all the comforts of stalking without the hassle of balancing a pair of binoculars

Facebook is a tremendous interweb tool. It lets me keep up with people I want to keep up with and silently check in on the people I'm curious about, but not enough to ever really interact with them beyond sending them a meager request to be their friend.

It was through a Facebook status change that I learned that my friend Scott, who I've been remarkably bad at keeping up with since his move to New York with the exception of that weekend where Andi and I were going to be in the city and in need of a place to crash (thanks, Scott!), had gotten himself engaged. I might still not know about this had it not been for the grandest of internet networking applications (until something better comes along - watch your back, Facebook, you will get MySpaced), but there was still something amiss.

Traditionally, when friends of mine have betrothed themselves to another, I took great joy in passing a silent and unfair judgment upon the persons they had decided to hitch themselves up to. When I was married myself, the tradition extended to include Andi. I'm pleased to report that she was quite happy to participate and quite adept at the art of future spouse appraisal.

Unfortunately, though, Andi and I had nothing to base a quick and unfair judgment upon, thereby making it an even more unfair judgment and sucking all of the fun out of the judging process. On what basis was I to either approve or disapprove of Scott's impending nuptials? Then, Facebook came riding to the rescue.

For the uninitiated, Facebook has a feature that allows you to know when someone has posted a picture of one of your friends. Usually, this announcement should read something like "here is a picture of someone you know with their arm around someone else, possibly standing in front of something you've seen in a movie." However, Meaghan, when she posted this picture, delivered me a basis upon which to pass my unfair judgment of Scott's promise to marry her.



If she loves you enough to take your picture when you're in that getup, that's considerable. If she loves you enough to pose for a picture with you in that getup, that's remarkable. If she loves you enough to pose for a picture with you in that getup and then posts said picture online in a place her friends are most definitely going to see it, then you hold on tight and never let go. You marry her.

Congratulations, Scott. You've got yourself a keeper.