Google wants to know all about you

You've probably noticed it if you've typed your name in Google lately. There, at the top of the screen, complete with a hyperlink, come the words, "Are you [insert your own name]? Create your own profile on Google." And then below that, the rationale for using Google's latest feature: "Help people find the right information when they search for you."

It's yet the latest feature from Google, a company that I like and admire, lest I come across in a moment, as if I don't.

At first, I ignored Google's entreaty to click on the link, but since I'm frequently typing my name into Google -- less out of narcissism and more because I want to find a particular article I've written to show an editor whom I hope to work with -- I'm frequently seeing that link.

So eventually, curiosity getting the better of me, I eventually clicked on the link and started to dutifully fill out the blank spaces, like "Where I grew up," "Where I live now" and "Places I've lived" and then just as suddenly, I stopped. It seems crazy to suddenly have a case of Internet stage fright when I'm frequently doling out personal nuggets of my life in articles, blog postings and status updates on Facebook and Twitter, about what sandwich I've eaten lately, or how I slipped on some bleachers in front of a small crowd at the local YMCA, but that is, indeed, exactly what I suddenly felt.