JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT THE Y2K CRISIS WAS OVER, YOU REALIZED YOU DIDN'T RECEIVE A WATER BILL

When midnight came on New Year's Eve, many of us were glued to the TV to see if the dire Y2K predictions came to pass. They didn't. We rationalized that we were terrified of calamity and went to extraordinary lengths -- with success -- to avoid the worst.

Perhaps it takes a little longer than we thought to ascertain the Y2K impact. Look at the utility bills from the city of Cape Girardeau. A new computer system has been a nightmare so far. Many water, sewer and trash customers didn't receive any bill for over two months, and some customers are still waiting for February's bill. On top of that, some bills were estimated because the new computers wouldn't accept data from handheld meter-reading devices.

Who knows. This may not be the last of Y2K after all.