Anyone else out there addicted to updates? Updates of anything. Just updates. Refresh until something shows up in bold with a number in parentheses. Wow, novelty. A little gift from life waiting to be unravelled.

I’m like a pigeon pecking away in a Skinner box on a variable reward schedule, the most addiction-causing kind. I refresh e-mail for new messages. Yahoo, Hotmail, G-mail, work mail, Friendster, MySpace. I check Bloglines for new posts on my hot blogs or new Gamespot news articles. Replies to my forum entries. Replies to my comments. New pictures on Flickr. When it’s close enough to midnight, I check for a new Questionable Content comic.

My newest addiction: parcel tracking. You order something on Amazon, then you plug the tracking number into Canada Post’s site. Ooh, it’s entered the sortation plant in Mississauga. Check again in an hour, and it’s at the distribution center in Montreal. Later that afternoon, wow, it’s out for delivery.

I daresay I’m not alone, am I?