When I first started working on the web, it was not only possible but common to build an entire website by yourself, from back end to front end. Even promotion. We called ourselves webmasters because we had mastered (or more often, just did) everything. The back end was Javascript or Perl because that's what was available; the front end was table-based HTML; and promotion meant submitting to the 10 or 15 new search engines eager for links.

Every once in a while it suddenly hits me that I have too many computers in my life. This week has been one of those moments. So to speak. My über fast Dell desktop at work is my newest darling, but it's a bit heavy to lug into meetings and on a plane. I had no choice. I had to renege on our delicately haggled agreement and swipe back the Toshiba laptop I'd handed down to my husband. In exchange I set him up on The Big Monster, the custom-built PC I got last fall when I was still doing freelance work and that practically blows back your hair when you push the "on" button.

I've been working long hours lately on some cool projects at the university. I thought only freelancers worked such ungodly hours. Not! Turns out I hadn't taken into account the universal appeal of turning little digital squiggles into virtual realms of color, shape and context. I'd also forgotten about Remote Desktop.

On Thursday, Congress passed the Cope Act, a bill that would allow phone, cable and other Internet service provider companies to regulate web site delivery--despite 800,000 signatures for Net Neutrality gathered by SaveTheInternet.com.

All right. I admit it. I am a computer spud. Day after day I slump in front of a computer, staring at a glowing LCD screen, sometimes not budging for hours at a time. Ergonomics for me mostly means shifting into a cross-legged position when slouching on my tailbone gets too uncomfortable. Needless to say, I'm suffering the inevitable consequences. My rear is expanding, my eye sight is going, and by the end of the day my posture resembles that of a hunchback.