if you truly love something, set it free, unless you are completely feeble without it

Today, the office is still in chaos, which is to be expected considering the move. The phone company has been taking their time putting in the Internet, so we're all pretty much fucked. I had no idea how much I really relied on the Net until today. There was a word I thought may have been mispelled in a story I was editing and immediately thought to check it out at Merriam-Webster Online, but quickly remembered that wasn't an option. I was stunned and felt powerless. It took me a few moments to recall that Merriam-Webster dates back pre-World Wide Web and that its dictionary has, and continues to, exist in book form. I found one such hard copy dictionary and solved the problem (the word was "styptic" and was spelled and used in the correct manner if you're keeping score).

Other than the dictionary, I noticed that the ever growing monster that is my inbox acts much like my day planner, as well as my link to the outside world. My day usually goes according to messages that arrive via e-mail. Also, since I'm always on my computer, I never have to write anything down. Any appointments or matters that need my attention eagerly await me in my inbox. Without it, I am unreachable, isolated and lost.

Needless to say, today wasn't very productive. I ended up calling people on my contact list to see if there was anything in my inbox that I needed to know about. I felt like a doting parent checking up on his child when he/she was away at camp. "Make sure he doesn't get too much sun; he'll burn to a crisp!" Everyone I spoke with was very sympathetic, which helped me realize that I'm not the only one completely dependent on the World Wide Web. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will be back up tomorrow.

The rest of the day was about as uneventful as work. The highlight? The two left over pork chops from last night tasted even better today than they did yesterday.