Hi Jeff and All...

>Anyway, this leads me to wonder, how many here have
>something to fall back on in case there were ever prolonged
>network outages across wide geographical areas?

"Money" sites can be moved in days, if not hours, so this isn't too big of a concern to me.

>Along similar, but happier, lines, how many here have
>thought about or actually planned an exit strategy? Assuming
>you don't want to do IM forever of course!

I used to worry about this, but decided I can do IM for the rest of my life, assuming I still have my "faculties".

If you can think, type and/or speak, you should be able to enjoy a career in IM for as long as you wish.

Having said this, I had a stroke two years ago that temporarily paralyzed my left hand and made my speach slur quite a bit, which greatly affected my ablity to IM...The truth is, if I can't do IM, there's probably not a lot of other things I'll be able to do, either, and IM seems to be the safest option, all things considered.

For a side note, I set up Dragon Naturally Speaking during this time since my left hand didn't work and I could get by...But as my speach inproved, Dragon couldn't recognize my speach and I didn't bother to retrain it as my slurring lessened. At the same time, my hand was improving so my typing got better, and now I'm back 100%. Actually, I think typing was pretty good therapy for my hand.