Living with Technology

Twice this week I have fallen asleep with my laptop on my chest (it happens when you “read” in bed). That’s okay, but it's not so great for those stellar thoughts you were writing that disappeared once your laptop went into "hibernation" mode and you didn’t save it!

Then I posted an interview on Momlogic this week with Sherry Taylor Cummins author of Pink Ribbon Devotions to Go—it’s part of the Ning Social Network. Somehow in cyberspace they confused my “login” with someone else, so now I can’t log back in to answer questions about the interview. I’m locked out of my own “network.”

That came on the day after I waited in line for a passport (another post entirely). It seems I let my passport expire and I need it quickly. But the Passport Office has a set of rules based on “need.” You have to fall into a specific time frame for “hurry up; I need this now.” That means either you need to leave the country in 24-72 hours or you need to leave in exactly two weeks. If you don’t fall into those two “need” categories then you really don’t have a problem. But what if you need to leave in three weeks?

Talking to the folks in the Passport Office is like talking a foreign language. I asked, “What if you don’t get my ‘stuff’ and process it before I need to leave in three weeks?” Her response, “Well, you’ll need to get your pictures taken again!”

I laid my head down on my desk and thought, Lady, we have a failure to communicate.

This week made me realize how dependent we are on technology: computers, social networks, e-mail, Inbox and Outbox. Oh, did I mention: I also destroyed the settings in my Outlook, so my Inbox looks “empty” except I have 1,250 e-mails in it. Now I have to delete everything first in order to separate my e-mail.

I will be traveling for the next two months and my dear friend recently asked me, “Are you bringing your laptop with you?”

Not if I can help it! I think I need a break from technology and wait for my "settings" to be restored and for my identity to be recognized so I can become a "real" person again!

Until next time…