I’ve been a forum member for a while and have always been interested in any story or significance behind a users name/handle. Some are straightforward i.e., concatenations or abbreviated versions of real-life names but others are not (to me) quite so obvious.
So what say you? Do you have a story behind your user name?
Although not terribly creative, I’ll start with mine. As a USAF vet, I was always a fan of Top Gun. In the mid-80’s, I tried to join some site with the user name “Viper”. Unfortunately, that was taken so I decided to append my initials as “ViperRGD”. Unsurprisingly, that one was available. Since then, a lack of inspiration coupled with an abundance of laziness has me using that same name repeatedly.
I used to bake a lot of French desserts. Ganache is a combination of chocolate and heavy cream. Basically you melt dark chocolate into heavy cream and whisk gently until fully incorporated. It is used as a layer in a wedding cake I used to make for friends as a wedding gift. Wedding cakes are usually pretty plain and cost a fortune. The recipe was in Bon Appetit. The cake had the following layers: yellow sponge cake, brushed with Grand Mariner, coffee buttercream, chocolate meringue, ganache, yellow sponge cake, brushed with Grand Mariner, coffee buttercream, chocolate meringue, ganache, yellow sponge cake. Then the whole thing is covered in coffee buttercream, To decorate you dip mini orchids in egg white and sprinkle in fine sugar. The sugar crystalizes into a clear hard shell. The orchids are then placed on the cake with some lightly colored piping. I made about 14 wedding cakes before I stopped. It took three days. 1st day to make the parts. 2nd day to assemble the cake. 3rd day to decorate it. The cost of ingredients was less than $100 for a cake serving 50 people. For young couples it made the wedding cake special and not a financial burden. I use this user name on lots of websites.
over 6,000 flight hours of aerobatics for me, all they way to what is called Unlimited Category competition and teaching about 500 students from all walks of life; designed and built a super akro mount
I spent two years at Nellis AFB and had the pleasure of watching the Thunderbirds train when they weren’t on tour. I have great respect for you folks - your skills and stomachs!
weedeewop, well it goes back to my college days and early exploration of jazz. Digging into jazz vocalists, and especially fond of Ella Fitzgerald, it is intended to reflect my appreciation of her jazz scats. Some tend to associate it with “herbs”, not the intent at all.
so weed, weedie, or wop really doesn’t reflect the intent.
wdw
As said before, based on the 1967 Checker my dad gave me to go off to active duty with the USAF at Keesler AFB in 1974. My mom got it in the days Checker tried to go into the regular car market. When I got to the base, I got waved right in and saluted…had no ID card or uniform - just orders…seems the admiral at the SEABEE base down the road at Gulfport had one just like it.
Also a US Air Force veteran. Spent my first 3.5 years (1978-81) at Vandenberg AFB located on the central coast of California. Worked on site at Space Launch Complex 4 where the USAF, together with Martin Marietta and Lockheed, launched payloads on the Titan IIID missile system. Today the complex is utilized by SpaceX for their Falcon 9 operations. Great views of the Pacific Ocean when we weren’t fogged in! What a great life experience.
Also an Air Force vet. Started in the missle field. And what is nuts is I worked 8 months last year with AFRL (Air Force Research Lab) on missles at the same sites I was at 40 years ago…
Of course they are not likley to move. And if they do, stereos wont matter anymore.
The term Ronin is a Japanese term. I spent my time in the service and till the late 90s studying and teaching Juitsu. Lot of Japanese culture there. I indentify with the term.
Very cool! Stories like yours is confirming my belief that that our community is comprised of a widely varied set of experiences brought together by a love music and its reproduction.
Not in my user name, but my wife and I play acoustic gigs weekly in our retirement.
Lots of 60’s,70’s era music! FRO is short for Froman, my last name…
A misspelling of the phrase “the viking”. I was involved in a large audit in Mexico and back then I sported a beard (I was young a looked even younger, not a good look for a partner at a CPA firm). In any case, my guys were invited to a party and one said they could not as the boss (me) wouldn’t allow it. The local told them “dile a er vikingo ese que no mame” ~ tell that viking to stop messing with you. It became the nickname my team used when referring to me. Still to this day 35 years later
adifferentpaul came about as a way to make sure that no-one would ever confuse me with sir Paul McGowan. Some others now refer to me as ADP, and @Paul172 as TOP (the other Paul).
I think I can safely say that the rest of us on the forum are very grateful for the distinctions! I feel sorry for the “next Paul” that wants to join - better have a creative nature.
