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The Charlotte Observer, N.C., Tommy Tomlinson column: This column was brought to you without e-mail, almostJan 27, 2010 (The Charlotte Observer - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- On Tuesday, about 10 in the morning, the Observer's e-mail crashed. Not "crashed" as in "we had to unplug it and plug it back in." More like "crashed" as in "somebody rolled the server in front of an 18-wheeler." As you might imagine, e-mail is important to us -- it's one of the main ways we get news tips, press releases, letters to the editor, amazing deals on Rolex watches, promises of male enhancement (your spam filter may vary). We had some electronic workarounds -- Gmail accounts, Twitter, that sort of thing. And of course we still do a lot of our work face-to-face or over the phone. But as Tuesday rolled into Wednesday, and we still couldn't get e-mail to work, it wasn't so funny anymore. We use Microsoft Outlook for e-mail, and a lot of our people also use it as a calendar and address book. So when Outlook's down, it's like someone ransacked the office and snatched everything but the paper clips. It's a good reminder of how much of our lives are electrons and ether. I quit using a paper calendar a couple of years ago. Now I punch every appointment into my phone, and link it to my laptop when I remember, and pray I don't leave the phone at home or run it through the washing machine. Address book? We've got one in a little 3-ring binder somewhere at the house, nice red cover and everything, but all the new contacts go in the phone. Millions of people balance their checkbooks on the computer, pay all their bills online, keep the most private details of their lives stashed on a hard drive. The companies and government agencies that keep track of us do the same thing -- your medical records and job history and Social Security number are stored somewhere, naked but for the graces of God and Bill Gates. We joke about rubes who call the Web the "Intertubes." But the system that collects and connects so much of our vital information isn't much different than a waterworks or power grid. It's full of loose connections, and pressure points, and sometimes the pipes break. It takes constant work and care to keep the whole thing going, and it's remarkable how smooth computers run compared to the other systems in our lives. If surfing the Web was like driving home in rush hour, people would snap their keyboards in half. But it's good to remember that broadband is not in the Constitution and Google is not a birthright. Back up your information. Write stuff down on paper every once in a while. It's fine to spend time online, but maybe not a great idea to live there. Hey, good news! Wednesday afternoon, our e-mail came back up. It's a temporary fix -- sort of like a '78 Pinto compared to our usual Mustang. But by golly, it runs. Let's see what the last day and a half brought. Celebrity Chef Tour Single Tickets On Sale Now!! Tommy L Tomlinson, Transfer Balances With No Fees "I AM THE RESISTANCE 2010" sent you a message on Facebook... Hmm. Maybe somebody could go kick out the plug again. Tommy: 704-358-5227; [email protected]; facebook.com/tommytomlinson; Twitter@tommytomlinson; blogging at http://ttomlinson.blogspot.com To see more of The Charlotte Observer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.charlotteobserver.com. Copyright (c) 2010, The Charlotte Observer, N.C. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |