Who Is ChiaOwl

I have been known as ChiaOwl online for many years, since 1994 IIRC...I've used that nickname in my emails, on various instant messengers (starting with ICQ, where I had a 6-digit number which has since been hijacked), on the IRC (where it was ^ChiaOwl^ with the ear tufts), and elsewhere. ChiaOwl became an extension of me after a time, and I would answer to it as readily as I did my own name. I still use it here and there...my personal domain is owly.net, after my dear friend Cody (I wonder where he is and what he's doing now...) starting calling me Owly as an affectionate derivative of ChiaOwl...anyway, I was asked why and how ChiaOwl, so here is the answer:

I have always loved owls anyway, and for a time I had a small overnight word processing service (early 90's - almost unheard of then as a home business) which I called Owl Information Services...I also did information gathering via the internet, which was largely unknown and unused at that time, proof reading, etc. Anyway, the Owl part came both from my interest in owls (first sparked by a children's book my mother often read in my earliest childhood which contained the line, "Brownie fowlie little owl" - from then on we called owls "Brownie fowlies"), and because I was up all night doing my work.

Meanwhile, my friend Paula had had a sort of amusing fascination with chia pets. She thought they were just plain funny and were sort of joke gifts when the occasion warranted.

Well I'd been on the IRC for a while when I introduced her to it, and soon after that I showed up in an IRC chat room as ChiaOwl, just to make her laugh. And the nick stuck. It was unique and so I started using all across the internet, developed a reputation as ChiaOwl, and so that's who I became when online.

A couple of years ago after my "cerebrovascular event" that wasn't a stroke (!) I decided to start to retire ChiaOwl. I still use it on emails, but gave up the IRC and even instant messengers long ago...I keep the email address because I've had it for so many years it would be nearly impossible to change all of my subscriptions and such...but these days, in my newer online haunts (facebook, twitter, and elsewhere), I'm usually SherryPetersMI or SP48629 (my initials and zip code), or something similar. I will also probably answer to my alter-ego ChiaOwl though and she will always be a part of me :).