I feel as bad for the families of the astronauts on the Columbia as the next guy, but somehow, this accident, while tragic, seems muted in that tragedy. It could be as shallow as not having the vivid imagery of the Challenger disaster seventeen years ago. It could be that it was "only" an accident, and in the post-9/11 world, that means a lot more (or less) than it used to. There has always been a margin of error with the space program, and there is an accepted level of risk involved. I don't know. I might just be a jerk.

And there's still politcal hay to be made from this. That should be interesting to watch, in a twisted highway-accident sort of way.

Back on the cell phone front, one addendum to the observations of my last entry. Things told to you on Friday may change by Saturday. Not only did the one Cingular retail store with a significant number of used phones not have an Ericsson, the customer service kids at the toll-free number changed their tune as well, and now they say they DON'T have my phone available for purchase. And they had no record of my second call yesterday, despite the fact that I entered my phone number and billing ZIP Code when I first connected. It's called Customer Relationship Management, and by and large, it's poorly implemented everywhere. Of course, I got the customer service plot twist right when the store closed, so I couldn't go back and take the salesguy's offer of a free loaner while they wait for a used Ericsson.

Oy. If I had positive cash flow, I'd just suck it up and buy a cooler phone at normal retail prices. I was tempted to ask my dad to cover it either for my birthday or in return for my computer heroics over the holidays, but didn't. I also didn't mention my vehicular drama, but he didn't need to hear that. Of course, my parents know where this site lives, so we'll see.