The Internet and My Mother

This weekend I went up to rural Connecticut to help my technophobe mother set up a Mac computer I’d encouraged her to buy. It took many hours and many calls to Bangalore, but in the end, the deed was done. As I started to show her all the amazing things you could do on the computer and assured her how much she was going to love it, she said to me, “You know. I really don’t want to love my computer. I want it to do the few things I need it to do quickly so I can get away from it and do the important things in my life.” I was tempted to say “Real Life. How quaint and old school.” But I could see she had a point. In fact, I realized that the reason I was so excited when I had finally succeeded in connecting the computer to the internet was only partially out of a sense of having prevailed over obstacles. The main reason was that I could now access my beloved sports scores, websites and e-mail and effectively turn the snowy winter wonderland of Connecticut into a place just like everywhere else.

And so Mr. Vegas traveled in his blessed virtual bubble, buffered from experience by his Internet Bookmarks, like a pop star by his entourage.

Speaking of the Internet, I am pleased to report that you are reading words written by the proud new owner of the following domain names:

Teddyvegas.com
DigitalNapkins.com

And, drumroll please…

Googlemyassbitch.com

Digital napkins comes from the fact that I scribble all my ideas down on little coasters or napkins that then crumble in my pocket and clutter my life. I have long planned to have a little exhibition entitled “The Collected Napkins of Teddy Vegas.” In fact, I recently stumbled upon a napkin on which I'd written that idea. Digitalnapkin.com was a slightly cooler sounding URL but, to my chagrin, it was taken. As for The googlemyassbitch.com: This was inspired by a comment a friend made last night. I just thought it was a great defiant assertion of social status. I have no idea what if anything I’ll do with the URL. Probably just sell it to my friend for a beer.

What I did find interesting however is my shopping behavior. I am not much of a consumer. I covet very few material things (iPods and Mac computers notwithstanding). In this respect, I am a poor excuse for an American. But for some reason, I like buying nonmaterial things, like names. When I go to the domain name registries, I just start filling up my shopping cart with all kinds of URLs I have no real use for.. It just feels cool to feel you “own” a name. A thing that’s not a thing. An abstract set of coordinates in virtual space.

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Posted on 12/8/2005 ( Permanent Link )
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