Limb temporarily unavailable

Like many Google Mail addicts, I've been receiving the following error message for the past couple of hours:

Server Error
Gmail is temporarily unavailable. Cross your fingers and try again in a few minutes. We're sorry for the inconvenience.

In typical Carmi fashion, it got me thinking about life and stuff. Thanks in advance for your patience. Let's roll...

Technology is interesting not because it is technology, but because it interacts with our plain old lives in so many fascinating ways. Gmail is one of those "fun" technologies because it puts a bit of a new spin on an old favorite. People with Gmail addresses actually like 'em, while the denizens of Hotmail do nothing but curse when discussing their web-based service of (non)choice. Message to - and lesson for - Microsoft: inject a little bit of funny into the way you conduct yourself as as organization. A little will go a long way.

But enough philosophizing. Back in the real world, I still don't have access to my Google Mail account. I don't know how it's doing. I don't know how all those cool words that I've sent and received over the past few months are doing. I hope they're safe and secure on their journey through the unknowns of the Internet.

How long Gmail will be out is anybody's guess. Well, anybody aside from the guru who's likely sweating the outage out in Google's offices. I wish him/her/them well as he/she/they sweat(s) this one through to completion. I'd hate to think that my actions would have such an immediate impact on so many people. Then again...

The pathetic thing is, I miss it. I miss the things that people might be saying to me. I miss the ability to log in from the library, if I so choose. I miss the still-sort-of-there cachet that one gets from a gmail.com domain. (I know it's waning rapidly, but humor me, OK?)

So I sit here at my desk, working away on real writing assignments to pass the time. When I pause to reload my brain (it's got a really small amount of RAM, after all, so your patience really comes in handy), I tap my fingers on the desk as I wait in vain for the service to come back.

It hasn't yet. Maybe it's time for me to put the technology aside and just leave it be for a while. Maybe this is technology's way of telling us we need to balance our lives a little better.