So the big star of the debate Wednesday night was Joe Wurzelbacher, an undecided plumber whom John McCain mentioned more than 20 times at Hofstra. The national media has been buzzing about this guy since the debate ended.

I actually know Joe the Plumber. Not that Wurzelbacher dude from Toledo, but Joe Francis from Amarillo, Texas. He’s a young, friendly, heavily tattooed guy who has been my family’s plumber ever since his daughter was in my mom’s deaf education class a few years ago. Joe’s business is actually called “Joe the Plumber.” It’s on his business card and in his yellow-page ads. That’s his logo above right.

And our Joe owns the Internet domain www.joetheplumber.com. It just became the hottest domain name in the United States.

Since Wednesday night, according to my mom, Joe has been getting calls from all over the nation. One person offered to buy his domain name for an inordinate amount of money. Joe bought it a couple years ago for less than $1,000.

***Friday Update: Here’s the story from the Amarillo Globe-News.

So Wurzelbacher is not the only plumber named Joe who’s suddenly famous. I hope our Joe doesn’t sell his website and retire, or become the new host of a TLC show, or start doing political commentary for FOX, because Joe Francis is a good plumber. He’s seen my toilet. He’s dug in my backyard. He did the plumbing install for a business I co-own. And now his life is changing (a little, maybe) because McCain kept saying “Joe the plumber” over and over again in the debate.

That’s cool. And also weird. But mostly cool.