I get this question a lot — “Where does rakeshlobster come from?”

I was drinking with a bunch of friends at a bar in Milwaukee (I think it was the Safe House) when the B-52’s song “Rock Lobster” came on.

My buddy Neal started calling me “Rock Lobster”.

I soon became unemployed (correlation is not causation) and I needed temporary Internet access. My friend Jonathan had a free AOL analyst account and created a screenname for me.

Given the difficulty of getting an AOL screenname, he settled on “rakeshlobster”.

More than a decade later, I still frequently use “rakeshlobster” for my online presence.

As I’ve become better known, I’ve thought about switching my Twitter presence to a more professional-sounding name. But “rakeshlobster” is established and distinctive.

Man, the lyrics are terrible, though!

Chased by a cat-fish
In flew a sea robin
Watch out for that piranha
There goes a narwhale
HERE COMES A BIKINI WHALE!