]

   I love my  dog , so Nickie it be !!! ....   

[babblefish1960]

When you say "so nickie be it" are you referring to the "it" as being the name to which you refer as your dog, or are you saying that the "it" refers to his gender neutrality and that you have emasculated poor nickie to keep him a steady gelding. (okay, a dog isn't gelded, but you get the drift)

As for the love of a dog, it is fascinating that they are non-judgmental, and are completely devoted to us no matter who we may be. So you would be the neighbourhood dog cookie pocket guy, they must love to see you coming down the garden path.

That clears up the question as to why your name is nickie and you always sign John, otherwise, it is a little strange by itself. What sort of dog is nickie john?

[PoisonJello]

well I've had a few different online names, as for this name I was with an online group called Toxic Crisco Network, so PoisonJello just seemed to fit or was it something i did to the jello at the Christmas party... anyways thats not important now 

[babblefish1960]

I have to ask, you knew this was coming, but what the heck is a Toxic Crisco Network? I mean you have to admit it sounds peculiar, does it provide a basis of communication utilizing rancid shortening in some way?

And I certainly don't wish to know what you put in the jello at the Christmas party, so yes, it does answer the question where your moniker came from. Given your explanation I would suggest that you probably fit right in on the site, as we have a complete host of  characters and those with odd senses of humour.

[PoisonJello]

you know i thought someone might ask that...ToxicCrisco Network was basicly a group of about 1000 elite hackers, crackers, blah blah  etc... they had everything you would every need for computers or could get it (oh and of coarse it was all legal, this being a family site and all)  and for some reason the site got closed down 

[babblefish1960]

Who determined they were elite, and I had no idea that hackers and other nefarious nogoodniks would ever belong to an organized group that was legitimate, I am truly mystified and flummoxed.

Confession is good for the soul though poisonjello, good luck with your recently reformed behaviour with computers.

[babblefish1960]

I should like to point out, as is my wont, that there are still quite a few names out there that have not divulged their origins, I know you're all itching to share your interesting stories, so stop burning and start typing. I met a cilissa today that has me extremely curious as to what it could mean. There are many others too, such as jetstream and ophelia, well, I look forward to the fascinating stories.

[Bizz]

My dad always wanted to name me bizz but my mom would not have it. He still calls me it and rarely uses my real name and I actually respond more often to bizz then my real name, Kyle.

[PoisonJello]

Who determined they were elite, and I had no idea that hackers and other nefarious nogoodniks would ever belong to an organized group that was legitimate, I am truly mystified and flummoxed.

Confession is good for the soul though poisonjello, good luck with your recently reformed behaviour with computers.

well i guess they called themselves elite, I never considered myself elite and not really a hacker (not saying I don't know how but not worth the bother or troubles it can cause) I was I guess what some might call a seeker, I would find the stuff that others couldn't find  , still do for friends but nothing illegal that would be bad 

[babblefish1960]

I'll bite, why on earth would your dad want to call you Bizz, it is a peculiar name to give a child, not as bad as someone I knew who named their kid "hammer", but hey, bizz is right up there.

Isn't a seeker someone who chases that little gold ball that flies around in Harry potter?
Or is it someone from world of warcraft who nicks things when no one is looking?

[PoisonJello]

  yes and yes but not that kind of seeker 

[babblefish1960]

That is so cool that I got the two things right at all, even though they weren't the correct answer, which brings me back to the original question, what is a seeker when it isn't these two other things?

I have to admit to a certain eyebrow lifting whenever I come across an odd moniker. I suppose I wonder if the name has any significant meaning for the user, and what that reasoning could be? Some seem fairly obvious, yet there are a few that are simply baffling. If you think you have a curious name and have a story to share as to why you chose it, it would be lovely to hear from you.

[PoisonJello]

toxic crisco network classified me as a seeker on there site, meaning that i could find any program, game, any type of software that nobody else could get a hold of, also get info on other hacker groups but finding any program has become very easy to do now 

[babblefish1960]

Ah yes, I see, you are technically a nogoodnik like Boris and Natasha then. Well, that is a hobby alright, Marshall on Alias has the same sort of skills, perhaps you've met him.

[busdriver]

I can't believe that out of 900 or so members only 116 want to tell us about their on-line names

[ottawadiscus]

Terry,

Here is the 117th member's on line name. Mine is so simple one. I live in Ottawa and I really like Discus fish, so I chosen my online name as OttawaDiscus.

Loyed 

[nickie]

    My dog I love so much "nickie "....

[babblefish1960]

I guess not all of the 900 registered users have as much time to visit the site, or they are afraid of giving away too much information.

If you moved to Merrickville and kept angelfish instead, would you have become Mr. Merrickville Angel?

I suppose we can all be grateful that the dog you love so much wasn't called frou frou or something cute like that, it would just be so weird.


Everytime I see that '88' guy on here, I think that it is either homage to the greatest and most versatile weapon of the German forces in WWII, the 88mm gun, either that or he likes pianos, 88 keys, sorry I couldn't help myself. I'm still dreadfully curious about names like ophelia, very mysterious.

[ottawadiscus]

If you moved to Merrickville and kept angelfish instead, would you have become Mr. Merrickville Angel?

So, do you want me to change my online name to Kanata Discus? 

[babblefish1960]

So, do you want me to change my online name to Kanata Discus? 

No, no, you big silly, I was just heading over to the possibility that if you moved to Pittsburgh, and kept marine life, you might end up with penguin, then the hockey team would have to change their name. Ottawadiscus is fine, just playing with you.

[busdriver]

for the last time, bumptity, bumptity, bump, bump, bump.

[Crumpet]

Contrary to popular belief, neither a baked good nor a Shakespearean insult, I chose Crumpet in remembrance of my beloved chocolate oranda, since departed.  He was one of the first fish I kept when I joined the hobby. 

[scorpion-stinger]

well I guess it's my tuen  Well for Scorpion Stinger. I'm a scorpio and scorpion do sting, well I put those 2 together and here came Scorpion Stinger. I use to have as a nic Sharp Dressed Man (ZZ Top song) which I loved alot

Cheers
PEACE TO ALL

[insl8r]

I chose insl8r because that is what I do for a living. I am an insulation contractor. Would also make a good licence plate.
Jason

[babblefish1960]

Well Crumpet, it is a curious name for sure, I always think of bread and Shakespearean insults though, I'm crushed you would be named after an Asian food fish. Mind you, sentimental drivel counts too. I'll stick to Strumpet as the occasion warrants.


So scorpion stinger, you represent just the stinger of the scorpion or the entire scorpion? You definitely never want to find one of those things in your boots in the morning.

Insl8r, that is funny, do you do houses or industrial. Perhaps you could think up some ways to make emergency insulation kits for tanks when the power goes out in the winter.

[beertech]

Mine's pretty simple.
I install and service draft beer equipment in pubs for a living.
Surprisingly enough, I don't drink much beer at all.I think that's because I absorb it through my skin all day!

[Muad'Dib]

Mine comes from my favorite Science fiction Novel - Dune.
For those who do not know the book...
The main Character is "adopted" by the Fremen and given the name Maud'dib. He later goes on to.... ah go rent the mini-series on DVD... 
I started using the name while playing Laser tag... I liked it so I started using it elsewhere...
Dean

[pwrca]

Same sign-on I use for most discussion boards.  My intitials pwr with the ca, for Canadian.   

[scorpion-stinger]

heheh, no... that woulnt be a great way to start off a day to get stung by a scorpoin thats for shure. I guess i represent the entire scorpion

[busdriver]

I fibbed

[babblefish1960]

So you did you big fibber, perhaps some of the folk who missed this one will take the hint and spill their stories onto the pages here.

[busdriver]

So you did you big fibber, perhaps some of the folk who missed this one will take the hint and spill their stories onto the pages here.

You think they might?

[babblefish1960]

You never know, may wonders never cease to cause us all to cease and wonder at the marvels of the mind so long as you don't mind the marvels.

I for one am still looking forward to ophelia spilling what has got to be a fascinating story.

Additionally, there are two users who have had some changes in their names that I'm sure would love to update the crowd with the interesting transformations, eh SM nee UCG and PD nee AM?

[busdriver]

Maybe you should pm those people and let them know about this topic?

[Eric]

Additionally, there are two users who have had some changes in their names ...

Wait... you can change your online name?!?  I had no idea... what a world of possibilities.  Can I change my online height too?

My story is no story, sadly.  Wish I had something to offer.  Truth is I found the site and was in a rush to buy from the classifieds.  It's really a testament to my remarkable powers of indecision.  Just like the endless plans for my empty tank!

Eric for now

[babblefish1960]

Well nifty Eric for always, I think, as for your height issues, are you too short or too tall, there are tools such as racks for lengthening and hammers for shortening should you want a change.

As for these amazing powers of indecision, have you been able to market these skills to the masses who are trapped in their habits of swift and decisive decisions. (you know, the hard working government types who work tirelessly for us all) I'm sure they could hem and haw profusely if they were taught how to do this.

