Huge bind. My e-mail is down. Seriously, it's been two hours since I've gotten home from a long lunch meeting, and I am nearly twitching because I've not been able to deal with my e-mail.

This is especially frustrating because a few months ago, I started routing my lisa-writes.com addresses through my MSN account. I was tired of the problems I was having with my local e-mail provider. Now I'm having problems with MSN. Grrrrr.

With such reliance on technology, I feel like I've cut off a virtual arm without my e-mail. I can usually go a weekend without checking it. This winter, I even went seven days without online communication for a real vacation. As I've been really busy with work lately, I have been working during most weekends. I could probably safely say I've checked e-mail at least once every day for at least the past month. That's sad.

The Today Show did a piece a few weeks ago about people's reliance on technology. I didn't watch the whole segment (probably had to come in here and check my e-mail), but I remember they challenged people to turn in their cell phones, PDAs, and laptops...might even have had to turn in Internet/e-mail use in general...and followed them around to see how they held up. I walked away from the show thinking I could do that—I really thought I could do without technology for a while. Yet it's been two hours during a day of the week when no one really expects anyone to accomplish anything anyway, and I feel like I need a drink because of it.

So, to anyone reading this who is expecting an e-mail from me, I guess you can keep expecting. At last check, MSN is still down. Maybe this is the universe shoving me out of the office on a sunny Friday afternoon. If it weren't for the wind, the cold, and the fact that I have five articles and two classes to do in the next two weeks, I would be happy to oblige.