Google

Google and I maintain a love/hate relationship.  They have the fastest search engine on the planet and continue to improve upon perfection.  Do you go anywhere else to get driving directions or browse images?  And yet, when I check those little personalized border ads in my gmail account, my stomach does a little flip-flop as I realize they are scanning my personal conversations.  It feels very Big Brother to me.  It creeps me out.

But I love Picasa (a Google product for editing images) and Piknik (Google’s beefed up image editor).  Last month I almost swore off Google entirely.  I was editing some pictures in Piknik and read the disappointing notice that Piknik would be discontinued in April.  That did not make me a happy Piknik-er and I wanted to call down the evil cyber-gods to punish Google for their evil deeds.  I was going to change my email account, homepage and browser and most definitely my image editing software.  Google was about to be a small footnote in the history of MyLiege. 

My problem is my vindictiveness doesn’t run too deep.  I have no follow through when it comes to really showing someone who’s boss (Google, in this case).  Before I knew it a month had gone by and I was still editing images in Picasa, and quite frankly forgotten about my perturbation.  Then quite by accident I stumbled onto the new, updated, larger-than-life Picasa 3.9.  I shouted “I love Google!” at the top of my lungs in spite of near-sleeping children upstairs. I shouted it again and again.  I grabbed my monitor and tried to pull it in for a big hug, but the cord was not long enough.    It was begging for a kiss. 

Sean calmly came downstairs to see what the racket was while muttering under his breath something about Google being Big Brother and taking over the world.  He just couldn’t understand.  This was monumental.  A pinnacle of joy in my life – Picasa had integrated the best of Piknik!!!!!!  Can you believe it?  Amazing!  Glorious!  Fantastic!  I will never be sad or lonely or frustrated or angry or unattractive ever again.  Google has transformed my life!  After all, doesn’t everyone want a Big Brother looking out for them.  Google is harmless, really.  They’re just trying to make my pictures pretty.