Why live life when you can mediate it, record it, film it, digitalize it, pixilate it. It would appear that it is becoming better to "capture" a legend than directly experience him. Is that really what memories are made of, capturing the moment rather than being in the moment?

The hundred million strong American TV audience reacting to the TV star that is Sarah Palin, the Mr. and Mrs. America for whom she is clearly the poster VP candidate, watched, smiled and felt confidant once again in the woman who is like them…sorta.

It's a nervous little smile, not the wide, Presidential smile that Obama repeatedly flashed (oh my God, how can I be so unabashedly biased!?) In other words, McCain was intent on "dissin' " Obama at every opportunity. Obama was rather significantly more respectful. Whether the red meat and the "elite" viewers appreciated this difference is unknown to me at this point.

Sitting in front of the screen or pacing around the floor in front of it, I felt vulnerable and threatened. The more I watched, the more upset I became. Neighbors called, sharing their alarm. Media-repeated words and images ricocheted off walls of consciousness. My blood pressure rose. My temples pounded. Warnings were issued by city authorities. The dangers of leaving home were itemized like a way-to-die cheat sheet. And as the hours smashed ahead, it just kept getting worse.

It's 5 AM. I can't sleep through the night. Haven't since the conventions. I worry. Everything I own is worrying. I can't escape it. My mind is worrying. My shadow government is worrying. My pillow is worrying. My cat, Waif, is worrying. Even Noodleman, our lawn-resident chipmunk, is worrying. McCain will win!

I'm not the only one who is worried. Virtually all my friends, my social network, are seeing whispering, muttering ravens everywhere and are sure they're hearing owls calling out the name Obama as they perch on branches over the river Styx.

According to the former executive editor of Wired magazine, Kevin Kelly, ICT-savvy people are making conscious choices about which tech appliances to avoid and which to employ, along the lines of how, when, where, why and to what extent. For them, having it all is not paradise, but paradise lost.

You're a media psychologist. How can you not have a cell phone?!

Michelle Obama's speech, the address given by Jesse Jackson, Jr., two electrifying oratories, Ted Kennedy's appearance, one electrifying moment. Each, for different reasons, affected everyone in the room where I was watching.

I don't have any form of Blackberry-type addictive, life ordering, log-on-to-the-universe-wherever-you-are, life-consuming device for people to get in touch with me if I'm away from a land phone. Emails can wait. So can the net. -- Please don't shoot me. Hear me out.