In a rather short period of time, a little company called Google has become the world’s most recognized brand. Normally I shun huge corporate behemoths such as those which round out the Top 10. For years now I’ve been sold on Gmail. I’ve defaulted to their Maps after getting shafted by Mapquest in LA rush-hour. Their new Picasa photo gallery system is handy as I had no photoshop installed on my new MS Vista laptop. And their documents and analytics apps are useful for an indie project like The Laughing Planet which relies heavily on cyberspace.

The Desktop feature is a bit over the top, but I use the scratch pad and To Do list in lieu of pencil and paper which are more easily misplaced/lost. And I have yet to truly scratch the surface on the items they may be offering.

What do they ask of me? Microsoft asks $150 for their most basic Word program. Google merely spies on me and tries to push products. Is that so wrong? Yahoo mail with its black/white flashing ads which cause seizures like Japanese anime, is dancing close to being exiled from my life. Big brother Google merely places its muted pitches discretely in margins where they can be easily ignored.

And I hear they have a good search engine too.

You’ve heard “When it rains, it pours.” But have you heard “When it blows, it SUCKS”?

These days in Sacramento, every morning like the chirping of songbirds in the spring, the incessant hum of the most asinine invention since non-alcoholic beer serves as my alarm clock each day. Much like the call to prayer which awakened me most every morning while in the Muslim world earlier this year, this quasi-religious ritual occurs without regard to that fact that many within earshot would rather NOT be subjected to such high-pitch wailing. At least the acceptable cacophony hour in this country is not 4:30 AM as it was in lands Islamic.

I suppose that I live in a condo complex adds to the problem as people are not obliged to “clean up their side of the street.” Someone’s already on the payroll for that gig. And the space within 50 yards of my bedroom window needs DAILY maintenance on this front. For once the reactionary agenda in DC could directly benefit me. If a fence gets built and immigrants get herded up & sent to Guantanamo, there won’t be people to pick lettuce much less blow leaves.

The holidays are what’s supposed to bring estranged family back together. But in my case this holiday season, it was my cousin Erin’s wedding. For the 1st time in over 2 decades, both of my parents and I were together in the same room. It was a surprise to me that it had been that long, I guess because I’m in denial about anything in my life happening that long in the past without it meaning I was in diapers at the time.

I’m thrilled to have this picture to preserve the moment. Both as a keepsake in case it’s another 20 years until it happens again, and because the camera doesn’t show that I was lame enough to wear blue jeans to the wedding because I couldn’t find my pants the morning of the ceremony!

And the worst part is I only signed up because of The Laughing Planet! Now I’m becoming deeply mired in the morass that is the new internet vortex of valuable time. Is there a resource, BTW, that seems to have skyrocketed in value as much as people’s time these days? And it’s all because there are so many new ways for people to WASTE it!

What at 1st seemed an innocuous addition to my web rolodex, Facebook (click at your own risk) has quickly supplanted the field as where I fritter away the minutes that I should instead be working. The Scrabble application is an obvious vice for a Scrab junkie like myself. But the real surprise was my instant obsession with the Traveler’s IQ challenge. In 24 hours since I discovered it I played over a dozen times. And now that I’ve bested 99.4% of the over 1 million people who have ever played (”GENIUS” level, thank you), I’m all the more eager to edge my way toward immortality. I justify my new addiction because it’s a “worldly and cerebral” waste of time.

Whilst mired in a creative project with moments akin to “writer’s block” (editor’s glaze?), distractions like this are tempting diversions to say the least. But I will find a way to resist its allure and stay focused on the goal of bringing you a great docu-comedy. I find the modern addiction to gaming another sad reflection of how disjointed and unhealthy our society has become “Thanks” in part to technology.

Please do feel free to challenge me to a game of Scrabble however (I’m still undefeated).