I had something profound to say. I know I did. I forgot what it was on the way to the computer. Oh well. Another of life’s great mysteries will remain a mystery.

To be honest, I still knew what I wanted to say when I sat down at the computer, but then I saw my browser window open to a search I was doing. I got distracted. I’ve been looking for someone. It’s been two years since we have heard from this person, and when a braggart falls completely off the face of the planet, it’s just weird. It’s not just us who hasn’t heard from this person either. No one here in town has, and they had a lot of contacts here.

At first you think their “perfect” life had a downturn, and they don’t have anything to brag about … and heaven forbid they ever appear to have anything but the best of dumb luck. That fit nicely since the last thing we heard about them was Lin finding out they no longer worked for the company they had been working for in an executive capacity. That would certainly be a downturn in life. But you figure things will improve or they’ll just have to tell you about something eventually, so maybe they need to take a year to get back on track and have something to brag about. You leave it be. Surely you will eventually hear something from someone.

Sometime during the second year, you begin to wonder, since you know they had a problem with DUI’s in the past, if maybe they got that fourth or fifth DUI, or maybe even injured someone in an accident, and are currently sitting in jail. I spent a lot of time searching along that train of thought. I found nothing.

As the second year ends, you start to think maybe they died. That was my search path today. I didn’t find anything, which really doesn’t mean much. I only searched in their last known location.

Not that finding this person is some sort of top priority. I don’t want to find someone who doesn’t want to be found. It was starting to gnaw at me though, because I do pride myself on being able to find people, places, things, and the most obscure information possible. I wasn’t finding anything. Not even a hint of anything. As though this person had not only fallen off the grid, but like they had never been on it at all, which isn’t true. This person was big on the internet.

But then I sat down, profound thought begging to be expressed, and I suddenly had an invisible hand smack me up side the head. Out went the profound thought, and in went a way to discover whether or not this person was still alive. Or at least, I hoped so.

I have been using the tax rolls in Austin for years. First to track neighborhoods we were thinking of buying a house in, then checking the value of houses we were looking at, and most recently just to … well … get to know the neighbors a little better and be nosy. I recalled that every time I looked up our tax information on line, I was amazed how easy it was to retrieve the data. Bingo.

Even though I couldn’t remember which suburb of a major metropolitan area they had bought a house in, I lucked out and guessed correctly the first time. So now I know this person is still alive, and they still own their house … and it’s property value has been going up … and they pay less taxes than we do on a MUCH nicer house. Not going to contact them. They apparently just don’t want to talk to any of the old crew anymore. Whatever. It really isn’t that much of a loss.

So, no profound thought tonight. I think I’ll go to bed. We have GOT to go to the farmer’s market tomorrow. Got to go. It’s going to be cold and wet and gloomy, but I need some organic goodness, and I need it NOW!