What Is This Thing, Facebook?

Last week while wandering around Seattle with my friends Barb & Wendi from Denver, we were on our way out of town, needed some gas, and I could remember that there were a couple of stations up in the U-District, and while we were there, why don't we just drive on campus and see how it looks?

As I directed my friend Wendi up NE 45th Street towards 17th Avenue, we had the opportunity (but did not take it) to hit a few tourists running in front of cars to get their pictures taken in front of the University of Washington sign.

Being Sunday, we didn't have to pay to park on campus, and we drove around a bit before parking our car not far behind Denny Hall, and we walked toward The Quad and Red Square for just a glimpse of the huge, and still beautiful campus.
A rush of memories always comes when you visit some place that had such a large, important chunk of your life experience. The Daily at the University of Washington, where I worked. Passing by the turn-off to the dorms. The hall from hell that held all the English TA's, what was that, Paddington? I just remember that the story was that they built it in the 1960s as "anti-riot" in that no one could possibly find their way around the hall without getting morbidly confused, so surely a sit-in was impossible.

Now why they never moved the Administration there, I'll never know...

Anyway, that trip to Seattle was so neat to look back, and then this weekend I was looking at a friend's post for a private online group I belong to, about how she was finding all these people from way back when on Facebook, and it occurred to me that I should FINALLY get off my butt and join.

It is, after all, free, and what else do I have to do besides make sure my kid's not getting into the cat box?

And it's not a blog, it's not private (you have to know someone to know someone, in a neat but oddly cultish sorta way). So I'd say it's more of a social networking thing, a way to keep in touch, without the blog/journaling.

And as far as I can tell all the kids in our families over 12 have a FB page. I felt like a dinosaur navigating Manhattan at first, but I quickly (and with the help of my 17-year-old nephew John) got the hang of it.

Before I knew it, I'd found Mike G and Marie Z and David W, all from school days at the UW. And a few friends from high school, and some from further back even.

It's just amazing how quickly you can find old friends.

It's like joining a cult, and finding out all your friends from your past are there, waiting for you!

Anyway, here's to Facebook! Another timesucker, but well worth it!