My first Blog!

This is my first blog. Others have been blogging a long time. I am not sure when the first person blogged, or even why they chose to call it blogging. But, I get it. It's a blog. I chose to blog at the request of Friends who felt i should. I am a bit concerned about writing my thoughts as it is almost certain it will appear as an excerpt on the news in response to something I will eventually do. If I were to commit a crime, they would pull my blogs...if I were to win the power ball, they would pull my blog...if i were to thwart an attack, they would pull my blog.

That's ok.

My concerns these days focus around the use of social networking. I confess, my name is Jeff and I am a social networker. What a powerful tool. I read recently something someone wrote of things they wanted to do before they died...their answer was, they wanted to enter a time portal. I started thinking...really? Then join Facebook.

I have been a "member" for about 2 years. From nearly the first day I was "friended" by someone who I once knew. By "once" i mean like 30 years ago. In no time at all my friend base grew and was made up almost exclusively of people I once knew. I was transported back to a day before their were CD's, MP3's cell phones, and almost everything else I use nearly daily. Of course, by the very fact that I am well into my 40's I automatically qualified for the wayback machine version of Facebook. I suppose those in the current younger generation are using it for entirely different purposes. Me? I use it to look back lovingly. In the two years of membership the only thing missing from my experience was my 1976 Datsun 210. Facebook gives the opportunity to whine, cry, cheer torment and skip back and forth between teenage angst and the 40 something crowd. How fun!

I have shared moments of others loss, others gains and every emotion that comes with it. I became employed on Facebook, and watched others become unemployed. I have watched birth as well as death. And I have partied. Twice. With real people in a real place in New Jersey whom I once knew and now know in a way I have never known.

I have learned some things very interesting about people all of a result of Facebook: We tend to value our past more than we care to admit. Age is a great equalizer in both attitude and body image. It turns out we were better at picking Friends than our parents gave us credit for. It turns out we should not have been so conservative in those that we considered our friend. We know now that even the guy sitting next to you getting stoned with shoulder length hair in 1977 could grow up to be a Republican. It is sad to know that someone you know has died and you know this because of someone you now know again.

Like everything else, one moves on. I moved on from this group a long time ago. I don't really want to move on again for an even longer time.

Facebook is fun, and this is my first blog.