Connecting across the years is providing me with a wealth of experiences that I never expected. Using the web to find old (and new) friends is becoming something of a hobby for me, and based on the amount of traffic at SofTech's bulletin boards for people who grew up in the boroughs of New York City, it's becoming a fairly widespread pastime. Many of the experiences have been amusing, if not downright bizarre. I thought it would be fun to share a few of them with you.

One old high-school classmate was apparently thrilled to hear from me and wrote me several email letters telling me about her failed marriage. When I finally asked her why she was sharing all the sordid details of her marriage with me, she wrote me back a very sheepish note explaining that she had thought I was a different Larry. Apparently, the person she thought I was had been a friend of her ex-husband's, and was still single. Perhaps they've gotten together by this time.

I found a listing in one of the alumni directories of an ex-Bronxite with a very unique name, and was sure that it was a sixth-grade classmate whom I hadn't seen in over 35 years (doing your arithmetic?). I emailed him a note, and sure enough, I had been correct. However, he couldn't remember who I was from the name, so he dug through all his childhood memorabilia and found our sixth-grade class picture. When I heard that he had that picture, I was beside myself. I don't own a single class picture from grammar school (we were very poor). I asked him for a copy, and he was kind enough to transmit a very well-scanned version of it. I was almost in tears looking at those faces from my childhood, and not because I was really close with those kids, but because I finally had a class picture to show my own children. You're welcome to take a look at a smaller version of it: Class 6-7, P.S. 90, Bronx, 1961. (I have no intention of telling you which funny-looking kid is me.) Thanks again, Lowell!

When someone posted a message that said she was from the same high school graduating class as my wife, I took a look in the high school year book to see who she was. There were two girls with the same first name (which was all she provided), so I scanned in their pictures, and posted a message with the pictures in it, asking which of the two she was. I thought it was a cute way to find out, but boy, did she not! She wrote me the most bizarre message. In it, she asked me if my posting her picture was "revenge for going out with a certain boy" in high school. Apparently, she dated a boy that my wife had previously dated, and must have borne some guilt about it all these years. She thought that my wife had put me up to posting her photograph, which she truly hated. I didn't have a clue what she was talking about, so I asked my wife. My wife could barely remember either of them, and couldn't believe this poor girl had harbored these feelings of guilt for so long. (The funny thing is that I thought she looked quite cute in the picture!)

A good example of how the web can bring people together where other circumstances have failed is demonstrated by another email "relationship" I've established. By way of The Bronx Board, I heard from a woman who grew up on the same south Bronx avenue as I had. But that was not all we had in common: she also moved away from that neighborhood at the same time I did, and moved to the same north Bronx neighborhood. We attended the same junior high school and high school. With all those circumstances in common, we never knew or spoke to each other until we met via the web. Now we exchange notes every so often, just to keep in touch. I find this truly amazing.

I hope you're able to put this medium to work for you. Go out and find someone!

Thanks for stopping by. I update this column once or twice each month to discuss various issues ranging from software development to the meaning of life. Please check back soon.