It's easy to do. You log on via Netscape or Internet Explorer, you hail a general-purpose search engine like Alta Vista (altavista.digital.com) or my new favorite, HotBot (www.hotbot.com), and you type in your own name. Within a minute you have a compilation of textfiles mentioning someone with the same name as you.

Just the sight of two or three or more pages of people with your name doing Networthy things is interesting. If you really have time to burn, you can visit with the more promising ones.

For instance, while the GOP was ganging up on him in San Diego last week, President Clinton appeared at Yellowstone National Park to announce an agreement to shut down an environmentally dubious gold mine just north of the park.

Well, the superintendent of Yellowstone -- and before that, of the Yosemite and Everglades National Parks -- is a Michael Finley. And a hero to environmentalists. When he took over Yosemite years ago, he was alone among the National Park Service higher-ups to come down in favor of adding water to poor Mono Lake, that tormented lake in the Sierra Nevada that Los Angeles regularly drains in order to water its bougainvilleas. And here he was again, speaking for the trees against the gold miners. (For more on this Michael Finley, check out the story at http://www.aspenonline.com/clients/HCNArchive/1994/aug08/dir/hot.html.)

The next Michael Finley was even bigger. He is the point guard for the Phoenix Suns NBA team. When he was a star with the Wisconsin Badgers, excelling in both academic and athletics, people used to send me headlines like "Michael Finley at the top of his game" and "Michael Finley Is Hot."

With Charles Barkley traded last week from the Suns to the Houston Rockets, Finley is the undisputed leader of the team. This Michael Finley is so famous he doesn't need a homepage to promote himself -- his fans do it for him (http://www.primenet.com/~bcelts7/finley.html).

I found three more in Canada. A Michael Finley of Edmonton, Alberta, is currently teaching English in Turkey. Another Michael Finley, in Saskatchewan, is director of conservation efforts with the Sakatoon Nature Society Board. Yet a third Michael Finley is anchorman of a Transcanadian public radio program in Toronto.

On Compuserve, I checked the member directory and found another eight Michael Finleys, most of them too inactive to answer their e-mail. One was alive and well, however, and he had a strong technological bent, as head of information technology at the Six Flags Over Texas amusement park. We even had a nice phone conversation.

I sent every Michael Finley I could find a greeting, to ask what their lives were like, if they liked having the name, and what they thought of it. I got this charming response from a 38-year-old Michael Finley in Chalfont, Pennsylvania (you know, next to Doylestown).

Hi, Michael Finley. Like Michael Finley of the Phoenix Suns, I too am a basketball player, or was a few years ago. I played for Lehigh University from 1977-1980. Unlike that Michael Finley, I wasn't particularly good. I do have a tie-in with the NBA, though. My coach for four years at Lehigh was Brian Hill, present-day coach for the Orlando Magic.

Presently, I work as a special education teacher in the New Hope-Solebury School District, mainly with high school students with learning disabilities. New Hope is located between New York City and Philadelphia, along the Delaware River. It began as a famous artists colony, and has maintained much of its turn of the century charm.

I keep in touch with basketball by coaching the girl's varsity program there. I routinely ride in an event called the MS 150, a 150 mile bike ride for the benefit of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Presently, I am trying to raise money for participation in a bike ride to benefit AIDS Research. This is a 250-mile trek from Philadelphia to Washington D.C in June.

How do I like the name Michael Finley? I wouldn't change it for the world. It sort of fits me now. Frankly, I'm a little distressed that my status as the best Michael Finley ever to play the game of basketball may now be in jeopardy! Oh well, even the greatest legends must fall!

Anyway, I like these people. A ranger standing up to gold mines in Wyoming and a nature lover in Sakatoon. A star basketball player who set a terrific example by being a great student, too. Teachers teaching English in Turkey and bicycling for AIDS money in Philadelphia. A public radio commentator, and the guy who makes the amusement park light up at night.

Not a convicted felon in the entire group.

Of course, when you look yourself up on the Web, you'll find more of you if both your names are fairly common, like mine. If not, you may have to use your last name and an initial.

But with the wide networked world of people doing things and reporting on it everyone, there is sure to be someone with your name out there, working on something pretty neat, and doing you proud.

To ""Future Shoes"" home page

"A masterpiece of explanatory journalism!" - New Orleans Picayune "Fast, funny, and highly stimulating!" -Business Book Review Get your signed copy of The NEW Why Teams Don't Work by Mike & Harvey Robbins from Berrett-Koehler Publishers Just click on the book cover!