nce upon a time, a long long time ago, it was my first week of college. I was sitting around the dorm with some new found college friends. We were discussing silly things to get to know one another better. One of the topics that came up was our parents parting advice as they dropped us off at college. We were going around in a circle, and everyone had received fairly normal advice. For example, "Have fun, but make sure that you study hard too."

Then it was my turn. You'll have to understand that many of the dorms at UC Santa Cruz have co-ed bathrooms. You'll also have to understand that my father was rather nervous using said bathrooms.

It was my turn and I told them the only parting advice that I could remember. My father told me "Remember to close the shower curtain."

My friends were rolling with laughter and it was turned into a private joke. Someone would say "curtain" and everyone would laugh. A month or two later I was going to get my first UNIX account. I was filling out the form, and there was a 7 letter blank for account name. I had no idea what to put, so I asked my good friend Jamie. He said "curtain" and laughed... I wrote it down and I've been curtain ever since.

When I became a graduate student and then a TA, I decided that I needed a more dignified name than curtain. So I added a title and became the now infamous Mr.curtain.