Wallflower

Even though I make my living in web technology and spend a great deal of time online, I’m not what you’d call an online joiner. I belong to a few of the social networking sites so I can see what’s going on, but I don’t really spend a lot of time joining groups or friending people. And while I read a ton of blogs, I rarely comment on them. I just kinda like to soak things in and keep up with the latest dish.

That said, I did two things today that are out of character for this online wallflower, and both showed me firsthand the power of social networks and blogs to impact my every day life. First, I actually bought something from someone on Facebook. I’ll wait here while you make snide comments about the 32-year old guy who has a Facebook account….

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Anyway, I bought a Nintendo Wii a few weeks ago after playing with Joel B’s last month in Ohio. It rocks in many ways, not the least of which is that you can download older NES, Super NES, Sega, and Gamecube games through something called the Wii Virtual Console. The only problem is that you often need GameCube controllers to play these older games. I didn’t have a GameCube, so I wanted some controllers.

I found a nice guy on FaceBook from Chapel Hill selling his GameCube system, a game and 4 controllers for a reasonable price. I messaged him to set up the deal, and since I had the day off today I drove to my old stomping grounds in Tha Thrill and bought everything from him. Very cool. We’ll save the sad story of how I’ve been out of UNC for 10 years and how today was move-in day and how old that all made me feel for another time.

Since I was feeling old and lame on my way back to Greensboro from Chapel Hill, I decided to treat myself to a cool lunch. AG and I love sushi, but we haven’t really found a place that we truly dig in the G’boro area. There are some good ones, but none really as good as the places we used to eat in Raleigh, and definitely none as good as when I used to live in DC.

On a lark, I did a quick Google search on my Treo for “best sushi in Greensboro“. The #2 result was from Ed Cone, a local Greensboro writer, prolific blogger, and UNC fan to boot. Back when I used to have a full-on blogroll, Ed was in it. I still keep up with his blog from time to time via my Bloglines account, and have always enjoyed his work.

In Ed’s post he recommended Sushi Republic near UNC-G. I had remembered reading this post some time ago and wanting to try out Sushi Republic, but AG and I have never found our way down there. So I decided to go for it.

Sushi Republic was great, just as Ed advertised. Here’s the cool part. As I’m finishing up my meal and paying the bill, I look down the sushi bar and see none other than Ed Cone himself!

On my way out the door, I introduced myself to him, told him that I enjoyed his blog and that I was actually in Sushi Republic because of his post. I felt like somewhat of a stalker, but Ed was very nice and told me he was glad I had enjoyed my meal. Actually, in linking to Ed’s blog for my post I see that he has already blogged about our encounter this afternoon. Good times.

Anyway, I’m sure to some of you this is all fairly dorky, but I think it’s pretty cool. In many ways, spending time on the computer — and playing Wii - -can be very isolating and make it less likely that you’ll got out into the real world and actually meet new people and do new things. While I certainly go out and do things and meet people, I haven’t really used blogs or social networks as a catalyst for those experiences until today.

And this lifelong online wallflower is happy to report that those experiences were both good ones. It’s made me think more about getting involved with some of the great local blogging groups here in Greensboro. Who knows? Maybe I’ll make some new friends. It’s already netted me a new sushi joint. Thanks, Ed.