For a few minutes, the already deprived masses thought that the 21st century comfort gods had taken away Google's services, in addition to the electricity, cell service, and WiFi that Sandy had left them without. According to frantic tweets and DownRightNow.com Gmail, Gchat, Google Reader and other Google things didn't work for about five minutes just before 6 p.m.. At the time, that seemed utterly unfair considering the circumstances of life right now, in which people are forced to huddle around the 21st century fire that is the surge protector. And so, we saw a little bit of a freakout:

GMail is DOWN. Someone please save me from this awful nightmare.

— Not Bill Walton (@NotBillWalton) October 31, 2012

First our power, then our cell service, then our water. Now? Our Gmail.

— Maxwell Zorick (@maxwellzorick) October 31, 2012

WORST RT @igorbobic: Gmail down. Pack it in, people.

— Callie Schweitzer (@cschweitz) October 31, 2012

But, it turned out to be a false alarm. Or rather, a very short lived emergency. Google is working just fine now. And we have all learned a very valuable lesson: Be thankful for what you have. 

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