Letting People Know Who You Are

Views From the 14th Floor is entering a new era very soon. This blog has been around for just a little over a year and while blogspot.com has served me quite well, Views will now be found at www.therealrexray.com. In the interim, it will still be found at blogspot.com but I found the need to brand myself. In addition to teaching and blogging, I am attempting to write a novel and while the 8 or so friends, relatives, and assorted accidental readers who find themselves here on a regular basis are gratifying to have out there, I would like to expand my readership a little and reach out to the world.

There are those who might ask what this "The Real Rex Ray" stuff is about. Well, I'll tell you. I always thought that I had a somewhat unique name. Never met that many people named Rex, and Rex Ray is a real anomaly, so it was quite the surprise to me when I started asking for e-mail addresses and I was told that the ones I suggested were already taken. Now I asked myself, "Self. How can a name like Rex Ray already be taken?"

Eager for an answer, I googled myself. As it turns out, there is this guy out in San Francisco who is sort of a semi-famous artist. (I actually purchased a calendar with 12 months of his art last year.) While he was not born Rex Ray, he chose Rex Ray as a name to be artsy by because he thought the name sounded appropriately artsy. Hey! I was born with this name! I have the birth certificate to show for it. I didn't just choose it because it sounded artsy. I have lived with this name for the entirety of my life, and this clown in San Francisco is trying to corner the market on it.

You have to understand that I have the whole package that comes with a name, the story on how it came about, the childhood nicknames, the stupid remarks from strangers because of it. I have it and I'm prepared to share it with the world. I am "The Real Rex Ray." A name like that deserves its own domain name don't you think.

Now you may ask, "How did such a name come about?" Got you covered. It seems that in 1950, when I was born, my mother had a thing about this singing cowboy named Rex Allen. At age 7, I was dragged to a rodeo where he was making an appearance, on his horse Cocoa, all dressed in rhinestone cowboy gloriosity. Even at age 7 I knew that A) I don't like horses so much. B) I don't like rodeos so much. Too darned many large hooved animals. Livestock is for farms. I lived in the suburbs. C) I wasn't that impressed with Rex Allen. Roy Rogers was a much better singing cowboy and as far as Rex people go, well, I was the Real Rex Ray.

And what about these assorted childhood nicknames The Real Rex Ray had to endure. Well, somewhere about 4th grade I became Tyrannosaurus Rex. In 7th grade I became Sexy Rexy. Go figure. In 9th grade I became Oedipus Rex. (Pronounced with a Southern drawl and sounding quite lewd. Figure it out.) Then there have been X-Ray, Sex Ray, and assorted variations.

As an adult there have been variations as well. I remember a pharmacist I once worked with who called me Rexray like Astro, the dog on The Jetsons said "Rastro." Something like a million times in my adult life I have been introduced to people who have responded with "Rex Ray. That sounds like an actor's name." Imagine their surprise when told that I actually aspired to being a professional actor, but the name was not a stage name, but mine.

Then there are those who, upon being introduced to me, inquire, "Rex. What's that short for?" It's not short for anything numbskull. It's Latin. It means King, so kindly bow down to me or pay me some tribute or something. I could use some obeisance.

At any rate, the blogspot.com part of the address is going away. I am "The Real Rex Ray." I am henceforth using the domain name, www.therealrexray.com. Who knew that you could get your own domain name for $10 a year? Maybe I'll buy several. I can be a whole bunch of people. As one of my favorite cartoons of all time says, "Online nobody knows you're a dog." (That's an old New Yorker cartoon.) Now and forever, though, people will know that I am the real Rex Ray. Gotta go. Flying to Florida tomorrow. Stuff to do boys and girls.