If You Can Read This You Are Probably Clouding

My post today originally started with a snide commentary about the archaic laptop I am posting from, but the piece of junk (I say that with the utmost respect) waited until I completed my work, had corrected spelling and errors and added my links before it dumped all my previous pages and work.  I didn't save my work because I was working from the 'internet cloud', and I thought Blogger would auto save for me.  Apparently not this time.

But what is this internet cloud of which I speak?  For all my poking around the internet, I didn't discover 'clouding' until very recently, but suddenly it's mentioned everywhere.  Always interested in new geekaphanalia, I went on a google to see what this cloud thing was, and how could I join in.

First off I checked WikiAnswers and found this definition:

Cloud computing is a style of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualised resources are provided as a service over the Internet.Users need not have knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure "in the cloud" that supports them.

Excuse my iSlang, but WTH!?!  What does that even mean?  Thoroughly mystified, I tore through blog pages and search engines like a pig hunting truffles to find answers.  The pieces started making sense, and it slowly dawned on me what clouding was, but more importantly, I realized that I've been 'clouding' for years.  I'm cooler then I knew!

Doing this post afuk*, I had no access to my usual files and tools.  I searched down a free domain photo on google images, loaded it into my PhotoBucket account, and in about four minutes was able to make this cheesy, inspirational styled poster and then posted it to this blog directly from PhotoBucket.  I clouded.  My one sentence definition of clouding; using other people's internet resources.

If you checked your email with Yahoo or Hotmail today, you clouded too.  If you shopped Amazon, scheduled a package pick up from the US Post Office, watched a YouTube video or caught up with your friends on FaceBook, you clouded more.  Looking for news?  Go cloud.  Want new music for your ipod?  Cloud again.

In short, we've all been clouding since we got tired of changing email addresses everytime we changed 'net providers.  Clouding has been around for years, we just didn't have a cool sounding name for it.  Now that you're just that much more savvy it's time to show it off.

Go online and order a pizza, download some netflix and eVite some friends over, and you can boast that you arranged everything in 'your cloud'.

*away from usual keyboard