How Does Any Respectable Document Begin?

With an introduction, of course. Following the lead of my two sisters, I am hereby officially opening this Blog. While I have always considered myself extremely knowledgeable (at least compared to them) when it comes to the internet and electronics, I have no problem admitting that I am completely behind the trendy custom of reporting my life to both friends and strangers. Even though the title suggests it, I doubt Katherine will choose to have much direct input. Still, she will no doubt be the subject of many entries that follow.

If you know me and are reading this, you may have wondered where the nickname, Smoke, came from. If you didn't, then you are no doubt lacking in attention to detail and should work on being more observant. It all stems from 1st semester, freshmen year at Mississippi State (cue me thinking back to the past):

My roommate, Bryan, and I were both taking Chemistry I. It wasn't an easy class, but I realized in graduate school that I actually remember more than I thought I did. The class had about 150 people in each section. It's just not feasible to call out names when handing back tests in that situation. So the professor had the clever idea of posting the grades online. To protect the kids that got 30's and 22's on their tests, he let us have ID's that our grades were posted under. That way, while every student can see every grade in the class by looking at a website, the student only knows which grade belongs to him. His instructions on the first day of class were, "write down on a sheet of paper what you want your ID to be, followed by your name." Most of my friends put down their SSN or campus NetID (e.g. sch54). I wrote down what I wanted my ID to be, and I turned it in. I didn't tell any of my friends what I wrote (I wasn't sure if I would be the guy with the 22). Six weeks later, our first test was graded and posted online. Suffice it to say that several of my dorm-mates (probably 3 or 4)were in the class with me and Bryan. We were all sitting in front of the same computer to find out how we did on one of our first tests in college. As we went down the list of ID's, there were several "Oooooo's" and "Ahhhhh's," followed by laughter and tears (mostly expletives). At the end of the list everyone knew everyone else's grade except for me. They asked me what my grade was, and I sheepishly replied that I didn't remember what my ID was. I only recalled that it wasn't my SSN and was kind of random. The only logical thing to do was pick through every ID. As I worked, everyone was curious as to both what I made on the test and what ID I picked that I couldn't remember. Once we hit the 'S' list I immediately had a clear flashback of my hidden identity....... "Smoke! That's it!" No one laughed, they all kind of looked at me funny and said, "Smoke?". Every now and then it still comes up.