What sort of plans have you made for your empty tank of indeterminate size Eric for always? And did your mother choose your name or did you come up with Eric in honour of Monty Python?

[Eric]

Ahhh, that is excellent work babblefish... I am cheered by your message.  Finally, a market for indecision!  Perhaps I need rebranding though -- I am really more about reflective inaction, or maybe circular analysis.   Hmmm.

On the tank, I was mired for several months between a planted SA home for angels and my first malawi tank to discover what all the fuss is about.  I hesitate to say anything about the final decision -- its just too painful (and yet tempting) to reconsider the whole business.   

As to my height, I am afraid you have not fully appreciated the question.  I am neither too short nor too tall.  I am just not sure I am the correct height.  If I could try a few others I might know better...

And yes, Eric is just my name.  I wish either of my parents appreciated Monty Python, but the truth is they just couldn't agree on how to spell Jeffrey.

Now, is it true we can change our online names?  Or is that just a rumour?  And what would it mean for this topic? 

[babblefish1960]

Thank you, I'm just here to make everyone cheery.
"Reflective inaction or circular analysis", I like the sounds of these, I can see bureaucracies the world over adopting these as hallmarks of service principles.
Angels versus Malawi, sounds as though you should consider the advantages of multiple tank syndrome, just like cookies, it is never either, or, it is always both.
The "correct" height, interesting, I think I'm under-tall, tried the rack, they said to meet my mass I would need to be stretched another 20", I don't know if I could stretch that far.
Couldn't agree on Geoffrey, how odd, at least it didn't end up "Eric the half a bee".

No it is not true you can change your on-line names, exceptional circumstances have been made for a very small number of people who were being hunted by the Bolsheviks and the CIA, neither of whom respect the OVAS rule of non interference from foreign spy agencies.
And the OVAS counter-intelligence unit and mafia hasn't the manpower to fight a war, much like the Jedi.

[fishycanuck]

Babble - you should go home and rethink your life.

[babblefish1960]

Babble - you should go home and rethink your life.

I should go life and rehome my think...babble, babble, babble.

[busdriver]

Babble - you should go home and rethink your life.

Isn't this thread-jacking? There is a forum for that!

[fishycanuck]

Hey - it's NEVER off-topic to tell Babble to rethink his life. Just ask Bee.

[babblefish1960]

Too true fishy, besides, when Bee speaks, if I don't listen, there is usually a bee sting.

[babblefish1960]

I get stung a lot!

[GhostKnife]

MY pride and joy..."GhostKnife " bought him 3 years ago.Awsome fish hand fed from day 1

[babblefish1960]

Well that makes sense, great nocturnal fish, is that a picture of you on your avatar?

[manytanks]

Back when we actually had MTS (multiple tank syndrome) my wife suggested my name Manytanks as a play on words for "many thanks" in appreciation for the assistance to us from everyone on OVAS as absolute beginners. So of course she became Tanksalot for "thanks a lot", although she's out of fish and into poodles now.

[GhostKnife]

Well that makes sense, great nocturnal fish, is that a picture of you on your avatar?

..Yes it is. Much bigger now.

[babblefish1960]

That is funny manytanks, are you aware that the transition to poodles makes perfect sense, tanksalot seems to have moved over to the French hunting cichlids it would seem. 


So Ghostknife, has the picture of you grown or have you grown, I don't understand.

[GhostKnife]

 ..My baby has grown..Lol.


[attachment deleted by admin]

[babblefish1960]

I see, your avatar is a picture of your baby and not you, so I haven't been conversing with a fish, cool, I thought I was on to something there. Cute baby by the way.

[beowulf]

..My baby has grown..Lol.

Nice looking fish.

[busdriver]

Excuse meee What do the last few coments have to do with on-line names Like I said before, somewhere, There's a place for thread-jacking

[babblefish1960]

It was perfectly relevant as we were establishing if the moniker was displaying a picture of himself or his namesake. I'm still not entirely clear, but if a fish is actually posting in the thread, that is actually pretty cool, kind of like Charles Schultz' "Snoopy" the very refined and adventurous beagle.

Perhaps though, Eric as always never the Eric the half a bee could elaborate on why he wasn't called Bruce. A very good Australian name.

[busdriver]

I stand corrected

[beowulf]

I stand corrected

You do not sit when corrected?

[Crumpet]

Perhaps though, Eric as always never the Eric the half a bee could elaborate on why he wasn't called Bruce. A very good Australian name.

Australia, Australia, Australia, we love you, Amen!

(sorry terry, I couldn't resist!)

[busdriver]

never mind!

[Eric]

Dreadfully sorry, must admit I can't place the Australia business -- 'cept for Bruce in Finding Nemo -- unlikely.  Little help?

Incidentally, my uncle was named Bruce and he was a bit of a layabout. 

Eric

[babblefish1960]

Your uncle Bruce must definitely be an Australian then. As for the Oz references, you will find a smattering throughout the site that all stem from the greatest education one could ever receive, and the erstwhile educators are all from the Monty Python gang. Skits galore of all of life's important little lessons, and the Bruce skit is a fine one. I would put that under the class title philosophy as a course. It also has the skit within the skit where the philosopher song comes from, you will find the words of the entire song at least twice in the lounge, happy hunting. All men in Oz are Bruce, and all women are Sheila. Expect to do quite a bit of study in these trails of oddity in order to see the relevance of Monty Python and fish keeping people, frankly, I can't imagine life without them.

[zima]

Means "winter" in Russian and a couple of other Slavic languages. When came to Canada, told my friends I like the Canadian winter, and felt sorry ever since! But the name stuck along...

[beowulf]

Means "winter" in Russian and a couple of other Slavic languages. When came to Canada, told my friends I like the Canadian winter, and felt sorry ever since! But the name stuck along...

Ummm me thinks me like I am adding to potential names for my future Alaskan Malamutes.

[zima]

That could work! Are they Russian, or Slavic perhaps? I know Alaska once belonged to the Russians, but c'mon, times change!! Like this is so like retro, man.

[babblefish1960]

Well hello zima, I'm so glad you shared that, now I have a question for you. I personally find these winters here very mild, and as you claimed to your friends that you love Canadian winters, I'm curious to know what it is that you have felt sorry for ever since? Surely it couldn't be the cold?

[zima]

Ha haaa! No, it can't be the cold, now how could it???  Oh well, I suppose a decent answer would be that it is the lenght of winter, not the cold (that is if we have to relate it to my nick). There is nothing else ot feel sorry for, really. Besides the political opinions/differences into which one could get over a pint, not on a forum  . Keep on rocking in the free world!

[babblefish1960]

I imagine it is a good thing that the winters are so short then, heck we didn't even have a white Christmas.

I am curious about your avatar too, what exactly are those things on the pikes? They appear to be fish of a non-animated nature.

[zima]

Oh yes, those are fish. Fountain figures with water coming out of their mouths. But it looks like they're having a cigarette, doesn't it. Heck, I should stop pretending: google.ca, searched for funny+fish+pics. Tons of neat stuff, if one, such as myself, lacks imagination!

[hamstercaster]

My whacky name has nothing to do with casting (trolling)hamsters in order to catch a pike, muskie or anything like that.  It actually comes from the music I listen to.  I'm a 36 year old Metallica fan and have been since the early 80's.  The name comes from Metallica's lead guitarist Kirk Hammett who was and sometimes still uses a Fernandes electric guitar.  That guitar as the shape of a Fender Stratocaster which is a very popular shape and also a very well known guitar brand.  So, Kirk Hammett renamed his Fernandes guitar to Hamstercaster... It read Fernandes Hamstercaster - The Edna and I have stuck to that name the longest time now for both forum names and e-mail addresses.  I used that name for my personal e-mail address at home until my wife kinda forced me to change it when we changed ISP..

[babblefish1960]

Fascinating, never thought of the fishing thing though, I was afraid that it was the moulding of hamsters into little bronze figurines or possibly, like dwarf tossing in the 80's, was a sport for the weaker folk who couldn't actually toss a dwarf to cast hamsters across wherever they needed to be tossed. So your explanation was something of a relief, though honestly, I cannot imagine why The Edna would find this moniker less than appropriate for business, go figure.

Metallica is the only band that I am aware of that has been religiously attending group therapy to work out their creative differences to keep the band going, very serious about their music. I'm sure the Edna told you that already though, welcome to the website.

[hamstercaster]

fortunatly, no more group therapy for them lol.  As for the Edna, I wouldn't know.  I think it's not a nice word actually, but I could be wrong ;-)

[CuckooJay]

Cuckoo Jay... I used this name for a few reasons. First of all, I truly started to get involved in the hobby when I owned my first Tanganyikan Cichlids... A group of Ocellatus. The resulting hours of research in the the African lakes lead me to be known as the "African Guy" at my store. Although I've done other things since then, they're still my absolute favorite group of fish.
  The "Cuckoo" part came from the Cuckoo Catfish, or the "Synodontis Multipunctatus" that have been in my display tank at the store, since I started working there. Seeing as I've changed my tanks around a hundred times over, that makes them the oldest pet fish still in my position...
   Not to mention, the first fish I owned (without my dad taking care of it for me) was a pair of Clarius Catfish. In six months they grew about a foot longerl, outgrew there tank and killed there tank mates(a pair of oscars). I can still remember them trying to knock the bricks off the lid of their tank at night....creepy.
Point being....catfish are cool.

