|
This is a true story. Names and other identifying information has been changed to protect the innocent and the absentminded. My phone rings on a Sunday morning. On the other end is my friend S. She has a dilemma and is hoping I can help her out. She is a professional baker. She has a cake to deliver for a local florist. (Local for her- in a city near my hometown) She has accidently left the order, with the address and phone #, and directions at the bakery, which is about 15 or so miles away. She is on another delivery and does not have time to make the trip back to the bakery to retrieve it. Did I happen to know the florist's last name? No... but I figure I might be able to find it. (A good friend of mine has become quite adept at obtaining information and has passed along a few tricks.) It's worth a shot. In this day and age, it doesn't matter that I am 250 miles away and have only a first name. I am armed with a computer and I know how to use it!
The first thing I do is check an ad for the flower shop in an old local wedding publication. Nope. No last name.But... it does have her first name listed and I learn it has an unusual spelling. (I'll call her Florra.) Ok. Let's try the Internet.
I Google the flower shop and city. Nothing but the standard wire service listings. Hmmm...
Next, I try her first name and the flower shop name. BINGO! I find her last name (Let's pretend it is Bunda) in a listing on the local Chamber of Commerce's website.
I then enter her full name into a free public information search engine. It gives me an address and phone #. I give the address to S and she says it didn't sound right. She did remember part of the directions- the street she was looking for was off of a main road (We'll call it Oak) and close to Cedar Ave. I use MapQuest to map out the address, but it is no where near Oak. I tell her to try calling the phone # anyway. Maybe Florra has recently moved and has transferred the #..
We hang up. She is going to try the phone # and I will keep looking. Just seconds after putting the phone down on its cradle, I find another name at the same address. I call her back. Was the phone # the right one? No. It had been disconnected and was no longer in service. Bummer. But, I'm not giving up that easily.
Ok. Let's try again. Let's go with this other person I have come across. Does Florra have a daughter named Jasmine? S doesn't think so... I keep looking down the list of Bunda's in town, looking for Florra's husband. (There are a lot of Bunda's in the area.) After several tries, I come across a man's name (We'll say Cal) with 2 listings. (The old address and a new address but no phone #) "Is his name Cal?" I ask. "Yes! That's it!!" S exclaims. I map out the new address. Sure enough, it is off of Oak and parallel to Cedar. I give her directions. She is amazed that I found all that information on the Internet in under 10 minutes! She thinks I may have a new calling. (Momma Spy/ Internet Private Eye? "I'll find 'em in 20 minutes or your money back...")
She owes me one.
|
Comments