This week we celebrated our 20th =
anniversary of sending out the Grif.Net email and blog. Many don’t =
know the history of the grif.net. We started teaching at Pillsbury =
Baptist College in 1996 and the school had just set up a computer lab =
for the new-fangled “internet”.=A0 I was teaching education =
classes, including having students use interactive games and programs on =
the computer (on 5=BC” floppy disks, mind you, not on the actual =
internet).=A0 Not much else was happening as there just wasn’t =
anything like the ‘net of today.
So I asked =
students for their email and sent them “stuff”.=A0 A couple =
times a week (I was teaching 18 credit hours and snowed under with work) =
was the norm.=A0 Students were complaining that no one ever sent them an =
email (oh, for that day again).=A0 So out into the ether went =A0our =
quizzes, oddities, historical notes, poems, puns and most of all jokes =
and stories.=A0 Then they asked for more.=A0 For =
“something”. For “anything”.
After 5 =
weeks of sporadic emails to this handful of students, on October =
4th 1996 we decided to “name” the venture =
(originally the Griff Net) and make it a daily event to brighten their =
day.=A0 We decided that this would be “lite fluff” on =
Monday-Friday entries, and serious for a “weekend” =
edition.=A0 We’d try to make it so the whole family could read it, =
without “questionable” content that parents might be =
concerned with for their kids to see.
Within that =
semester, as my Grif.Net emails got forwarded, I would get requests from =
other colleges as students there would enjoy this off-the-wall and =
slightly-irreverent slant.=A0 The motto “Putting the FUN back in =
Fundamentalism” accurately reflected the humor, although we toyed =
with “Putting the FUN back in Dysfunctional” as more =
accurate.=A0 We hit 50 people that October, then soon reached 500 on our =
daily email list and then servers began to block us as =
“spam”.=A0 We worked around the problem by sending it out in =
“batches” to make it work as we crossed 5000 addresses. =
Then came “social media” with MySpace and =
then Facebook.=A0 Numbers getting the email dropped since now it was =
there each day on the “blog” without clogging a mailbox.=A0 =
Still we had missionaries and ex-patriots around the globe that wanted a =
little touch of home in their life and almost every day we get responses =
for those who still love to get that email from the States.=A0 At one =
point we had over 900 missionaries on the list.
We bought =
the domain name grif.net (hence the change in spelling to its modern =
look) so we could have a web site and email home.=A0 And yes, I’m =
fully conscious of the word “humility” but never did learn =
how to apply it to my own life. J =A0The entire concept of the =
‘net has changed in 20 years.=A0 But the lame humor each weekday, =
and slightly more serious posts like this still progress onward.=A0 =
Everyone and their brother now has a blog, twitter, Instagram et al and =
thinks the world revolves around reading their insights, looking at =
pictures of their lunch or hearing about the toilet training of their =
little urchins.=A0 Or their cat. Can’t forget =
cats.
I plan for five more years in this venture as =
I’m growing too old too soon, but want to bring smiles and joy to =
all three of my loyal readers. Yet I’m daily reminded that =
“Man plans, God laughs”.
And so it =
goes.=A0 Hang on for the ride.
~~
Dr Bob Griffin =
[email protected] www.grif.net =
"Jesus Knows Me, This I =
Love!"