[babblefish1960]

Now that is funny too cuckoojay, I never thought of catfish, I was thinking of birds like silly norwegian blues that pine for the fjords, or maybe a lunatic from some asylum somewhere.

I think your pictures may have picked you up a few fans. Your Dad sounds great, I'm sure his teaching will impact you always as you go out to learn things he had never even thought of.

ummm, hamstercaster, I'm uncertain what it is to which you refer as to the status of that which is not understood insofar as Edna, whomever she may be, is concerned?

They don't call me babble for nothing you know!

[busdriver]

As per your request, Princessfish!

[PrincessFish]

As per my request BusDriver??  No, me thinks that it was you who wanted me to post to this thread -- true?  And I'm sure you've been wondering . . . Whatever possessed this woman to choose the name PrincessFish?? 

Like Crumpet, I chose PrincessFish after one of the first fish I have ever owned.  Not I, but a certain young lady who is a big part of my life and is in the 'Princess' stage of her life named that fish "PrincessFish".  Unless one thinks about a moniker before actually being confronted with the request, one tends to choose whatever can be quickly dredged up from the recesses of the mind.  Well . . . It would have taken me much longer to dredge up something more creative.  (not 29 anymore  )  And I must say that it has crossed my mind that perhaps I should have taken the time but truthfully I have NO time and shouldn't even be spending half the time I already am on this new hobby of mine!!  Alas, I am in the infatuation stage . . . And you know what that is like! 

PS, would have posted earlier but it took me forever to get through the NINE pages of this thread!  Had a couple of good chuckles though so thanks!

[babblefish1960]

I  must say Princessfish, that sounds like a very thoughtful reason for a moniker. I'm sure the fish itself is quite honoured and you let it read the posts don't you.

As for the "no time for the fish hobby", I'm sorry, I just can't see what you mean, we all take time out to eat, and go to fish club meetings, and some even sleep for a bit.

This infatuation stage sounds intriguing, it's not something I recall, is it a good thing?

As for your post script, I am impressed, you actually read the entire thread? Well kudos to you for enduring such a comical thread, I'm very glad you found parts of this cause for a good chuckle, we are definitely full of entertaining folks here.

[pnmdsz6]

my name is a combination of all the 1st letters of the 1st names of everyone in my family, and then the # 6 because there are 6 of us!

[babblefish1960]

I am so glad you explained that one, as I was having a heck of a time trying to pronounce it. Pity no one in the family had vowels.

[PrincessFish]

Ahh yes . . . the infatuation stage . . . well, like anything else it has it's good and it's bad!     I just can't get enough of it (much like addiction - or better yet lust) but on the down side . . . I am getting frustrated at not accomplishing much in the rest of my life. 
I won't go on . . . lest I be accused of thread jacking 
BabbleFish . . . you sleep?  truthfully now 

[babblefish1960]

That sounds absolutely fascinating, I think I remember something of this, a rather strange feeling that occupies the mind in spite of deadlines and tasks at hand.
As for not accomplishing things in the rest of your life, well, at least you have your priorities. As for sleeping, not really something I like to do lest it interfere with the rest of the world's unusual habits. It is something like the weather, it keeps moving while you sleep, and by the time you wake again, so much has changed.

Your lack of explanation for fear of thread jacking is quite intriguing by its very absence, remarkable indeed.

[PrincessFish]

Explanation for fear of thread-jacking:
Well, you see, I'm the new kid on the block and trying to make a good impression.  And I've heard fear in the posts of others lest they be berated about thread-jacking . . . so . . .
Not to mention that I've read the thread-jacking thread and am not sure that I want anyone to know that I relate to it enough to have guffawed most of the way through it . . . well on the otherhand I guess that may be the best way to make a good impression! 
Oh dear, am I starting to babble??     

[Alchemist]

Hi..I was asked to explain my name here..so here goes...

I'm currently a professor of chemistry (not full time) and a researcher (full time), I teach and do research in medicinal chemistry which is the development and design of new drugs.  It's kind of like alchemy in that we take cheap reagents (which gives me an idea...more later...) and hopefully turn them into "gold"...gold being a blockbuster drug for some weird and not so wonderful disease.  My current target is a new drug for arthritis/osteoporosis.

Now..I've noticed that in the saltwater hobby you use quite a few different reagents/chemical additives, ion-exchange resins, chemical probes and this set me wondering as to whether the bulk chemical and equipment suppliers might be able to supply these a little cheaper?  We use a lot of diatomaceous earth for example in the labs as a filter aid, the same stuff that you'll find in a diatom filter.  Also a lot of glassware that could be used for calcium reactors, fluidised bed reactors and the like etc.  Some of it will not be a good deal, lab glassware is generally expensive.  I don't really know the prices of equipment but anyone interested might like to have a little look online at the following (be aware that I don't know about restrictions for ordering chemicals/equipment to private addresses, call customer services if there's anything of interest here to check.):

http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/Area_of_Interest/The_Americas/Canada.html  (general chemical reagents and labware, usually a little more expensive but the glassware is top quality and the chemicals generally arrive quickly)

http://www.fishersci.ca/  (a good, comprehensive range of glassware, equipment, analytical probes (temp, pH etc) and basic chemicals at good prices.  The prices quoted are not always the final prices here and there is room to ask for bulk discounts or repeat buyers discounts).

So...have a look, there may be things there that are interesting for DIY'ers.  The sites may not be that much help sometimes as they have specialty names for some equipment that you might call something else but if you are looking for a piece of equipment that you can't find there, describe it to me and I'll see what I can do.

Also...chemicals come in different grades. Technical grades are the lowest and can contain several impurities and may need some kind of "washing" before use.  HPLC grade is the highest (HPLC is High Performance Liquid Chromatography and is a means of separating mixtures of compounds), sometimes the purity is given instead of HPLC, say 99.9% etc.

Some other items of interest, although they are usually very expensive, are things like high pressure pumps for forcing liquids through very tightly packed media.

PM me if you have a chemistry question and I'll see what I can do.

Cheers,

J

[Crumpet]

wow-- cool, Alchemist!  Your work sounds really interesting, and your call sign is fitting

Welcome to OVAS

[babblefish1960]

I love that you can babble and guffaw princessfish, the world needs more of us in it, otherwise only the accountants would be left.

Alchemist, that is some fascinating vocation you have there spilling over into your avocation.  You clearly have a number of skills that translat ewell in the aquarium business, I am sure many will flock to your private messages with oodles of questions.

Did you know Merlin, apparently he was the leading scientist with the arcane arts of controlling reactions.

This is definitely going to be fun, Thanks for posting, hope to jar your memory with suitable queries.

[Sue]

.  My current target is a new drug for arthritis/osteoporosis.

OMG small world. I was a tech in the PTH group (up till last year when NRC axed it). We designed and tested the peptide 'ostabolin-c' that Zelos has just completed 2'cd round clinical trials on. (Its a treatment for osteoporosis). Dr. Jim Whitfield is still around in an emeritus position at NRC and I bet he would love to chat with you about your ideas related to the bone world. He's pretty much been given freedom from politics now that he's emeritus, and he's a truly brilliant man.

Its Wonderful to have a chemist in the club! We on the biology side are always asking Q's of you guys!

[catfishsteve]

I love to go fishing for catfish
and I'm a hillbilly at heart

[babblefish1960]

Well now that is funny, here I thought you were a fan of Cat Stevens who was a pop singer in the 70's until he got religion, and the fish part was just because you wanted a fish moniker.

Just out of curiosity, your avatar has a fish in it, and I was wondering if this was one of your pets or dinner?

Hillbilly? You wouldn't happen to know Granny and Uncle Jed now would you?

[bearmassu]

Granny and Jed are with me ... they ain't doing so good .. they can't remember a damn thing I got them watching the price is right and chilling ... under control

[Nerine]

that looks like a catfish from the mekong basin!

[catfishsteve]

The catfish in the picture wasnt caught by me....yet
it is a mekong cat
someday I'll post a pic of myself with something big enough

[babblefish1960]

So let me get this straight now, you adore catfish as a pet as well as lunch, and you are hillbilly enough in your own words, that you adopted the world renowned hillbilly Ozark mountain man moniker, the mighty "steve", okay, I'll buy that, I am unsure about the other millions who will snicker about this famous "steve" having been a hillbilly, but there you have it, you convinced me.

[busdriver]

I just had to bring this up again, so many new members.

