Two years ago, I wrote a post about 100 things I Googled. I wrote it while I was sick with COVID. Overachiever much?
I loved putting that post together. I still love rereading it, because my searches change as my life changes. They’re little snapshots of who I was at a certain moment in time. Looking back, I had to laugh. I visit Amazon more than I’d like to admit. I read a lot of obituaries. Not in a creepy way. I just find people’s lives fascinating.
Lately I’ve been feeling a little self-conscious, and I haven’t felt like sharing anything too vulnerable. I’m still figuring out where that’s coming from. So for now, I wanted to make something lighter. This kind of post doesn’t take much writing. Just plugging things into a page. I love to write, but sometimes it’s nice to create something without digging so deep.
I cherry-picked this list. There’s a lot of boring stuff in my search history. Case in point: obituaries.
So here are 100 things I’ve Googled over the last year.
Frank Lloyd Wright love cottage
Bird anti-collision stickers
Wearable weights
Fleabag tv show
Dulles Airport people movers
Rate My Professors
Lifeboat regulations on ships
Vegetable oil substitutions
Does UIC offer free tuition (yes)
What is a refractory rate after open heart surgery?
Were carnival mirrors used for cocaine? (yes)
Is Mitch McConnell dead?
Oasis lighting alternative
How do I find my iPhone?
How do I wash my fruit so I don’t get explosive diarreah?
What is lipoprotein(a)?
Is the generic of Allegra just as good?
How do I delete old Yahoo email contacts?
What is the time difference between here and Australia?
How do I prep chicken wings for a party?
Best tasting protein bars
When does Miralax expire?
What does it mean when birds tap tree branches?
Is there aspartame in Double Bubble? (no)
Clear swimmable lakes near me
How to cool a room above a garage
How to save a brown arborvitae
Bindweed management tips
Smoke alarm beeping fix
FAFSA
4/20 origin
Breathing tube healing tips
How to use an inhaler
Is David Bromstad alive? (he is)
Artemis return timeline
Does McDonald’s have chocolate ice cream anymore? (in some locations)
What is salad cream?
Is it okay to buy clocks at thrift stores?
Buddhist love, attachment, and impermanence
Faraway Village YouTube
Turning journals into stories
Spotify song skipping issues
Heparin bruise recovery
Heart surgery front seat guidelines
ICU forced air warming system
Cosmology
Palestine Israel conflict explanation
Registering to vote in Illinois
Bodhisattva meaning
Meaning of mercy
Mai tai ingredients
Font size issue WordPress
Can birds have Cheerios? (yes, only plain ones)
Is Burger King’s fish sandwich still called The Whaler? (Sadly, no)
Trainspotting movie review
How to cook cod
Cabaret backstory
Mitral valve disease
New Hampshire s’more (DO NOT LOOK THIS UP)
ZZ plants and dogs
How long before garlic goes bad? (3-6 months)
CBD drinks
Flight time ORD to IAH -O’Hare to Houston (2 hours and 30 minutes-ish)
Towns named Garner in the U.S.
What is AFib?
What does Tao mean?
Oven Chex Mix recipe
Why is my snake plant blooming?
Ambrosia salad recipe
Motion sickness wristband – why does it work?
Does baking powder really expire? (it does)
Raising Cane’s name origin
Feng Shui for my smartphone
Definition of grace
Stovetop nachos recipe
How to use a suppository
GI rest diet suggestions
Surviving vs. thriving
Fridge door ajar safety
Where do birds sleep at night?
Yoga studio music
YouTube vs. YouTube Music
Eulogy vs. Obituary
Chimichanga vs. Burrito
What is a gordita?
Flu shot and covid shot timing
Cupping benefits
May Company Ohio
Top movie April 28, 1970 (Airport 🤣)
Best whole grain bread
Affordable travel tote bags
Zhu Zhu Pets
What is laudanum?
Most comfortable sofas
Modern shag haircut
What is a cliche?
Why do old houses smell like old houses?
Do my yard birds remember me? (I hope so)
Do salt lamps really work?
You can read my lists of the past here:
Google Searches That Define You
I also recently read a book called What We Ask Google, which seemed fitting.
What do you google?
