Why the name plastics guy?

Several years ago, I started my own engineering consulting practice. I’d been working in the engineering world for over thirty years, and felt that it was time to go out on my own. I’d worked with some major companies, and most of the projects I’ve been involved with have had significant commercial success. I also had some good industry connections (as the saying goes, I know some people), so I took the plunge, and set up my own company. I filed some paperwork, printed some business cards, set up a company web site, and went at it. And I started having a blast. I landed some cool projects, was working on cool stuff, and while I wasn’t getting rich, I was making a decent living.

My business advisor then gave me some strange news.

You need to have a blog.

“What’s a blog?” I asked.

You know, you go online, you set up a site and you write some stuff. Then you get people to follow your posts and your twits and all that.

I quickly responded how any good consultant would respond. “OK, I’ll start a blog.”

That’s great. Keep me posted on how it goes. What time do you want to meet next week?

The next day, I did some research on what a blog was. Seemed pretty straightforward. You get a site, you blog. You do some writing, you post some pictures, you tell everybody what’s happening in your little corner of the world. So I started a blog – a blog dedicated to plastics.

I spent a lot of time working on the name of my blog. I wanted something unique and memorable, but also reflected my own personal style. And I wanted a name that was clever – but not too clever. I pulled out my notepad, and started doodling names. When I thought I had a good name I would do a web search. I looked up designwizard.com, design-wizard.com, plasticswizard.com, plasticsguru.com, plasticsexpert.com, designdude.com, and many, many more. It seemed every good domain name was already taken, or was somehow affiliated with a group that gave me the willies. It was a very frustrating process.

One night, I was with friends, enjoying some refreshing adult beverages. I shared some of my frustrations.

“This whole blog thing is driving me nuts.” I said. “Every domain name I come up with using the word ‘plastics’ is already taken.”

Why is it so important to have the word ‘plastics’ in the domain name?

“Look, I have been working with plastics for over 30 years. I have worked with all kinds of materials – metals, plastics, composites, carbon fiber laminates, high-tech aluminum alloys, specialty stainless steels, brass, copper, etc. You name it, I’ve probably worked with it. I know a little bit about all of these materials, but what I really know is how to work with engineering thermoplastics. Bottom line, I’m a plastics guy.”

One of my friends looked me straight in the eye and asked, So why not just call your site plasticsguy.com?

There was a long pause all around. (I think a few ice chunks even melted as we stared at each other). And then we shared a toast.

The next morning, I did a quick internet search, and lo and behold, the web domain was available. I logged in to GoDaddy, reserved the domain name, and started working on my blog. I had my graphic designer do the site layout. He came up with the site design, as well as a new logo. And the font he chose to use for the site graphics is called Asenine. (How funny is that?)

word cloud for plasticsguy.com

So here’s to plasticsguy.com. Let me know how you like the site.

– Eric