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I have a love-hate relationship with my computer.

My computer is either one of the best things that's ever happened to me or one of the worst. 

These are my top 3 reasons why it's the best:  1 - I enjoy connecting with friends, family and professional acquaintances, thanks to E-mail, Facebook and LinkedIn; 2 - My favorite hobby - writing - is much easier on a computer than with pen and paper or typewriter and carbon paper, and the simplicity with which I change my words and punctuation feeds so perfectly into my editing obsession; 3 - Shopping.       

And  my #1 all-encompassing reason why having a computer is the worst thing is because I can spend endless hours doing my top 3 reasons above, day after day, year after year.  This gives me little time for anything else.

My husband David kissed me goodbye around 5:30 a.m. the other morning to take a train in Trenton for a New York City meeting.  Normally when I'm up that early in the morning and Shea Doggy is still asleep, I'd mosey on over to my computer and poke around until the pup reminds me it's time for our walk.  I could sit at my desk for 2 minutes or 2 hours. 

This time, however, there was no point in heading over to my desk because my computer had crashed the day before and so I was computer-less.  What's a girl like me to do with this change in routine?

So I headed downstairs, Shea Doggy followed, and we went outside for a lengthy walk. Luckily it was light this time of day, this time of year.  I checked the clock when we got back in:  5:50 a.m.  Now what?  I didn't have to leave for work for 2 hours.    

A compelling desire to feed my soul took over.  I sat down with the newspaper and a cup of hot tea...so perfect...until I glanced at the microwave clock for some reason - habit, I suppose - and saw that it was 6:30 a.m.  Unfortunately noting this time triggered an urgency to get one "quick wash" load of laundry out of the way, and then it was back to my work-now-relax-later mode of operation which included putting away the piles of laundry that would've sat for a week, making my bed which I rarely do, cleaning out the frig and straightening up all sorts of other areas I often neglect.   

Of course I had to brag to David about how productive I had been, and without missing a beat he took credit for it, telling me his good-bye kiss filled me with adrenaline. 

Two days later, I had a new desktop machine, compliments of his hobby of building computers. 

And my laundry has already begun to pile up.