- Joined
- Jan 9, 2013
- Messages
- 1,020
Origin of my Gator Avatar:
I’ve been known on most sites as ‘Grumpy Gator’ since a trip to Florida with my kids and grandkids to watch the launch of my daughters first Mars lander, Phoenix. (She’s now working on her fourth “space ship”) . Anyway, while driving around the area, I saw an alligator sunning himself along the shore of a duckweed covered body of water, where I assumed the gator had just eaten lunch and was sunning himself to digest whatever it was, lots of ducks around. I loved the duckweed covering and decided that I had to get a picture of this guy. Got my camera ready and walked over to the general area about 12 feet away and shot a couple of pictures one of which has since become my avatar. Just as I was turning around, this guy lunged at me at umpteen miles an hour, I never expected they could move so far so fast when out of the water! I swear that he had almost taken a bite out of my leg, but maybe that was just the adrenaline talking. My 4 year old grandson witnessed the whole thing and thought that it was really really funny. I didn’t agree and let him know so, but he still couldn’t stop laughing at me. He then started calling me, previously his “Opa”, “Grumpy Gator”. So since August of ’07 I’ve born the title Grumpy Gator. He has since reverted to calling me Opa again.
When I signed up for this forum, I found to my consternation, a Grumpy Gator already existed in the guise of our global moderator/staff member/director grumpygator. Not only does he predate my use of the moniker he also lives in gator land Florida. I bow to his gatordom.
Note: we do have an alligator farm here in Mosca Colorado at an elevation of 7800 ft.
So here, I am forced to use the term Grumpy Old Guy/Man but I still use my same duckweed covered Avatar.
I have also been asked to explain my use of CH2CO moniker.
When I first started work at a research lab, I often had to initial various
written notes / messages etc. We didn’t have electronic methods back in those days. My initials are CHH. One of the microbiologists I was working just started calling me CH two and it stuck. Working as an analytical research chemist I obliged and used CH2 from then on. Then came the computer age and the need to have a name and password and all that stuff. CH2 wasn’t a long enough name for many sites. I just started to add to my little methylene radical by adding stuff. Here I use CH2CO which could be seen as 1-ketene or methyl carbonyl or carbomethane or ethanone or keto-ethylene or as IUPAC would call it ethenal……or just call me The grumpy old guy.
CHuck the grumpy old (gator) man
I’ve been known on most sites as ‘Grumpy Gator’ since a trip to Florida with my kids and grandkids to watch the launch of my daughters first Mars lander, Phoenix. (She’s now working on her fourth “space ship”) . Anyway, while driving around the area, I saw an alligator sunning himself along the shore of a duckweed covered body of water, where I assumed the gator had just eaten lunch and was sunning himself to digest whatever it was, lots of ducks around. I loved the duckweed covering and decided that I had to get a picture of this guy. Got my camera ready and walked over to the general area about 12 feet away and shot a couple of pictures one of which has since become my avatar. Just as I was turning around, this guy lunged at me at umpteen miles an hour, I never expected they could move so far so fast when out of the water! I swear that he had almost taken a bite out of my leg, but maybe that was just the adrenaline talking. My 4 year old grandson witnessed the whole thing and thought that it was really really funny. I didn’t agree and let him know so, but he still couldn’t stop laughing at me. He then started calling me, previously his “Opa”, “Grumpy Gator”. So since August of ’07 I’ve born the title Grumpy Gator. He has since reverted to calling me Opa again.
When I signed up for this forum, I found to my consternation, a Grumpy Gator already existed in the guise of our global moderator/staff member/director grumpygator. Not only does he predate my use of the moniker he also lives in gator land Florida. I bow to his gatordom.
Note: we do have an alligator farm here in Mosca Colorado at an elevation of 7800 ft.
So here, I am forced to use the term Grumpy Old Guy/Man but I still use my same duckweed covered Avatar.
I have also been asked to explain my use of CH2CO moniker.
When I first started work at a research lab, I often had to initial various
written notes / messages etc. We didn’t have electronic methods back in those days. My initials are CHH. One of the microbiologists I was working just started calling me CH two and it stuck. Working as an analytical research chemist I obliged and used CH2 from then on. Then came the computer age and the need to have a name and password and all that stuff. CH2 wasn’t a long enough name for many sites. I just started to add to my little methylene radical by adding stuff. Here I use CH2CO which could be seen as 1-ketene or methyl carbonyl or carbomethane or ethanone or keto-ethylene or as IUPAC would call it ethenal……or just call me The grumpy old guy.
CHuck the grumpy old (gator) man