So I wanted to keep this blog positive, but whatever. Life, I guess. I'm currently an AT&T subscriber. They're all right, nothing to complain about, but their plan is a little expensive and I really want to stream Pandora a lot. I'm on the road most of the day, so this would be a pretty nice thing to have. That's when I heard about Straight Talk, offered at Wal-Mart and through Straight Talk's own website. Unlimited phone, texting and data for $45 a month. That's incredible! So I went through their website and purchased a sim card for my phone and a month's worth of server.

The set up was pretty easy to start. I have a Samsung Infuse so I first had to unlock it (by following these handy instructions). Well, I didn't have to unlock it first technically. The first thing I needed to do was have Straight Talk port my current cell phone number over to their system. This was said to take a couple hours to seven business days.

There was no real way to see how far along the process was, so on the fifth day or so, I used their live help option to chat with someone to see what was going on. That's when I found that I had purchased a sim card for a T-Mobile phone and not an AT&T phone. Going through their website, which states clearly that it will work with AT&T phones, I could not purchase a sim card for one. The option wasn't even available. It gives you the one option for T-Mobile, and that's it (unless you're on Sprint or Verizon, but that's besides the point). And since that was the one card they offered, that's the one I bought. Of course, there is no refund. And there's no refund for the month of service I purchased either, which Anastasia (my helpful support rep) pointed out that I hadn't used, so it would still be good when I finally get the AT&T card.

I then pointed out to Anastasia that I there was no way for me to purchase the card from the website. She agreed, and told me I could purchase it through Wal-Mart, either at the store or online. Well of course the stores don't sell them, because that was the first place I checked when I thought about trying this out. I then went online. And they don't sell them there, either. They're either sold out or no longer being sold or something. It's not really clear.

So I go to Google. And I don't know what to make of anything I'm reading. Either AT&T is stopping these cards from being sold, or Straight Talk is, or the Supreme Court or aliens. Either way, there seems to be no legitimate way to get an AT&T phone to work on Straight Talk at this time. I could go through Ebay or Amazon. I could try to get a Nokia Straight Talk phone with an unlocked sim card. But I shouldn't have to.

I will try talking to Straight Talk some more and see if they have any solutions. And talk a nice long walk.

Let's talk about Planescape: Torment. It's a PC game that was released around 2000. Thirteen years ago! Well that's a bummer, but that's not what this is about. There's an ongoing debate or discussion on whether games can constitute art. To me, this is the game that ends that conversation. Everything about this game was great, but the storyline was (and still is) one of the best stories in a game I've ever experienced.

Here's the problem with a game like this. The graphics, and in some ways the gameplay, just don't hold up. So I'm afraid that it doesn't age well like a lot of other art does. If I told someone to play it now, it would be lacking. And that's a shame.

The good news is though, is that a sequel just got kickstarted! It's a very exciting time. Not only that, but Patrick Rothfuss is going to be on the creative team. If you're not familiar with him, he's the author of the very good Kingkiller Chronicles. If you're into great fantasy novels, I can't recommend them enough.

And so ends my first rambling blog entry. Oh! RIP Jonathan Winters.

Straight Talk? Riiiiight.

A start to several things.

An Audience of Me