The wave of the Future; The Future is Blogs; The Future is NOW!

Do you remember when you were in grade school? They would hand our those "Reader Rick" or some other little pamphlet to stimulate a 1st graders interest in reading? I remember those because every once in a while they would publish some article about the future. Apparently in the year 2000 we were supposed to have automatic pilot cars that if the traffic on the road got too bad could launch into the air and fly you the rest of the way to work. I recently watched Back to the Future II and according to that movie, in the year 2015 most cars would be flying, clothes would adjust themselves to fit us, and people could get robotic implants to become super strong. Granted, for them 2015 was about 30 years in the future how could they possibly know what to expect? For us however, it is only 8 years away and the bigger concern than getting your car off of the ground is affording gas to put in the car.

I guess my point is that the future wound up being something that nobody expected. The 4th of July weekend really drove (yes drove in a hovercar) that home to me.

I was attending a close friend's wedding reception back home in Corvallis. It was a beautiful event held in their yard on an even more beautiful summer evening. Picture round white tables on deep green grass, badminton, croquet, trampolines, large shade trees, a jungle gym covered with children while some smooth music played in the background. There were dozens of people with or without shoes, socializing, eating, and laughing. Sometimes there was a handshake exchanged at an introduction or an embrace shared at a reunion. Who would have thought that the future would look so organic as this? No streets paved in corrugated metal or flying commuter vehicles in sight.

However, the 21st century had it's fingerprints all over this gathering. Let me illustrate by sharing a conversation I heard more than twice that night:

Person A: Hi I'm A I'm so glad to finally meet you.

Person B: Oh A! I'm B! It's good to meet you too! I feel like we've know each other for so long.

Person A: How are your little girls? They are SO adorable!

Person B: Oh did you see them running around here? They weren't pouring lemonade in each other's hair again were they?

Person A: OH you brought your girls along? I haven't seen them here.

WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? Why are two people who are literally meeting for the first time, not being introduced by a common acquaintance, chatting like old friends? Keep eavesdropping. You'll find out what the future has done.

Person B: You haven't seen them running around? They're always getting into some sort of trouble.

Person A: I know I read about your family every week on your Blog.

LADIES and GENTLEMEN.... the future.

It was amazing to see a gathering of so many people who had never met yet were so intimately informed on each other's lives, families, and ideas. It was fascinating! Then the conversation would morph into discussing another person at the party who neither A or B had met in person.
It was a startling web of connectivity that has never existed in the history of the world.

I'm impressed at how many people read THIS Blog. I intended this place as more of a journal that I don't mind others reading but I have never really advertised it. I've never e-mailed anyone and said, "Check out whats going on in my life! Hear my thoughts and ideas". Yet here you are. Occasionally I will include it in my profile on some online account and then there is the link to my family's Blog. It was shocking the first time I saw a comment posted.

I'll be honest, sometimes it freaks me out. I used to think it was a bad idea being so informed on everythign that was going on in a distant friends life because what would you talk about when you got back together? But it has actually had the opposite effect. Or I could say that it has the opposite affect. It is kind of nice to still feel connected to so many friends even if it is from an altitude of 30,000 feet. I have to admit, my wife does most of the blog reading for our family. Several hours a week in fact. But I get to hear all of the highlights!

So I'm curious (as a result) how many of you are there? If you have a Blog would you post the URL in a comment on this message?

Ok this sucker is way too long now. I'll add more later. I originally intended to write about what I call "Blog Wars" or "Blog Snobs" but I waxed all philosophical about the invisible threads that BLAH BLAH BLAH.