Last Thursday I did my normal morning routine of checking email, phone messages, and with a few remaining moments before the first of what appeared to be an endless series of scheduled teleconferences, checked my LinkedIN account.

I been a member of LinkedIN for several years, and have accumulated a couple hundred "connections," and joined a handful of industry-related groups.  I am not completely open to receving LinkedIN invitations, but do give each invitation a quick background check if I immediately recall why or how I know a person requesting to be a connection.  Pretty much the same as everybody.

Well, on Thursday I sat back and thought, "how can I possibly know all these people in the connections list?"  So I started to go through the directory of connections, and it was like going through a personal history book.  Shortly after beginning my review, I caught myself wondering out loud, "wow, haven't heard from that guy since I lived in London 10 years ago - wonder what he is doing..."