It's amazing how convenient technology has made things.

At least that's what I thought last Sunday morning after keying in a prescription refill on my cell phone. I'd pick it up at the pharmacy's drive-through on my way to work Monday. So simple.

In my family, I am known for shunning the latest technological advances: We don't have cable, despite cries of privation from my children, and the only video game they ever owned was the first edition Nintendo, which I bought at a garage sale.

But, there are some high-tech conveniences that I have come to appreciate, like online banking, with its up-to-date account balance that helps prevent bounced checks; my cell phones scheduler, which beeps to remind me of appointments that I can no longer trust myself to remember; books on CD that help wile away the hours on my way to work; even a laptop computer, which allows me to write this column wherever I happen to be the Sunday before it is published.

My Sunday morning fondness for technology was short-lived, though, disrupted by a noontime phone call from my boss.

"Hi Linda, this is John," I heard through the crackle of my cell phone. "Something has come up at work."

John went on to explain that a news release had to be sent out that day. No, there was no need to come in to the office; everything could be accomplished from home. He would e-mail me the necessary documents, which could be used to prepare the release. There also was a Web site where I could find additional information. And after I had a chance to review it all, we would talk again.

Technological conveniences, I grumbled as I snapped my phone shut. So much for watching the Steelers-Ravens football game. And I could forget about my usual Sunday afternoon walk on what would probably be the last sunny Sunday of the year.

For the next several hours, I reviewed the e-mailed documents, visited the Web site, made the necessary phone calls, and prepared the release. Through a flurry of e-mail exchanges — me on my laptop and John on his BlackBerry — the release was edited and readied for distribution. All made possible by today's technology. Work once confined to weekdays at the office could now be accomplished on Sunday at home.

We've certainly come a long way from when the Blue Laws limited Sunday's activities, when grocery and retail stores were closed, and only a lone drug store kept shortened hours, in case of a medical emergency.

The Blue Laws, for readers under the age of 50, were practices rooted in Puritan laws that restricted the sale of goods on Sunday. Growing up in a time when they still influenced how we did things, I liked how the Blue Laws made Sundays special, when the outside world didn't intrude on a family's personal life.

Technological conveniences are a mixed bag, I thought late Sunday night as I set the timer on the coffee maker. I know I'd trade the handiness of refilling a prescription by phone if work could be confined to the weekdays, instead of being done 24/7, which the latest technology has made possible.