Crazy Heart And The Verizon Adventure

The weekend is a blur. We worked hard Saturday morning and then decided to hang out a bit during the afternoon. One of the family phones was dying, so we decided to visit Verizon to explore our options.

Off we went to the Westchester store. We played with phones, talked about new plans, debated Droid vs. Palm, wistfully considered leaving Verizon for the iPhone. We spent three hours working through the phones and comparing features.

We went back home that night, slept on it, made our decision (sadly, passing on the iPhone due to AT&T's inferior coverage west of Richmond) and returned to Verizon Sunday afternoon to talk through a making some changes.

We came out way ahead financially. We essentially got two brand new phones for free, added a fifth line to the family plan (shhh....don't tell Daniel....), set up all the lines with the music business (which gets discounted rates) and made a great friend in the salesman.

It only took FIVE HOURS.

I am not kidding.

At one point, after the store had been officially closed for two hours and we were STILL waiting on the business department to sign off on the deal, Tony literally laid down in the middle of the store - on the floor.

It was very surreal. However, we will simply count it all as loss. At least we were hanging out together. And we chose the Palm Pre phone, which - so far - is pretty cool. And we spent a total of eight hours in one weekend - the equivalent of a work day - in the Verizon store. And we bought our sales guy a coffee from the Starbucks next door, because he was pretty cool.

In the midst of all that and the gorgeous day that was Saturday, we took advantage of two free movie tickets (thanks, John Tiller - you ROCK!) and saw Crazy Heart.

Good movie - not as gripping as I expected, but good - but an incredible performance by Jeff Bridges. He deserved the Oscar.

Great music, too - authentic and impressive because Bridges really inhabited the character enough to sing the songs quite convincingly. And there's T Bone Burnett behind it all, which is fantastic. I loved the music.

Bridges' portrayal of a washed-up, worn out alcoholic at his worst was enlightening. I know some folks who have battled an addiction to alcohol but this was a stark and almost horrifying look at how desolate life can become when it's chained to a bottle. There was a great redemptive aspect to the story, but in terms of the punishing power of alcoholism, I've never seen anything quite like it. I left the movie with a tightness in my gut, thinking about what life must be like for some of the people I see every day who are living with an alcoholic. Or battling the disease themselves.

The movie is worth seeing. I suppose it would hit a tender spot for some. It sure opened my eyes.

So, the point of this post? Threefold:

• Crazy Heart is worth seeing.
• Bryant at the Westchester Verizon store is pretty awesome.
• I like my new Palm Pre.

And the bonus point? EIGHT HOURS IS TOO LONG IN ANY STORE.