Michael Gravel Edmonton Writer

Nice things from the Net

We hear a lot of negative things about the internet and some of them are true. The signal to noise ratio, in a very broad way, almost certainly tilts more to the noise. However, there are many bright spots and occasionally something happens that reaffirms my belief that most people in this world are thoughtful and of excellent character.

A few years back, I registered the domain michaelandkerry.com. I was planning to ask my then girlfriend Kerry Mulholland to marry me. My intention (if she said yes) was to build a wedding website to help out the guests, take song requests, etc. She accepted my proposal and were wed on September 8, 2007. It was one of the best days of my life. Not only did I become a husband, I became a step-father to a wonderful young woman. I love that day.

After the wedding, I left the site online as a sort of reminder. It gave me comfort to have it out there on the web, available for perusal at any time. A few weeks ago, out of the blue, I received an email from a guy named Michael. He was planning a wedding with his bride-to-be, Kerry. He had the same idea – build a wedding website at michaelandkerry.com. He asked if I would transfer the domain to him and I did so with no hesitation. No money changed hands…it seemed like the right way to do it (opportunistic domain owners are a peeve of mine). No big for me, I simply archived michaelandkerry.com at a different location so I’d always have access to it. A few days after the domain transfer went through, I came home to find a large fruit basket from Edible Arrangements on my kitchen table. If you haven’t seen one of these things, you have to order one. Seriously. It’s a fruit basket that looks like a flower arrangement, complete with corrugated melon and chocolate dipped pineapple. The arrangements are beautiful and completely delicious (not exactly cheap, however). At first I was perplexed. I hadn’t been that nice to anyone lately to warrant such a great gift. I opened the card to discover that it was sent by the other Michael, as a thank you for the domain. He got my address from the whois data attached to the domain. Awesome! And completely unexpected. It was a gesture that many wouldn’t have bothered with.

The internet is a weird and wonderful place sometimes. Cheers, Michael. All the best.

Entry #108 · June 27, 2009 in