Weekend far from Serene

On Friday night, a few friends and I saw Serenity. I was originally going to write a much longer post, but I think that saying that "it was so unbelievably, stupendously, incredibly awesome that I nearly filled my pants" pretty much sums it up. I wasn't even the most excited on in the theater either. By comparison, I was quite subdued. Alot of fans of the show Firefly (on which the movie is based) had a lot of questions, that they hoped would be answered. I'm not giving too much away here, but no, the questions are not answered, nor will they ever be, now stop asking!
Saturday, I was supposed to go prospecting in the North Sascatchewan River valley, but it rained, so I went to the mall and baught a cell phone instead. It is amazing the difference that a sales person can make. There are at least three stores for each major local cell phone company at West Edmonton Mall. First I tried individual stores, and then found one that had all the companies in one shop. At individual stores, the sales rep assumed I was going to buy the phone right then and there when they explained their "deal." One guy actually said "so, are you going to get it?" At each one of the individual stores, I got the impression that they were jointly trying to deceive me; not telling me all I wanted to know, waiting to be asked about every little detail. How much is long distance? How much is roaming? How long of a contract to I have to sign up for to get that promotion? How many minutes do I get after the promotional period? Can I switch companies with this phone? I'm leaving the country, of course I don't want to sign up for a three year plan. In the end, the girl at the all-in-one store was the most helpful; explaining which phones could be unlocked and switched to other companies and recommending that I get a monthly plan rather than a pay as you go plan, and a long distance phone card rather than a long distance calling plan. Guess who got my business.
The phone wasn't cheap. It was $200 and the phone company required a $200 deposit since I didn't have any credit in Canada. My last phone company never asked for this, but I'm still pissed off at them anyway. The interac machine in the store had difficulty reading my bank card, so I went to a nearby cash machine, which stopped working before it finished dispensing my money, or a receipt. In any case, I bought the phone and went on my somewhat less than merry way. I don't like shelling out a week's pay for something that I'd rather not need, so I went to see Batman Begins at the cheap theater. It doesn't quite balance out, but I wasn't really thinking about how much I'd spent during or until much after the movie. By the way, Batman Begins was really well done. It was nice to see a batman without bat-nipples or neon painted street gangs or cheesey one-liners.
Sunday was fairly uneventful, except that the guy at the Shopper's Drug Mart sold me a Pay as You Go phone card rather than a long distance calling card. It was a waste of $10 for me, but I don't blame him too much. The packaging was very misleading.