My First Friend

I'm day two in my journey as a blogger. My San Francisco office, The Nook on Hyde street, is filled with the usual suspects listening to underground house beats with 16 other people (15 of which have a computer and are surfing the net). There is this guy (pictured here) who has taken the seat next to me every day. I don't know his name or too much about him - I know he is a coder (because I can see his screen) and he must think of The Nook as his office too. A few days ago I tried to engage in conversation with him. He barely looked at me. I thought he was rude but now I know he is busy talking to his friends that live in his computer and he does not need me.

There is one guy without a computer sitting by himself and trying to make friends with real people. He is a fresh face to our office and reminds me of me on my first day. He is a handsome fellow next to the open window and probably remembering a yesteryear when coffee shops were places for exchange and not the computer driven hubs they have become. I bet he also wishes he brought a computer to work so he could socialize. He is in the wrong place if he wants to get to know people here. This room is filled to the rim of people ignoring each other and taking deep ganders inside their MacBooks. We are talking to the friends that live inside our glowing screens. We don't have time for him.

Smartly dressed, pretty people are editing, writing, sipping chai, and ignoring each other because the real action is inside our computer. See, the guy by himself has probability stacked against him if he wants to make friends. As I see it there are 6,706,993,152 people on the planet and 1,668,870,408 of those people have internet access. That's right, EXACTLY 1,668,870,408. Thats a lot of opportunity to meet new people...and more importantly that's a lot of people that can read my blog. The handsome new guy does not know the ropes in this joint yet. I'm sure he will quickly learn the glowing boxes we are all gazing in are how to meet people here.

As a new blogger I am hopeful millions of people will read my posts and want to share in my life and based on internet usage stats the probability is stacked in my favor. I got my first virtual blog friend today. His name is Rich and he did not stumble on my blog looking for information. No way, I emailed him and told him to follow me and he did. I was hoping for someone like The Travel Channel or a reality show producer but for now Rich will have to do. I have included a picture of my new blog friend Rich. He is hugging a giant nurse leg on a statue in Sarasota. He is a winner. I am on the road to blogger fame.