Blocked

In October, the company I work for merged with a bank (ironic, considering that much of what we do is mergers and acquisition advisory). The merger has had little impact on the work that I do, but has had a huge impact on my downtime at work. I have become accustomed to seeing the following message on my web browser:

"Accessing web site: _______.com is prohibited at this time"

No, I do not routinely access X-rated sites at work (or anywhere else for that matter), but I do like to take short breaks throughout the day to check my personal e-mail account, sports sites to catch up on K-State news, Facebook, and, of course, blogs. All of which -- among many others -- are blocked.

At first I felt guilty, like I was doing something illegal. Then, it turned into a game of trying to figure out which sites are and which sites are not blocked. And finally, I just got annoyed. Is it so terrible that I occasionally take a break from work to catch up with my gmail account or read the latest post on one of my favorite blogs? I rarely take lunch breaks, so am I really so evil to take an occasional peek at ESPN?

I did, however, discover that my own blog is not blocked, nor are blogs that do not have blogspot or wordpress in the address. Thus, I have been keeping a very close eye on The Pioneer Woman. I watched her cookbook tour like a hawk, and felt like I was there every step of the way. A Peine for Your Thoughts comes up, but I am saddened that the formatting is all screwed up, and I can't see any of her pictures. Everyone else: I'm sorry, I have not been a good reader. If you are like me, then you haven't posted anything new in the last month and a half, and you haven't even noticed!