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The Origin Of The TripJax Name
Friday, January 06, 2006

The Origin Of The TripJax Name

I thought I would take a moment today to shed some light on the origin of my handle, TripJax, used at this here blog and most of the poker sites where I play. I've only been using the alias since I created this blog, but a part of the name has roots well beyond that time and is much more important than just a name for poker.

At the tender age of 15 I wanted nothing more than to get a job. Looking back on things, I have no idea why I was so gung ho about working for the man. I guess I saw Pops bring home the bacon every other week and wanted a piece of that action. Even if my piece would pale in comparison. When I landed my workers permit I set my sites on potential employers and eventually landed a job with K-mart. Remember the blue light special? Yeah, that's around the time I was working with them. At the time I didn't have a car or a license, but K-mart was close enough for me to ride my bike or get a quick ride as needed.

My K-mart gear came with a few shirts, the gay red smock, and a nametag. With the nametag came a sheet of sticky letters. Not long into my tenure I noticed something happening that really annoyed me. For some reason, I hated when customers called me by my name like they knew me, just because I had the nametage on. "Hey Jason, can you help me get this from the top shelf." "Be a dear, Jason, and check the price on this for me." Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't a jackass to the customers, but inside it irked me to no end. I don't know why, but it did.

Enter the sticky letters for the nametag as my answer. One day, while taking my 15 minute break, I decided to pull the sheet of left over letters from my locker. I took as many consonants as would fit and stuck them on the back of my nametag. Then, each day I went into work I exchanged the s in Jason for a different consonant. For example:

You get the idea. For some reason, either the managers didn't care or didn't notice as it never became a problem. In fact, I went from hating when people said my name to hoping they would say my name. There was a small satisfaction in watching people fumble around with a name they had rarely, if ever, seen. It became a game of sorts for me.

But an interesting thing happend. When I would wear the Jaxon nametag, people would always compliment me for having a very cool name. More and more I started going with the Jaxon moniker. By the time I was 16, I had already determined that my first born would be a son and he would be named Jaxon.

On December 12, 2000, my angelic wife gave birth to our first child, a boy, named Jaxon. Funny how things work huh?!

Flash forward to 2004 and I've decided to join the wonderful world of poker blogging. I'm trying to come up with a name that will work with my personality, the direction I want to go with the blog, and one that will probably be available at each poker site. I also wanted to find a name that was an available domain as I wanted to purchase the rights. After fumbling around for a while I found myself thinking back to my K-mart days and my nametag shenanigans. Then it hit me, why not make something work with Jax, which is our shortname for the boy. It has pokery connatations what with the Jacks in the deck of cards and all. Then it hit me, why not TripJax? I checked the domain name availability and was a little surprised to find it available. I bought it immediately and the rest is, well you know...

So that's it. I'm sorry I turned a quick story into a friggin' book, but sometimes I get caught in the moment when writing. I guess it took me back.

The picture above is courtesy of EasyCure and is the pic he uses for my link at his blog. If you aren't reading him or have never visited his site, get on over there...it's good stuff.

posted by TripJax @ 9:53 AM,

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