I've been away for a

I've been away for a few days now, seeing amazing sites in fantastic places, and while I haven't missed the internet at all, a few minutes ago, I was reminded of what a great thing is truly is.

I'm sitting on a beach outside of Cairns right now, mere steps from the sand, using a kiosk at the fish 'n chips shop. A few days ago, I met up with Neale, a person I would have never met without this worldwide network. I stopped into a internet cafe in Sydney yesterday and exchanged real-time messages with someone watching our apartment and pets, and my whole trip here was planned via a series of websites and email exchanges with residents of Oz. So while it's good to get away, it's great to know it is there, ready to beam messages and connect people and places for virtually no cost.

(update: a quick email check when I wrote this contained a travelocity message stating one of our connecting flights was cancelled, which a quick call to Qantas fixed. Thank jebus for email!)