Keeping in touch by blog

There are times when technology is meant to further or simplify our communication. I remember when I got my first computer and instantly fell in love with the idea of email. My long distance phone bills dropped dramatically and immediately. I still believe, however, that the cell phone is the modern world's greatest curse, and that rather than helping people stay in touch, is serving to isolate people even more. I mean, how often have you seen someone chatting away mindlessly on their cell phone and completely ignoring the people around -- and with -- them? The blogs seem to me, after a year or so of experiencing them, a good thing. I still communicate a lot via email, but I find that I'm keeping in close touch with a number of people these days through their blogs. I have developed a kind of ritual when firing up my computer these days: after checking my email, I launch my internet browser and check out several blogs. (This is a daily -- at least -- event.) I'll check blogs from my friends Will, Steve, K, and Stix, and then check the Winona boys blog and, finally, this, my own to see if anyone's posted any comments. I guess what made me think of this is that I'm really enjoying reading (and commenting on) Will's blog to the extent that I feel I'm in closer touch with him these days than I am with his dad, with whom I've been friends for 35 years ("longer than I've known just about anybody, now that I come to think of it," to quote Neil Young).