Jennifner.com

What follows is more of a freewrite on being single and aging. Not really that important, but you’re welcome to read it if you’d like. Read more

Happy 26th birthday to my friend and roommate, Julie Dougall.

I’ve always avoided anything resembling social networking sites. I have a hard enough time keeping in touch with the friends I have—why would I possibly want to spend time on the people on these sites? Plus, I’m already bad at time management—why would I possibly want another mindless drain on my time?

Well, it’s because over the course of a single evening, three separate friends tried to talk me into joining. I guess my willpower is no match for the power of three (or something like that). So I decided that, since I was going to join, I may as well do it right. Therefore, I tried to do everything like other people I know who use Facebook.

• I’ve signed up for an account, posted some notes, and written on the walls of all my friends.
• I’ve joined a group: “I will correct your grammar and I won’t feel bad about it.” It’s perfect.
• I’ve even thrown some pictures up online.
• And, I’ve already spent way too much time on it—I’ve even neglected my editing.

Doesn’t that seem right?

Actually, despite the time commitment, I’ve really enjoyed it. Let me tell you, having 17 people want to be your friend in one day is certainly good for the self-esteem. Who knew being internet friends could be so rewarding?

When I die, I do not want to go to heaven and then watch the events of my life unfold on the big screen. I’m sorry, but I don’t. I’ve lived it once, and, quite frankly, a good portion of my life has been rather boring. For instance, who really wants to watch themselves sleep? Every night? For their entire lifetime? No thank you.

That’s not to say that I wouldn’t like to see select moments in my life. I just want the ability to select what moments I see. That’s why I hope that when Google’s inventors get to heaven, God gets them busy designing what will come to be known as Google Life. (I know that God could make it himself, but I think he’s probably got better things to do. And since the Google guys are so good at what they do…you know: Google Mail, Google Earth, Google Maps…they deserve to spearhead the Google Life project.)

It’s got potential, people! Think about it: You know those situations where you’re having a conversation with your mom and you say, “Remember that time when we saw John Denver at the fair?” And then your mom says, “No, we never saw John Denver. You must be thinking of someone else.” But you still feel fairly certain you saw John Denver and your mom is crazy? That’s where Google Life comes in. You type in as much information as you think you remember—John Denver concert when I was 10—and Google Life searches through your entire life and brings up relevant results. And then you watch the video version (on that big screen, with heavenly picture and sound) and you and your mom both know who is right and who is crazy.

(Okay, I admit it—I’d really like to have Google Life right now. I mean, my entire generation is so used to instant answers to most who, what, where, when, why, and how questions…it’s frustrating that we can’t have the same instant gratification for these questions in our own lives. However, I recognize that since God’s got exclusive access to a free and unbiased account of my life, I’ll have to wait for heaven in order to get it.)

Just a quick update on a previous post. Kevin, the fearless Mt. Everest climber and Moreton flag carrier, has successfully made it to the summit. Details will be forthcoming on his blog shortly, I’m sure. Congratulations, Kevin on your amazing and well-deserved (and well-documented) accomplishment!!

And, for those non-climbers out there, now you can see what he saw…kind of. (Obviously, the 1024×768 panorama doesn’t match the real-life panorama…but it sure was easier and safer to get to!) Also, if you want to pretend you climbed it for yourself, check this out for a better understanding of what the journey was like.

Update: Since Jenn=geek, here are a few more links to get more Everest knowledge out of my system.