well, there goes that.

Apparently, my ability to kill RSA SecurID tokens is as strong as ever.

This morning, as I was limping through the parking lot in the uncharacteristically brisk morning air, favoring the tender ankle pain from last night's roller derby practice, I performed my usual routine of pulling out my cell phone to silence it so as not to irritate the smack out of my neighboring colleagues.

Anyhow, as I tinkered with the phone and strolled through the lot, I found myself suddenly airborn and without control of my feet. As in a slow-motion replay, I realized I'd somehow caught the end of a parking lot cement bumper and it was what prevented my feet from catching up to my careening body.

I grimaced at the familiar sound of plastic clinking onto the pavement, and groaned as my blackberry separated into pieces, much like the Treo did the day I got mini-mugged by mini-thugs on the corner of Marcy Ave in Brooklyn. I spited myself for ordering the blackberry case yesterday, as it was both too late and the likely catalyst of Murphy's Law.

As I got back to my feet, and picked up the pieces of my phone, I reached next for my car keys. As the keys rolled in my hand and the token came into view, I saw a giant black scrudge (scratch+smudge) across the plastic. And then I saw a series of characters that more resembled the ancient script of the Star Wars Aurek-Besh alphabet than actual romanized digits. In fact, only the last number of the six-digit code displays completely.

That, moreso than the scruffs on my blackberry, pissed me off. I thought these new tokens would be Steph-proof. They've clearly reengineered them several times, and yet...mine is dead. And from what? A little crash to the pavement?

Well, at least it didn't die from static charge, I guess. But how the hell do I explain this to the Help Desk? "Hi, this is Stephanie, and I've once again killed my token."