Google has Changed my Life
Google has literally made me a better person.
No, this is not an advertisement, and I'm not being paid by Google. I just feel compelled to share how Google has changed my life.
When Google came out with Gmail, I jumped on board immediately. Here was mail that was classy, carried the Google name and had spam filters the likes of which had not been seen before. I became a Gmail user as soon as I could wangle an invitation, and I've never looked back. Even my old email accounts that I carried over are now set to come through my Gmail, and I can reply using those accounts as well if I want to. I make extensive use of labels (now with colour coding!) and filters, so now I never miss an important email. (Like from my mother -- Hi Mom!! <waving>) And I can even change my colours and appearance in my mail box if I want to. My email is damn near perfect, and yet Google continues coming up with new ideas that make it even better for me.
After such a success with Gmail, I could have been happy if Google had never brought along anything else. But did the good folk at Google rest on their laurels? No, indeed they did not!
Google Docs was a bit of a mixed blessing. It isn't Word on the Web, but it does work in certain situations where you need to share spreadsheets or wordprocessing documents. No miracles there, but still very useful when you need to share documents with someone else.
But the thing that has impressed me the most, helped me in myriad ways, actually changed my life? What would that be? Google Calendar. It's marvelous, it's wonderful, it's made me a better person. How can a calendar make that much of a difference? Because it emails me every time I need to remember something. Who would have thought something so simple could change everything? Certainly not me. But it has.
To be fair it was my husband, Mr Twittercism, who pointed out that here was a calendar that didn't have to depend on pop-ups or sounds to alert me; it can email. I live and die by email, and generally I'm good about checking at least the highlights. With Google Calendar *I* am in control of the emails as well. I can choose how many to have it send, how many days (or even minutes) before to send,
and using my filters in Gmail, I have every reminder email come into my inbox starred so it's harder to miss.
Google Calendar has really changed things for me. I don't miss doctor's appointments anymore. I remember dress-up days for my kids at school. I can finally remember party dates and even notify myself in time to remember to buy a present! AND I can invite other people (whether they're actually attending the event or just need to know about it) as well.
I think it's pretty rare that most people can say a company or a piece of software has actually radically changed, and improved, their lives. In this case, hand on heart, I can honestly say that Google, and especially Google Calendar, have done it for me. Thank you, Google!!!
