Sal's

Running, Biking, Swimming, Triathlons, Snowshoeing: what's next? Sal's kicks butt.

Friday, March 27, 2015

Finding Yourself



Everything’s on the web, just type in the correct keywords and Google, Bing or Yahoo will find it, right? 

Well, maybe not. Have you ever searched for yourself? What kind of electronic record is available on YOU, without paying for it? 

If I search on Facebook eight Mike McCullough’s come up. Search Michael and get six more. How about Mac? There are six more, including Bernice Mac, the actor. So, which one is me? 

Did you know I could be the Michael McCullough that is an executive vp of the NBA’s Miami Heat? Or maybe I’m a psychologist? A professional football player in Canada? A professional artist? 

Part of me is happy much of my life seems hidden, or at least is a bit difficult to find via the web. Strange though with three blogs, over a hundred published book and web site reviews in journals and online, a Facebook account, myriad publications from my professional life as a librarian, a library web site I created and used for seven years. 

It may be possible I died. Using Bing (a Microsoft search tool), several Michael’s have passed away, most within five years of my age. That’s a bit creepy. 

A Google tip I teach to students doing research is using quotation marks around words you want to make sure are together. “Mike McCullough” for example. That didn’t help. Several companies that charge for gathering information, like Intelius, when I added Spencerport to the search, said I was in my 50’s. Apparently I also lived in West Henrietta, NY and Kissimmee Florida, and Rochester. My zodiac sign is Libra and I have a relative named Amanda Davis. I have a daughter Amanda, but not Davis. My sign is Scorpio (usually I make you buy me a drink to learn that). I guess 50% correct is okay. 

If you knew I worked at MCC you could get some information. Adding Spencerport and some running race results, even from 1980’s shows up. Add snowshoe and a magazine article I’m quoted in and a couple of snowshoe e-zine articles come up. 

How about going to images, I must be there from some race, right? Here is a sample of what I found:

 Interesting samples. The half-naked guy in the bottom column kind of resembles me, at least in Jan's dreams. Hmm, forty years ago I may have peaked at a Playboy magazine, I was a tennis player in high school, but no, none of these people or images really have anything to do with me. Neither do the hundreds of other images that came up. Again, this may be a good thing.

So, who is the real Michael, Mike, Mac McCullough? I wish you luck in your online quest to find the true one.

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