“Are you online?” I am frequently asked when I meet someone.  My answer is typically “no“, until recently.  What people are usually referring to is MySpace.  MySpace is the most popular social networking site, mostly amongst teens and younger adults.  It has become somewhat of a pop-culture icon.  At one point, I had a MySpace page, then I took it down because of all of the crazy “friend requests”.  Most of them were spam for adult sites.  Then I decided to go back on MySpace to try it again, and it’s still pretty much the same.  MySpace is the wild west of social networking.  I hardly use it.  The interface stinks, it’s too cluttered, and I feel like I need to be 15 years old to use it.

Another social networking site called LinkedIn is used to build a network of professionals together.  Mostly, it’s current and former colleagues.  The point of LinkedIn is to build your business connections.  As your connections grow, their connections become part of your connections.  It creates a viral affect.  So, I have about 70 connections, but because of who they know, and the people they know, my business contact base is over 100,000.  Theoretically.  If I need a job or if I am looking to network with someone for a professional reason, this is a great resource to tap into.

During the presidential debates, there was a poll question on CNN, but you needed a Facebook account to answer the questions, so I decided to take the plunge.  Facebook, like the others, allows you to network with friends, but in a different manner than MySpace.  In order to request a friend, you must know their name.  You cannot simply browse profiles that are open to anyone.  This is the most restrictive social networking site that I know of, but there is a huge advantage to that.  First of all, you aren’t spammed by “adult” profiles.  Secondly, if you belong to a group of a confirmed network, you can reconnect with people from your past rather easily.

I did just that.  It all started when I was contacted by someone from high school.  We had a great conversation through Facebook messaging, then with Facebook chat.  From there, I started looking for old friends from high school and old jobs.  Pretty cool stuff.  And once you become someone’s “friend”, you can see their profile, videos, pictures, blog, or whatever.

It was time to start searching for people that I haven’t heard from in a long, long time.  Karen Grill.  Chris Bruno.  Scott Wilson.  And others (I’ll spare you all from having your name permanently on my blog).  I never did find them.  Not on Facebook, Google, or anywhere.  (So if you know where they are, let me know, OK?)  Finally, I think I find the sister of one of my early high school friends on Facebook.  I send her a message asking if she is who I think she is.  I get a message back and it was her!  Wow!  This is great!  I will finally reconnect with my long, lost friend.

Not so fast.  After the initial contact with her, I asked her to have her brother contact me.  The next day, I received a response that I did not like.  Her brother had committed suicide 14 years ago.  My heart sunk to the floor.  Although it has been 20 years since we last saw each other, I felt an emptiness inside of me.  This social networking thing was pretty exciting up until this point.  I wonder if sometimes not knowing is better.

You know, it’s great to look at the new connections from my past, and see where they are in their life.  It’s neat to build this virtual world of “friends” of past and current.  I often wonder about the loss of the human element with these online relationships.  We tend to email more than call.  We all send text messages instead of calling.  These days, a phone call seems pretty personal to me.  Years ago, we were calling people too much and not personally interacting enough.  Funny how the times change, huh?

Now when asked if I am”online“, my answer will be “yes“.  Life is life, and I’ve decided that knowing about the past relationships that I have had is important, even if the truth is not what I want to hear.  For the current and new friendships that I have, I think that social networking can be exciting and can bring us closer together.  And as far as reconnecting with the past - it can help fill in the gaps of the unknown.

Ciao.

This is my wife wearing her feet pajamas (yes those are little yellow duckies) in July. Need I say more?

From the walls within my cube I sit. Writing documents, reviewing procedures, examining diagrams, testing software, taking phone calls, putting out fires, and emailing.

But all hope is not lost. I have many things to thankful for. My iPhone for one. It gives me music and sanity. Then there’s my water bottle, protein bars and protein shakes. Did I mention Post-its? They rule.

I have a stapler and a roll of tape, but they are useless since I don’t usually have any papers. I believe in the paperless office. Save a tree and stuff. Ok, the truth is that I feel no need to print or keep printed documents around when I have a computer.

I can’t see the outside from where I sit. It’s raining anyway. How many people get to be as lucky as me and have all of these wonderful things? Hmmmm…

The last name Perroots should be synonymous with “rockstar“.  In fact, for a period of time, this website changed from Perroots.com to RockstarFamily.com - in part to celebrate this family’s attitude towards life.

We just came back from another trip to Las Vegas.  I know, I know… You don’t want to hear about it.  It must be rough for us, right?  Four trips to Las Vegas so far this year, and probably two more remaining for 2008.  Why in the world would anyone want to keep going back to Las Vegas so much?  To keep the Rockstar Family image, of course!  It’s what we do.  We work hard, we want to play hard.  

Actually, many times when we go to Las Vegas, it’s pretty relaxing.  Every night is not a party.  I hardly even gamble anymore.  In fact, I only gambled one night in 2 weeks of Las Vegas!  We all love Las Vegas, so that’s why we keep going back.  Of course, it helps to own a condo there.  We figure since we have to pay a mortgage payment every month, we may as well get there as much as possible.

It really has become a second home.  I know the city very well.  We’ve done almost every possible tourist thing over the past 7 years.  It’s very different than this part of the world, but to us, it’s almost everything we want in life.  Let me count them:

• Hot weather.  Nothing superficial about this.  
• Great dining.  Las Vegas has some of the world’s best restaurants.  
• Great nightlife.  We get to go out to the various clubs and ultralounges.  Well, at least the ones in Palms and Red Rock Casino since they have a Kids Quest for Arianna.
• Shows.  With the constant influx of new entertainment, there is always something new.
• Gambling.  Although I do it less, I do enjoy it occasionally.
• An escape.  That’s exactly what Vegas is to us.  It is a reality for us, but it’s an alternate reality.