Vegan Victuals: The Blog |

You don’t know what you got till it’s gone.

What did I do before the internet? I really don’t remember. I think it was 1998 when my parents got a computer, cumbersome and beige, and set it up in the basement. This wasn’t that long ago. But the pace and motion my adult life has carried on since makes it seem a lifetime ago. Shortly after the computer arrived, it helped me find an apartment on the other side of the country (to Seattle, during the dot.com boom actually) and connected me to other alienated misfits hidden within pockets about the country. It felt exciting to be doing things that had never been done before: buying a used accordion from someone in West Virginia by clicking a button, ping-ponging electronic letters sent through circuits and wires, locating out-of-print limited edition red vinyl 45′s perched, knee up, in my pajamas in the computer chair. I utilized the internet in every way possible, still do.

Tonight, I sit thankful in front of my screen. My internet is back up and running. So I was able to receive this link, which ultimately inspired above. It is a blog posting from the official Google blog, specifically from Jonathan Rosenberg, SVP, Product Management. In homage to Presidents Obama, Washington and Lincoln, he shares his President’s Day reflections. The posting gives you a real sense of what is helping maintain Google’s success: passion, smarts and optimism. {I had the joy of visiting Google’s offices in Chelsea with a group of high schoolers from Canarsie last summer (my blog post, focused mainly on their cafeteria, is here) and have felt this energy and enthusiasm first-hand.}

Anyway, now that I am relatively sure dystopian future fiction is not rooting in our new technological reality I am glad to say that technology is a friend of mine.