Google = How I get to know my family

About half a year ago, I started having lunch with a different person at work everyday. The conversation is always interesting. And it is from these conversations that I realize just how diverse people really are—their interests span across multiple disciplines—which is not immediately readily apparent just by looking at their resumes on LinkedIn.

Another thing that I took note, however, is how well people know about their family. All of them are able to tell me exactly what their parents and siblings do for a living. I envy them, because I could not.

When I was growing up, about the only thing that I know about what my dad does professionally is that he teaches marketing at a university, but that's about it.

The other things that I know about my dad come from daily observance:

• We subscribe to ten newspapers which he skims through every morning.
• He also asks me to use the microwave stuff for him because he is immensely afraid of the microwave, after witnessing the scary details of the first-generation microwaves in America in the 70s when he was studying for his PhD.
• I also know that my dad likes books, because aside from having a books-filled study *and* library, the bookshelves creep all the way out to the dining room and continued to fill out every single wall where a bookshelf can be installed.

My knowledge of my family expanded significantly, however, when Google started indexing data:

• Because of Google, I now know that my dad is best known for his research in business negotiation, cross-cultural marketing, marketing ethics, social marketing and tourism marketing.
• Because of Google, I noted that aside from owning many books, he also writes many books.
• Because of Google, I noted that aside from reading a lot of news, he also appears on the news.
• Because of Google, I noted that not only does he publishes a lot on journals, he also gets many citations.
• Because of Google, I am no longer shameful of having a dad who is afraid of microwaves.

After getting much satisfaction from Googling my dad, I moved onto my sister:

• Because of Google, I noted that she has she is not as searchable as my dad
• Because of Google, I noted that the second search results that comes up (like many of my friends' SERP) is on the SML Universe property.
• Because of Google, I noted that she was the first person in my family to make it onto the Google Patents Search
• Because of Google, I also noted that one of my medical illustration was published on Nature but my sister has apparently neglected to give me credits, thus ruining the main reason why I decided to help her out at the first place: getting my name published on a respected scientific journal.

Since day one of my SML Family Google Research, the number of search results generated has always been on the order of 1. my dad, 2. my sister, 3. me and my mom, no where to be found. I also noted that no matter what I do, I only get double-digit results.

That all changed this year. Finally, I have done something that made SML Family history. Starting in 2007, the SML Family Google ranking will have been officially repositioned to 1. Me, 2. Dad, 3. Sister. Eat that!

This is of historical importance to me, since I have never been able to beat my sister in any other field other than piano, which no one cares about anyway. With the growth in the amount of data, search engines will continue to have significance in our everyday life, and as such, I am content.

Vanity aside and most important of all, is that because of Google, I can now talk about my family as though I really know them.

For a brief moment, I felt the peace of not having to stand out too much from the crowd.

SML Copyright Notice

©2007 See-ming Lee 李思明 SML / SML Pro Blog / SML Universe. All rights reserved.

Moms

Like many people, I love the Simpsons. Seriously. I have seasons 2 - 11 on VHS tape because my mother said when I was in 7th grade, “You should tape the episodes if you like the show because its going to be canceled any day now.” That statement was made in the year 1990. In case you don’t have a calendar, 17 years have passed.—Jeff Lipson (LinkedIn) / SIMPSONS SIMPSONS SIMPSONS! / We’re Going To Cover That In Phase 2

It’s amazing what our moms can make us do.

SML + Programming

When I was 7, I wanted to play computer games. My mom said, “Well, if you want to play computer games, you should go write my own.” So I did.

What I learned from these game writing is that I have no interest in those games—but the process of trying to solve the problems encountered during programming was great fun.

SML + DOS

When I was 10, I wanted to play with the 286 my dad bought. My mom said, “If you want to use the computer, you need to read all the manuals before you touch the computer.”

Well, the manuals that shipped with the computer happened to be the MS-DOS user guide and MS-DOS reference. I read both manuals cover to cover and til this day I still know the DOS prompts by heart.

SML + Word Processor

After I got my hands onto the PC, my dad bought Wordstar and I wanted to play with it. My mom said, “Well, you don’t need Wordstar, what do you need it for?” I don’t even know what kind of features it had and I said, I guess, just word-processing. My mom said, well, you can write that, right? So 5,000 lines of BASIC code later, I had my own word-processor. Ugh.

SML + Research + Design Production

When I was 14, I wanted to play Monopoly (Wikipedia: Monopoly), but my mom thinks that it’s not an ‘educational’ board game and refuse to buy it for me. She said, “If you want to play Monopoly, you should make it yourself.”

My mom took me to the library and I found a reference for Monopoly, which details every game piece and cards which come with the game. It also provided extended rules and tips on game play.

I read that cover to cover and studied all the rules. Before embarking on my Monopoly factory production, I made sure my sister would at least play that set with me for ten times. I spent the next two weeks using color pencils and created the board, all the cards. My sister only played that with me once. :(

SML + Model Boats

When I was I don’t recall what age, I wanted to get one of those wooden model boats I saw at the hisory museums. My mom told me to build one from wood myself because they didn’t get it from the store either. I never crafted my model boat out of wood. And as I learned from architecture classes in college, it’s not all that easy.

I still haven’t crafted any model boats, but I am seriously thinking about it.

SML + Creativity

I hated my mom back then, but I love my mom now because she has put me in the seat of creation every time there’s a problem. I also learned that it is the process—not the end results—that matter most. The power of this philosophy has made me who I am today.

SML Thank You

Mom, thank you.

Friends and family

I have been through a whole lot last year. 2006 is officially the most miserable year of my life. If we can chart our life in a Cartesian graph, with x = time and y = (-1, 1) to signify absolute negative to absolute positive, I hope that last year remains to be my life's absolute minimum.

While I enjoy the happy times (>0), I do think that it is important to have frustrating times (<0). Without the down points, one could not possibly appreciate the many wonderful things in life that we take for granted.

If I draw another graph, with x = the y-axis of my Life graph, y = number of friends, the resulting graph looks like a Bell curve. When I am at my lowest point, most people drift away, until finally there remains only my family and one handful of folks who are my friends. Similarly, one gains many friends as life become positive, but as one drifts towards fantabulous times, one also gains many enemies, and as such y would also tends towards 0.

If we consider the ratio of number of friends / time, we have the rate of friend acquaitance, and at least for myself, that's the happiest of all times. Mapping this, it appears that the sweet spot would be around -0.3.

Nerd point aside, we find something equally interesting. To find one's closest friend, either fuck up your life, or become extremely successful. You can immediately identify who's friend and who's foe. Obviously, you cannot control your life (as you are not a controlled subject). However, examining one's history will allow you to discover.

While I have been in very desperate moments, I am grateful that I have identified my friends. They have been there to support me in every way possible. I am also deeply grateful to those who have the patience to work with me. I don't know how I could have gone through all these without them.