[audioslave_36]

well I am a12volt technician, and I am responsible for more than a few of those loud sound systems you hear booming while driving, sometimes I work crazylong hours  therefore I am an audioslave, and the 36 was just a random number that I picked.

Dave

[woof99]

This is too funny- weird how people come up with names!

I love dogs -hence the woof-and 99 is for the year I got my hotmail address-  woof99!

Cheers!

[sweetness85]

well mine is pretty simple.  when i was 16 i wanted something kinda cute and a bit sexy so i came up with sweetness.  i was born in 85 so...there ya go sweetness85

[babblefish1960]

12 Volt technician, I guess as you progress through your training you will  be technically proficient right up to 660,000 volts, imagine that under the hood of your car.
So those awful cars where young idiots lose their hearing to subsonic bass are your doing? Cool, crazy hours too, I'm glad they pass me by, I couldn't handle anymore crazy around here. I suppose it is a good thing you aren't a fanatic of Christmas, or you might be Santa's-slave.

Too true woof99, there are a lot of humourous stories regarding the origins and meanings of the online names collected within. As for yours, have you a favourite canine? And should we be looking out for you in the dog parks? I'm relieved 99 isn't your d.o.b., that would make you only 8 years old. I thought it had to do with the lovable agent 99 from Get Smart, Barbara Feldon. My mistake.

Was  sweetness found to be one of those irresistible words for cute and a bit sexy, like Beelzebub?
Welcome to the jungle, all of you!

[busdriver]

well mine is pretty simple.  when i was 16 i wanted something kinda cute and a bit sexy so i came up with sweetness.  i was born in 85 so...there ya go sweetness85

Love your avatar!

[busdriver]

I just had to bring this up again, so many new members.

Like I said up there

[babblefish1960]

You tell em bussy, lots of intriguing and silly names here that must come with an explanation or at least a hint.

[busdriver]

There must be some new members that want to tell us how they came up with their on-line names, there's just gotta be?

[washefuzzy]

I like rabbits and they are fuzzy. but to tell you the truth I have no idea why I picked this name it came to me out of the blue. Like a bolt of lightening.

[PaleoFishGirl]

LOL and all this time I've been pronouncing it like "washy-fuzzy".   
I get it now 

[babblefish1960]

But fuzzy wuzzy was a bear, not a rabbit, fuzzy wuzzy had no hair, not a rabbit, fuzzy wuzzy wasn't very fuzzy was he, not a rabbit.

[beowulf]

But fuzzy wuzzy was a bear, not a rabbit, fuzzy wuzzy had no hair, not a rabbit, fuzzy wuzzy wasn't very fuzzy was he, not a rabbit.

Look at it this way, no copyright problems if hers is a rabbit....

[washefuzzy]

Babble I didn't claim to make any sense, now did I.

[babblefish1960]

Babble I didn't claim to make any sense, now did I.

That is true, you have not made such a claim, however, upon your arrival to the May general meeting, seeing all of us OVAS fish people standing in front of the JP centre, you exclaimed, "it is such a relief to see "normal" people", after walking the Sens mile, to which we all thought you must be nuts to think that the OVASers present were normal by any stretch of the imagination.

[washefuzzy]

 

[babblefish1960]

Had a brilliant idea, I hope everyone is equally amused!

[busdriver]

Hey Babble, I like it, this is where it belongs. 

[babblefish1960]

No problemo, it occurred to me that this thread predated the introductions, and lo and behold, we have been getting a number of new users on line here that couldn't access the lounge, so it suddenly made sense to me amidst some pretty cool lightening strikes, so there you have it, a bolt from the blue must have hit me to get such a logical idea. I'm sure it won't happen again.

So c'mon folks, you chose the names, so let's hear why, it is a lot of fun. I'm sure if you read through the thread from start to most recent, you will enjoy a good laugh and learn a few things about those that have already participated.

[washefuzzy]

That is true, you have not made such a claim, however, upon your arrival to the May general meeting, seeing all of us OVAS fish people standing in front of the JP centre, you exclaimed, "it is such a relief to see "normal" people", after walking the Sens mile, to which we all thought you must be nuts to think that the OVASers present were normal by any stretch of the imagination.

PS: I was lying these are not normal people!!

[Brine]

My turn....My name is Brian and I used to work with a man named Ray Ryan. Ray was from Newfoundland and had a fairly thick accent. When he said "Brian" it sounded like "brine" ...so when it came time for an online name....presto chango Brine was born.

[PaleoFishGirl]

I thought that was a pretty clever name for an aquarium forum handle anyway

[babblefish1960]

PS: I was lying these are not normal people!!

Good point, we have met, so I haven't a leg to stand on there!

I happen to think that brine would have been an indicator of the sort of fish you kept, I couldn't decide between a brackish tank and pickled herrings though!

[bassetluv]

Well, I don't have a very fishy online name...bassetluv came about a few years ago after I met a person online. He and I became friends, and we met in a forum because of a thread he'd begun about his two basset hounds. When we lost contact with one another I missed him very much, and one day not long after I was signing in as a new member to another forum and had to think up a name...of course I thought of him, and 'bassetluv' was born. I now use it for most online chat, simply because it's easier to have just one name than several.

[dan2x38]

Since 1990 been using dan2x38 on BBS' I am lazy did not want to think up a new username each time I registered... also a lot of places demanded more than 6 characters plus alpha/numeric id's... plus admin pswd that have not been used at work on servers... never had a hit with this id...

My Mom always said, "If you want to find the easiest way to do a job, ask a lazy man" 

[Raygurl]

When i was a kid i always wanted to change my name! It was boring or at least abbreviate it! Unfortunatly nothing really sticked my name is Rachel! kinda hard to shorten! lol So i made up a new name ray! but it kinda reminded my of my neighbor whos name was also ray and so it kinda sounded more boy to me so then it became raygurl(it also sounded like a superhero name i can still dream right) Hence the name was born! lol

[fyrebull]

Fires (fyre) the job, bull is the nickname......okay start the smart remarks...

[busdriver]

Fires (fyre) the job, bull is the nickname......okay start the smart remarks...

I don't think anyone is going to come up with any smart remarks, especially when you work for Ottawa Fire & Rescue, because they just might need you one day.

[Saltcreep]

Fires (fyre) the job, bull is the nickname......okay start the smart remarks...

Welcome! from another Stittsvillian

[RoxyDog]

Fires (fyre) the job, bull is the nickname......okay start the smart remarks...

me! me!  is that bull-headed?  bull-poop?   

kidding...we like firedudes around here. 

[fyrebull]

I don't think anyone is going to come up with any smart remarks, especially when you work for Ottawa Fire & Rescue, because they just might need you one day.

And also because the nickname "Bull" comes from my neck size...

[Funkmotor]

By request...

I've used the name "Funkmotor" online ever since my originally chosen name (Ayatollah) seemed to be taken more and more...and taken as a joke less and less.  Funkmotor doesn't seem to have either problem. 

It comes from the James Brown song "Funky President" (lyrics: http://www.zmag.org/songs/Funky%20President.htm)  I thought it sounded pretty good in the song, and it has turned out to be unique.

As well, it immediately injects a bit of whimsy into everything I write, and I like that.

People call me "Funk" for short.

I hope that explains it. 

[babblefish1960]

Yes it does, and thanks for that explanation, I can understand the diminishing humour found in your old moniker of course, and yes, I would say this one is definitely unique.

[Dah-nah]

My name is quite common and usually taken already but the pronunciation is not common so my moniker is my name spelled phonetically.

Dana

[busdriver]

My name is quite common and usually taken already but the pronunciation is not common so my moniker is my name spelled phonetically.

Dana

Dah-nah, neat!

[Jeff1192]

Since you asked busdriver, my on-line name is my first name and badge number from work. If you look at my avatar you will understand. 

[PaleoFishGirl]

You're a cartoon character? Cool!

[Jeff1192]

Haha....I'm impressed that you figured that out....most people think I'm a cop!   

[charlie]

Hey welcome to the site, hope you have a blast around here  , BTW were you in on this  -http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=17292.msg126937#msg126937   
Regards

http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=17292.msg126937#msg126937

[dan2x38]

Haha....I'm impressed that you figured that out....most people think I'm a cop!   

IC we are being infiltrated... ROTFL  good cover an aquarist... 

[Jeff1192]

Haha....nope wasn't me....but I could see how the lights and the foot traffic could lead someone to call the police. 

[Dr. Ashtray]

Yeah, the Dr. Ashtray thing always invokes a "What the" kind of reaction.  Especially on eBay!  dr.ashtray on there, well, amongst other accounts, which may remain nameless.  I use other accounts to buy European and sell Canadian.  So as not to alert the buyers of my prowess and skill in uncovering worthy European designed resale items that sell like hotcakes over here.  I collect ashtrays and know a lot about them, thus the Dr. Ashtray.  It also kind of fits my own persona.  I am an amateur stand-up comedian and actor who isn't afraid to mangle any grain he encounters.  I like to turn grains into burls.  That is pretty much it in a nutshell.

