A common phrase we all use today is, “Google it”.  I used that phrase to myself at 3:30am this morning, I’ll get to that in a moment.  But it really is amazing how we have all come to depend on this technology.  So much so, it makes you wonder how we ever managed without it.  Information at your fingertips, and it’s something we almost take for granted today.  The reality is Google hasn’t been around for that long.  It was launched in 1996, by a couple of PhD students at Stanford University.  What these two visionaries wanted to create was a universal digital library, and what a library it is!  One of the benefits of this universal digital library is that no one ever says, “shhh”.

 Here’s my latest experience with Google.  It’s 12:30am, I’m dead asleep only to hear, “get up…I just heard the garage door open”.  I clear the cobwebs, ask for the message to be repeated because maybe I was just dreaming and I can go back to sleep, but no!  The first thing I do is reach for my sand wedge, which is strategically placed close to my side of the bed, and off I go to possibly encounter an intruder, all the while hoping it’s some skinny little runt who’s ass I’ll be kicking without much fuss.  As I’m walking down the stairs, turning on all the lights, you do that mental checklist.  Alarm didn’t go off;  protect Kathy and Mack; check all the rooms and think that it really has been a good life.  Every room is empty, but now I have to check the basement like all the stupid people do in movies.  The coast was clear, I checked the garage out and everything looked normal.  I hit the remote for the garage door and it closes just like it supposed too.  This is where I convince myself that it was a one-off because I want to get some sleep.  Good luck falling back asleep.  I’m up for an another hour just to be sure.  Just as I’m about to nod off, there it goes again.  Round two, the exact routine, including the wishful thinking that it’s but a mere coincidence.  Well, when the garage door opened by itself again at 3:30am,  I made a decision to do something about it.  I grabbed my iPad and Googled, “why do garage doors open by themselves”?  There the answer appeared, one possible solution was to erase the existing code and enter a new one.  Downstairs I went to reset the codes, a how-to video demonstration courtesy of YouTube, and lo and behold the damn door stopped opening by itself.

 Google saved me X dollars because without it I would have called a garage door repair company to do exactly what I did.  I know that Google tracks every search we make and that information is for sale.  But when you need an answer, like right now, you don’t dwell on privacy issues or if Google’s practice to monitor our information gathering behaviour is ethically just.  Besides, I didn’t have any other option because my library card expired, in 1978.

 Until next time,

 Cheers.