[R] Staging area for data before read into R

[stephen sefick]

I am wondering if there is a better alternative than Excel for data
storage that does not require database knowledge (I will eventually
have to learn this, but it is not on my immediate todo list).  I need
something that is not limited to 256 columns... I don't need any of
the built in functions in excel just a spreadsheet like program with
cells that hold data in a data.frame format for a staging area before
I get it into R.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  This is not
a direct r question, but all of you folks have more experience than I
do and I am having a time finding what I need with google.
thanks in advance

-- 
Stephen Sefick
Research Scientist
Southeastern Natural Sciences Academy

Let's not spend our time and resources thinking about things that are
so little or so large that all they really do for us is puff us up and
make us feel like gods.  We are mammals, and have not exhausted the
annoying little problems of being mammals.

								-K. Mullis