Why I do Google's work for them - for free, Part 1

Someone commented that I was working for Google for free and that I should, instead, do voluntary charity work. The thing is, though, I like working for Google for free, and this post is to explain why. Actually, it's likely to be a long post so I'll split it into two - the first part will be about how I got involved with Google in the first place

In December 2005 I watched a t.v. programme called I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and I was curious about the location of the camp in Australia. I've always been interested in where people live and how they live. Although I love seeing famous sights, I much prefer visiting people in their homes and learning about their day-to-day lives. I devoured atlases, watched travel programmes and read travel books. So, when IACGMOOH appeared on screen I turned to the internet to find out the location of the camp. The t.v. discussion forum that I visited had a link to Google Earth, which I promptly downloaded and went exploring. From there I found the Google Earth Community Forum (now, sadly, retired - but that's another story!) and was hooked.

The trouble with Google Earth is that, when you first start using it, it's quite complicated. I wasn't sure if placemarks that I made showing my house, my mum & dad's house, my old schools etc, were going to be visible to everyone who looked on Google Earth (here after called "GE"). Some wonderful people helped me through the first few days until I gained some confidence and worked out what I was supposed to do. Then I discovered the Fun & Games Forum - a bit like a treasure hunt, someone would post a screenshot of a view on GE, and we had to find it and post our own screenshot of it. I was hopeless, I couldn't understand the clues but it looked such fun, I was desperate to join in. Again, some lovely people helped me and soon I was spending all my time on the GEC (Google Earth Community Forum).

Less than a year later I was asked to become a Moderator on the GEC. WOW, what a compliment. I was so thrilled and threw myself into the job. My "boss", Robin, was clear to tell me that this should be fun. That if it stopped being fun that I should take a break, which I did, several times over the following years, but generally it was fun, fun, fun. And I made lots of new friends, some that I've had the pleasure of meeting in person and some that I just meet across the keyboard.

In 2011 I started posting on the Google Earth Help Forum (now the Google Maps and Earth Help Forum) and was eventually invited to become a Top Contributor which I was honoured to accept.

My next post will explain why I spend so much time trying to help people on the Google help forums, rather than doing charity work for example - which is what I was told I should be doing instead!!

My Dad

There's been a lot in the news today about the Queen's Birthday Honours and it reminded me of when my Dad was honoured by the Queen.

It was over 30 years ago, New Years 1982-83. He was given the honour of becoming a Companion to the Order of the Bath, which is a bit of a mouthful, but he can shorten it to just "CB" and put those initials after his name on anything he cares to. He doesn't use it though - I think I'm more proud of him than he is himself, or maybe it's just that his old age has diminished the pride and joy that came from such a momentous occasion.

It always makes me laugh to think that, if Dad had received the next highest honour - that of receiving a Knighthood of the Bath - he would have been Sir Charles, and my Mum, well, she would have been known as "Lady Sadie"!! I was living in Israel at the time, and when my friends found out that Dad had received his honour, they joked that I should now be known as the "Almost Honourable"!

How my life has changed since then.

I'm almost glad that my Dad has dementia now, that he doesn't understand the way my life has turned out. He'd be so upset. He'd do anything within his power to make things better for me and for my children, but I don't tell him anything because I don't want him to be upset, even for a moment. He'd forget within minutes anything that I tell him, but I want to spare him even that moment of pain if I can.

So

to my Dad, to his amazing life that meant he was honoured by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and to the fact that he's going to be 90 in October :)

It's been a while

It's been more than 2 years since I last blogged. I feel like I'm about to go to Confession. Forgive me Father, it's been over 2 years since I came to Confession. Well, I've nothing to confess to. There have been lots of ups and downs in the past 2 years but the most important thing is that I got through them. And my family got through them. I've decided to be more outgoing. I'm using Google Plus more, I want to blog regularly. I'm not sure what I'll blog about yet, but will probably write about things I know - my past. I have quite an interesting past and if nobody ever reads this, maybe my kids will one day. So, I'll take a deep breath, get myself familiar with this blog, see what I can do to make it look nicer and easy to read, and then I'll begin! Hope you'll join my journey - it could be pretty lonely talking to myself, but, to be fair, I'm used to that!