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A Grace Full Life 
That’s a fun idea to do the last 100 google searches. I enjoyed reading your list.
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I’m so glad you enjoyed it! 💜
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This is going to sound horrible and I don’t mean it to, so I will say it carefully. I love reading this list because: your writing is so beautiful that you intimidate me, but this list shows me that there is so much about the world that you don’t know but I do! So I feel better about you! Which is hilarious, because I’m sure if I showed you my googled list, you would say the same, that you know so many things I do not. What a wonderful world where we are varied.
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I love this so much. This is EXACTLY why I share this. 💜
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Oh gosh I Google so much it’s not even funny– actor/actress names, I definitely Googled at least once a day while Alec was gone “what time is it in Athens Greece right now?,” I Googled things to do in Boston during a heatwave, Today I googled a type of flowering plant I was looking at to see what it needed for optimal growing conditions (only to find it’s a plant that works better in the tropics and is considered an annual here). I also Googled this morning to find out what kind of crowd the Maine Bread Fair draws and the different uses for benadryl for adults.
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I Google so many different plants too. But I also have the LeafSnap app on my phone, and I take pictures instead. It identifies them for me! For some reason, I’ve been getting the app for free for the last few months, which has been a lovely surprise.
Now I want to google the different uses for benadryl and Maine Bread fair…
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Great post, but an even better one would be explaining the why behind some of these searches!
We bought a beautiful vintage starburst clock from a thrift store in Wyoming once. It took two D batteries, which the owner did not have on hand, but she assured us it worked fine.
When we got home (five hours and one state away), we learned it did not work fine. Luckily, there was a clock shop in town, so we had a new battery compartment installed, and the clock has worked fine ever since…but it did end up costing us a bit more than expected.
So I’m super curious what Google had to say about buying clocks from thrit stores!
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I love this idea! The why behind the searches is probably the best part. And since you asked about the clock search… I should admit that I wasn’t actually Googling whether thrift store clocks work. I was Googling whether old clocks can carry energy from previous owners.
I know there’s no scientific proof of that, but I’m fascinated by the stories and history attached to old things. A clock feels especially interesting because it has literally been marking someone’s time for years.
Also, I love that your starburst clock got fixed and has a second life. That’s exactly why I love thrifted things — they come with a story!
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Ooh, I love your actual Google query even better. I dated a woman who wound up with an old nightstand from a former mental hospital, and it was very, very haunted…so yes, I 100% believe objects maintain a trace of energy from previous owners. Not always a good thing if you’re afraid of ghosts!
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OMG, that’s scary!
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Her apartment was so haunted. I experienced the craziest stuff there!
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Whoa! Now you have me second-guessing my thrift store habit.
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Just don’t pick up furniture from shuttered mental hospitals and you’ll be fine!
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Noted! 🤣
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I mean, if Miralax does expire, then you could just use the unwashed fruit? Unless expired Miralax is MORE, um, vigourous. Then I don’t know what to say. I mean, the “how to use a suppository” is giving me insight into things.
I recently googled Upward Bound book controversy and immediately wished I hadn’t. I also googled a lot about Korea/ Japan relations during and after WWII and it’s not that I wish I hadn’t, but I wish that what I discovered wasn’t so disturbing.
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I’ve been seriously considering eating the bad lettuce. It takes a whole lotta background work to get the pipes moving around here. I feel like people are going to think I’m an idiot, but I swear I know where it goes — I think I just wanted to understand the logistics. 😂
Well, now you’ve got me Googling all of these things. At least my search history is going to look a little more intelligent now!
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OK. You said NOT to look up New Hampshire S’more. So what do you think I did? Yep. I will never be the same.
Here are my llast five Google searches:
1. What is a New Hampshire S’more
2. Who came first, George Strait or Garth Brooks
3. Siamese twins Chang and Eng Bunker
4. Marimekko patterns
5. Laura Ingalls Wilder
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🤣 I love that New Hampshire S’more made it to number one on your list! I should have known that telling people not to look something up would only make them more curious. Your other searches are so good too — what a wonderfully random mix of topics! Now I’m off to google them!
