The Bourne Ultimatum

. . . is an awesome movie!

Kayla and I went to see it last night at the $2.99 theater. I only had $1.10, but Tuesday nights are 2-for-1 nights, so Kayla only had to cover me for $0.40. At least I finally got to see it. :)

I don't have much more to say about the movie itself--just that it's mind-blowing, and that I could follow this movie easier than the first two in the trilogy. I think that seeing the first two movies more than once helped, in that my mind was used to keeping up with a plot that moved as fast as the Bourne plots did.

I forgot to mention . . .

Back in either July or August, there was this church dance at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. There was a huge tent where the DJ and all the snacks were setup, and those of us there could walk along the water. It was on Pier 5, I think, and there was a submarine/museum in the harbor, but we couldn't go in because it was after visiting hours. I wasn't all that interested in going, but Anna dragged me there anyway. I saw a lot of people I hadn't seen in a while, and Anna threatened to throw my new-used book in the harbor, and then just put it in her purse--nothing new for Anna.

It's about time I got a new one.

So, I've had this "new every two" plan from Verizon for years now, and I've actually traded up once. The phone I got from that trade-up was ruined in August of 2006 when I took it on a water ride at Hershey Park (I'd forgotten to bring plastic bags for my stuff, and just took my backpack).

After that, I got my current phone (see pics at left), and from what I remember, they told me I'd have to wait two more years from the date of that purchase before I could get a new phone on the "new every two" plan. But I got a call a couple months ago, and they told me that I could get a new phone anyway. I didn't do anything about it then, because my current phone seemed to be working okay, and I didn't want to deal with the possibility that I'd have to pay the difference for the phone (you only get a $100 credit toward a new phone).

But yesterday, I just got sick of it. My current phone is nice, yes, but it's also bulky, heavy, and doesn't get good service on the first floor of my house, or in the basement at work.

So, I looked up new phones at the Verizon website, and found out I could get the phone I've had my eye on for months completely for FREE. All I had to do was redeem my "new every two" credit ONLINE, which gave me another credit for about $30 more. So, I got a $129 phone for $0.

I was expecting it to take a week or two to get the phone through the mail, but at the end of the order I saw that it said 1-2 business days, so I figured on Monday or Tuesday. But no, I got an e-mail a few hours later saying that the phone had shipped and giving me a FedEx tracking number. I checked out the tracking information. Lo and behold, the phone is due to arrive today by 3:00 p.m! As of 8:38 this morning, it's already on the truck for delivery in Hagerstown. This is too cool!

I'm getting the Samsung SCH-u740 (see pic at right), which opens in both directions: the same direction as a regular flip phone, as well as in the direction that my current phone opens (I have The V by LG). One of my co-workers has one, and I've had my eye on getting one of my own since he showed it to me.

Apparently, the delivery requires a signature, but that's okay, since Jen S. and Kayla are usually both home all day anyway. I so cannot wait to go home this evening! Of course, that's not really anything new--I just have a good reason to be excited to leave work today.

Anybody want my old phone? If not, I'm going to give it to this one organization I heard of that provides emergency cell phones to people who can't afford to have a regular cell phone plan--once I've got all of the data transferred, that is.

Renn Fest . . . And Other Exciting Things

So, Anna, Kayla, Jen S, Jason and I went to Renn Fest a few weeks ago. I bought outfits for Jason and Jen. I also rode an elephant with Anna and Jen! It was pretty fun, except for the fact that sitting on the elephant kind of threw my hip out of joint--that was a little uncomfortable. I've been meaning to post pictures from the Festival, but Anna hasn't downloaded any from her camera yet. As soon as she does though, she's promised to e-mail them to me, and then I'll post them.

Things have sort of settled down on the roommate front now. Jen C. kept calling and e-mailing me (can you say "harrassment?") about Amit's part of the security deposit. Finally, Amit called TC (the landlord), and he said he'd take care of it and that Amit can pay TC back. Whew.

Amit and Jen S. are pretty fun, and Amit cooks for us every now and then. Yummy. I don't see much of Stacie, but so far, she's loaned her DVDs for the first and second season of Bones to both Anna and Kayla. Bones is pretty interesting; I think I might just be the next one to borrow the DVDs.

Anna TiVo'd the first two episodes of this new show called Pushing Daisies. It's about this guy who brings people back from the dead, asks who killed them, and then makes them dead again. (If he doesn't, then someone else dies, and he can never touch the first person again, or they'll die too.) It's narrated by Jim Dale, the guy who narrates the (I think) American version of the Harry Potter audio books, as well as the video games. Kayla and I watched the first two episodes last night, and it is hilarious! I'm definitely going to be watching every Wednesday at 8pm.

I took my car in for an oil change and a tune-up on Saturday. Didn't get it back until today though, because it was 1pm when I dropped it off, and they couldn't get to look at it until today. Turns out, the car needed a lot more done than that, especially since I hadn't had any regular maintenance done on it at all, and I've had it for more than a year and a half. I just sunk $677 and change into it today (good thing I had some savings), and it still needs about $1,300-worth of further repairs. Although the two most expensive repairs can wait as long as I'm careful and pay attention to the level of coolant in the reservoir.

I'd been thinking for the last few weeks that I'd go see if the bookstore across the street from my work is hiring part-time holiday help. So, I went over there today at lunch time, but they're only open from 10am-4pm Monday through Saturday. Considering I was looking for a 5:30 or 6pm until about 10pm job for two to three nights a week, plus a Saturday or two per month, that would not have worked.

So, I looked up bookstores in town. There are a lot more than I thought--three on Market Street alone. Then this evening, Kayla came with me to the new Barnes & Noble in the mall so that I could fill out an application. Kayla's friend Madison works there, so I put her name down as a referral. Just waiting to hear from them now.