Just as I had suspected! Cingular and AT&T have finally said their I Do's. The two companies have merged -- or rather, Cingular purchased AT&T at a whoppiing $41 billion, which, I believe, makes it the largest wireless carrier in the U.S., surpassing Verizon. I had seen several mergers in the past -- AT&T was a merge that was done several years ago when I first entered this field -- Airtouch was swallowed up by a group, now called, Verizon, formally called Airtouch, GTE, etc. etc. Cingular came as a result of its parent's divorce/marriage. Formally Pacific Bell, it joined hands with other landline companiese in the South, South West, and became SBC, and their wireless service, became Cingular. What does this mean for the consumer? Probably close to nothing.

Two days ago, someone scraped my mom's new car (her eight-month-old Hyundai Elantra) causing about two feet of denting and discoloration on the front left portion of the car, as well as part of the door. My mother was devastated, and it happened while the car was parked. Thankfully, the person left their info, including the license number. I called her, and she told me that she had no insurance. She's willing to fix the car, but she's strongly requesting that the services be done at her brother's body shop. It would be preferable for my mom to have the insurance company handle it, but since she has no insurance, and I'd rather not pay anything -- what can I do? My mom went to the police station and they said that they won't even file a report for something like this. Geez.