Drum roll please…

Last week I got a new laptop. And not just any laptop either… I got a MacBook! And I L-O-V-E love it!

Although I have used Macs a little bit in the past I have always been a PC girl, so this is quite a change for me. What, you may ask, brought about this change? Well, to put it simply, I was ready for a new computer and didn’t want to have to deal with Vista. Sure, I know that I could have put XP on a new laptop, but it just seemed silly to me to buy a new computer and then essentially downgrade it.

I did a lot of research comparing Macs and PCs, but honestly, what finally sold me was a demo I saw of the Mac OS X. It is taking a little time to get used to my new Mac, but it’s mostly little things and I am enjoying the challenge.

Because I have been so enamored with my new MacBook I didn’t do much stitching last week, but this weekend was the Stitch-a-Thon, so I decided to put some time into “Four Seasons Cats – Fall.” I made some good progress on it too. Although there are a lot of color changes and tons of quarter stitches, the square is stitching up relatively painlessly so I don’t have much more to say about it at the moment except at this rate maybe I will have a happy dance soon.

I started my Facebook account when I was job hunting with the intention of educating myself on some Web 2.0 technologies and how (or if) they could be used in the library. Although I believe that social networking in the library has potential, after I got my job I decided that personally I preferred social networking for “fun” and so that is the role that my Facebook profile serves.

That being said, I follow Facebook news like a librarian. I keep up-to-date on layout changes, interface improvements, marketing concerns, profile management, and privacy issues through library and information technology outlets. I also monitor my profile and attempt to keep it rated PG-13.

Thanks to Facebook, in addition to the contacts I have for games and other online friends I have made over the years, I have reconnected with old friends from high school and college. At first I was a little hesitant about reconnecting with some of these people, but overall I would say it has been a positive experience.

So, as you would expect, eventually a friend from college decided to scan some old pictures, post them to Facebook, and tag them. I scanned through the pictures and laughed as I read the comments that made fun of mullets, big bangs, and other early 90s fashion statements.

Then I saw a picture that was tagged with my name that I couldn’t place. I didn’t remember the clothes or my hair ever looking that way and I wasn’t even sure if it was me. And the fact that the person in the photo was in a bathtub and obviously drunk sent me into a frenzy.

The photo was downright embarrassing and because it was tagged with my name, whether or not it was actually me didn’t really matter: Everyone who saw it would think it was… including the colleagues and library student workers who are on my contact list. While most of the pictures that my friend scanned are all in good fun, I couldn’t allow that picture tagged with my name to be online and I was prepared to take any action necessary to get it removed.

I started by changing my photo permissions so that only I could see pictures tagged with my name and then I sent a private message to my “friend” asking him to remove the pictures. Because most Facebook users use Facebook for fun, I don’t think he intentionally meant to post anything to hurt me, but the fact is pictures like that can damage your reputation and/or your job, which I explained to him in the message that I sent.

Luckily he seemed to understand and complied with my wishes: As far as I can tell, the photo has been removed.

However, the experience struck a chord and now all those articles I read about the need to be vigilant about my identity and protect myself as best I can in this new social arena have renewed significance.