Jeffrey...

[Kats]

This thread is cool!

I'm a cat lover!!   Cats would have been too obvious so it is Kats.... used to be Katoux3 (Kat - cat... ou - where in French.... 3 - 3 cats) but I shortened it to Kats when we adopted our 4th cat (all rescued).  Our family is complete... 4 cats, 9 fish and 2 teenagers!!!

Quite a zoo!!! 

[babblefish1960]

Another crazy cat lady, perfect, welcome to the OVAS website, and honestly, having had teenagers, I would take 4 stray semi feral cats any day.

[renadia]

Well then, in deference to the original query, and obvious assumptions by those who like to presume, I have chosen to emerge from the fearsome depths of my mind and spout effusively regarding my clearly mysterious nomenclature.

To begin at the beginning would be far too practical, and as obfuscatory diatribe may well be my middle names, I shall digress to a most ponderous and rambling version starting somewhere, perhaps the middle.

Unfortunately, my very best information strikes well after the witching hour, and as it is now just after 5 am, it is time to strike with both barrels. As an aside, you likely will never understand a post from me if it is at 7:00 in the morning, I'm fairly incomprehensible at that hour, so I sit quietly during that time, and smoke cigarettes instead, it is possibly a much safer practise than speaking non-sensical gibberish.

Out of respect for garnpet, I shall be sure to absorb a vast amount of bandwidth by expressing an element of my moniker by example, quod erat demonstradum.

I shall say that my father was an English Master and an English Education Director for the Ministry of Education, suffice it to say that English was spoken at home in xenagogue fashion and that my first words were literally consumed, (he accuses me of having eaten several pages one day of his Shorter Oxford English dictionary prior to being capable of bi-pedal locomotion, and my mother corraborates this account of events). There is quite some irony in eating that dictionary and spending the rest of my days never shutting up.

I've been told I mutter and splutter in the few hours I sleep, though I've no idea what about, heck, that could even be true of the waking hours. It seems to annoy the cats enough for them to pounce on my head when I'm snoring.

The point here, if there ever was one, was that I required a name for an email account way back, and quite frankly, I've always admired the ponderous tomes (okay, mere novels, but vast in scope) of Douglass Adams, so Beowolf was partially correct in his assumption. But Succinctfish actually chose the name. So, in attempting to secure an account, Babelfish was taken at least ten thousand times the world over, so I chose instead to don the reference pertinent to verbal diarrhea. I must say additionally that Marvin the manic depressive robot came into this description in a most abstruse way.(brain the size of a planet  )

Now the attraction to the babelfish is fourfold, firstly, it is that thing that you stick in your ear so eloquently described in an earlier surmise, secondly, it refers to a tower that has two meanings for me, a profoundly important bible story that sums up why we can't understand each other, and a poke at engineers who think they rule the world and tried to erect a physical manifestation of trying to speak to God directly.(I was steeped quite deeply in religious matters as a child, so this story stuck). Thirdly, I am definitely one for silence, I almost never hear it as I am forever talking, hence the babble. Fourthly, I love fish, not so much to eat, but to have as pets, (though I was an avid unsuccessful coarse fisherman for many decades). And it reminds me of more stories about the bible involving fish.

Now the 1960 part is peculiar, I had run into a glitch on the site here some time ago, where I couldn't remember for the life of me what my stupid password was, it was something ridiculous, anyway, I had to answer a post rather quickly, as the person trying to sell me something couldn't give me the contact information because I couldn't log on. So in a blind panic, I re-joined the site, but had to modify my name, and quickly, so I picked a number I could remember, and this was the first real job I had had, and it was milking cows, I love cows, they are such wonderful animals.

There was a quote from the earlier part of the nineteenth century, where new settlers to Canada were assured great probability of success in pioneering if they had only two things they could bring, and that was a strong wife, and a good cow, or was it the other way around. So cows have always been important to mankinds evolution and they are lovely creatures that can be rather tasty too.
My absolute favourite cows are kyloes, or Scottish Highland, they are so lovable, and cute too.

I actually like cows almost as much as trucks, I'm not talking pansy fords and chevies,(I won't even mention dodge), I'm talking LandRovers and MB Unimogs and medium class military trucks. I did have my own fleet of Freightliner logtrucks in the eighties though, they were cool, I gave them all names of trees.

So what about trucks, well I drive an older Volkswagon Jetta now that I am adjusting to not treating like a truck, it's a good car Angie is, but she's no truck.

Trucks are like oxen, and I once possessed some Ayreshire oxen that were a blast, taller than me, powerful, yet gentle, not like Isaac and Newton, my black Percherons, Isaac was tractable, but Newton was nuts, and forever getting into hi-jinks in harness.

You can't really yell at horses, they're sensitive beasts with sharp hearing. Well, the first time I was training Newton to pull logs, he was doing alright for a nut, but when the log hit the gravel of the long driveway, he hadn't heard that noise before...he took off like a bolt, the log is skittering side to side like a crazy thing(I had long reins for just such an eventuality) and I am running as fast as I can in my size 14 miner's muckers, calling quietly and gently to Newton...gee-up Newton, easy, easy, whoa boy...trying not to get dragged across half the township. ( for some odd reason, Yosemite Sam and that blasted mule was rushing into my mind during this incident). Some bystanders were roaring with laughter while others were yelling in panicked voices about someone heading the fool horse off. Eventually reason prevailed, I was able to get him back on the grasses and he began to listen again. I tell you, I pulled several muscles in my legs and back trying to keep up with him and not get dragged...we had a love/hate relationship.
Margaret and Elizabeth were my Clydesdales that were a lot more sensible and were darling draughts for many years.

So what, well it is my love for useful power and utility that keeps me loving trucks, trucks are like draught animals, but without the vet bills, and cows are my absolute favourites and I began milking and hand churning butter in 1960, (my Muumuu was strong like a bull from churning). Marilyn Monroe was still alive, so was Jim Morrison, cars were beautiful and so was Gina Lollobrigida. We still had an intact ozone, and a sunburn was just a sunburn. Queen Elizabeth, whom I protect as a Royal Loyalist and have sworn an oath of fealty to, extended naturally to some of her family(Princess Anne has always been difficult) was still having her drinking water shipped to her from Loch Lomond, which was a stone's throw from where I grew up, Okay, maybe three or four stone's throw, (I'm apparently a terrible thrower, my kids were always safe from me in snowball fights, they still mock me).

In the army we never got to do much with cows or horses, so I had to transfer this love of brute strength, ignorance and power to the machinery, hence the trucks are like cows.

Now I am not done with this by a long shot, but I defer to the soon to be rising sun that I'll have to be up for, so I hope that this touches lightly enough upon a suitable explanation apropos to my station and proclivity.


I hope you find this extrapolation of historical events amusing and somewhat telling in understanding who it is you may be talking to here, it has been fun making busdriver wait, and I hope it was enlightening, for some of it may even be true.

lol very interesting and intertaining  My name is far from being interesting compared to yours. I was not even tought of in 1960...

[babblefish1960]

I'm glad you were entertained, it is unfortunately in my nature to ramble so.  I am quite certain that you have some interesting tale regarding your choice of on-line name, give it a shot, I am sure it will be fun.  Right off the mark I can see you have a tolerance for inanity, as you managed to read that post, so don't count yourself short by any means.

[beowulf]

I'm glad you were entertained, it is unfortunately in my nature to ramble so.  I am quite certain that you have some interesting tale regarding your choice of on-line name, give it a shot, I am sure it will be fun.  Right off the mark I can see you have a tolerance for inanity, as you managed to read that post, so don't count yourself short by any means.

Though I have found the secret to keep Babble silent for at least 30 minutes.....

[renadia]

I guess not all of the 900 registered users have as much time to visit the site, or they are afraid of giving away too much information.

If you moved to Merrickville and kept angelfish instead, would you have become Mr. Merrickville Angel?

I suppose we can all be grateful that the dog you love so much wasn't called frou frou or something cute like that, it would just be so weird.


Everytime I see that '88' guy on here, I think that it is either homage to the greatest and most versatile weapon of the German forces in WWII, the 88mm gun, either that or he likes pianos, 88 keys, sorry I couldn't help myself. I'm still dreadfully curious about names like ophelia, very mysterious.

Just glad Nickie was not called Frou Frou! Can you imagine that!...

[beowulf]

Haha....I'm impressed that you figured that out....most people think I'm a cop!   

Your not a real cop your just some sort of detective they don't do real cop work 

[Jeff1192]

Ouch.....that hurt! 

[renadia]

I heard the elite squad or what's the name for it, god my mind is blank...anyway they destroys their locker room! Yep the just detroy it, what we tax paying hard worker pay I bet they are not very busy if they have time to do that.   ::)Hope your not in that gang

[renadia]

Ok , so Renadia is not more tought of than Garnpet 

[renadia]

I love to go fishing for catfish
and I'm a hillbilly at heart

WE had a catfish just like your avatar in a 32 gal for a long time. My son had caught him when he was just a small thing and didn't want to put it back in the water. the other fish either jumped out from small openings at the back of the top or he ate them! He ended up being the sole owner of the tank 

[rmicroys]

Microys, Rob Microys.  Hence, rmicroys.

