People can get obsessed in anything to the point of neglecting their family. There's some people in my office who have a problem with fantasy sports, if you ask me.

Word. It's not like marriages didn't break up before the Internet.

I agree to some extent that the internet tends to speed things up, though. I think everything from email to divorce is a little faster nowadays. And having another form of escape makes it easier to dodge issues facing a marriage and it certainly opens up whole new worlds filled with fascinating strangers who can seem like the totally "get" you. That can be enticing to people who feel lonely, alienated and estranged.

Still, I hate it when people blame the means. It's ultimately a person's choice. The medium they use shouldn't be tarred as a result.

Emma is, I'm not the first to observe it, a lovely, elfin-looking girl child.

~ma to Burrell.

Connie, you are very wise to navigate the waters of your family so wisely. I have to be in a separate time-zone from mine in order to preserve sanity.

Thanks, all, for your good wishes and thoughts.

It's not like marriages didn't break up before the Internet.

So true. It only exposes a problem that was already there. It's the catalyst, not the cause.

People can get obsessed in anything to the point of neglecting their family. There's some people in my office who have a problem with fantasy sports, if you ask me.

Agreed, and if people are looking for something to obsess over or to help them escape from their lives they will mostlikely find it.

Hey, I resemble that remark.

Well, having seen Emma, I can better understand Evil Mother in Law's baffling comments - she does look like she could be an elf. She's a remarkable wee person, in that she looks nothing like Winston Churchill. Go figure.

But, for the love of God, The Empress is a babe. Maybe more of an Eowyn babe than an Arwen babe, but, hey, I know which one I'd rather shag spend time with. Ahem. Silly MiL.

probably similar to the sensation we all had when big batches of us first met at the Chicago F2F.

Or really, anytime Buffistas meet F2F. That sense of continuing a familiar pattern of conversation, just in an additional dimension, is the same no matter how large the group or how small. Hec, I'm really glad the reading went well, and it's so cool that Dee de-lurked in person. (Hi, Dee, if you're lurking now!)

That arms-out pose of Em's looks like she's attempting to fly. Miracleborn Baby! Up, up, and awaaaayyyy!

OMG, Emma is darling. I want to dress her up in a little black velvet dress, stripey tights, and teeny-tiny bat wings. Cute, cute, cute baby.

That reminds me, next payday I should invest in some high-thread-count white or purple sheets so I can use Beverly's lovely pillowcases without the rest of the bed getting all grumpy and clashy.

Aw, JZ, I hope you guys enjoy them. Also? The thing is in the mail. You know, that thing? No, not that, the other thing. Yeah. That thing. Let me know when it gets there, would you? And thanks again.

Deena, job-done-ma to you to the nth degree. Once done, you can play, right?