The Elephant website went down yesterday afternoon and didn't return until this morning. I'm not sure why. Visitors got the message "This site has reached its service limits. Please try later." My wizard behind the curtain, Scott Price, first noticed the problem. A customer service rep at SiteCrossing told us that he'd never seen that message before. Later, we were told that we'd maxed out on the amount of CPUs for the month, whatever that means, but that they'd reset the button and get us up and running shortly.

I apologize to anyone who tried to visit the site and was shut out.

This is the second time that the site has gone down without warning since our launch in July. The first time we lost nearly three hundred registrations. This time, everything appears to be intact. It may be that we'll have to invest in a better service provider, or upgrade the plan we have, which is a no-frills alternative to WebCrossing. Still, it's unconscionable to me that there's no warning, poor backup, and untimely support.

On the positive site, it has been heartwarming to see that Julie is doing well, and that Jennifer straightened out her problem at the clinic. I'm hoping that Steve's dad is doing better, and that he's staying well and straight himself. I received a great email from "Ringolevio," portions of which I'll be sharing, with her permission, in the future. I also heard back from the woman whose daughter is anorexic. She had walked out of a program in West Palm Beach last month but called following Wilma to let her parents know that she's okay. It's the same nightmare that parents of addicts live, and I remember well how elated I'd feel when I got an indication that Carrick was still alive.

Finally, I just returned from getting a blood test. As I rolled up my sleeve, the phlebotomist asked, "How's your daughter?" I looked at her, trying to figure out if Carrick had gone to school with her. "I saw your documentary," she said. "As I was watching it, I said, 'I know that family!' I took your wife's blood once." When I told her that Carrick was doing "great," she looked relieved, and told me to tell her to keep it up. It's amazing how effective technology can be in bringing people together when it's used in a heartfelt way and not simply as a device to deliver eyes to advertisers.

Speaking of which, the "breaking news" that preempted us from "The Big Idea" on Monday turned out to be separate interviews with Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. The definition of news has certainly shifted since I was last in the newsroom. I've not heard back from the producer about a new date, although she promised to call this week. Who knows why. Perhaps someone felt that we'd been overexposed with the recent run of "Saving Carrick" on MSNBC (as if Pamela and Tommy haven't outlived their fifteen minutes by a few decades). Maybe they didn't like my position on alcohol advertising Ishow host Donny Deutsch runs an ad agency). We'll just keep doing what we're doing and the message will get out. In fact, Deirdre just called to say that FAVOR's Pat Taylor was at a conference this week where SAMSHA Administrator Charles Curie several times quoted Carrick's remarks from the 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health press conference last month. Progress happens if we just keep talking.