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Very revealing! I’m really curious about New Hampshire s’mores now. Will take your advice though and not google 😉
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🤣 I accidentally learned more than I ever wanted to know, so I’m trying to spare everyone else.
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You do realize when you tell people NOT to.look something up they most likely will. The New hampshire Smore has 2 definitions the urban one which is deegusting and the food related one that is A Fluffernutter Smore
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I know! 🤣 I thought about leaving a link to the food version. Maybe I should have!
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🤣
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This post is hilarious! It’s so random, but serious. I need to check mine out Is Mitch McConnell dead?! lol
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I just Googled it again, and I’m no closer to an answer. Your guess is as good as mine! 🤣
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Wow, this was surprisingly poignant, Kari! I love what a perfect snapshot of life these searches give — from the heavy topics to the light ones, the existential questions to the practical information.
I would like to think that my google searches provide an equally vivid sketch of what I’m thinking about… birthday party planning, recipes for dinner, gift ideas, synonyms for words, exercises for tennis elbow… with a ton of murder-y stuff thrown in, lol. (It’s book research, I swear!)
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Thank you! I love that you called it a snapshot because that’s exactly what surprised me when I looked back through my searches. I expected random questions, but instead I found little pieces of my life.
And I’m laughing at the murder-y searches! I feel the same way with my obituary reading! 🤣
I love that your list is filled with such ordinary, everyday things too. It really is a little sketch of what occupies our minds from day to day.
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The things that catch our thoughts are so interesting and diverse. Happiness is 4/20.
Fun suppository story: I was hospitalized for my ED in my early twenties. There were six people in the program. EDs tend to shut down or dramatically slow the digestive tract, so most of us had laxatives or suppositories in our meds. Enter the new girl. She kept to herself for the first week, didn’t talk much. On week two she spoke up to complain to the nurse about her meds: she’d swallowed her suppository religiously, even though it was large, but she was still backed up…
I laughed so very hard.
My searches are heavily skewed to the political.
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Well, your suppository story definitely wins. I don’t feel nearly as embarrassed about my Google search now!
And you’re not alone on the political searches. I have plenty of those too—I just left most of them out because they would’ve changed the whole feel of the post. I liked focusing on the little ordinary things this time. It’s funny how our search histories tell so many different stories.
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At some point I limited my search history to just YouTube videos, turning off search, location, timeline and web activity.
I’m sure Google still collects this data, I just can’t see it!
That said, when I see your lists, I wished I did still keep it accessible, as it tells such a poignant story.
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I hadn’t thought about it that way until I looked back through mine. It really did feel like a snapshot of different seasons of my life. I completely understand why you turned yours off, but I have to admit I’m grateful I could still look back at mine this time.
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This is great. I love that you answered some for us. While I’m curious about the answer to many others, the only one I looked up was salad cream. It kinda stressed me out. I feel better now knowing that it’s a version of mayo (in my words). I’m debating about looking up NH S’mores. I might just do that now … 😂 I hope I don’t get crude things popping up if I search it.😉
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I almost left NH s’mores out of my post because I was afraid Google would send the wrong crowd my way. There really is a recipe, so it could go 50/50. It’s the other 50 percent that’s a little dicey. 🤣
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I was only kidding. I wasn’t worried. ;-)
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🤣
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At last! 😜 Got a job off to press, and now I am a curious fellow Googler.
I see a lot of searches related to health and heart, some food questions (always of interest), pets, but also birds – you are curious about the birds outside, and yes, I’m sure many remember you. Crows, for sure. I, of course, am drawn to the metaphysical ones, and would have liked to see the results on some of them. Feng-Shui on your phone? Hmmmmmm. I had to smile about the once-named “Whaler” and some others.
It’s funny, isn’t it, how some of our searches look for definitive answers and knowledge, while others seem more frivolous, just wondering. It’s a good way to be – it’s a balance. Tx for the list!! 😊
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I’m so glad you enjoyed my Google searches! I’m a quirky one, that’s for sure. Balance — yes! I love that.
By the way, I just got the book you sent me, Jeanne. Thank you so much. I can’t tell you how happy it made me to get a book (and bookmark!) in the mail. I’m just beginning to read it, and I already like it. 😘💜
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With all due regard to digital, it’s still good to live in the 3-D world. 😊 Glad you got it and are already enjoying it.
