Fake Plastic Trees

I wish my camera phone still worked, then this post would be littered with shots of the following outing.

Tonight, I was, as apparently, most dad's in our fair city were, of the mind that "McDonald's Playland on Clark Ln. sounds GREAT!"

I was right. It WAS great, and if you've ever been there, you understand about the trees.

But here is what it "connected" for me. (I know I know--you're thinking, maybe he could post MORE about connectivity today. Sue me. You'll get everything, which is nothing.) My son is 4. And as we might rhetorically say, "fairly kinetic". He eats (some) and then says, "I'm going up". I quickly take stock of his face, and after making small touchups, send him to play. This is how it works. He climbs the first two steps, is met by a little girl, who says, "Want to be my fwend?" He's all, "Yes" And it occurs to, me--that was JUST like a social networking site! It DOES happen in real life (presentation fives all around) perhaps it just doesn't happen for adults like it does for kids.

BUT, it gets better. And this is where I'm pretty sure I'm the only dad (and I'm not kidding about it being dad's night--there were lots) in the place thinking about social networking. He asks the girl her name, she says something... and she says, "What's yours?" And he says, "I'm Harry. Harry Potter." For the next hour, he is Harry, and she is his friend, and they make other friends, and don't seem really broken up when they separate to go back to their dads and their homes.

Maybe this is all a stretch, and I just wanted to post the neat link;) HOWEVER, I THINK that it's meaningful, given our prior discussions about the way Web2, the network, and our interactions seem to be different in terms of those same issues.