[babblefish1960]

How fascinating, is Microys a real name, or did you put some words together.

Just teasing, welcome to the site of course, and lovely name as well.

[bettabreeder]

I got my name by my name because I breed bettas

[KatarinaH]

I've gone by Kate all my life (middle name). When I was in Elementary School I used to have this death stare that my teachers used to hate. One of my teachers started calling me Katarina as a result... H is the first letter of my last name.

[Vizerdrix]

This is a great way to find out about everyone in this forum, I like it! 

As some others have said about their names, mine came into existence after getting royally frustrated in creating a user name, when I made my Neopets account!  All my usual personae were taken, and I detest having numbers in my monikers... As I was an avid Magic: The Gathering player at the time, I punched in Vizerdrix, and it was accepted.  I also misspelled it by mistake (it should be spelled Vizzerdrix).

For those who don't know, a Vizzerdrix is a creature from the aforementioned game.  The description on the card is as follows: "A bored wizard once created a vizzerdrix out of a bunny and a piranha. He never made that mistake again!"  I've been using that alias for several years, and it's now my e-mail addy!

Most people either call me Viz or Viz Chris (must have something to do with my real name being Chris).  Nice to meet all of you!

[Taltos]

I am very new to the group, and new to aquarium owning as well - this is a great post, so here goes!
I love Anne Rice novels....one of her characters is a cross between a monster and a witch, which she called TALTOS- hence the name of my 13 year old horse(very large and very grumpy)....decided to keep taltos because it is easy to remember!!!
lovin it

[Dr. Ashtray]

I collect ashtrays!  I just love the fact that something so small can hold so much stylistic quality of the era it was created in.  I guess you could say I am an illustration and design freak!

Jeffrey...

[latios]

Don't get to intrested in them them can sting you YooWWWWWWWWWWWW! But I Know your un expert on them but i'm warning you. Watch out. Lol

[Supressor]

This is Just one of my gamer tags, my oldest is IHCInuYasha, and Supressor is the one I use now. Theres some others I use, this one the most frequent.

[littlelil]

My name is Lillian and i'm little  It's usually taken so somtimes i'll add another "L" at the end, and sometimes i'll even add a "P" at the end of that, too, for my last name, if littlelil, little_lil, littlelill, or little_lill are all taken.

[estuary]

use to have 2 brackish tanks col. sharks, puffers, dragon goby
scats just have fw now but the name stuck

[sdivell]

Sdivell.... scott divell.... sdivell.... ya i'm creative... can we change our names? Chris looking in your direction lol.. if we can.. can i be 'Scott' please? 

[twisty]

I've been using mine for ages!
'cause i'm that old.
It was born on a Mountain Biking Forum.
I love Tight, Twisty trails... so Twisty it was!

[Sharbuckle]

sharbuckle = Shawn Arbuckle

thats me name

[Wal_Mart_Fish_Guy]

uh, I think its rather apparent... but feel free to come visit me at the southkeys wal-mart!

-Matt

[groupie02]

I can't believe that I've never noticed this thread until today. I guess now that it has 253 replies I can go ahead and tell my story too.

I took my userid in the same bin where garnpet got his. It comes from a combination of my last name and first name.  I've been using groupie since the early 90's.

The problem with my userid is that, unlike garnpet, groupie is a real word. One day, while registering for yet another email account, groupie was already taken. For some reason, groupie69 was also taken (that's my year of birth folks - it has nothing to do with the site I was on). Well, I clicked on the "suggest a userid" button and groupie02 was free.

Since that day, I've been using groupie at work and groupie02 in forums.

Pierre

[Krispy]

Krispy aka. Kris  ...hmmm...ummm...ya...well ya see, it's like this...gotta keep em wonderin, just a little 

[DiSkO]

DiSkO actually came from a past online alias that I used to use, which was DiSk0<--Zero (disk zero).  Which then evolved to disko, because everyone called me that anyways.  I guess it helps that I also love disco music!  I know i'm only 28 but I still love it!  haha   

I even have a small disco ball hanging from my rearview mirror

-Dale

[dan2x38]

Explained mine before but no reconsidering it on fish forums. With 11 tanks my feet are always wet. I was thinking of having my ID changed to, 'WetSocks' 

[Pistol_pete]

Pistol Pete came from a boss I had. He gave me that name because I always have a smart ass joke in my barrel ready to fire at anytime. My name is Pete so Pistol Pete it was and it's stuck for some reason.

[Mari]

I make them up as I go along...have to.  I keep forgetting who I am... 

[jdsunflower]

I work with ladies with ovarian cancer, and their symbol is the sunflower, so it's in honour of them. JD I'll save for later!
JD

[AltamaraKai]

My names just something I came up with lols

[washefuzzy]

My names just something I came up with lols

Very original and cool!

[boppy2]

Well, I suppose I should jump into the "Name History Game"....some funny reads...Thanks.

My daughter, nieces and nephews all called my late dad "Boppy". When my daughter was pregnant with the first of my two beautiful, gorgeous, intelligent, witty, charming and affable granddaughters (they are 4 and 2 1/2), my daughter pressed me as to what I wanted Gabrielle (granddaughter #1) to call me. Well I finally said, " How about "Boppy" in memory of my dad?".....sigh....twas a tender moment...everyone shed a tear....and hence I am Boppy2 on most of the sites that require a nic. I must be getting sentimental with age....even my licence plate has the same name!!! Oh by the way, granddaughter # 2 is Trista.

[kamasama]

Its from my obbsession with japanease comic books.
Kama translates to sythe,
Sama is what you add to end of the name of someone with higher rank then you...
Such as Boppy Sama

[Groovylad]

Years ago I was trying to come up with a catchy online name, my younger brother was using Funkylad and suggested that I use Groovylad as it sounded very 60's when I was born...

Man, just dated myself...

[presto]

A group of friends call me Presto or just my last name, Prest.
There are a lot of Chris's so we went to last names to avoid confusion.

[Tsukiyomi-sakura]

My name also comes from Japanese animation, 'dark moon sakura' I tend to cosplay from naruto alot and my pink hair earned me the rep for sakura >.>;, I picked the Tsukiyomi part to add on Randomly.

[SATELLITE]

i got 2 names. SATELLITE cause i'm was on site around the world.
and AQUARIUS on other boards cause thats my b-day sign. and it meaning water thought it was a good one to use

[walkytalky]

Mine was quite simple.
I walk alot and talk alot (big time).
Friends wonder if i ever stop talking. Cause I am like the everlasting energized bunny.. just keep on going and going and .....going
Hence the name Walkytalky.
OH ya and I do ask alot of questions. Tons. I know some people see me and want to run.
And believe it or not I am quite a shy person, until I get to know people.
And I just got married. Ya July 19th. Love it.
OK I will shut up now. hehehe

[Blackstitch]

How I came up with my name a yr and a half ago, is that I work in the printing industry, and one of the machines that I'm on most of the time is called a stitcher. Hence the "stitch" at the end.

[martin_jones]

Mine is far too complicated to explain here

Martin

[KarEn]

interesting post. 

Well, my nick is my real name. The reason I write "E" (KarEn) in capital is  because I am a guy and KarEn is a typical name for guys back home (Armenia). Yep, not too many people know that in North America, but after being here for 10 years I decided not to change it (I wanted before).
So, here you go. 
For example, Alex is also a unisex name, so KarEn is one of them too! 

[smalltownfan]

I grew up in Ottawa East, on Hawthorne Ave., even married the girl next door. It was a great place. But the neighborhood was changing and when we had our kids the same streets that were safe for us were no place for kids. So 20 years ago we moved to Russell, (the boonies, that's what friends and family told us at the time) and raised our family.  There were some sacrifices and difficulties but looking at them today,  it was one of the best choices we made. We love the people, the quiet and the space.

Hank

[opularastroid]

about 10 years ago, I was setting up a membership on something........can't remember what. All of the names that I wanted were taken, so I asked the site for suggestions. I have been Opularastroid ever since......except on Yahoo because someone stole it  .

[LEROY]

Well my last name is LeRoy, and since the the World of Warcraft has come out, well if you know you know! I have three first names so most people take their pick but LeRoy seems to be the favorite.

[Pamelajo]

My name is Pamela Jo-Anne.  When coming up with a nickname it was the first one that was available.

[Hookup]

Hookup - a fishing reference...  Hook into some fish.. got to hookup.. nothing too funny... joined a fishing forum before this one and used the same id here as there.  PS: i like to fish.

[fischkopp]

PS: i like to fish.

We all like (to) fish 

I am around for a while, but never posted in here: Well, I am not a cop. It's actually a german name for dudes that grew up on the coast, translate it 1:1 and it means fish head. I found that kind of meaningful as I signed up on this forum ...

