"Google stirs up even more trouble!"

Getting "Bamboozled" by "Google" again! OR "If you want my identity THAT bad, let me give you my Social Security number along with lots of luck!"

I've written about this in the past and got a few chuckles along the way however, it happened to me again today while I was out and about. Google began as a half way decent search engine on the Internet years ago and that was that...fine by me. In fact, I still use it today for it's original intended purpose as well as the main conduit to present this blog (So, you see I must be careful what I say here as my text is being monitored!). Google has taken the prophecies that George Orwell wrote about and have turned them into reality. Sure, in the beginning it was fun to take advantage of all of Google's little extra perks like their famous program, Google Earth. Here, you can plug in your neighbor's address and zoom up to peek into the picture window. While you're at it, you can get all the information you could ever imagine such as names, phone numbers, and property values. Google did all this with plenty of leg work over a few years. They actually sent college kids out in white vans to take digital photos of everything (Notice how some of the addresses you enter show the hood of the van in the photo?). An invasion of privacy? Sure. You can be like the old lady next door and know everyone on the block's business. This week, Google added yet another feature. This one is for Wi-Fi and cell phones and it all comes down to tracking down "where in the world" you are! I suspect that Waldo and his shenannigans are now out of places to hide.

This latest attempt to pry further into our lives may be a good thing for the parents with the 15 year old daughter who is currently rebelling, putting up half-naked photos of herself on MySpace and planning on stealing Mommy's MasterCard for plane tickets to another country to meet some old pervert pretending to be 15 too. As far as I'm concerned, despite the positives such as this, Google has now crossed the line into that "gray" area and meanwhile, they still can't get the easy stuff sorted together, which brings me to earlier today...

A teenager overheard me mention my name while at the doctor's office and asked me if I'm friends with Shawn White. "I don't know the guy" I said, and continued on. A few moments later it hit me that this kid was talking about the Shawn White that happens to be a professional snowboarder, has his own video game, and looks like "Carrot Top" the comedian. This wasn't the first time I've been "connected" to the guy. Matter of fact, if you Google my name you'll discover I was in the "X-Games" and have a long history in this extreme sport. Truth be told, the closest I get to snow is with the Toro snowblower. If I slip on the ice and break a bone, it's by accident and not for "the fun of it". So much for unique name! Actually, if you type in my name on Google, you'll see me connected with many types of things such as Car Salesman, Mobile Phone President, brother of "Quinn" who plays in the NFL. I've either got the same name as these people or are somehow linked to them by accident. Perhaps they are some relation way down the line?! Maybe I'll never know. The same goes for the name of this blog...type it in and this gets connected to a "hole in the wall" bar in Boston. I've never been there but yet, share the name with them. The S.O.B.'s wouldn't even send me a shirt from the place for my mentioning them! All I can say is, if you're like me and have lots of bills and misery while fearful of picking up a ringing telephone,

1. Thank the Lord above for Caller ID.
2. Realize that your name that may contain every letter in the alphabet may not be that "unique"
3. Write Google a "thank you" note if they confused you with someone with the same name who has a bigger bank account than you. Google may mix you up with someone else but, that someone else may end up stuck with your bills.