If you belong to the WillysTech Mailing List, you may know me by my nickname Dr. Vern.  I generally tell folks it is a long story.  My real name is Karl.  I get e-mails all the time addressed to either name.  I also get a lot of e-mail where folks don't know what to call me, which always gives me a chuckle.  Those are the letters that begin with, "Greetings."

The nickname Vern came from another job, way back in another lifetime.  My foreman's nemesis was a guy named Vern.  My foreman was often dealing with somebody complaining about what Vern did.  After a while, all forty of us in our department (Aircraft Maintenance) started giving the name Vern whenever asked, such as when answering the phone, awaking from naps, etc.  This came in extremely handy whenever we got in trouble, as our foreman had to figure out which of the forty Verns was the real culprit.

Long after the original Vern retired, we were still using his name.  When we received internet access at work, all sorts of threatening memos were issued about personal use.  Naturally it made sense to log on as Vern to use the work computers for surfing.  We were hoping that if our company's internet police cracked down, they would report that a guy named Vern was disobeying company policy.  The best part was that the real Vern was long retired, which would make the internet police look a tad bit foolish.

This is when I joined the WillysTech Mailing list.  Knowing that my mail could be read by my company, I stayed with the name Vern.  In a display of amazing foresight, I expected the Internet to be a passing fad so thought it didn't matter.  My nickname has never been a big secret on the list, and I have always freely admitted it was only a nickname, never meaning any real deception.  But as might be expected, the nickname has stuck with me.  I even tried to fess up to the entire list after privacy at work was no longer an issue, but that didn't go over very well.  I was told that my real name just didn't sound right for me.

WT member Joe Spier added the Doctor prefix one day.  I don't remember if I came up with an answer that fixed an elusive problem or what.  Maybe it was just how I said it, with enough authority to make it sound like I knew what I was talking about.  Since then, I have been known in the Jeep world as Dr. Vern, a title I hold with great honor.  Furthermore, I've become a legend in my own mind when I was tapped to contribute to Jp Magazine, a fine magazine if I do say so myself.

Vernco, a totally fictitious company, was invented when I made and distributed a special seal installation tool for the Model 18 transfer case.

And that my friends, is how I came to be known as Dr. Vern and how Vernco was born.  You can see my Mug Shot here.