I think the Internet is a wonderful thing. I was lucky to be born to two intelligent people, but they were obliged to work very hard for a living in an Alabama mill town. I had everything I needed to survive easily when I was young, but there never was a guarantee I'd enjoy such luxuries as traveling to Europe. It was less than 10 years ago that I sat down at my computer and--entirely on a whim--booked a plane flight to Paris. If not for the Internet, I probably wouldn't have done that, and I'd still believe all those horrible things you hear about Parisians.