My User Name

If you look at my profile, you'll see that my "name" is gsd4de.

My husband has never liked that moniker. He thinks I'm trying to be clever. But if pressed, he can't come up with anything better so he keeps quiet. He isn't a fan of custom license plates either unless they are really brilliant, so I take his ribbing with a bucket of salt...

gsd4de stands for 'German Shepherd Dogs "for" De'. For 16 years my husband and I have had German Shepherds. That is, until our last gsd Gracie died this past summer. I had always planned on starting a kennel and raising beautiful, intelligent, friendly, healthy german shepherds. So maybe that screen name makes a little more sense to everyone.

And maybe you are all agreeing with my husband that it isn't clever enough. :)

Now that we no longer have german shepherds (which still feels really strange after so many years with them), my name makes even less sense now than it did before. But what do you do? I have had that name for so long now that everything is tied to it. I have TWO e-mail addresses with that listed. I am registered on a bunch of websites with that as my user name. To change it now seems like it would be similar to suddenly changing your home phone number or cell phone number and having to contact a million people to let them know.

Luckily for me I'm not feeling clever enough to come up with a snappy new name. We have two stinky toy poodles (so we aren't a completely dog-less family--although that is debateable if you don't really consider a poodle a dog...), but I don't want to be connected in anyway to poodles. They are my daughter's dogs. I don't claim them.

We also have a cat. She is stinky too, and I'm allergic to her so obviously that isn't even my first choice on the 2nd page.

I pretend we don't own three mice that are leftovers from my daughter's science fair project. So I won't go there.

Some people use things about themselves like Gr8Mom, ScrappingMachine, AustenLvr, etc. But since mine would read more like YouWantMeToCleanWhat?, GoAwayI'mReading, or It'sNotThePantsThatMakeMeLookFat...I don't see me coming up with anything short enough to describe myself in an internet friendly username.

So for now I'm stuck with gsd4de. Maybe I can make it stand for something else, but since I have to explain it as it is anyway that probably won't make much difference. Although it would be fun to randomly change the meaning.

Got Sons (&) Daughters 'for' Deserving Empathy

Gee, Someone Does "40" (4d) Easily

Get Some Donuts 'for' Delectible Expansion

Or not. German Shepherd Dogs 4 De works okay. Maybe it isn't all that clever, and you won't see it on any license plate...and it no longer makes sense since we don't actually have a real dog anymore. But it's me.