The Two Johns
Published March 6th, 2010 | 
Some years ago, when I first got online and began surfing the Internet, I discovered that there are at least two distant cousins who share my name. One is an artist and the other is a Dermatologist. I come from parents who both came from large families so I have a lot of cousins, even a few that are kind of famous like noted character actor Phillip Bosco and Top Chef, Katy Lee Joel (yes, I come from a long line of creative, smart people).
Anyway, back to the Dermatologist who shares my name. Well, Dr. John Erianne did, at some point, in the last year or so, change his ISP. So did I. Here’s where it gets weird:
Apparently, his old ISP is my new ISP and when I chose my new email, I chose his old one. So, as a result, I’ve been getting some of his email from people and places that haven’t been made aware that he doesn’t live at that Internet address anymore. I’m getting garbage from drug companies and museums and restaurants and travel sites and messages from people I do not know. Just today I got a message from a company selling eczema treatments and another from a Viagra distributor. I think it’s funny, actually. It would be even funnier, I suppose, if Dr. John had switched to my old ISP and is now using my old email address as well. Then, he’d be getting stuff from literary magazines and video game companies and probably invitations to poetry readings and things like that. I can’t help thinking there’s a story in this somewhere.
