Lost moments

The captain of the Northwest Airlines plane that overshot its destination by 150 miles in October told investigators four days later that he was “blown away” by how long he and his first officer had been distracted from their duties....
... The crew was out of radio contact with air traffic controllers for 77 minutes. The problem was that the captain, Timothy Cheney, and the first officer, Richard I. Cole, in the isolation of a hijack-proof cockpit, were glued to their laptops, puzzling over a new scheduling system.
“This was only supposed to take 10 minutes,” Mr. Cheney told investigators.
“I was wrong,” he told them, to have “let another force come from outside and distract me.”
Read full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/17/us/17pilot.html?_r=1&hp

How many of us turn on the computer just for 10 minutes to check our emails, financial data, the headlines and find that over an hour has passed since the initial 10 minutes?
And, when all is said and done, was the hour spent productively? Could it have been spent in better fashion by picking up a sefer, communicating with members of the family or doing a chesed?
The consequences of the pilot's actions may lead to disastrous results, including the loss of his job.
Yesterday, it was reported that Cameron Pettigrew, an employee at Fidelity Investments, along with three others, were fired for playing fantasy football.
Pettigrew, though, said he never sent any fantasy football e-mails at work or using his work e-mail address. But the investigators found two instant messages that had fantasy-football-related material.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/80765.html

The pilot's words send a clear message. A force from outside came and distracted him.
Let's defeat the outside force and say "enough." My time can be spent more productively. When family members walk into the house, I will try to greet them at the door with good cheer, rather than with a shout, "I'm on the computer."
And, may I be able to make a reckoning at the end of the day for time well spent and leave no moments unaccounted for.