News at Eleven

It's frustratingly ironic that the more technologically advanced we become, the less we can rely on the technology we've created. Take my modem for instance. Very nice when it is working. Underscore the word when. The most recent breakdown (there have been four in three months) cost me nearly four days of work. It's really difficult to do research when your computer ain't net ready. Thank heavens for friends who have computers and laptops and cell phones with internet or I wouldn't have even been able to check my e-mail. It's such incidents that really throw a wrench in a freelancers schedule.

I was left scratching my head wondering how I ever managed to get by before the invent of e-mail. These days I hardly ever use a stamp for anything aside from query submissions - and even a good many of those are sent via e-mail.

As I'm in Florida, this week we are bracing for Hurricane Charlie and watching Tropical Storm Bonnie with anticipation. I for one really think the powers-that-be, you know, the one's who actually name the storms, really missed a golden opportunity by failing to name the storms Bonnie and Clyde. C'mon, it's sooo obvious, duh!

Besides, it would have made for some fun "Storm Coverage" on the ten news channels all eager to panic the masses into a battery, plywood, and water bottle buying frenzy. I just hope that Charlie doesn't wreak too much havoc, though it would surely disappoint the local news media.

With the storms tracking up for debate, it makes me wonder if the Doppler radar is even all that accurate. Seems like they are no closer to knowing where this one is going to hit than they were when Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992. I remember watching that pre-storm coverage. It wasn't all that different from today's coverage. Serious looking reporters donning baseball caps and raincoats promising hourly updates, interviewing men as they boarded up houses and promising live "Team Coverage" at eleven.

Ah, lends some truth to the old adage; The more things change the more they stay the same. The more we come to rely on technology the more we are put at it's mercy. Doppler radar, my modem. News at eleven.