(Maybe I should have an alter blog, like missleigh. I could call it As the Zit Pops, or The Red and the Inflamed. The Zit Chronicles? Zit Report?)

I got a fancy new cell phone. (That link may or may not work. If not, it's a M0t0r0la V551.) Jeff was no help at all. He seemed to actually encourage me to get the more expensive one, saying "I like the bigger one" (meaning bigger display). I was worried about upgrading, since I'd either have to sign up for a new plan (contract or not), or get prepaid and possibly lose some features (like voice mail). Most of the prepaids seemed to be about as much monthly as a regular plan. I ended up getting the lowest individual plan, and signed a one year contract to lower the cost of the phone by $50. I thought I'd be upping my bill by $10 a month, but then she pointed out that they were taking off several features that are now included. So, that made the increase about $7. Then as we were leaving, a lady who had been talking to Jeff (who doesn't know who our long distance provider, homeowner's insurance carrier, etc. is) while I stared at the phones asked if we had B3llSouth long distance. I said yes, as well as DSL. It was some sort of combined billing, multiple services type of thing with B3llSouth/C!ngular/A+&+. I ended up getting signed up for $10 off my cell phone bill every month, and $25 cash back. (So now my bill is $3 lower? Eh, fees will eat that, I'm sure.) We also get unlimited long distance, where before I'd had whatever the minimum plan was. I'll take it! Wait, didn't I get $10 off my DSL, too? I can't remember exactly. But hey, work already pays $20 of that.

UPDATE: Uh, yeah. Apparently the lady at the store was full of shit. I have to have a $39.99 or higher plan to get the $10 off, and I do not. I called B3llS0uth like she asked me to today, and was thoroughly confused. I'm going to wait about a week to call back and see what the hell changes go through, then make some plan changes the lady suggested to get other legitimate discounts. Fuckers.

Now I have to decide on a couple cool ringtones. Here's what I've narrowed it down to:

The Distance - Cak3
Tom S@wyer - Rush
Bombs Over Bagdad - Outk@st
So Fresh, So Clean - Outk@st
Freddie's Dead - Curt!s Mayf!eld
You've Got Another Thing Coming - Jud@s Pri3st
The Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden
Shout at the Devil - Motl3y Cru3
I Don't Know - 0zzy 0sbourne
Go With the Flow - Q0TSA
Push It - Salt N Pepa

I had the last one, Fade to Black, and The Good, Bad, and Ugly theme on my old (mono) phone. There's now a polyphonic tone for the latter, but I don't really like it. I wonder if I can make a request. Too bad they didn't have Running with the Devil. I've got sort of a theme going on there.

What else? Oh, I spent some of the tax return. Along with the phone, I got a carpet cleaner, a facial sauna/steamer thing (hope it helps), and some cheap shirts and clearance stuff at Tarzhay. Gotta get this season's black t-shirts, you know! I've got a few pairs of those synthetic track pants in black, and the cotton shirts only match them for so long.