No matter how good your memory is, there are times when you just can’t recall when something happened. I was thinking about a few events in my life and realized I couldn’t always pin down when they were.
Some times there are significant world events that help solidify when something happened. One example of this is when I went to DEF CONF IV. I’ll always remember that was in the summer of 1996 because I remember seeing the news about the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta while I was there.
I started to wonder if I could use this technique on some of my more fuzzy memories. So I tried to remember when I first started using Google as my primary means for searching the web. I started my current job on 1 May 1999, but couldn’t remember if I’d been using Google at my old job, or my current one. One item I could remember that was after I started using Google was Google’s purchase of Deja.com’s Usenet archive, which was on 12 February 2001. So likely before 2001, and maybe after May 1999. Not perfect, but it is better than the fuzzy void that comes up when I request the memory from my brain.
<Side Note> How’s this PR title strike you: Yahoo! Selects Google as its Default Search Engine Provider. Amazing what a difference six years will make. I didn’t realize how entertaining looking at old press releases could be.</Side Note>
How’s this for an old memory, I was able to track down roughly when I started reading JeremY!’s Blog because I remember that while I was searching for something about MySQL I ended up on a post about tooth repair. This puts my timeline around November 2002.
I’m starting to wonder if I can do this on purpose. Are there strong (or odd) events that I can link with new memories that I’m currently making? Certainly “bloging” about a thing or event helps because I can usually at least remember, oh yeah, I blogged that somewhere. To a lesser degree the same things holds true for my del.icio.us bookmarks.
How’s this for an easy thing to remember, my first daughter (Alice) was born on my 6th wedding anniversary (3 Jan 2002). If only every important date was that easy to remember.