Why Vanilla?

In the comments section of my 100th post, Marcy asked the question posed in the title. Why did I choose the name Vanilla as the name to post and comment under? The answer is really quite simple, that's my real name. Not my first name, it's my last name: Pete Van Illa. No? Not buying it? Ok, how about this:

My real name is Vernon Angus Neilson (V.A.N.) and I have always thought that I was a pretty illin' dude, to use the 80's street slang. Hence VAN-illa. Ok that was worse than the first one.


Here's the truth. I began using Vanilla as a username a while back on various message board forums. I picked the name to keep my true superhero identity secret. (So much for the truth.) I've always maintained that I'm a plain vanilla kind of guy, what I mean by that is that I'm pretty boring and incredibly average. 1 wife, 2 kids, 1 dog living in a moderate house in suburbia (mine is the beige one), working in an office, driving an SUV, blah blah blah. It came down to Vanilla or some variation of Average Joe and the more I thought about it the more Vanilla made sense. I really do prefer vanilla to any other flavor of ice cream, I order vanilla latte's, vanilla milkshakes, and vanilla frappuccinos. And if it makes you think that I'm like Vanilla Ice, who is quite obviously the coolest person on the face of the planet, well then that's even better for me.

Check out this video and tell me you don't wish you could be that cool. He's the epitome of cool.


Laugh all you want but you know you wanted to get up and dance to that.
If you were so inclined you could find my real name quite easily from the information that has been given in various posts over the past 4 months, but then I'd have to get a restraining order against you. Besides, you'd just be disappointed because I'm much more interesting and there's a lot more mystery and intrigue if you continue to know me only as Vanilla.

So what is my real name? I'll give you a clue; You can spell it using the letters in VANILLA, not all of them, and not my last name just my first name. Your guesses* in the comments, plus whatever else tickles your fancy. I may even tell you if someone gets it right. Word to your mother.

*Guessing competition not open to family members. Must be a US resident at least 18 years of age or older, other restrictions apply.