Do you remember your first Google?

Cory Doctorow asked on boingboing today if you remember your first Google? I thought it would be fun to try to answer that one. First, I took the question to mean do you remember the first time you used Google to search for something. The short answer is that I don't.

Next, I decided to take a look at my email archive to find my first mention of Google. I found a message from April 3, 2001 which was a response to a question from my Mom, that gave her this search URL for more research:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=%22%2Bwww.cyberrebate.%2Bcom%22

She was asking me if I had ever heard of a company that was offering 100% rebates for stuff online. It turned out to be a scam. One of the things that really surprised me is that even after 7 years, the URL still works.