Thanks giving, Week 17

I am thankful for the internet.  Yes, yes, I am.  And here's why:

• Wes and I never have to argue anymore over who is right about some random question.  As he says, "There's no need to argue over this.  Just Google it."  (And, as a side note, should Google be capitalized if it's being used as a verb?)  We know a lot more -- albeit it usually random -- thanks to the internet. 
• I have friends on the internet, many more so than I have in real life.  I keep blogs that friends and family read, though they don't always comment to let me know they're reading.  I'm on Facebook and have connected with new friends and maintained old friendships there.  I was even on a message board when I was pregnant to connect me with other women who were due the same time as me.  To be frank, I don't have many friends in real life with whom I'm able to socialize daily or even weekly.  So some days when I come home, I go online to connect with friends.  Some might argue that's strange or even unhealthy, but for now it's just reality (if that makes sense).
• It makes my work a lot easier.  I can do everything from pull up articles for papers through the library database to find data samples through teacher blogs to email with professors and classmates.  We all take this for granted now -- and I do still enjoy the library itself, interviewing real people, and meeting in person for class and some meetings -- but it really does make me more productive and lets me work around my own schedule -- which is not always my own.

So thank you, Al Gore, and other inventors of the internet and the folks at Google and Mozilla Firefox and, you know, whoever all is responsible for all the content I look at every day.  You complete me.