Balancing Work and Life: Goodbye Crackberry?

Jacqueline Church Simonds, owner of book publisher Beagle Bay in Reno, Nev., found herself in an unfortunate predicament in January, when she and her husband took a cruise around Australia and New

Zealand for two-and-half weeks. She had pledged not to check work email while on board the ship, but soon found herself going through Internet withdrawal. "We're [cruising] along the east coast of Australia, and it's this gorgeous area, and I'm sitting there like I have a coffee jones, just shaking and saying 'I have to look at my email!'" she recalls.

From the ship's Internet café, Simonds (a solo entrepreneur) emailed a temporary employee she'd left in charge and found the woman was mishandling things. Simonds spent the rest of the cruise stopping by the Internet café at least twice a day, and arranging for emergency back-up to help the woman. She's not pleased with how much technology interfered, and will make sure she has a full-time employee in place before taking another vacation.