Blackberry

I just have to take a minute to say how awesome today's technology is. Just a few years ago, if I were headed out of town, I would have had to alert the right people in my office and my clients that I would be unavailable, I would have had to change my outgoing voice message, and I would have had to put up an automatic response in Outlook. I still have the option to take these actions, but I don't need to because I'm always available on my Blackberry.

Right now, I'm in a blizzard in the middle of nowhere, VT, and I can still blog, email, chat, and call. I'm completely accessible. Now, this does have its down sides. I can turn off my Blackberry and be completely unavailable, but because everyone knows I have a Blackberry, they know that if they can't reach me, it's probably because I've chosen not to be reached. (It happens rarely, but it does happen.)

Modern communication technology is thus a blessing and a curse. It unhooks us from the plug-ins of yore, but it also binds us unconditionally to... everyone.