GOOGLE 101: Was There Life Before Search Engines?

   If there is anybody who is not sure about how to use a search engine, here is a quick course.

   We’ll use Google for our purposes because it is so popular that it became a verb for searching on the internet. So, instead of saying you are doing a search, you can just say,

   “I’ll Google that!”

   You should, of course, have a shortcut on your computer for www.google.com. You just click on that and there is a space for you to type the words relevant to what you are looking for.

   This week, we made a few telephone calls to find a canopy for our booth at the Angel of Joy Fall Festival. We came up dry for what we thought we wanted.

   So, I went to Google and put in the words:

   “Outdoor canopy, 12 x 12.”

   Eventually, I found that a better size to find would be 10 x 10. I found that in my town, they could be had at Academy, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, and K-Mart. Then, I added the words, “under $50.”

   Hubby purchased exactly what we want yesterday at K-Mart for $39.95.

   Now, it does not always have to be something to buy!

   The other day at Joe’s Italian Restaurant, our server’s name was Lola. Keith mentioned to me about that being an old-fashioned name which led to the song, “Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets”.

   I am a trivia nut, so I started to wonder where that song came from.

   “Damn Yankees – Gwen Verdon!”

   Hubby was a little skeptical, but of course, I came home to Google it. When you think you know the answer, you can just put it in and you will know if you are correct.

    Was there life before Google – well, yes! When I was a kid, there was a huge Set of Book of Knowledge on the living room shelves. Every time I would look up something, I would come across something else that was interesting. I always spent a long time finding my facts.

   One Friday night at Scrapbooking, a lady seemed surprised that I knew how to Google. (Perhaps she was teasing me?) Everyone should know how to find information quickly. Sometimes, I use it to find how long to cook something, or to refresh my memory about something in Toronto.

   By the way, when you are searching for something, you can just hit the ENTER button after inputting the words. If there are a huge amount of results, then refine your search a little more. Add a place or a date or a time period.

   In addition to Google, there is Yahoo, Ask.com, Dogpile,com, Alta Vista, and many others.

   Search engines have been around since the early 90s and that is exactly how I found widownet.org. I simply typed the word “widow”. Some of the results included information on spiders too but I knew I was looking for a Texas Hubby, so it was easy to see where to click!

   Sorry, I just thought everybody knew how to do this. It is a really useful skill!