I’ve mentioned in the past, when I was trying to be known as “Wendell of the Web”, that during the couple years in the ’70s when I was publicly playing sidekick to one of the least-sung geniuses of that era’s Radio in the Los Angeles radio market, it was clear that the producers and writers of situation comedies were listening to us, because it seemed like every other week some show was introducing a minor “wacky character” named Wendell. Well, I ended up researching that claim on IMDB and found only three credited Wendell characters from TV in that era, and one of them was an Army General in a dramatic series. Sorry.
I later observed the most notable Wendell on TV during the time I wasn’t using the pen name was Wendell Borton, the pale-faced 4th grade kid in The Simpsons who threw up a lot. I actually was kind of like that in kindergarten, but by 4th grade I had totally outgrown it. Yet, that did not deter me from using Wendell – I considered him one Wendell I knew I could get higher on the Google Search Results than (and I briefly did). And I’m not going to mention Wendell Stamps from the Adult Swim cartoon Frisky Dingo who actually kind of resembled a picture of myself I allowed out on the web after I started blogging as Wendell. Oh, wait, I did mention it.
Anyway, using the domain name OtherCraig.me for my return to blogging (after Wendell.me was shut down 3 years ago) was based on the fact that there are a lot of notable Craigs out there these days (even though Craig has become relatively less common among baby names every decade since I was born), including a character on Doctor Who played by an actor who resembles how I looked around the age of 30 A LOT. (I will not be providing evidence of that, since nearly all of the pictures of me from that era are in the custody of an ex-wife I am NOT communicating with… let this be a warning to you, kids).
But it does seem an interesting coincidence that the same day I put this new blog into Beta status, one of my favorite web-based stores, woot.com, began a weekly deal on varilous products from Craig Electronics (the brand I took pride in owning as a teenager – sadly, nothing current using cassettes), and titled the product page “Craig Electronics: You Don’t Have to be Named Craig”. Gee, thanks.
Then, one of my favorite still-surviving newspaper comic, Dan Piraro’s “Bizarro” published the same day a cartoon referencing one of those other famous Craigs, Craigslist’s Newmark. 
And it used a date that also could’ve been a year I sat on Santa’s lap, in an outfit I could’ve worn, and with the short short haircut my balding ex-Marine father forced upon me until I was almost ten years older… what a Memory Flogger. Of course, it must be noted that he drew the comic weeks earlier from an idea provided by a collaborator not named Craig well before Halloween. Still, December 15th was a good day to be a Craig.
And I really must get off this self-indulgent self-referencial kick before I officially bring this Blog out of Beta Status. Let’s see… Gmail was officially in Beta from April 2004 to July 2009… I got plenty of time.