Tell us about your handles and avatars and why you chose them

[E-Wheels]

Hi EBR team,
I notice a lot of members have interesting and off beat handles and avatars, so I have always been curious as to their origins
Tell us about your username and avatar and why you chose them, and let’s have some fun
I decided on my handle as I thought it was appropriate for an ebike forum
Once I decided on my handle, I Google searched for an avatar that complemented it (hope I haven’t contravened any copy-writes)
Looking forward to getting the back story to some of the assumptions I have made on a few members handles and avatars

 

[6zfshdb]

Ok, I'll go first.

Nothing unusual here and not much fun I'm afraid.

My handle is my old Bell System mainframe logon ID. Back in the day, every Bell engineer practically had theirs tattooed on. Like my SS#, it's committed to memory and something I'm not likely to forget.

My avatar is self explanatory. I keep my bikes in my pickup during the season so they're ready to go on a moments notice.

 

[indianajo]

The first forum I participated in required an 8 letter handle. I thought of a certain adventurous movie character, and added a "J" to my state. Other forums allowed 10 letters so I extended to "jo". The entire last name of that character refers to a certain body part, so I don't extend to that. Jo is much more common than my real name, that gets mis-spelled and mis-pronounced anytime I'm not within the county of my birth. (Boone, WVa) As for that movie character, I do get around and do some unusual things, not involving violence since I left the Army.
The "avatar" is a picture is of my bike, which was a pretty bright green before the last 5000 miles happened. The box is the one the power wheel came in, somewhat larger & lighter than the air conditioner I carried home from the discount store on my MTB.
Recent adventures? Climbed 20' up an extension ladder last summer to remove a cable from a tree that was supporting another tree that was falling on my power line at the summer camp. Climbed 25' up an extension ladder last fall to paint my eaves for the first time in 28 years - been afraid of that job. Then climbed in the hole under the kitchen yesterday to repair the external faucet pipe that froze. Found no golden chalice or other worthy artifacts.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

My last name is Mikulski. There was a nice Czech animated TV series about adventures of the Mikeš The Cat in mid-1970s. A school-mate of mine exclaimed: "So you'll be Mikeš and I'll be Bobeš The Goat!" My nickname stuck, his didn't.

Regarding the avatar, I change it frequently; it should involve myself with e-bike for this Forum.

 

[E-Wheels]

My last name is Mikulski. There was a nice Czech animated TV series about adventures of the Mikeš The Cat in mid-1970s. A school-mate of mine exclaimed: "So you'll be Mikeš and I'll be Bobeš The Goat!" My nickname stuck, his didn't.

Regarding the avatar, I change it frequently; it should involve myself with e-bike for this Forum.

Your current avatar suggests you were in trouble with the police

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Your current avatar suggests you were in trouble with the police

I should definitely change it! It's was just a meme for the past weeks when the recreation was banned in my country.
P.S. Changed! Now it is my face in balaclava covering nose and mouth, goggles, winter helmet.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

My avatar is from Prehistoric Gardens, on the 101 between Port Orford, OR and Gold Beach, OR.

My handle is actually my trail name, which was properly earned in 2003 on the Appalachian Trail near Erwin, TN. The following year I hiked the PCT with a lady friend who went by the moniker "Miss Tea".

 

[DaveMatthews]

My handle? Lol! OK that's my name. How creative!
My avatar represents my full patch membership to the Paul Reed Smith guitar fanboy club. https://www.prsguitars.com/
One day when this covid stuff blows over I can get back to playing in the band.

 

[PDXzap]

Back in the day when electronic games started to become mainstream and a high score earned you the right to enter your initials I wanted something that would stand out a little more than the three initials I was born with. I've been into electricity (Yes... I'm one of "those kids" who stuck a bobby pin in the wall socket. I received a burn and probably a scolding... the curly hair is genetic.) and electronics for a long time. I had always enjoyed the campy Batman TV series with the BAM, KAPOW, BLAP!, etc, and started entering ZAP when I had a high score and I guess I had enough high scores on different games that ZAP soon became a nickname.

I've used zap on few websites but EBR wouldn't allow "zap" so having a long interest in aviation and a recent move made the airport identifier for Portland Oregon, PDX , seem appropriate.

I dabble at art so the avatar changes frequently and on a whim. This is the gif I made from a storm I managed to capture years ago that I used as an avatar on a few sites but EBR doesn't allow gif's?

Edit: I guess you can use a gif now!

 

[Alaskan]

My handle comes from the place I love and earned a living in for 35 years. I spent the first ten as a commercial fisherman, fishing for salmon and herring from April through August al across coastal Alaska from Ketchikan to Nome. For the next ten I worked as a pension and benefits consultant and the next 25 as owner operator of a charter yacht, taking small groups on weeklong, private, luxury cruises in Southeast Alaska, whale watching, kayaking, fishing, hiking, etc. Although I spent 35 summers in Alaska, I never spent a winter there. My winter port was Bellingham, Washington which is where Nancy and I live now in retirement. I guess I should change my handle sometime as we no longer live and work in Alaskan half the year.

Here is a link to some photos from our cruises in Alaska over the years. https://goo.gl/photos/UoAft3YwgpzWsfoc6

 

[indianajo]

My last name is Mikulski. There was a nice Czech animated TV series about adventures of the Mikeš The Cat in mid-1970s. A school-mate of mine exclaimed: "So you'll be Mikeš and I'll be Bobeš The Goat!" My nickname stuck, his didn't.