[Elariel]

I have been using Elariel as a screen name so long I almost think its my own sometimes. It stems from an utter passion for all things Tolkien.

My real name Angela mean angel like, something I have detested my entire life. However, using Tolkien's high elvish language Quenya, the root Ang means iron and the root Ela means star. In highschool I loved astronomy so I took the root Ela and comined it with Riel which means maiden. Thus, Elariel, prounoused ELLA-ree-ell.

[ramblnpony]

Ramblnpony...... A song written by Peter Green, founder of "Fleetwood Mac" when they were a blues band.......another passion of mine not to mention the Ottawa bluesfest.

[buzz]

Years ago, before I retired, a fellow I worked with always said that I reminded him of the comic strip character Buzz Sawyer so, I've been Buzz ever since.

[Cerebral As5asn]

Mine is from my fav wrestler Triple H, and it is also my xbox live nick.

[Stussi613]

Back in high school a guy in my film class started calling me Stussi, based on the skater clothing line Stussy and my name being Stuart.  Needed an online nick so I stuck a 613 on the end and I've been using it ever since.

[slickshooter]

I can't remember which site it was years ago but while trying to sign up it seemed every name was taken (Even my given name) . So I combined a word I always liked for some strange reason "Slick"  and my passion for shooting photography "Shooter" .

[JD]

JD
Jeffrey Douglas

[invisibleshopper]

I use to do "mystery shopping" or "secret shopping" where we would go to a store/restaurant and evaluate the services received.

Hence - invisibleshopper on-line or invisibleshopperagain on e-bay since invisibleshopper was taken.

KLT

[Rybren]

A combination of my kids' first names: RYand BRENdan=Rybren

[Aine]

Aine = my name (Annie) in Irish, my grand-parent's language and what my Mum would have called me if people knew how to pronounce it... It's said "Awnyeh"

[gerryo]

Tried to register on RC with my fave name. Was told it was taken. 2nd fave was also taken and so on up to ten. Got fed up try'n so typed in gerro to save time.
Name is Gerry O'Callaghan.

[S-and-T]

just the initials of both our first names.. not real original lol

[cichlidicted]

someone chose it for me after repeatedly seeing me preparing to get my first cichlid tank.

was funny at the beg !!

[ajm1961]

Well, it's about time I introduced myself, having been on the forums for close to a year now and also a member since around March.

My 'nic' is not all that creative, it's simply a combination of my initials, Andre Joseph Martin, and my birth year - yep, a bit of an 'oldie' (hey I'm still a tad younger than BabbleFish1960!). It's been my username for my email and other accounts, so it was easier to reuse and remember!

I love a lot of the nics I've been seeing in this forum and the explanations are fun too!
BTW (Ramblnpony): I'm also a blues fan, Fleetwood Mac in Chicago and James Cotton's 100% Cotton are two of my all-time faves! And like roman and greek mythology (Nerine - very cool)

Hopefully I'll bump into some of you at the various functions. Been to the Annual Giant Auction (won a 20 gallon tank too!), and more recently at the garage sale.

Great community! Happy fishkeeping to all! 

[OttawaFolkFestivum]

I live in Britannia, and the Ottawa Folk Festival was on, and I was keeping Festivums at the time...and Bingo! I know, I know. Really genius.

I'm no longer keeping Festivums, but still have the very long nickname.

[ciaus]

My nick is a dyslexic/lazy error on my part, in wanting to use the character name Caius Merlyn Brittannicus from the extraodinary series of books by Jack Whyte, A Brood of Eagles.  I was too lazy to pick up the book to validate the spelling and so I inadvertently transposed the "i" and the "a".  Spelled, as I do, it raises eyebrows on occasion since it now looks like alphabet soup letters from the United states Government......

[Cheebs]

Mines just a name I used to use in video games and stuff as a teen, sort of stuck I guess!

[Contains Moose]

Mine is an anagram:)

[aqua666]

aqua is water
and I like a techno group called 666
for some reason I added these together lol
so wired when I think about it now.
hahahahaha

[soleil1980]

well, the name soleil started when I was a teenager, thinking that having long bleached spiked hair was a good idea lol  My friends started calling me soleil because I looked like a sun.  I also used that name when I was working with the daycamps in my early twenties.  1980 is my birth year.

[holachicka]

my online name comes from me pretending to be spanish when playing online games and not really wanting to chat with certain types of people, you know what type of people I am talking about    - real name: Jessie

[pushbuttonstart]

my car has a...

[mkowals2]

Another unexciting one I'm afraid... My name is Michael Kowalski and at Uni they like to take your first initial and a portion of your last name for some reason, and make it your school email. I guess the 2 is because there was another M. Kowalski??

-Mike

[FocusFin]

Another unexciting one I'm afraid... My name is Michael Kowalski and at Uni they like to take your first initial and a portion of your last name for some reason, and make it your school email. I guess the 2 is because there was another M. Kowalski??-Mike

Kowalski...Vanishing Point...Kowalski...Vanishing Point...Kowalski...

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2fot_primal-scream-kowalski

[holachicka]

Kowalski...Vanishing Point...Kowalski...Vanishing Point...Kowalski...

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2fot_primal-scream-kowalski

LOL - Nice!

[nightowl]

in my younger college days (god i sound old and i,m only 30) I was a night owl so I used it as my online name.

[pt109]

When I first started working the midnight shift in the Kitchener Post Office in the 70s, everyone had to have a nickname.

My first 2 initials are PT, add a reference to president JF Kennedy's torpedo boat, et voila!

[omarshabaz]

My Nickname is an interesting story, when I was playing high school basketball all the guys thought my name(Dan) didnt fit with the rest of the team, which people were name khalid, tarik, jamal, mohamed, etc.. So they decided to give me a nick name Omarshabaz so that i fit in....And it has stuck ever since.

[Severum]

My online name comes from a mix of my first and last name - Steve Everum.

[salvini55]

so where does Vafa fit in there? some kind of word jumble

[holachicka]

so where does Vafa fit in there? some kind of word jumble

Yes! Take the 4th letter (V) from the first name as a starting point, replace the 5th letter (e) with an "A", replace the 2nd letter (v) from the last name with a "F" and replace the 3rd letter (e) with an "A"  .... simple as that!!!!

Steve Everum totally equals Vafa.....

[Vincenzo.]

My online name comes from a mix of my first and last name - Steve Everum.

Lmao @ steve everum. I thought severum was a type of fish..

[JetJumper]

Hmm.. Chris is my real name, which has nothing to do with the JetJumper.

Nickname came from about 12 years ago.  Used to play a lot of video games with people from School, and I had been playing some Earthworm Jim while waiting for the next round of Warcraft 2 to start.  All in all, I got a nickname JetJumper from it, so it has stuck since then.  Yes I am a geek.

Geekyness








I like to "mod" things / DIY.. If you could not tell from these pictures..

[Severum]

Didn't I see you on an episode of Pimp My Computer Case?

[holachicka]

Didn't I see you on an episode of Pimp My Computer Case?

LOL - you are just too cute!

[Hookup]

The upgrade to JetJumper v1.6.9 is boss.

[JetJumper]

The upgrade to JetJumper v1.6.9 is boss.

[salvini55]

I also thought Severum was reffering to the cichlid green terror...

I cant believe I didnt see the Hidden letters. I replaced the V of the start point with a G and got Gafa, I Gaffed it...  All this time I was worried if it was Vafa or Vefa or Fifi... and it was steve the whole time!!!!! geez

[Adam]

Take a wild guess

[ciaus]

Take a wild guess

You are really a girl named Eve!

Ciaus

[new2salt]

Just one of the new kids round here.

Discribes where I am in this hobby.

Could have gone with Cichlididiot - but haven't had a fresh water tank in over 20 years.
Back then - had a whole room full of tanks

The avitar says it all - yes I am a Firefighter

Ron

[busdriver]

Who would have figured it would come this far, miss you guys and sorry to hear about charlie, nice guy and I know he's going to be missed.
Still think of all of you when I get a message about a sale or meeting.
babblefish1960, paleofishgirl, roxy, artw, bitterman, mseguin, I know I'm missing someone.
Yeah, I know, off topic, but I started this.
Take care, you have a great club with great people.

busdriver

aka Terry

[kerisb]

First name is Kerry, last name starts with B.    My husband calls me Keris.    So Kerisb it became.    Also my personnalized licesne plate that goes on my Pontiac GTP's

[White Lightning]

Terry,

It was good to see ya yesterday. Thanx for keeping me in mind. Some good reads!

I LOVE THE TITLE OF THIS THREAD........ (kinda brings me back to a different OVAS)

It's funny how things change. I remember when I was first introduced to OVAS and I began to look at the various forums. It was your thread entitled, "on line names?" that I always found interesting. It's such a good question because you often wonder where people come up with their on line names. The other fun thread was entitled "what are you listening to right now" That was five years ago. Time sure does fly.

