Monday, October 3, 2016

Monday musings

Last week, I googled my own name and was surprised at what came up.  Today, I want to unpack my findings.  I printed out a single page, which had the first nine items on it.

1.  A random thing I posted on Facebook once ... ONCE ... on January 27, 2014.  That's almost three years ago!  "Unpackaged (even 'used up') 9-volt batteries can and do cause fires," I wrote, to introduce the article that was making the rounds among some of my Facebook friends.  Now that I stop to think about it, that was posted months before I moved to St. Louis from Chattanooga.  Google, is that the number one thing you connect to me?  I wondered if it was extra popular or something.  Nope.  My brother and a FB friend from New Jersey "liked" it, and a friend from California commented:  "Our 9 volts are now laid out on the garage floor, not touching each other."  That's the extent of interest in that one random item.

2.   Another Facebook item, when I bragged that my youngest granddaughter was Co-Valdictorian of her class and her big brother once again made the Dean's List at the university.  That was in May 2014, when 26 people "liked" the news and several left congratulatory comments to the two and their mother, who is my daughter.  This one was posted a month before I moved to St. Louis.  What's up with 2014, Google?

3.  A row of six photos.  This one, the only one of the six that actually showed ME, was taken in early 2013.  My broken shoulder was still healing, and I had to get someone to drive me to the District Office so I could be included in the Holston Conference 2013 Pictorial Directory.  I just pulled the directory off my bookshelf, realizing that I have never looked all the way through it.  The online photo was found on the Conference web site.
The other five photos, left to right, were three other women named "Bonnie Jacobs," my favorite photo of my mother (1987), and a black-and-white one of my father in uniform (1944).  These five are from my blog, though only that one (above) actually shows me.

4.  "Obit | Mildred Setliffe."  I thought it was my mother's 2004 obituary, until I read the date.  My sister, who died August 5th, was named for our mother, but went by her middle name:  Ann.  This photo (from my files, not the article) was taken seven hours before she died.

5.  "Setliffe, Mildred R."  Ah, this one is my mother's obituary from 2004.  Yes, I'm mentioned as one of her children, and so is Ann.

6.  Astrology?  This links to some site I've never visited that's angling for customers.  They want to tell me the "numerological analysis" of my name and do a "life path and astrological reading" for me.

7.  This links to the Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church so people can search for a UMC pastor.  My address shows up on Google's page, so people don't even have to go to the site to search out information about me.

8.  A link to this blog, specifically to an important blog post.  Important to me, anyway.  "Will it be like homecoming ... or a funeral?"  At the end of June 2010, I was guest speaker when the church where I grew up held its final service and celebrated its 102-year history.

9.  A post by an author I met, when he put my review on his own web site.

You won't learn much about me from any of these links, except for the first photo and the seventh item.

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