Linkin' Thinkin'

Another of those networking sites has popped into my life. Not to be an advertisement or anything, but all of a sudden I started getting requests on www.linkedin.com

This one has me more confused and anxious because it's strictly work/professionally related. I'm all for connecting and networking, but I get nervous about these sites. The people that I'm connected to know where I work and what my background is, and those that don't... well maybe that's for a reason.

I'm not someone that likes hearing from random people at work, but all this LinkedIn business has me thinking about it. For example, without much searching I found someone I knew fairly well a decade ago: Tito Sierra.

I met Tito one summer while at Harvard. He was studying business and photography at Harvard and I was there taking classes and agreed to be his model one afternoon (fully clothed). He had a girlfriend, so nothing happened romantically between us, but he sent one confusing email to me that ended our associations on any level. He had just seen "Leaving Las Vegas" and he emailed to tell me that he thought it reminded him of us. I went to see the movie expecting to see a fun friendship develop, and instead... well, you all have probably seen the movie. End of friendship, end of story.

But I found him on LinkedIn. Do I still have the proofs of the beautiful photos he took of me: Yes. Do I want to get back in touch with him: Sort of. Do I think that's a wise idea: NO.

So there is the problem. Even professional relationships are sticky. Same field, same age, contacts in common, and yet the history should probably not be reopened. I would love to know if he's still taking photos. If he had a Flickr page, I guarantee I would lurk often. But again, I'm not willing to reopen the door.