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“Google Earth is still a relatively new technology. As more people learn to use it, I think they’ll find more use out of it.”

That’s the clip. I’m not even sure it was a complete thought but it was the part of the ten minutes of video the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) taped in our boardroom ten days ago used on the National news program “The National” last Wednesday evening.

The topic was Nanaimo British Columbia’s use of Google Earth in making virtually every piece of civic data available to its citizens and the world. You can learn more about this initiative by watching the clip, listening to the discussion during the Webcology show I co-host on WebmasterRadio.fm, or reading the post I wrote in this blog the day the CBC came to visit.

So when the CBC called, I obviously got all excited. It felt like being on the cover of the Rolling Stone so I naturally called my mother and told her to watch the newscast that night. I was having a party at my place that night and we all stopped to watch the newscast. Nothing. There was a segment on the Canadian songwriter Dan Hill, (including one of those melodies that NEVER leaves one’s head after hearing it, arg) but nothing about Google Earth, Metamend or the city of Nanaimo. I was obviously terribly disappointed.

The next night, Saturday, the news was properly preempted by a hockey game (some things are just too important to miss), so it didn’t air then either. I had emotionally given up on the segment ever airing. I was embarrassed I had told my mother and thankful I neglected to tell my siblings. I had that feeling I had somehow failed the rest of the team here at Metamend because I really wanted the company logo in the background and its knowledge in the foreground on national television.

Late Wednesday night while walking a friend back from WebmasterRadio’s Search Bash at SES New York, I received a call from my brother in Calgary saying he had seen me on TV. He had no idea it was going to happen so he and his wife were caught by total surprise. A similar experience happened to an aunt in Ontario.

I could hardly understand the message. My hearing had been impaired by the sounds of New York and the absurd decibels of the Search Bash. When I heard what could only be “CBC”, I lost it. The SES NY conference had already been one of the best experiences in my career and to get the news that I was part of the National news was icing on an already rich cake. I remember falling to my knees in the middle of a busy Broadway sidewalk pumping my fists in one of those personal but involuntary victory dances that makes any nearby police officer think they are dealing with a lunatic. My companion certainly thought I was suddenly crazy but she understood quickly after I explained about the clip and bought me a piece of pizza to celebrate.

A quick thank you to the CBC for thinking of me and of Metamend. I hope we can do more segments in the future.