"Remember when you were willing to wait a few seconds for a computer to respond to a click on a Web site or a tap on a keyboard? These days, even 400 milliseconds — literally the blink of an eye — is too long, as Google engineers have"

I am awake but all is still sleep.

Last night. I don't remember much about last night. I know that Dree fell asleep on the couch. I know I had left Nan's house in a bad mood. There was a lot of wine. I must have looked a fool, sulking at the dinner table, pouring myself fuller and fuller glasses of wine, until there was none left in the bottle. No one said anything. Devon ate quickly and left. Nan ate as she always did, slowly and deliberately, cutting her food into neat, small pieces. I didn't eat much.

Johnny Cash did it in "One Piece At A Time." Jason Robards did it in Max Dugan Returns (ten-year-old me loved that movie). And now Teresa Tambunting joins the ranks of those fictional counterparts whose patience and determination resulted in a vast heist over an extended period-in this case, six years. Unfortunatley for Tambunting, the resolution of this story does not involve an amalgamated Cadillac or a heartwarming reunion with a long-abandoned family; no, the Scarsdale mom may get a 25-year sentence for stealing $12 million worth of gold from the jewelry store at which she was employed.