Crowne Plaza

This weekend, I'm been at the Crowne Plaza! It's one of the swankier hotels in Kitchener. It has its own pool, hot tub, sauna, exercise room, ping pong tables, mini golf, bowling, arcade and more!

I know it sounds odd that I would spend a weekend at a hotel in the city that I live in. It's work related.

I did wind up getting a plot in a community garden. Not the one I was after, though. This one's a bit of a hike out, but whatever. I've planted snow peas, sunflowers, zucchinis, cherry tomatoes, and impatiens. The impatiens are to attract bees, since I learned that the reason my zucchini plants always flower but don't often turn into zucchinis is because there aren't enough bees to help cross polinate. So I decided to get a flower that is more consistent to establish it as a hot spot for bees.

My phone broke. One day my phone just wouldn't power on. I always thought it would meet its end due to something charger related, but instead it just started freezing on the front screen. So I brought it in, and the guy said it was just done. If I'd been able to have it last until November, I would have gotten a new one for free, so I was disappointed. Still, the length it lasted put it down to $75 on a phone that is usually over $200.

 I remembered an interaction I had with a guy at the bus terminal. He'd asked for $3 for a bus. I gave it to him and he held out a phone. I said "What is this?" He said "For the $3", I said "You don't have to give me your phone, man", he said "I don't take charity", I said "Fine, but I'd give you the $3 regardless". I then accepted his phone and he offered to give me his autograph, which I also accepted.

So I wondered if this phone might actually work, and if I could just put the SIM card of my old phone into it. I charged it, powered it on, was surprised it was a fully functioning phone, with his contact list, a working calendar and other basic apps, and could work as timepiece. It wouldn't recognize my SIM card though. I wondered if it was because my phone was an android and his a Blackberry (no wonder he was selling it for $3 amiright?). I lamented over a memory of a woman on the street in crisis trying to sell me an Alcatel (same make as my phone) for $20. I didn't take it because it seemed kind of exploitative and I didn't realize you could transfer a SIM at that time.

So I had to go buy one. Even though I had to pay the $75, they soothed that pain by giving me a $100 gift certificate.

So really, the Blackberry was not the cheapest phone I've owned.

My flip was $60.

My Alcatel was free.

My Blackberry was $3.

And they gave me $25 for my Samsung.

This thing is beautiful. It pulls up the keypad on outgoing calls. so I can dial extensions now (shouldn't be a selling point, but after the past year and a half, it is). I just plug it in to charge it. The screen is even larger, and it can go for days without charging. The battery will likely weaken, but the Alcatel was always a daily charge, so it has a better starting point.