I have a cell phone. And a DS. And a job.

I'll just let the shockwaves subside.

That's right, a job. As in vacating the premises to perform services for other homo sapiens, as part of a working society.

More on that later. First, my new toys!

7-Eleven has their own pre-paid cell phones. Surprise!

Here's the gist of it (partly as pictured above):

• 20¢/minute airtime
• 30¢/minute long distance and/or roaming
• 5¢/text (incoming and outgoing)
• 365-day expiration on airtime; balance rolls over if you top-up beforehand
• Runs on the Rogers network

For that kind of deal, I don't mind seeing a convenience store's logo when I turn on my phone. (Their liberal interpretation of "Actual size" aside.)

The official site isn't much to get excited about. I got most of my info from SpeakOutWireless.ca, and a RedFlagDeals.com thread. I'm as satisfied as I can be so far, for someone who hasn't yet made an actual call.

The DS marks the first system I more or less paid for myself, since the Dreamcast. It's also my first handheld since I got the original Game Boy for my 10th birthday. EB had a trade-in promotion, so I gave up these dandies and $15. Got it in smudgy-finger black.

I don't have any games yet, so its only real use is as an alarm, or for sending myself a Din Don over PictoChat. I'm willing to take suggestions, especially if they're cheap. The ones I'm looking at now (Mario Kart DS, New Super Mario Bros., Tetris DS, Phoenix Wright, Trauma Center, etc.) are all still in the 30-40 dollar range. GBA carts will work too.

As for the job that shocked the world, it's for a small company, doing various tasks that the owner doesn't necessarily have time to do. I don't know what else to call what I do, so for know, I'm telling people I'm a "Computer Consultant Lackey." The boss man says I might get some business cards this week, as a "Network Technician." But I feel like I should learn something about networks before I start calling myself that.

Client Dude: "Hello. I'm having problems with my X-RAID server. It seems to be dropping packets when backing up the array over the company-wide infrastructure. What should I do?"

Me: "Derrr, I can plug in an ethernet cable. "