The Master Plan (Spoiler Alert)

Most people know me as a rather gregarious fellow with a heart of gold but also a penchant for push-button language. I'm also a bit of a fan of Facebook, which has been a great tool for connecting, however vicariously, to people I have lost touch with due to moving forward in life. The social network has been especially good for reconciling my life prior to moving to California in 1992 to where I am currently.

It is also good for building a network based on common interests with people whom I do not know on a face-to-face basis. Some people, mostly of an older age, find that an odd thing but the newer generation takes online friends as common and acceptable. It's the future, people, get used to it.

While my wife also enjoys Facebook, she doesn't quite feel the same affection for "collecting" Facebook friends, that I do. I have read that this difference is a function of gender. Men can bond over a beer and a football game and be friends for life. Women tend to bond over deeper emotional issues, thus are a little more reserved to opening themselves up to people online unless the connection is "real" and deep.

Over the last few months I conceived an idea of what to do with my Facebook connections in commemoration of gaining 400 people. Since Facebook is not a working network, why not have fun with the whole thing. Being the born provocateur I am, I decided to add a bit of brashness and mystery to my pet project by announcing my countdown to 400 Facebook friends on my status line, nicknaming this venture as "unleashing my Master Plan." When someone inquires about said plan, I respond with the famous Fight Club quote of "The first rule of the Master Plan is NO ONE talks about the Master Plan!" I am even keeping a log of friends reactions for a future use as will be explained below. Now god bless these friends, some are giggling, some might even be freaking out, some are actually threatening to de-friend me in hopes of me never getting to the magic number. Honestly, who doesn't love a little mystery in life? I love it and I hope they are all having fun with it as well.

Oh, but I've gone too fast here, so let's step back a bit.

I am a graphic designer and have an affection for visual information. For the last few years I have truly enjoyed the blog of Craig Robinson, a british designer, world traveler, baseball (Yankees, yuck) and Liverpool (Yay!) fan. He is dynamite with info graphics and I love his breakdown of seemingly ubiquitous material and repacking it all in fascinating ways visually.

Which brings us all to today. I had decided that once I reached the 400 friend plateau (Update: Friend 400 was confirmed on Monday, 8:36pm), I would start a series of info graphics breaking down my Facebook friends into catagories from the easy (male to female) to the sublime (Friends who knew me as a smoker verses those who knew me prior to meeting my wife Johanna). It's going to be a laborious but very fun exercise and one that I totally owe a great debt to the Craig. He's the man.

So I give you, my loyal readership of 3 or so, the inside scoop. Call it an easter egg blog posting. I am not going to blow up the world, hack Facebook or destroy the world's credit history, ala Tyler Durden, though that might not be such a bad idea right about now...

Cheers!