All of the above. I haven’t yet figured out if we’ve saved money or spent more because of the net. In upgrading our computers, husband and I have done all of our product research and purchasing on the net. I use shopper.com and bestbookbuys.com regularly. I am a true mouse potato.
‘mouse potato’, i love it!
less sleep. even tho i have the sw, i still don’t seem to be getting to my taxes this yr. i’m not reading near as much. {sigh}
otoh, my sweetie & i & my brother & i send e-mails back & forth all day. it’s a nice connect.
• Met a couple of great friends whom I probably never would have known otherwise (hey, Ike and Mel!).
• Has been a help in researching my books—not getting facts, but in tracking down people who have facts.
• Has given me better ways of goofing off when I should be working (is that the sound of manuscripts wafting into my In-Box I hear?) . . .
I taught myself how to play guitar solely by using the internet.
Trying is the first step to failure
Well, I think I’ve gained 10 pounds from sitting in a chair half the night, but, on the bright side, the muscles in my right wrist and thumb are toner than ever.
If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z, X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut.
-Albert Einstein
Yep.
Uh huh.
Ditto 
Ye-umm, wait…no comment…
“Universe Man - He’s got a watch with a minute hand, millenium hand and an eon hand and when they meet it’s a happy land - Powerful man, Universe Man”
-TMBG
I don’t watch television, just a few new videos.
I can get patches for all those bugy games, and actualy finish them.
I get all my news online. I don’t ever read a newspaper.
I keep up to date on all my interests online.
I find information for our family vacations, and arrange for accomodations. We go on ATV trips and finding information for this is next to impossible without web searches.
It’ great for finding obscure items you want.
The telemarketers are sending notices by mail saying we couldn’t get hold of you by phone, so we sent you this mailing. “We tried on …” This is great since I throw away almost all my mail, except the ones I recognize, without opening them.
I’m only your wildest fear, from the corners of your darkest thoughts.
I’ve met a lot of nice people…and made some wonderful friends.
I spend more time online in the winter than in the summer simply because I’m inside more.
Outside of icq…and an occasionally trip into the VP chatrooms this message board about does it as far as “chatting” with people. I do surf the net a lot just looking.
“Do or do not, there is no try” - Yoda
Senior Intern to
El Presidente
Self-Righteous Clique *
Well, I had to spend money for a really good upholstered office chair to support my ever-widening butt, plus they wanted the kitchen chair back. And I used to sit up all night reading, but that activity has been drastically reduced. And people are mad at me because the computer ties up the phone line .
But my daughter gets a lot of use out of the computer, teen chat rooms and such…made an online boyfriend. It keeps her busy because there are no girls her age living around here anymore and I’d have to think of something to keep her occupied otherwise.
I work as a webmaster.
I recently moved halfway across the country. I’m a senior in high school, so even if I were interested in making a bunch of new friends, the cliques are already pretty-much hardwired. And my friends back home are all cheap bastards who don’t call me, and so the advent of Instant Messenger in my life has made it possible for me to keep in touch with minimal cost to myself, as well as allowing me my only social outlet.
“History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.” -Winston Churchill
I finally have a life.
If chickens could pee, they would be wet on the bottom.
I didn’t meet my hubby on-line, but if it weren’t for the internet I probably wouldn’t have met him at all. Does that make sense?
(Ok, here’s the long version: we both frequented a local chat BBS, but we didn’t chat with each other. The regs of the BBS would throw together coffee gatherings at Denny’s every week or so and we met at one of those. The guy I had thought was interested in me had been sitting next to me but he got up and left after an hour. Joel strolled in, late as usual, and took his chair. We chit chatted, we arranged the next week’s coffee gathering ourselves, we spent almost the entire night at Denny’s talking, and 2 years later he was on bended knee with a diamond ring. Isn’t that romantic? And, in a roundabout way, I have the internet to thank :))
“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy
I fell in love.
My b/f and I had been friends for 5 years when I went online. We started Emailing each other, eventually nearly every day. It was just chatting with an old friend, at first. But my lover–a remarkably quiet, introverted man–revealed breathtaking sides of him I never knew existed in his writings. I was impressed, stunned even, by his candidness, intellect, humor, balance, and groundedness. When I went on AOL, we IMed (for hours, oftentimes) nearly every night. (This would have been impossible without online service as it would have been a long distance call otherwise.)
We became best friends, and remained so for nearly two years, with Email and IM being our prime form of communication. It was fascinating, exhilirating…and as obvious as it may have been to everyone else, we were stunned to find we’d fallen in love. With…him? Her? The person we’d known in college? That loud, obnoxious, abrasive girl? That quiet, humorless, rigid guy? Yes. Except we’d learned we had both been wrong. 
Mmm…I need to go kiss my boyfriend now. For a long, long time. 
Teaching: The ultimate birth control method.
More omniscient, less omnipotent.
Being connected to the world 24/7 with news and information that I want when I want it…oh wait…that’s a radio ad here in Detroit…Hmmm.
I can find out the info I want within minutes.
Ordering things that are cheaper online, even with the cost of shipping, so I don’t have to drive all over town just to get it.
Email. A new way to send bad jokes.
…and perpetuate old urban legends, as well as create new ones.
Anyone seen my kidneys?
Teaching: The ultimate birth control method.