I've met a lot of friendly and informative people through this "CLUB" Afterall, We all keep fish don't we?

[White Lightning]

Apparently I am not known for my math skills .......

That was four years ago. Nonetheless, time still flies!

[Bloop]

I honestly don't know where I came up with Bloop... I'm not normal.. the voices in my head tell me so hourly...

*bLoOp*

o.O

[busdriver]

I honestly don't know where I came up with Bloop... I'm not normal.. the voices in my head tell me so hourly...

*bLoOp*

o.O

What's "normal"?

[Bloop]

What's "normal"?

Overrated

[new2salt]

I honestly don't know where I came up with Bloop... I'm not normal.. the voices in my head tell me so hourly...

*bLoOp*

o.O

Who of us IS
In the eyes of the uninitiated - non fish keepers.

ARE ANY OF US NORMAL
Heck we keep our pets cooped up in glass boxes

[Bloop]

Who of us IS
In the eyes of the uninitiated - non fish keepers.

ARE ANY OF US NORMAL
Heck we keep our pets cooped up in glass boxes

I tried to take Tangy for a walk.. but I couldn't find a collar that fit... 

[Smashley]

My name is Ashley and when I'm angry I smash things.  So...  Smashley.

[JetJumper]

My name is Ashley and when I'm angry I smash things.  So...  Smashley.

Just try to avoid the glass on the aquariums please  

[Mike536]

Well my is my first name mike and I'm in the military and my last 3 of my service number is 536. Pretty simple.

[Saharabelle]

Saharabelle...

well I have a daugther name Océane....then i got pregnant and wanted the name Sahara...if it was a girl but I ended up having a cute little men that we called Médéryck...

Belle means pretty.......and when I started playing FFXI...i made a caracter that was a female and i called her that ....and the online name stayed.....its easier to stick to 1 online name ...that have 3-4 ....so I keeped it.

[busdriver]

This is "busdriver", I'm glad to see OVAS is still around and some of my friends are still here.
I wish I was still here but have gone on to other things, I happy to see OVAS is still going strong.

Take care

busdriver

[wolfiewill]

I was the wolf in a children's play of "the three little pigs". The actors were all new to the theatre group and didn't know each other by any name other than our charactor's name. Hence, I became 'wolfie' and now after thirty years, I am still 'wolfie' to some of those other actors. The 'will' part is going to remain a secret.

[DaWolfe]

Dan Wolfe = DaWolfe and sounds like THE WOLFE.

[brotherluv]

Guess what my sisters call me?

[Darth]

Guess what my sisters call me?

CHris? LOL

[brotherluv]

That too along with some other things depending  how much I tortured them that day...lol

[lepageg]

my username back in the days when pc's were a mere concept.

[Darth]

That too along with some other things depending  how much I tortured them that day...lol

im the youngest of 5 so I was the one tortured!! LOL

[Saltcreep]

With permission from the Webmaster I have gone ahead and bumped this thread. It was started by a long-time forum member, Busdriver, aka. Terry. For those who have already contributed to the thread, it's worth another read; I always find a new chuckle in here. For those us who are new to forum, here's your chance to tell us about your online name - how'd you come by it, does it have a special meaning to you? Curious people want to know. I can already think of a dozen or so that I can't wait to hear from.

[touchofsky]

touchofsky = touch of sky.  I am a botanical artist and I had to come up with a name for my studio in a hurry for a studio tour that I was participating in. 

I was out in my garden and looked at one of my favourite irises and its name is "Touch of Sky".  Voila, I called my studio Touch of Sky Studio.

[tjmonet74]

tjmonet74 =
t (Tasha)
j (Jean) ***I was named after both grandmothers, I'm not a hick from the sticks. I know it sounds so country bumpkin!!!
monet is my favourite artist
and 74 is the year I was born.

[Thunda]

Thunda was a comic book character from the 50's that a artist I really liked created.  The artist is Frank Frazetta.

[busdriver]

Just checking, I received an e-mail about a sale on Saturday 22nd of Sept. unfortunately I have a wedding to attend. Miss this place, Charlie, nice to see you are still here. Those were the days.
I remember someone putting on a photography display, I shouldn't have attended, that's what I'm into now.
I was just thinking of all the aquarium equipment I could have bought instead of cameras.
Anybody ever hear from paleofishgirl or babbelfish?
Big Daddy, you still here?
Hope all is well with you!

[NjOyRiD]

Just checking, I received an e-mail about a sale on Saturday 22nd of Sept. unfortunately I have a wedding to attend. Miss this place, Charlie, nice to see you are still here. Those were the days.
I remember someone putting on a photography display, I shouldn't have attended, that's what I'm into now.
I was just thinking of all the aquarium equipment I could have bought instead of cameras.
Anybody ever hear from paleofishgirl or babbelfish?
Big Daddy, you still here?
Hope all is well with you!

wow, old school people hehe

[fishmonger]

Im Fishmonger, once upon a lifetime ago, I was with Lapointe Fish, and now, I still work part time as a Fishmonger for a different company, seems I have scales in the blood and cant get away from it!  In my real life Im a sales rep, but as I like to keep busy, 2 jobs are better than 1!  I think, maybe...

[Fisheye Lens]

I'm a big fan of rock n' roll and the name just kind of jumped out at me when I was signing up. Plus it seemed appropriate given the topic. From the song 'Limelight' by Rush:                         
                                  Living in a fish eye lens
                                 Caught in the camera eye
                                  I have no heart to lie
                                 I can't pretend a stranger
                                  Is a long-awaited friend

[hobo]

I am hobo because my wife says I dress like one

[Rumble Fish]

I thought this name bet summed up my enjoyment of the aquarium hobby, tattoos and motorcycles. I know, one of these things is not like the others...

[Dan]

I picked my name before navigating the forum...I sure was suprised when Dan was available!
First forum on which I am not Dan3423434980348 

[ceci]

Mine is my cats name   Short for Cecilia....

She loves fish as much as I do!! If it's time to feed the fish, she'll track me down and she's relentless!

[zenins]

I am hobo because my wife says I dress like one

ha ha

I am reminded of a conversation in one of my favourite movies "The Incredibles"

Edna: This is a hobo suit, darling. You can't be seen in this. I won't allow it. Fifteen years ago, maybe, but now? Feh!
Bob: Wait, what do you mean? *You* designed it.
Edna: I never look back, darling! It distracts from the now.
Bob: E, I just need a patch job. For... sentimental reasons.
Edna: Fine. I will also fix the hobo suit.
Bob: You're the best of the best, E
Edna: [Walking up stairs] Yes, I know, dahling.

[busdriver]

Thank you OVAS, I know where to come to when looking up names of people.
Was looking for Jen aka Crumpet, couldn't remember her last name.

[flyingpancake]

When I make pancakes they fly from the pan onto peoples plates.

[martin_jones]

erm.. I'm not very original.

[Greatwhite]

erm.. I'm not very original.

What do you mean, Steve?

[OrbitalTwist]

"Orbital Twist " Is my development company name. Its a name that I picked because it represents the monster environment of my development capabilities, all designed and created with a twist. Plus its very unique and shows well in searches and easy to remember that its me 

[busdriver]

Merry Christmas all. Old and new members, this is an awesome place, sometimes wish I'd never left.

Busdriver

[101DalmatianMollies]

 Hi all! Mine is a play on 101 Dalmatians (I guess kinda obvious) however it stems from wanting to, at one point, breed mollies, of the Dalmatian kind, with some of the brightly coloured varieties.

Now I want to breed Corydoras and bristle nose plecos lol

[busdriver]

Anyone else care to add to this?

[transporter8367]

Do you drive a bus?

[missavgp]

Hi, my name comes from being in the military. I was an AVGP driver, which stands for Armoured Vehicle General Purpose (AKA Cougar and Grizzly). I was sad when they retired them and made them into monuments, thus missavgp.

[busdriver]

Do you drive a bus?

Not any more, drove school bus for 9 1/2 years, drove tractor/trailer for 4 months, had an office job (which I hated) for 31 years.

[Pokki]

Hi,  i got my nick PoKkI 20 year ago when a start gaming and i i got it it by watching Pokemon.

Right now i have 55 gallon African cichlid and I'm in the process of starting a 55 gallon planted shrimp tank.

[Mark]

I got my name from my Mom

[Kelly]

Last name

[Box Jockey]

I open boxes... 8 hours a day ,5 days a week. Box Jockey it's my job!

[Philnashbass]

In addition to salt water interests, I'm also a bass guitar enthusiast.

[CC-Slider]

Since this seems to be active I will give the short boring history behind my name.

Well the CC are my initials and growing up many friends loved singing or mentioning the song CC Rider (Elvis did a Version of it) to me because of my initials. Well back in the 90's two great games came out while I was back in college learning Programming. And since they where online games (Quake and Duke Nuke em) I needed a online persona, So playing off the CC Rider and at the times a favourite TV Show Sliders I came up with CC Slider I have used it for almost 21 years now.