Could YOU give up your BlackBerry? What about the Puppy Cam?

Some addictions are hard to break. This weekend (courtesy of NYTimes.com) we learned that President-Elect Barack Obama (as well as many, if not most, of his advisers) is a CrackBerry addict. We also learned (courtesy of The Today Show and MSNBC) about the newest Internet addiction, the Puppy Cam.

First to Barack Obama and his BlackBerry addiction. Like many men (and women) of a certain age, President Obama, over the years, has come to depend (heavily) on this combination email, smartphone, data, application, gaming, Internet tool, whose tagline is "It's got the power and performance to drive your desires." The power and performance to drive your desires?! Whoa. That's strong stuff. And no doubt why, per the Times article, "For years, like legions of other professionals, Mr. Obama has been all but addicted to his BlackBerry. The device has rarely been far from his side — on most days, it was fastened to his belt...."

I see you nodding your heads. You know of what I speak fellow CrackBerry Heads. And you know what's coming.

Due to concerns about e-mail security and "the Presidential Records Act, which puts his correspondence in the official record and ultimately up for public review, and the threat of subpoenas," Obama is going to have to quit his BlackBerry (and probably email, too) FOR FOUR WHOLE, LONG YEARS. No more typing "Sox!" to friends when the Chicago White Sox win a game. No more surreptitiously looking up box scores during dinner parties or shows (oh, sorry, that's my spouse). No more firing off memos to aides at 1 a.m.

Instead of going cold turkey, apparently the President Elect is slowly weaning himself off his BlackBerry, only reading messages. But it hasn't been easy, say friends. As you can imagine, his thumbs are already twitching.

Can the President Elect go cold turkey? Could you? I doubt my spouse could stay off his CrackBerry for four hours (ok, four minutes) let alone four years.

And speaking of addictions... This morning I was nearly distraught to learn that the Puppy Cam was OFF AIR. What do they mean by "Off Air"? I want my live view of those six adorable five-week-old Shiba Inu puppies out in San Francisco!

Sure, go ahead and lure me into the addictive cuteness of watching these adorable pups sleep, play, and wrestle 24/7. Then, when I (and millions of other likewise-addicted Americans, and Europeans, and Asians) go to get my morning fix, just pull the plug (literally). (I just checked again, still "Off Air," but they do have some cute pictures of the puppies and video clips taken with the Puppy Cam.)

Curse you, Ustream.tv! Now what am I supposed to do, watch the Guinea Pig Cam?

(Okay, technically, there is no Guinea Pig Cam, yet. It was just an idea a friend floated, after I sent her a link to the Puppy Cam. Though upon reflection she later wrote it was probably not a good idea as "the little bugger would probably figure out a way to climb up and eat it." Still, bereft of my Puppy Cam (for now), I begged her to hook up a Guinea Pig Cam anyway. But she dashed my hopes, yet again, by writing, "He's pretty boring, really. Just eats and [poops] all day long. His name is Pez because he dispenses little oblong pellets everywhere.")

So, like Barack Obama, I too must face down my addiction and learn to live without it, at least until Ustream gets the damn Puppy Cam back online (hopefully later today).