No, I’m not a wine connoisseur. Far from it. Call me a maven, a technology addict, an instructional designer, or a learning professional. Regardless, I can’t help but share the knowledge I gain with others (whether they want it or not).

I chose the moniker mrmerlot shortly after delving head-first into the world of social software. I had taken on the role of social software trainer and suddenly found myself creating accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other sites. While sites like Facebook and LinkedIn typically use your actual name, I quickly picked up on the trend to use pen names on sites like Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube.

Initially, I experimented with a few different Twitter user names before coming up with “mrmerlot .” There are several dimensions to this user name:

• Short and simple. The alliteration and eight character length are easy to remember and use in Twitter and other sites.
• Unpretentious. The typical merlot is stubbed by wine snobs. See the movie Sideways to see what I mean. (Example: “No, if anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving. I am NOT drinking any **** Merlot“) Not me. I love a good merlot (Trader Joe’s “two buck Chuck” is one of my favorite table wines)
• Blends well. I’ve always considered myself to be a kind of social chameleon. I can blend into nearly any environment and with many types of people. The merlot grape is often blended with other grapes to create outstanding wines.

Then there’s the deeper meaning of mrmerlot, the spiritual aspect:

Men do not pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved. (biblegateway.org)

In my life, I used to be soured wine. God changed me and made me into new wine, however, and calls me to shed my old wineskin and become a new man.

Mrmerlot is the God-seeking man I strive to be every day.