Facts and figures keep barreling by as I stand alongside the information superhighway, my thumb outstretched, trying to hitch a ride to ... where?

Yes, we know the fabled info highway is here. Yes, we know we're not on it. And, yes, that's probably all right for most of us.

Ten years ago, if someone asked you for your fax number you probably would have tried to pry the wax out of your ears and asked them to repeat the question.

"My what number?!" you said, a finger still in your ear.

"Your fax number, man! Facsimile!"

"Uh...I dunno. Six?"

Ten years ago, if someone asked you if your computer ran under Windows, what kind of answer would you have provided?

"Well, er, I don't think so. It pretty much just sits there in the corner."

Ten years ago, few of us had PCs, let alone were P.C. And only fifteen years ago, if you wanted a Macintosh you had to put a ladder up into an apple tree.

Today, most of us might wonder how we ever got along without our personal computers, faxes, cellular phones, pagers and laser printers.

According to the weekly newsletter On-Ramp, 88 percent of businesses have a computer; 85 percent have a fax; 57 percent, a modem; and 39 percent, a pager.

More than one-half of the general public and the business community are aware of the Internet. Fifty-nine percent of business people are aware of PDAs (personal digital assistants -- little hand-held computers). And 78 percent of business people are aware of online services.

Perhaps the question we'll all look back on and laugh at in ten years is, "What's your e-mail address?"

Yes, some people will stick with the old U.S. Postal Service to send messages.   Some will continue to send notes via fax -- and pay big bucks to long distance companies, who will now let you send email for free and still tell their shareholders they can make money.

Even techno-phobes can act hip and put an e-mail address on their business cards. IDT, the seventh-largest U.S. long distance phone company (201/928-1000), can provide a subscriber with an e-mail address (such as Howard.Jonas@icm.com, the company's founder). When someone sends an e-mail messgae, IDT will automatically fax a print out to the customer.