Webupon

      In this life, there are now three things that are certain: taxes, death, and somebody somewhere is on the Internet. Now do not get me wrong. The Internet is probably the best trend I ever jumped on. That’s right, I called it a trend. When I first started messing with it, that’s exactly what it was. Now, on the other hand, how could you not look at the ‘Net like a necessity right along with gas and electricity. Which one would you choose now: a home phone or the ‘Net?  Of course most cell phone users don’t have to worry about that because the two go hand in hand these days. 

       The truth is, I really don’t know what this world would be like if there was no ‘Net. I’m 34 so it hasn’t been part of my life for a long time but since it has, it has made life so much more easier than I had it before. Now all I have to do is eat & stay healthy, make money, pay bills, buy clothes, and spend time with my kids and my family. And just think about it: besides the staying healthy and family time, everything else I mentioned can be done on the “Net. I’m trying but for the life of me I can not remember how things would get done. I’m joking here but it really has made me life a lot easier and small miracles that do such things are all we can ask for in this world.

      I am really trying to think back to the first time I was on the ’Net. My memory is definitely slipping because I am so drawing a blank it’s crazy. What was the first website I visited? I know I didn’t get on until 1996 when I was working at Machine Systems, Inc on Wacker Drive in Chicago. I was 21, just getting back from a job doing door to door sales in Anaheim, California when I had to came back to Chicago for a family emergency. My mother, Jeanette, was the supervisor up there and offered me a job (as a means of keeping me here in the Windy City as opposed to the West Coast; I was actually packing my bags to go back to Cali when she offered it to me) and I took it. I never thought it permanent because my whole life journalism has been my goal but it did introduce me to the ‘Net and…..I still can’t think of the first website I visited. Actually, it just came to me. I had to set up and e-mail account and my first e-mail was through AOL so technically that’s the first site I ever visited. The more familar with the ‘Net I got, I started branching out to other stuff and other interests.

      What I can remember about the first times exploring the ‘Net was being amazed at the fact that any information I needed  was available to me when I needed it. I Googled everything I could just to see what would pop up and seeing a million number result for my search query was damn near frightening. Doing that led me to my favorite website, GameFAQs. As a video game addict, this is hands down the best website period. Hints, game previews, reviews from other addicts, I mean this site has it all. This was the first site I ever added to my Favorites and it has been added to that list on every ’Net computer I ever owned. Then there is the Internet Movie Database or IMDb. I am just as addicted to good movies as I am to video games so this site was and is also right up my alley. I know all you movie fans out there already know about but if not, check it out for yourselves. Besides those to sites, which I still visit on a regular basis, I remember the first site that was recommended to me. Does anybody remember steakandcheese.com?  If weird and disturbing news, pictures, etc. are your cup of tea, this was the site to go to. I haven’t had a chance as of late, but I believe I’ve had my fill of weird and disturbing since those days, without having to access that website.

      Yahoo! Does anybody remember those TV commercials with the man yodeling “YAAAAAAA HOOOOO OOOO OOOOOOH”? I saw those commercials and even though I didn’t know what Yahoo did, I visited anyway. I still don’t know how to describe it but I do know yahoo at one point was the first site I visited whenever I cut on my computer and depending on which of my computers I’m on, it still is. I love this site because of the news, the games, my personal e-mail, and Yahoo Answers. Especially Yahoo Answers. For people like me, who tries to do things on our own, yahoo answers has been a blessing. Anytime I need help doing something I post my question on this site and usually get an answer anywhere between a couple of hours to at the most a couple of days. The other site I keep as my home page  is MSN, which is just as informative as Yahoo in my opinion. I do visited You Tube a lot, but I can’t remember the first time or how I even heard about it. Oddly enough, I had never visited until recently some of the more popular websites, like  amazon.com and eBay. My thing was I was always scared to buy things over the Internet until I setup a Pay Pal account. I still don’t shop on amazon.com but I am proud to say I have made a few purchases on eBay with no repercussions. Believe it or not, I still have not visited any of the “social” websites like Face book or My Space. I believe I might have to set up an account with one or both in the near future, but I just don’t see how one can be social looking at a face on a computer screen instead of a face on an actual person.

      Once I started classes at the University of Phoenix in 2005, I was already a pro with the ‘Net but because of my classes, I found another website that is now what I consider one of my favorites: Wikipedia. The funny thing is the UoP didn’t like any assignment that uses Wikipedia for quotes but that was how most of my assignments were completed anyway. Not that I would directly quote from there; I would follow the foot notes at the bottom to find a more reliable source of information that I know the UoP would approve of. Wikipedia, by the way, has a little info on darn near everything one can imagine. So if you’re a trivia geek, please make sure you check this site out.

      There has been hundreds and hundreds of other websites I have visited, but I just wanted to list the first ones I visited as well as some of my personal favorites. There is one more website I’d like to mention. If you are and aspiring writer, photographer, musician or what have you & you’d like to do so professionally or just as a way to make extra money, then you should try Triond. Whatever you create, they’ll try to shop and if they succeed on getting paid with your creation, they’ll split the profit with you. Give it a shot.

      I’m sure you know of a few websites I’ve never heard of that I might find interesting. If you think so please let me know.