oh my crazy goodness

My unbelievable, not-to-be-missed, larger-than-life, taking-the-country-by-storm planner contest continues. I will give an update later, but I neeeeeed to write about something else. (Please check my earlier posts to enter!)

I've always loved technology. I've always wanted to be ahead of the curve when it came to navigating the developments in the computer world, whether that meant the Internet, having the latest computer or a basic understanding of how to build a web page.

But until this year, I have been purposely avoiding all of the changes in the way technology is affecting how we communicate. Until recently.

Knowing how much I love technology, I was actually afraid I would get sucked in and before I knew it my laundry would be piled to the ceiling, my children would be eating pancakes every night for dinner and I wouldn't talk to my husband anymore.

So, I would purposely avoid reading the updates of the few people I knew who had a blog. I had heard about MySpace and Facebook, but I didn't like the idea of these social communities collecting my info so long-lost acquaintances could find me. And I knew it was possible to have one of those personalized homepages on my web browser, but I didn't want to go there either.

But OH. MY. CRAZY. GOODNESS. My world has suddenly become digitalized.

Since sticking my toe into the world of blogging, I've found myself sinking deeper and deeper. I've now realized that not just one or two, or three or four of the people I know have a blog -- and have had for years, it seems -- but we're talking five, six, seven, eight, nine, plus the friend I just met at my daughter's ballet class and now I find myself even writing a blog for the newspaper. Even my adorable husband started a blog (which he never updates). I feel like I'm best friends with people I've never even met, like her and her.

Holy cow! What has happened to me?

So, now I get daily feeds of all these people on my Google homepage, which has been quite entertaining. But not nearly as entertaining as the Gadgets! Have you seen these? Now my homepage gives me the latest news, the weather, reminder notes, my friends' birthdays, not to mention quotes and a calendar.

And Facebook. Should I even mention this online society? Should I even mention how people I would NEVER talk to are now giving me daily updates on their lives? And should I mention how much I love it? How addicted I am? How it's great that I'm able to connect with friends from high school and relatives who live far away and even friends who live nearby but I would never talk to?

Even my husband is now a virtual member of our household. During the last three weeks he's been in China, we mostly communicate via Skype. All I can say is, "THANK GOODNESS" I can get Skype on my MacBook. We can carry him around the house, set him on the table while we have breakfast and just close the cover when we're tired of talking to him. It's beautiful. If we go to a restaurant with WI-FI, we can even take him out to eat with us. "Sorry, honey... you have to eat your stir-fried rice. You can't have any of these BBQ ribs I'm enjoying." (That'll show him!)

Technology. I'm not sure whether to give it a big kiss or throw it out the window. I love it. I hate it. It's wasting my time. It's connecting me. Is it filling my void or creating one? Oh, my. What do you think?