Google Me
Google me.
Seriously, GOOGLE ME!
Did you know that I am a Catholic bishop, attorney, volunteer at the Salvation Army, Michigan senator, editor of the Basque-English English-Basque Dictionary and Phrasebook, been in the movies, am a certified school psychologist, studied plankton ecology, and still had time to assistant coach women's basketball. What can I say, I'm a busy man.
No joke.
Call it boredom, utter curiosity, internet paranoia, or something to do in the thick of a drunken stupor. C'mon, admit it. Haven't you all Google'd yourselves at one point or another? Never know where your name might pop up (for real).
As you could imagine, this is a real nightmare for school teachers. Tough enough that teachers are public employees and therefore face public scrutiny. For example, teacher's salaries are posted in the newspapers. Our students standardized test scores are also reported as well. Can you recall how many teachers have their home phone number listed in a phone book? Hey, it's just a reality of the job. At the end of the day, I'd just like to be myself and escape the public spotlight. Scarey to think that it is entirely possible that one of my students might stumble onto my blog.
"Hey mom, can we rent Super Troopers? Mr. C. has it listed under favoriate movies in his blog profile."
Yeah, definetly scarey.
The (ex)principal of the middle school once told me that the older you get, the less you'll keep in touch with friends and more family you grow. Didn't believe him at the time; now I realize just how much truth there is to this point of view. Friends do things like move out west, get too busy to write or call. Time makes us forget. Then comes that lonely point in your life where you are left wondering what happened to all the people you knew- where are they now?
Ever consider Google'ing college roommates, old high school chums, or even the occasional ex-girlfriend? Maybe you should. Take into consideration how Classmates.com, Friendster, MySpace, SoundClick, Yahoo profiles, etc. have reconnected people after years of seperation. Locating peeps through these online networks is become much easier than browsing through scores of cached webpages, broken links, and false leads. It is a great feeling to find our whatever became of so-and-so, or to rekindle and old friendship.
This past week an email came across my inbox with the basic message of, "Is this you?" An old friend from Caldwell College (before I transfered to Rutgers) managed to track me down through MySpace. Funny thing, I didn't remember even registering an account. After ten long years he managed to track me down. Amazing. After some correspondance with this fellow, he gave me two more people's email addresses for me to contact. Reconnected with three friends total.
Afterwards, I decide to completely fill out my profile at MySpace. If someone can locate me with a half-completed profile, what might be the outcome if I list more personal information. Who knows? Sure enough, someone from high school sent me a message. Up to four now. I started networking through work mates and buddies, and tracked down three more long-lost friends. Count seven in all- now I'm on a streak!
One drunken night I Google'd the names of my high school friends (under my wife's supervision of course), and came across one of their blogs. This was particularly odd, like a one-way window into their life, but hey, we wouldn't blog if we didn't want people to have that view of who we have become. I didn't hesitate to shoot out an email, and now we write to each other.
Eight times I asked, "Hey, how the hell you've been all these years?" All those time I gave out the autobiography of my life: mostly accomplishments and some turning points. You know you had (have) a good friendship when you are both willing to admit both the good and the bad, and think no less of you. Reminds me of a John Barth quote from "Lost in the Funhouse":
Somewhere in the world there was a young woman with such splendid understanding that she'd see him entire, like a poem or a story, and find his words so valuable after all that when he confessed his apprehensions she would explain why they were in fact the very things that made him precious to her. . .
I see a ripple effect. One friend who managed to track me down; in turn, I tracked a half-dozen few more friends. Will they be inspired to find one of their long lost friends or an old love? The motion of this waves carries on- it's what keeps websites like MySpace thriving. It is a small world after all.
Seriously, GOOGLE ME!
Did you know that I am a Catholic bishop, attorney, volunteer at the Salvation Army, Michigan senator, editor of the Basque-English English-Basque Dictionary and Phrasebook, been in the movies, am a certified school psychologist, studied plankton ecology, and still had time to assistant coach women's basketball. What can I say, I'm a busy man.
No joke.
Call it boredom, utter curiosity, internet paranoia, or something to do in the thick of a drunken stupor. C'mon, admit it. Haven't you all Google'd yourselves at one point or another? Never know where your name might pop up (for real).
As you could imagine, this is a real nightmare for school teachers. Tough enough that teachers are public employees and therefore face public scrutiny. For example, teacher's salaries are posted in the newspapers. Our students standardized test scores are also reported as well. Can you recall how many teachers have their home phone number listed in a phone book? Hey, it's just a reality of the job. At the end of the day, I'd just like to be myself and escape the public spotlight. Scarey to think that it is entirely possible that one of my students might stumble onto my blog.
"Hey mom, can we rent Super Troopers? Mr. C. has it listed under favoriate movies in his blog profile."
Yeah, definetly scarey.
The (ex)principal of the middle school once told me that the older you get, the less you'll keep in touch with friends and more family you grow. Didn't believe him at the time; now I realize just how much truth there is to this point of view. Friends do things like move out west, get too busy to write or call. Time makes us forget. Then comes that lonely point in your life where you are left wondering what happened to all the people you knew- where are they now?
Ever consider Google'ing college roommates, old high school chums, or even the occasional ex-girlfriend? Maybe you should. Take into consideration how Classmates.com, Friendster, MySpace, SoundClick, Yahoo profiles, etc. have reconnected people after years of seperation. Locating peeps through these online networks is become much easier than browsing through scores of cached webpages, broken links, and false leads. It is a great feeling to find our whatever became of so-and-so, or to rekindle and old friendship.
This past week an email came across my inbox with the basic message of, "Is this you?" An old friend from Caldwell College (before I transfered to Rutgers) managed to track me down through MySpace. Funny thing, I didn't remember even registering an account. After ten long years he managed to track me down. Amazing. After some correspondance with this fellow, he gave me two more people's email addresses for me to contact. Reconnected with three friends total.
Afterwards, I decide to completely fill out my profile at MySpace. If someone can locate me with a half-completed profile, what might be the outcome if I list more personal information. Who knows? Sure enough, someone from high school sent me a message. Up to four now. I started networking through work mates and buddies, and tracked down three more long-lost friends. Count seven in all- now I'm on a streak!
One drunken night I Google'd the names of my high school friends (under my wife's supervision of course), and came across one of their blogs. This was particularly odd, like a one-way window into their life, but hey, we wouldn't blog if we didn't want people to have that view of who we have become. I didn't hesitate to shoot out an email, and now we write to each other.
Eight times I asked, "Hey, how the hell you've been all these years?" All those time I gave out the autobiography of my life: mostly accomplishments and some turning points. You know you had (have) a good friendship when you are both willing to admit both the good and the bad, and think no less of you. Reminds me of a John Barth quote from "Lost in the Funhouse":
Somewhere in the world there was a young woman with such splendid understanding that she'd see him entire, like a poem or a story, and find his words so valuable after all that when he confessed his apprehensions she would explain why they were in fact the very things that made him precious to her. . .
I see a ripple effect. One friend who managed to track me down; in turn, I tracked a half-dozen few more friends. Will they be inspired to find one of their long lost friends or an old love? The motion of this waves carries on- it's what keeps websites like MySpace thriving. It is a small world after all.
2 Comments:
:) Hi Joey.
Thank god for drunk googling, huh?
Joh Barth rules! I would put Lost in the Funhouse near the top of my favorites list, and I was pleased to be reminded of why. Have you read Giles Goat Boy?
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