I was talking with a friend (who isn’t in the domain business) about domain domain names, and he asked me what domain names I wish I owned and what domain names I did own that were my favorites. It wasn’t a long discussion and I gave a few off the cuff answers, but it got me thinking.

Since having the conversation a few days ago, I’ve been thinking about what domain names I wish I owned so I could develop them, and I thought I would share the list on my blog.   I would love to hear about the names you’d love to own.

Favorite Ten Domain Names I Would Love to Own to Develop:

• Vacation.com
• Tennis.com
• Autographs.com
• TelAviv.com
• Ski.com
• Paris.com
• WindowTreatments.com
• Wine.com
• Books.com
• Coffee.com

Favorite 10 Domain Names I’ve Ever Owned or Currently Own (not considering purchase or sale price)

• Torah.com
• FrenchRiviera.com
• Customs.com
• DebtCollectors.com
• 887.com
• DogWalker.com
• Arrangements.com
• Devices.com
• Burbank.com
• FlightDelays.com

I still buy freshly registered domain names, and two such names I picked up over the weekend are Frankenword.com and Frankenwords.com.   What are frankenwords, you ask? According to Wiktionary.org, a frankenword is “a word formed by combining two (or more) other words.”

After registering these domain names, I’ve been thinking of some of my favorite frankenwords, many of which are either vulgar, rude, and/or inappropriate), and thought it’s pretty fun to think of these words and meanings. A few common ones I’ve seen used include ginormous (gigantic+enormous), Brangelina (Brad+Angelina), chillax (chill+relax), manscape (man+landscape), inbredneck (inbred+redneck) and others.

If I had additional time, I’d consider creating a fmylife.com type of website where people add their favorite frankenwords and share them with friends.

So, what are your favorite frankenwords?

After I posted my article about raising funds for the Ronald McDonald House, I received a message on Facebook from a high school friend with whom I haven’t spoken in quite some time. Sarah thanked my wife and me for what we are doing because her Sister and Brother in Law used the resources of the Ronald McDonald House with their four year old daughter Mattie. I wanted to share Mattie’s story with you if you have a moment.

When Mattie was 2 and 1/2, she was diagnosed with Meduloblastoma (malignant brain cancer) the size of a golf ball. She had it removed the day before Thankgiving and was transferred to St. Jude’s, where she remained for almost a year, and she was discharged without success.

Mattie’s mom and dad then enrolled her in an experimental study at Sloan-Kettering in NYC where she lived at the Ronald McDonald House. She was discharged with no cancer. Mattie then traveled back to St. Jude’s twice for body scans/MRIs/spinal taps where she remained clean until her 2nd round of scans. She was then transferred back to St. Jude’s where she was taken as a candidate in a special experimental study.

Heartbreakingly, Mattie became overcome with pain in her leg and she was found to have cancer consuming her leg and in her chest cavity, and at that point, further treatment was not possible.   She is currently on hospice at home, in a wheelchair, because her leg is due to break at any moment. Mattie has a blog where you can learn more about her and read her story. You can also read more on Cincinnati, Ohio’s News 9 website.

Since Mattie LOVES receiving mail (like any child her age), Sarah and her family organized a “card shower” for Mattie for Christmas, and she received over 2,200 cards from around the world. Mattie’s fifth birthday is coming up on April 4, and we would like to make it more special for her. In the next few days, if you happen to visit a card store or supermarket and can send Mattie a birthday card, she would be absolutely thrilled. You don’t need to send anything other than a birthday card and a little note, since she has everything else she needs.

Mattie’s address is:

Miss Mattie Powell
16725-TU
Fayette Ohio 43521

The Ronald McDonald House is a great organization that helps children and their families, and I am even more glad Karen and I are supporting it with your help.

A special thank you goes out to the following domain industry friends and colleagues who have contributed to help us achieve our fundraising goal:

• David and Michael Castello – Castello Cities Internet Network
• Fred Mercaldo – Scottsdale.com
• Nat Cohen – Telepathy
• Craig Rowe – WhyPark
• Warren Royal – Name Futures/Bobbleheads.com
• Michael and Judi Berkens – Worldwide Media, Inc.
• Brandon Abbey – Escrow.com
• Susan Prosser – DomainTools/Name Intelligence
• Francois Carillo – Domaining.com
• Tim Davids – GeoOwners.com
• Andrew Allemann – Domain Name Wire
• Bob Mountain – Namemedia
• Jeffrey Reynolds – AmericanFlags.com
• ValleyOfLife.com

Hoping you are enjoying this nice Valentine’s Day Sunday today. I can’t believe how many big events are happening today (other than the fact it’s Valentine’s Day. The Olympics continue, the NBA is holding its All Star Game in Dallas, and the Daytona 500 are all happening today. Meanwhile, here are a few thoughts and updates from me:

• Thank you to everyone who came out for the Domainer Get Together in New York City this week. Somewhere between 25-30 people showed up for the last minute event, which had David and Michael Castello as honored guests. After we finished the cocktail party, a group of us went to dinner and the Castello Brothers treated us to dinner. Not only are they generous with their expert knowledge, but they are also very generous in general. It’s always fun hanging out with these guys.

• I’ve been watching the Olympics and keep seeing commercials for World25.org, Quincy Jones’ website where you can download the 25th anniversary remake of Michael Jackson’s and Lionel Richie’s We Are the World, with proceeds benefiting Haiti’s earthquake victims. Kudos for registering World25.com and World25.org and forwarding both to WeAreTheWorldFoundation.org. How in the world did someone register WeAreTheWorldFoundation.com before Quincy Jones got the .org? If you come up with an idea for a website, grab the domain name ASAP. The walls have ears.

• After you launch a website and start ranking for the primary keyword phrase, don’t rest on your laurels. Start making an effort to rank for related terms and phrases. DogWalker.com is #1 in Google for “dog walker,” but I have been making strides on other terms. According to SEO Book’s Rank Checker, the site has improved to #8 for dog walkers and #22 for dog walking in Google. These will become important sources of traffic assuming they continue to rank higher.

• I want to wish a good and prosperous new year to all of my friends who are celebrating the Chinese New Year.

• Back to the Olympics and domain names for a second. I have been using the Olympics as an opportunity to learn about new sports and try to register some domain names related to them. One example is LugeSleds.com, which I was able to buy yesterday. Don’t know if it will be worth anything, but it’s worth a shot I suppose.

• Congrats to Donna at Domain Boardroom on the strong results in Andrew’s survey. Aside from selling domain names in various places, DBR is really the only domain chat forum where I participate. The results are strong considering the limited number of members vs. the huge communities that exist elsewhere.