Hey fellow commuters.

To build camaraderie during these winter months lets learn a bit about each other.

What does your screen name mean?

I am joeyduck.

One would assume my name is Joey or some derivation. This is not the case.

Joey the Duck was a character I created for an assignment about in a Grade 9 English class. Since about 1995 he has usually been a handle for my interweb dealings in search for anonymity.

Brief synopsis (recall this was 9th grade male mind working):

Joey the Duck was a duckling who watched his family get shot by a hunter. He grieved and mourned and sought revenge. He eventually lured the hunters when on another hunt and dispatched of them.

What is your handle?

El Cid was a Mexican war hero. I don't know much more than that, and I don't even have any Mexican background. I just think the name sounds cool.

joeyduck has a far darker origin than I would have thought.

"tjspiel" has no real meaning. Some on the boards have referred to me as "tj" for short which is perfectly fine.

There was much more satire and humor in the actual story. I think I have a copy of it somewhere. I need to dig out my old 3.5 floppy.

It means what it says.

El Cid was a pre-Columbian Spaniard though.

"Saving Hawaii" is a reference to California where I live. I used to fight forest fires and sometimes those don't cooperate much with control efforts. Even if a fire is completely unruly and burns everything in its path you can still stop it at the beaches and the Great Pacific Firebreak thus Saving Hawaii. It means fighting a battle you're going to lose.

"Alive without breath
As cold as death
Never thirsting, ever drinking
Clad in mail, never clinking.
Drowns on dry land
Thinks an island
Is a mountain,
Thinks a fountain
Is a puff of air
So sleek, so fair!
What a joy to meet!
We only wish
To catch a fish,
So juicy-sweet!"

-The Two Towers, J.R.R.Tolkien

I could make up all sorts of metaphors with cycling, but I really just like the word. That's all. Even this song is just a random connection. Sorry.

I ride recumbent by choice not because of necessity.

My screen name is a play on Miguel Indurain's nickname, Big Mig. If he's Big Mig, I figure I can be bikemig.

It's my real name and real last initial. Sorry I couldn't come up with something more original.

I like vacuum tubes and wanted to come up with a better handle for online things a few years ago.

“The name is Boston…Jim from Boston” (D’uh.)

Besides being factual, I am a talk show fan and when I (rarely) call in, I’m introduced as Jim from Boston (“…and now here’s Jim from Boston. What’s up, Jim?”)

On the Northeast Regional subforum thread “Metro Boston: Good ride today?”. I’m JfB. The OP of that thread has embellished my screen name as “James de Boston”; wished I thought of that.

Outside of Bike Forums, I refer to my cycling personna as "The Road Warrior," and in general daily activities to myself as "Dr. Perfect."

Most forums, I list myself as jrickards but on one, I've changed it as follows based on nicknames I've received in the past:

First name: Julian -> Jules -> Family Jewels -> Family
Last name: Rickards = Canadian brand of beer (no relation, shucks!) -> Beer

Therefore, hello everyone, I'm FamilyBeer!! (or just jrickards)

T120 refers to my 1970 Triumph Bonneville motorcycle. enigma? ****ifIknow. I guess I just like the word. I started using it a long time ago on different forums.

An infamous hill in El Paso is called, lovingly, Tractorlegs Hill. If ya want to learn to climb in this city, that's one of many places to go. I liked the name.

I'll let wikipedia explain it...

People that practice kendo (Japanese fencing) are called (among other things) "kenshi". I practice kendo and ride a bike, ergo, "KenshiBiker".

[MENTION=329667]headloss[/MENTION], that's what headloss is, but what is your connection to it? Are you some sort of engineer?

noglider is my name, kinda. I've never met a Reingold I'm not related to, which is pretty cool. But there are a few out there, so the name Reingold is already taken in some places. I've found that the name noglider is never taken on any board, so when I sign up somewhere, that's the name I take. Pretty nice that I am the only one in the world who takes that name. Also, I have determined that there are one or two other Tom Reingolds in the US, but I'm the only one on the internet. Weird, huh?

Once when a company recruited me, the recruiter looked at my email and said, "So, ... noglider. Do you glide?" And I merely said, "No." And all she could think of to say was, "Oh, right. NO glider!" And I left it at that.

Kami-no-Kaze, he is the Japanese god of the wind.

Not to confused with Kamikaze

Way back in 2001 I bought my first car by myself, with my own financing and such, a 1994 Acura Integra GS-R coupe with 89K miles on it. I was all into modified import cars back then, and online message boards, so I joined Honda-Tech.com as PatrickGSR94. Been using the name ever since. And I'm still driving the same car, today with 342K miles on it. All maintained 100% by me. Only internal engine work was replacing the head gasket last summer, along with some mild refreshing of the cylinder head.

... and you ride your bike when you've got one of these in your garage? You're crazy!!!

Started my life as an analytical chemist, steady proceduralized work usually confined to a single room, not unlike a lab mouse. Now sit on my butt all day in meetings and managing people/projects and would jump at being a qclabrat again if the pay was better. My better days at work are chatting with the fine folks here.

I am a chemist also and have been fortunate to maintain a somewhat autonomous research ability. I supervise none to few, over seen by mainly one and over looked by most.

So I get the joy of research by not the mundane of some analytical testing.

They also get me involved for validation stuff which is a nice change, also if something breaks I can usually fix it.

I hate driving, but I like cars. I've always admired the Integra.

mine is a combination of initials, name and occupation. GIS = Geographic Information Systems/Science (those two are interchanged). I came up with it as a mostly professional email in my college days to have a respectable email address to attach with resumes. It stuck, no one ever has it and it is easy to remember