The Almighty Google

I hate large corporations. Even though I work for one, I’m compartmentalized, so sometimes I forget that my company is huge.

I’m a fan of the little guy.

The Mom and Pop shops.

The underdog.

When a company or a TV celebrity gets too big, I lose interest. I loved Rachel Ray when she was a chubster doing the 30 Minute Meals or $40 a Day shows on the Food Network. When she started adding more shows then ultimately her own talk-show, I stopped being a fan. Even when we went to see a taping of her show (and our friend Amanda starred in a segment) I wasn’t thrilled. Even less so since I saw how fake and phony and planned everything is. Not to mention Rachel’s not-so-warm personality. I felt she really jumped the shark when they started selling her "garbage bowl" on the Food Network.

Once you develop your own “brand”, it’s over for me.

Ree Drummond, of PioneerWoman.com fame, is another example of my interest waning really quickly. I followed her blog daily, and even turned my friends on to her site. But again, she grew too big for MY britches. She’s got a gazillion fierce lemmings followers and she’s put out a cookbook, and I foresee a TV show in the making (based on her appearance on Bonnie Hunt recently, I hope not. She doesn’t have the personality.) There are other reasons why I fell out of like with Ree, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make here. When you’re married to the richest cattle rancher in your state, you have the disposable income to do basically whatever you want. And she’s doing just that- she’s buying herself a “brand.”

I try to patronize smaller neighborhood stores and restaurants whenever I can. I’d rather go to my local Indian restaurant where the owner knows us than to a TGIFriday’s or Chili’s. I’d rather go to the Pioneer Food Mart than to Stop & Shop. S&S is huge, and I get tired walking the store. They have things the Pioneer doesn’t carry (soy products and organics) but to run into a store for milk and bread? I pick the Pioneer. I hate the fact that I hold my mortgage with the third biggest bank in the U.S. I would much rather bank with a smaller bank, but hey, I got a lower rate with the big company. Sometimes it’s unavoidable. But it doesn’t mean I have to like it.

I make two exceptions. One, a series of books that have risen to astronomical proportions and two, an internet search engine. I speak of Harry Potter and Google.

My mom bought my oldest kids the first Harry Potter books when they first came out. She knew they were readers so when she saw the book in Costco, she picked up one for each of them. Little did anyone know six months later Harry Potter would be a household name and cultural phenomenon. Six books and six movies later I still love everything Harry Potter. I don’t begrudge J.K. Rowling her fame and fortune because she DIDN’T SELL OUT. She kept true to her promise of seven years at Hogwart’s, loves her readers as much as they love her, and didn’t forsake the writing for profit. I love HP so much, I’ve consented to have a Hogwart’s birthday party for Zombiegirl in March.

The other exception is Google. For me, Google is not only a search engine- it’s a lifeline to information. I must use Google at least 30 times a day to search for pictures, blogs, items to buy or just info. Google is also my blog engine and my email platform. Google’s Youtube is where I watch funny videos or full length movies. Google Earth lets me spy on my boss and my neighbors. Google Calendar helps me keep track of birthdays and scheduling things like cleaning, meal plans and soccer games. I store recipes I find in my travels online in folders I create in Gmail. Vegetables, Meat, Cookies, Desserts, Sides...every recipe that I can email gets sent to my Gmail account for filing into a folder. It’s a good day when I log onto Google and I see the logo has a new design commemorating that day. Plus you can get great skins for your iGoogle homepage- right now I have a Dale Chihuly skin right above my horoscope, Gmail, weather, Calendar and Quote of the Day boxes.

Google is huge, and I love it. And it was started by two grad students in a garage.

Google also gives back to the community and the world. And yet another reason to love them.

And then there's this. I. Want. Now.

So those of you who comment anonymously on my blog- go get a Gmail account. I want to know who you are!

This blog was not endorsed in anyway by Google or their subsidiaries. The author of this blog happens to be a Google fan and would tout Google’s awesomeness to anyone who’ll listen…