I picked the name because I saw someone driving with an oil drum in the back of their truck and wondered aloud if they were going to make a “hobo trashcan fire” with it. I needed a catchy name and I liked the term enough to run with it.

But I remember when I interviewed Enrico Colantoni, he told me he almost didn’t agree to the interview because he heard the name and thought I was going to ask a bunch of bitter, angry questions. And sometimes I get dirty looks from people when I’m out in public and I tell them the name of my site.

So who knows, maybe if I had gone with something more upbeat and cheery sounding, I would have more luck wooing celebrities and new readers. But at this point, I’m actually rather attached to the name HoboTrashcan.

Anyway, thanks again for writing this, Lori. You rock.

I was “breakdancer #2″ but thought I should have a better name. And *that’s* what I came up with. I began using it for everything. Flickr, twitter, posting comments on other blogs, etc. It just sort of stuck. It’s even better with a Boston accent: Spahkle Jay. Oh, yes.

Amazingly enough, no one made fun of me for “sparkle j” but I still feel silly commenting with that name these days. I tried to start posting as simply “J” on some sites, but began catching hell for that. Weird.