March 23, 2007
Too Much Information
Honey Creek State Park Near Grove OK... This is the current pic on my desktop at work
Have you ever "Googled" someone. I know of several people that do this on a regular basis for a variety of reasons. One gal who blogs at Celestial Blue often gets anonymous readers who googled her and got her blog. There are those that Google to find out if they pop up on the Internet. The Broker Gal that sits next to me tells of how they found the lost half of her family tree by googling her mother's maiden name then following a thread to a man who had posted a genealogical project of his and sure enough, there were names she recognized. Her aunt followed up and there was a wonderful cyber space reunion that took place...
Neither myself nor Woody Google well. His actual name is so common that you would never find him in a sea of same ole same ole generic names. Me... I have been exceptionally careful to not to use my actual name online anywhere because it is somewhat unique and added to my last name would clearly identify me. I didnt realize this was a problem until I mentioned the names of friends that moved to the Big Island from a Midwest state and since then every other month I get an email from someone looking for them, and not to say a friendly "Hello". I also learned form this that when we closed the store we needed to also cut our ties to the people that bought from us as we would not be in the position to provide service to the pieces that they bought once we left the business... I think this is why people want to speak to our friends...I never tell these seekers anything other than "Gee they lived off the grid no real address, which was true they used a PO box which mattered not to me as we always just walked to each others little shop in Hilo when we wanted to talk. And I share as little as I can about anyone anymore... Its just too easy to take a little thing and use it to mess up someones life...
I was reading a
blog in passing last night and they mentioned this as a meme..."Google your name and tell us about two people who share your name..." So I did. I put my name in and no one came up... I know this so I put in the name of an old boyfriend that has lived or rather I knew that he wanted to live a public sort of life... and that I would likely find his name...
And of course I did. I was not sure until I found and obituary for a child that had died, it listed the grand parents and that confirmed his identity to me. I understand something of what that loss is like and was grieved for him...I saw a lot of tidbits of information that make me happy and sad for him. I always wished him well even though he frightened me with his intensity and...well...stalking really. He couldn't understand that his getting my divorce pushed through didn't clear the way for anything but grieving, and certainly not for advancing his own agenda of being married (to me) before he was thirty.
He had an attitude that somehow his hard gotten college education was a free pass to have the right to make me over in the image he felt I should aspire to. Fast forward nearly 20 years later, and I have had the ultimate in education at "Hard Knock University" and find that while I would never knock book learning I am unsuited for day in and Day out in the class room and do much better in a more practical setting. I hope he feels as good about his life as I feel about mine.
One thing that I have learned about Google and what you can and cannot learn about people is that you shouldnt dig if you dont want to find something. I think its best to leave ghosts at rest and not stir things up in my heart or in cyberspace...
Labels: Blog Recomends, Google, Hawaii, Old Flames
