His name is Explorer 7

A few months ago I was sent a very distressing e-mail. It was IT telling me not to download the newest edition of Internet Explorer. As one who loves to have the latest updates, especially when they are free, this made me very sad. However, the e-mail strictly warned me that this new edition of Explorer would screw up my computer; so I stuck with what I had.

About a month later my neighbor, Rose, decided that she would like to have Explorer 7, despite the threat it posed against her computer. I felt compelled to rewarn her of the perilous path she was following. Her computer would get viruses. It would be super slow. It would BLOW UP.

I warned her. She didn't listen.

Now, in the month of December, she still has that new-fangled version of Explorer. Nothing, absolutely nothing, has happened to her computer. She's been happily using her adorable little browsers with no problem whatsoever. And so, I decided that I too would download it to my computer.

The length of time it took to download was quite more than I was expecting. It made me a bit nervous. I began wondering if my wait was all for not. All the little green bar did was go back and forth, back and forth. That's supposed to mean progress, but how was I too know if it was REALLY making progress?

At last, Explorer 7 was installed. I followed the order to restart my computer and then opened a new explorer window. When the window popped up, it didn't bring me google, but instead it brought me a page warning about protection.

"I knew it! This is exactly what they warned me about! And what now? Will explorer just not work? How will I get my old explorer back? What's going to happen? Are my internet surfing days over?"

As I gasped for air, clinging to my dear moniter, I read what it said on the screen. I just needed to switch the settings and I would fine. I switched the settings and beheld a most beautiful site.

Explorer 7 is quite possibly the most amazing thing that has happened to me all day. The window is cuter, the buttons are cuter, and you can have more than one window within a window! It's incredible. I love it. And it makes me sad to know that I could have had it sooner.

The lesson: Don't listen to IT. They have absolutely no idea what they are talking about.

What is this amazingness?

Oh. Right. It's a blog.

I can still remember the first blog I ever had. It was on a message board in junior high. A special forum was created so that each of us junior high girls could post the intricate details of our lives and wait until some 40 year old rapist picked a victim.

My second blog came shortly after this one, still during junior high. My friends and I found LiveJournal.com. Now we could let our hearts bleed on an real blog sight. Our threats of anorexia, feelings of inadequacy, and immature temper tantrums were now easier to find! Easier to access! They were there for the whole world to see!!

At the end of each post, we got to pick out a smiley that would state our current mood. A blue cat would tell our friends that we were sad (weren't we all in junior high?) A pink heart would tell them we were happy. A yellow sunbeam would tell them we were feeling sarcastic. And the layouts we got to choose from!

Xanga came after LiveJournal. This was my primary blog during high school. I learned how to upload pictures of myself. The program made it easy to change the colors in the layout so that I was able to change it at least once a month (It simply wasn't cool to let one's layout lie stagnant for more than that amount of time). All my friends had xangas. My online friends, my real friends. People actually began telling me how interesting my blog was. Yes, I did things right with that little xanga.

Sadly, as the years went by, people began leaving xanga. My friends began flocking toward myspace and my dear number of faithful readers went down. I tried both myspace and blogger a few times. I though perhaps I should move with the masses. It just wasn't the same, though. Xanga was my home. If I couldn't be there, I couldn't anywhere. And so, with great sadness, I stopped writing my blog. My dear xanga.

Of course, throughout this long history, there were sacrifices to be made. These sacrifices mostly came in the area of homework. French could wait just a little. Science wasn't all that important considering that I was going to be a writer. It could all wait... For livejournal. For myspace. For xanga. I was doing a horrible thing, but it felt so right.

Now, in my freshman year of college, what do I find myself doing? Another blog. But this time it's different. This time it won't take me away from my homework. It's not halting my academic advances (when you consider that I have to take this class to get my degree). This time I'm writing a blog because it is homework.

I find it all a bit ironic. In a different sense than before, it seems wrong. I already ceased being hooked on this triviality. Now my school is trying to get me hooked on it again.

It brings up so many thoughts.

It makes me ponder so many things.

And it makes me realize...

If my kid ever has to make a blog for homework... I think I'll cry.