I've always been fascinated by research. As a kid, I would sit down and read a volume of the New Book of Knowledge encyclopedia from cover to cover, like a regular book. Crazy, I know. Some of this innate geekiness probably led me to become a history major in college...and has led me to my love affair with Google.
Ah Google...a researcher's dream to have so much information at one's fingertips! What I wouldn't have given to have had the intarnets when I was doing research for my senior thesis...think of the countless hours spent ruining my eyesight poring over microfilms that could have been avoided. But I so enjoy having Google as my toy today! In my family I'm known as the Google queen. Just today, my mother told a friend that she'd have me look for something on the internet...if it was there, I'd find it. And as recently as one hour ago, I did that for my mom...typed in a few words and found the perfect website about the local chapter of a society for a debilitating disease, complete with name & phone number of a support group, clinical care unit, etc. that Mom could pass on to her friend who has a grown child with this disease. Yes, Google is a very useful tool.
I also spent a little bit time on Google today at work while between projects & waiting for reports to generate. Why? Because I'd read a really interesting article in an online newspaper today and thought the author might be someone I'd known in high school the summer I was at Governor's Honors. After checking a few links on Google, I discovered that indeed he was who I thought he was! Very cool to find out that he'd grown up to be a journalist...one who'd been nominated for a Pulitzer! That got me to thinking about other folks I fondly remembered from GHP. So I did some more Googling...I couldn't find the guy who I'd worked on Model UN with, but I did find the guy who I'd done my summer research project on the Holocaust & concentration camps with. He now sings with a gospel quartet that tours around the Southeast. I think most people who knew him at GHP would be shocked by that...tall basketball playing jock got music & religion? But I recall our talking about our experiences singing in HS choral groups, so I'm really not surprised at all. I tried finding some of the girls I knew, but it's so difficult to find women under maiden names. :(
Then I looked down at the sweatshirt I'd worn to work today & decided to Google a person who I met about 10 years ago...who had given me the sweatshirt. Now I hadn't thought about him in a long time, but had often wondered over the years how his life was going...if he'd figured out whether the line of work he was in was really the right one for him & if he'd managed to find some balance between his life as a Type-A Workaholic and his home life with his wife & daughters. Lo & behold it only took clicking on one link and I found my answer...he was in the right field, and he is now the President & COO of a very successful company. Reading his professional bio, I saw he was able to implement a lot of the ideas that had excited him back in the day...and managed to do so while working for a different enmployer. And the picture on the company website showed what appears to be a successful happy man. What a delight to find good news about an old friend! And to think it was the wearing of an old sweatshirt that led to finding the news...ironic, I'd say.
So while Google is a useful tool 99% of the time, today it grew beyond that...it became a path to the past, a conduit to my memory bank, the vehicle that drove me down Memory Lane for a short while...bringing a smile to my face while remembering the past, but also a smile to know that people who meant something to me at different points in my life seem to be happy in their present. Thank you, Google, for that gift!
Ah Google...a researcher's dream to have so much information at one's fingertips! What I wouldn't have given to have had the intarnets when I was doing research for my senior thesis...think of the countless hours spent ruining my eyesight poring over microfilms that could have been avoided. But I so enjoy having Google as my toy today! In my family I'm known as the Google queen. Just today, my mother told a friend that she'd have me look for something on the internet...if it was there, I'd find it. And as recently as one hour ago, I did that for my mom...typed in a few words and found the perfect website about the local chapter of a society for a debilitating disease, complete with name & phone number of a support group, clinical care unit, etc. that Mom could pass on to her friend who has a grown child with this disease. Yes, Google is a very useful tool.
I also spent a little bit time on Google today at work while between projects & waiting for reports to generate. Why? Because I'd read a really interesting article in an online newspaper today and thought the author might be someone I'd known in high school the summer I was at Governor's Honors. After checking a few links on Google, I discovered that indeed he was who I thought he was! Very cool to find out that he'd grown up to be a journalist...one who'd been nominated for a Pulitzer! That got me to thinking about other folks I fondly remembered from GHP. So I did some more Googling...I couldn't find the guy who I'd worked on Model UN with, but I did find the guy who I'd done my summer research project on the Holocaust & concentration camps with. He now sings with a gospel quartet that tours around the Southeast. I think most people who knew him at GHP would be shocked by that...tall basketball playing jock got music & religion? But I recall our talking about our experiences singing in HS choral groups, so I'm really not surprised at all. I tried finding some of the girls I knew, but it's so difficult to find women under maiden names. :(
Then I looked down at the sweatshirt I'd worn to work today & decided to Google a person who I met about 10 years ago...who had given me the sweatshirt. Now I hadn't thought about him in a long time, but had often wondered over the years how his life was going...if he'd figured out whether the line of work he was in was really the right one for him & if he'd managed to find some balance between his life as a Type-A Workaholic and his home life with his wife & daughters. Lo & behold it only took clicking on one link and I found my answer...he was in the right field, and he is now the President & COO of a very successful company. Reading his professional bio, I saw he was able to implement a lot of the ideas that had excited him back in the day...and managed to do so while working for a different enmployer. And the picture on the company website showed what appears to be a successful happy man. What a delight to find good news about an old friend! And to think it was the wearing of an old sweatshirt that led to finding the news...ironic, I'd say.
So while Google is a useful tool 99% of the time, today it grew beyond that...it became a path to the past, a conduit to my memory bank, the vehicle that drove me down Memory Lane for a short while...bringing a smile to my face while remembering the past, but also a smile to know that people who meant something to me at different points in my life seem to be happy in their present. Thank you, Google, for that gift!
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