Friends. What is the Internet without "friends"? In the short time that I've been "caught in the Net", I've made some wonderful friends. Some have become closer to me than others, but ALL are friends. In this particular section of "Caught in the Net", I will be displaying photos of my friends, and relating how we met. These photos have been re-printed with the permission of my friends (thanks, guys!).
Come. Meet my friends....
See that "happy, smiling" face above in that picture? THAT'S one of my two "bestest" friends. I met Linda in February of this year (1997). At that time, GeoCities was having problems with the page editors and the File Manager. I had only had my "Soose" site about a month, and it was just beginning to get noticed by the WEBTV Community. I was worried that I would have to discontinue it, as the File Manager wouldn't let WEBTV people edit their pages.
I wrote to EVERYONE--WEBTV, GeoCities, and all 25 Heartland Community Leaders. All I got out of WEBTV and GeoCities, was that they were working on it. Of the 25 Community Leaders, 3 replied. The first said that she was no longer a Community Leader, and to leave her alone. The second blamed WEBTV for all the trouble. The third was Linda. Linda was the only one who offered support and an optimistic attitude to the situation. She told me that she would look into it, and would get back to me with some answers--and she did. Within a few days, the File Manager was back in operation, and WEBTV people could edit their pages again. Now, I'm not saying that she had something to do with the restoration of editing. What she DID do was make a distraught person feel better by reassuring them that there was a solution to the problem.
In the process of helping me, she also discovered that I was "pulling" all my music and graphics from other sites, which as many of you know, is NOT an acceptable practice. But being a WEBTV person, I could not (and WEBTV people STILL cannot) download and/or upload anything. Linda had never encountered a WEBTV person before, so I was her first (poor thing--has never been the same since!).
When she learned that I was incapable of NOT "pulling" from other sites, Linda offered her services to me as my downloading/uploading partner, and she also would give advice on how to make my site "viewable" to not only the WEBTV browser, but also to the Netscape and Microsoft Explorer browsers as well. She was (and still IS) wonderful. I've learned ALOT from Linda, and our "professional" relationship has turned into a great friendship.
I have since acquired a computer of my own and have "graduated" from WEBTV to "IT" (my name for the computer). I STILL have the WEBTV, but the majority of my work is done on "IT". And although I can now do my own "stuff" without Linda's assistance, she is STILL needed as she has now become my teacher in learning all about how to operate "IT".
To close, here's an interesting and exciting "tid-bit". By the time many of you read this page, this event will have probably already taken place. But in August, Linda and I will meet in person for the first time. Needless to say, I'm excited at the thought of finally meeting in person one who has turned into a "bestest" buddy. I hope she feels the same.
There will be an update to this, after we meet....
Yes, we DID finally meet in person. We spent approximately 4 days together, and had a terrific time! She "CONVINCED" me to buy a digital camera, by bringing her camera with her, and I "CONVINCED" her that she should buy a WEBTV, by showing her mine! Forget the "tourist traps". The only "traps" we went to were electronic stores, book stores, and computer stores--all with a computer theme! It was REALLY alot of fun!
She also met my parents, who have "adopted" her, met my pets, who are STILL not too sure about her, and met some other acquaintances of mine. She introduced me to some of the people she use to work with when she lived in the Southern California area.
In all, it was a very productive (the shopping) and wonderful (meeting the different people) experience! I was very sorry to see her leave. Hopefully, in October of this year, I will be visiting HER. Thank you, Linda, for the fun time we had during your visit!
In October, it was MY turn to visit Linda. Although I was on vacation, poor Linda wasn't. She still had to go to work, and worried that she wasn't being a good hostess. Of course, I told her that that was ridiculous. I was having a great time just seeing her, and being in an area that I had never been before (the Monterey and Castroville areas in Central California).
Besides working (I accompanied her to work every day--she's a supervisor for the 9-1-1 dispatchers of the CHP in that area), she also does volunteer work for the Laguna Seca Raceway. The Friday, Saturday, and Sunday that I was there, she arranged for me to have complimentary passes for all three days of the VISA Sportscar Championship. I was able to sit up in the control booth with her throughout the three day competition. It was great!
I stayed with Linda for almost a week. Like me, she also has pets, and they accepted me almost immediately. And even though we really didn't do anything, I had a wonderful time. Linda, you really WERE a good hostess. HONEST! I can't wait until I'm able to come up and see you again. Thanks for making me feel at home.