In your face(book)

In the earlier years of internet availability, it was pretty unusual for some new time sink web toy to come along without my noticing. These days, I seem to be the last to know. Maybe it's because I'm a lot busier than I used to be, or maybe I'm just getting old, but I arrived a little late to the blog party. I only got on Twitter a month or so ago, not because I could see the point (lacking, as I do, the ability and motivation to send/receive text messages on my phone), but because I was curious.*

About a month ago, I received an invitation from my brother to join him on Facebook. I ignored it, partially because I'm already on LinkedIn and partially because Facebook doesn't give away any clues regarding what it is, unless you create an account. I thought, "Foo that noise" and never gave it another thought – at least, not until my wife informed me that all but one of my siblings and a couple cousins were on Facebook. And they were communicating.

So, too late to make a long story short, I signed up (using a false birth date, of course). In the few days I've had my account, I think I've tailored my settings to stop up the more aggregious security holes. I've posted some pictures and reconnected with a high school buddy I hadn't heard from (or, to my shame, thought of) in years. I've seen a couple more people I know come on, just within the past few days.

What I'm wondering is this: Why now? I know Facebook has been around for years, but it seems like it has really taken off in the past few weeks. Are the media talking about it because it has taken off, or has it taken off because the media are talking about it?

The first Monday of 2009

6:05am, and I'm in a little earlier than usual, thanks to a 4:57 wake-up call that came in the form of a cat throwing up a hairball all over the afghan under which Turtle was sleeping.

It's probably just as well that I got an early start, though. By the time we went to bed last night, the local news outlets were already whipping themselves into a lather about the potential for rain – and not just rain, but (oh my stars and garters!) freezing rain. My years in Texas have taught me that the more certain the weather people are that we're going to get all slick and crashy, the less likely we are to suffer any real meteorological chaos. But the majority of morning commuters don't know that, so I'll just be grateful that I didn't have to contend with their elevated anxiety on the way in this morning.

Coffee's probably ready, by now. I'm out.