How in the world did we ever survive without Google? My world is easier because of istockphoto.com. maps.yahoo.com tells me where to go and while qwestdex has changed their name a zillion times, Dex knows when I need to look up a phone number. I can track packages without having to press one, press two through UPS's annoying telephone tree and last year I completed most of my christmas shopping on-line. Before I moved to Minnesota I used e-mail as a lifeline to friends far away. I can't say that internet dating has ever been my cup of tea but I did enjoy seeing who eharmony.com thought was my "perfect" match. I've talked about blogging and most people look at me like I'm crazy, but I think there are those who blog or myspace and those who, um don't. And then there's those who just don't have the time to update their blogs but enjoy visiting other people's blogs (and you know who you are too!) epinions.com has interesting insights about anything and hotels.com is handy. Eco-ville still has the crummiest website out there but someday that too might change and I'm sure I could go on and on.

Why do I bring this up? It's amazing that it's only really been 15 or so years since I even had a computer. When I think of working at Independent Machinery and not even having an e-mail address it just flabbergasts me on how antiquated our systems were back then. And yet, there are still people who can live life perfectly well without the internet. Pete and Sara...welcome to the world of the internet -- they just installed their dsl line this evening and instead of writing me an e-mail, Pete called to say thanks for the photos I sent. (Which I though was cute but also illustrated just how not "hooked" he is yet on the vast array of communication offerings the web has to offer...