The avatar is a picture of Mrs. Efiginia Doubtfire, friend, companion, protector, and practicing Komondor who sadly left us in January of this year. Hopefully we'll get another puppy but Efie's countenance will probably remain. Finding one can be a challenge, there's probably less than 50 litters a year worldwide. We're working on it.
'bob' is a nom de net. It has the charm of being a palindrome that is also symmetrical on Y. Not only is it the same forwards and backwards, it's the same if you turn it upside down. Doing it in lower case but still claiming the vertical symmetry is a Zen thing.
It has it's origins in a competition the late great Herb Caen conducted to name the decade of the 1990's. Something on the order of 'The Roaring Twenties', 'The Fabulous Fifties', that sort of thing. When the contest was over the consensus was that it should just be called 'Bob'.