So you speak Czech, Polish, English very well. Perhaps German (Allemann) too?
I can find the bathroom & the direction North in Spanish, French, German, Nihongo (Japanese).

 

[Stefan Mikes]

So you speak Czech, Polish, English very well. Perhaps German (Allemann) too?
I can find the bathroom & the direction North in Spanish, French, German, Nihongo (Japanese).

Polish - native speaker
English - the second language
Russian - third language although I have never learnt writing at a decent level
Czech - the language of choice (I'm a Czechophile), can read and understand the spoken language
German - can understand a lot of the written language and also can survive among German-speaking people who can't speak English.

Once, we were on a car vacation trip to/from Italy. On the return way through Austria, I found with a disgust the Austrian people I was trying to speak to couldn't speak English; therefore I had to speak my gebroches deutsch. There is a place where you drive into German Bavaria near to Rosenheim -- to re-enter Austria again soon. We decided to stay at a hotel overnight there. I started a talk with the receptionist in my "broken German". All went well until she asked a question I couldn't understand. I told her -- in German -- I couldn't really speak German. She got irritated and replied she couldn't speak Polish either. Then I recollected I could speak English... Of course she could speak fluent English! German people in Germany all can speak English, at least in the former West Germany...

 

[Cowlitz]

Cowlitz is a river in SW Warshington and also a tribe. I have no tribal affiliation or genes. I chose it because I didn't want to go through the process of trial and error so figured it was unusual enough to get OKed the first time. And it was. I did live in the Cowlitz Valley for about 15 years. That's on the wet side of the state. When people on this side state that no way could they live in all that rain and drizzle, I tell them I am bisideual and can live on either side comfortably. My work was in forestry and I was outdoors year round.
That kind of "office" has great views when the weather is clear.

Avatar? We don't need no stinkin' avatar.

 

[batmick1]

I used to work with bats. That's also when I was first introduced to email and the internet (late 80s). Logically, when I had to choose a user name, I went with the bat theme. Mick is short for Michael. And some sites required a number so I added the "1" along the way, don't remember when.
I'm a recovering German (naturalized a couple of years ago), now living in Southern California.
I just realized I never uploaded an avatar so I just fixed that. It is one of our many birds. This one is Benji, an 18 year old umbrella cockatoo.

 

[Deacon Blues]

My user name (Deacon Blues) is the name of a song from Steely Dan's Aja album. I thought it was a really cool name.

My avatar is from a photo I shot of a sign at a local railroad crossing. The tracks cross the road at an angle, so the sign was to warn bicycle riders. Interesting, the signs (one each way) disappeared about six months ago. I'm not sure if the government took them down or someone stole the signs.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

My avatar is from a photo I shot of a sign at a local railroad crossing.

I was always amazed how much the North American road-signs were different from the European ones...

 

[Mr. Coffee]

...
My avatar is from a photo I shot of a sign at a local railroad crossing. The tracks cross the road at an angle, so the sign was to warn bicycle riders. Interesting, the signs (one each way) disappeared about six months ago. I'm not sure if the government took them down or someone stole the signs.

...

On the Island Highway near Qualicum Bay, BC?

https://www.google.com/maps/place/49%C2%B022'06.5%22N+124%C2%B031'48.5%22W/@49.3684865,-124.5323307,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d49.3684831!4d-124.5301418

 

[batmick1]

My last name is Mikulski. There was a nice Czech animated TV series about adventures of the Mikeš The Cat in mid-1970s. A school-mate of mine exclaimed: "So you'll be Mikeš and I'll be Bobeš The Goat!" My nickname stuck, his didn't.

Regarding the avatar, I change it frequently; it should involve myself with e-bike for this Forum.

I remember the "Kater Mikesch" shows from my childhood in Germany. Wasn't there a puppet version too, not just the cartoon?

There were a couple of other shows adopted from Czech TV at the time. I remember one cartoon with a little mole, which I always liked. And one cartoon called "Lolek und Bolek" I think. Also a number of real actor shows, usually fair tale themed, but I don't recall the titles.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I remember the "Kater Mikesch" shows from my childhood in Germany. Wasn't there a puppet version too, not just the cartoon?

There were a couple of other shows adopted from Czech TV at the time. I remember one cartoon with a little mole, which I always liked. And one cartoon called "Lolek und Bolek" I think. Also a number of real actor shows, usually fair tale themed, but I don't recall the titles.

I think the "Kater Mikesch" was just a cartoon movie. There were some puppet shows, but not the "Mikesch". The mole cartoon ("Krtek") was one of the best at those times! "Bolek i Lolek" was the Polish one, also very good.

See the Czech singer/songwriter Jaromir Nohavica in the "Subway for Moles" song! The Czech language is famous of their rolling "r's", which are far more pronounced that the Polish rolling "r's". The chorus of the song is: "RRRRRRR!"

 

[PaD]

My first names are Per Anders and my family name Dahlström. It’s common with double first names in Sweden, often but not always written with a hyphen. Examples are Lars-Olof, Per-Erik or Karl-Oskar. If no hyphen you are often know or called by one of the names. I was always named with both like it would have been just one name, Per Anders. So one day in my teens I started writing my name Peranders and my signature has been PaD.
It’s also common to be known by by and called just your initials like PA.
The avatar is me on my first 2-wheeler. It had a saddle made of wood. Probably 1956 or 1957 so I’m 5 or 6 years old on that picture. It’s originally a b/w photo but as my mother always had in on disply it turned yellow. The print is only 3x3” and I took digital picture of with a camera about 15 years ago.