One of the reasons I'm so crazy about the movie The Big Lebowski is that the main character, Jeff Lebowski (Jeff Bridges), is known simply as The Dude, "or His Dudeness...or El Duderino, if brevity's not your thing." How cool would it be to be known as The Dude? (Even his answering machine plays, "You have reached The Dude. Leave a message.") If I wasn't a chick (and I smoked a lot of hash) I think I would most certainly want to be called The Dude. There's something about the name that just exudes languid, laissez-faire attitude, just like the character in the movie. When asked how he's doing, The Dude replies, "Strikes and gutters. Ups and downs.... The Dude abides." The Dude abides.