Perhaps it would behoove my listening audience to know more about the Sid name to properly appreciate the cleverness that it has promoted for itself.

Sid, as you may or may not know, was my dog. My pal, my friend, my constant companion by my side for 15 years. When I got my first home computer in 1998, I signed up for America Online, and then (as I've done again) used a place holder for the screen name while I thought of something better. Sid, being ever present, gave me the idea , but even way back then all the combinations of Sid and Dog were already taken. Even SidDawg was unavailable, so AOL suggested SidDawg17234, and I marveled at how many other SidDawgs there must be out there. I countered with a bid for SidDawg1 and was granted permission (I still wonder why I wasn't offered this as a more legitimate second choice by AOL, but they weren't talking) so b'ding! SidDawg1 was born! Off I go to explore this strange new world of the internet, and before I know it, I've joined chat rooms, received emails and generally begin to establish my identity with my new phantom friends as 'Sid', or 'Dawg'. It's cute, it's clever, so I keep it. It's not long before BOTH of us have acquired the new moniker for a nickname. Then, as is to be expected, life happens. The years between 1998 and 2004 fly by with lots of experiences and lots of living, but evidently they go by much faster for Sid than for me as he is aging at 7 times the speed than I am. The last year of his life I swear he aged at a hundred times the speed, and near the end I could see the difference from day to day, and I couldn't do anything to slow the inevitable down, so I just tried to help make life simpler, slower, softer for him. He was healthy till the end, and always active, but progressively weaker, and when the time came that he had more bad days than good was when I had to say goodbye.

And so, here I am, learning to live without him. He's still all around my computer, on the wallpaper, on his own website, on Dogster. And, of course, ever present, as SidDawg1!

So, and here's the neat part: when my sis convinces me to brush off my keyboard and rejoin the crazies on the 'net, I have to think of a new screen name for Yahoo. Of course I try SidDawg1, and of course it's unavailable (they did suggest SidDawg44879 tho!), and so I try spelling out the 1 and what came out of my keyboard was breathtaking…..Sid Dawg Gone. I love it! It's perfect, and I wear it not with sadness, but with pride!

So from now on, when you want to come by to visit my blog, you'll be coming to SidDawg's House! And THAT… dear readers, is why I use SidDawgone!