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💜
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OMG. You crack me up. I mean, we all Google weird stuff, right? But how do you remember? I mean, wait, does your computer remember?
I’m pretty proud of myself for not looking up the one you said to not look up, even if that was my first inclination. Hello, GOLD RIBBON?
I often look up actors while watching a movie or show, then fall down the rabbit hole of where I’ve seen them before.
Yesterday I googled how to get rid of the itching from a wasp/bee sting because that shit is driving me bonkers. In addition to topical stuff, I took a Benadryl before bed and woke up feeling like I’d been roofied. Google did not warn me about that part.
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There is a search you can do on Google to find all the stuff you’ve looked up! It’s honestly pretty interesting. And yes, Google remembers.
You win!! I have nothing to offer you other than the satisfaction. 🥇
ME TOO.
Benadryl is something else. I had to give it to Biscuits once (per my vet) because he ate a bee and his face swelled up. He was SO loopy.
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I’m behind on your posts! This was a fun read but inquiring minds want to know…why wouldn’t it be OK to buy clocks at thrift stores? Have you ever had cupping therapy done to you? I had it one time at an acupuncture place when I had bad back pain. It didn’t hurt, just a tad uncomfortable. My back looked terrible afterwards but it actually felt good! Dummy me just HAD to look up NH s’mores…I thought it was going to be some kind of cool take on regular s’more treats. O.M.G. I am sooo sorry I googled that one! I think my eyes bulged out of my head – couldn’t believe what I was reading. GROSS.
A few things I’ve Googled recently…
Banana muffin recipe using 2 bananas
Does Dr Stenson use a particular anesthesiologist during surgery
Why do my feet swell in the heat
Wrigley Field section 123 row 1
What is a skepasti sandwich
What can neem oil be used for
What’s in thai iced tea
xoxo
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I am laughing that you looked up NH s’mores. I had a feeling that one might send people down a very unexpected Google rabbit hole! I’m so sorry your eyes can never unsee that one now.
I know a little bit about cupping therapy, but I wanted to learn more about it. I’m glad to hear it wasn’t painful and that it actually helped your back. Would you do it again?
As for the clocks… honestly, I think it comes from some old superstition about thrift store items carrying the energy or history of their previous owners. Clocks and mirrors are supposed to hold energy more than other items. Supposedly.
Also, I love your Google searches! I am absolutely going to look up a few of these because now I’m curious about skepasti sandwiches and Thai iced tea.
This is exactly how my brain works too. One minute I’m looking up one thing, and the next I’m completely down a different rabbit hole.
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this is so interesting, Kari. And I am so nosy. Lol
my latest five Google searches were:
how do I parent a strong-willed 8 year old girl?
Atvo bus from Mestre to Marco Polo airport
belle burden’s grandmother
latte machiatto in italy
orzo coffee in Italy (turn out that’s what they can a decaf coffee here).
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I’m nosy too, Daria! I’m hoping others decide to write their own Google search posts or share theirs in the comments, so I’m glad you shared yours here!
Orzo coffee! Hmm… I need to Google that now.
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Most of my google searches involve travel or health-related topics. And I have also been googling the hell out of how to wash my fruits and vegetables!
When my kids were in college, I would sometimes look up their professors on Rate My Professor and it would crack me up that whatever my kids would say about a professor, everyone else said the same thing on that website. It was like my kids were the ones writing the reviews (though I highly doubt they were).
I use olive oil and avocado oil for everything now, including baking. No more vegetable oil. My husband and I were so excited to try Mai Tai’s for the first time when we went to Maui and we thought they were terrible – LOL!
My first job after college was with May Department Stores (when they owned O’Neil’s) which is how I wound up at Richland Mall.
I thought of you on Sunday when I was doing my Miralex colonoscopy prep and wondering how the hell you did that twice in such a short time period last year. Sheer torture! My procedure went fine, though it was delayed an hour and the lights were going on and off due to a storm (not sure what was up with the hospital’s generator). Came home to no power for 9 hours. Not happy when I was famished, but grateful that my results were so good and they said I don’t have to come back for 10 years (which I probably won’t be doing by that age!)
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