What do you say about something like the Columbia blowing up? Sonya turned on the TV just as I was about to walk out the door to get a new radio installed in my car and it said in the crawl along the bottom of the screen on MSNBC Columbia not responding to Mission Control and I knew. Everything else was just details - that shuttle was already gone.

I listened to NPR on my way to the West Bank and really the only thing I learned was that it wasn't terrorists (which I knew was unlikely, but still) and then I dropped off the car at Circuit City. I walked down the strip mall to this little coffee place. I got a large mocha and sat outside for a couple of hours, reading the paper and one of the Stephen King books I got for Christmas. It was really nice. There was a little breeze blowing, and it was sunny, and the coffee was good. There were a bunch of seagulls in the parking lot and I felt like I was down at the docks or something. One of the ladies that worked there came out and talked to me. It was a pleasant morning.

Then I went back to Circuit City and got my car. The new radio (Sonya got me the XM Satellite Radio service for our anniversary) sounded great and I channel surfed all the way back Uptown. We went to Home Depot and the World Market, and then we got some groceries.

It was a nice Saturday. I'll never forget it - but for the wrong damned reasons.