The libertarian social security lawyer

When people find out what I do for a living, they either end up with mistaken views of my politics, or if they do know my politics, they get confused as to why I would do the work I do. I'm a social security disability lawyer. I represent people who have applied for disability benefits and have had their claim denied. I gather and interpret medical records and make a legal argument as to why they should receive disability benefits. I'm also a libertarian.

Overview of libertarian thought:
There are multiple strains of libertarianism, but the one belief that is common across all strains is the non-aggression principle. This principle states that it is immoral to initiate the use of force against anyone. Using force against someone who has initiated (or in some strains of thought credibly threatened) force is acceptable, but it's not acceptable to be the one to start it. Force can come in many forms - the usual way, such as with violence, but also by using the might of law or government to take something that belongs to someone else. It is for this reason that many libertarians, myself included, view taxation as immoral. It is using force to take property from individuals. [1]

How my job is compatible with libertarianism:
Libertarians, in general, are suspicious of taxation and believe that most social services are better and more efficiently provided by the private sector. However, I have a pragmatic streak as well. I don't like the idea of people being taxed, but if they are, I want to make sure they get every dime of their money's worth. The government initiated force against my clients by taking FICA taxes out of their paychecks. The way the social security system is set up, those taxes are really more like insurance premiums, albeit involuntary ones. We're all insuring ourselves against long-term disability, whether we like it or not. (The program even calls itself Social Security Disability Insurance.)

If your car was damaged in a car accident and your insurance company refused to pay, you might need a lawyer to help you sue the insurance company to get what you were contractually owed. When it boils down to it, I'm an insurance lawyer. Instead of suing State Farm or Geico, I sue Uncle Sam on behalf of people who paid their insurance premiums, suffered the loss they were insured against, and aren't getting the payments that their insurance is supposed to provide. If I were in charge of the universe, I might prefer disability insurance to be voluntary and private, but that's not the world we live in. So until then, the government taketh, and I help my clients take back.

----
[1] In my first draft, I included a lengthy discussion about the different strains of libertarian thought, comparing and contrasting them. But I decided to leave a footnote instead. Three major varieties are classical liberalism, miniarchism, and anarcho-capitalism. They differ in how much government they find acceptable. Classical liberals want a small government that protects individual liberties but also provides a small level of social services and infrastructure, though the exact nature of these services is up for debate. Miniarchists want an even smaller government that is dedicated only to protecting individual rights with some minimal infrastructure like roads. Anarcho-capitalists want no government. I'm somewhere between miniarchist and classical liberal. Philosophically, I'm more on the miniarchist side, but pragmatically, I think classical liberalism is more palatable to more people, so I think it's a good start toward increasing liberty because even a classical liberal state would be more libertarian than what we have now.

Literary check-in

I set a New Year's resolution to write 12 book reviews this year. It's the end of July, so to be on schedule, I should have 7 book reviews. I don't. I've been reading books but not writing about them. Over the next few weeks, I'll write the book reviews I've been neglecting.

Books I've read this year but not reviewed:

• The Startup of You
• Lean In
• Outliers
• Evolving in Monkey Town
• The 4-Hour Work Week

Books I'm in the process of reading and will review when I'm finished:

• Blink
• Introverts in the Church

Books I'm planning on reading and reviewing before the year is through:

• The God Who Weeps
• Hacking Work
• The Single Woman's Guide to Retirement
• Go Set a Watchman

Books I've already reviewed:

• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

I've linked to Amazon for the books even though I either got them from the public library or already had them sitting on my shelf. I can't exactly link to my bookcase! :-)

The list is subject to change if I stumble across a particularly interesting book. But now that I have it out there in the blogosphere, maybe I'll be more likely to follow through.

Poor Woman's Hot Cocoa

June was pretty awful. Disastrous, really.

My car got totaled on June 1, and that kind of set the stage for the entire month. By the end of June, I had wiped out my entire savings, maxed out all of my credit cards, borrowed money from my parents to keep me afloat (and fix the lemon of a car that some unscrupulous used car dealer sold me to replace the aforementioned totaled car), and my hours at work got cut.

Suffice it to say, I entered the month of July completely flat out broke. No money to spend on even the smallest of treats. Yesterday, I had a craving for a Starbuck's hot chocolate. Never mind that it was 110 degrees out. I really wanted my hot chocolate.

I did what I do best, and I googled a solution to the problem. I found a copycat recipe here and gave it a try. It was thick, syrupy, and kind of gross. It had potential, but the serving size was way too large, and it was way, way too concentrated.

Today, I decided to try again, so I tweaked the recipe, cutting down the syrup. What follows is a pretty good approximation of Starbucks hot chocolate, made entirely from items found in the pantry. It makes about 12 fl. oz. - the equivalent of a tall size.

Syrup:

• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder (I used dark chocolate because it's what was in my pantry, but I think regular chocolate would taste more authentic.)
• 1 tablespoon sugar (I used turbinado sugar because it's what was in my pantry, but white or brown should work, too.)
• 1 cup water

Mix and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until hot. (My water cooler has a hot water dispenser, so I only needed 30 seconds. If you start out with cold water, you'll need longer.)

• Add 1/3 cup powdered milk. Mix well. Enjoy.
• Optional - add 1/4 tsp vanilla extract.

There's no such thing as work/life balance

I started my own law firm back in October, not by choice, but when I was trying to see the bright side of things, I figured at least being my own boss would give me better work/life balance.

There's this view that our time is divided into two neat categories: "work" and "life" (where "life" consists of family, friends, hobbies, spirituality, wellness, etc.), and the two categories are in tension with one another.

Since starting my firm, I've struggled mightily with that elusive work/life balance. At first, I had no clients, and while I tried to find them, there was only so much work to be done, so I spent way more time than I should have binge watching Netflix. You could say that the "life" portion was overtaking the "work" portion, throwing things out of balance.

Then a few months ago, I contracted with a firm in another state to handle local matters. That took up part of my time, but I still wasn't earning enough money to support myself, so I had to contract with a second firm to take on some work from them. Now I'm working 65-70 hours per week with little free time for anything else. The "work" portion has overtaken the "life" portion, keeping things still out of balance.

I was lamenting this situation to my cats last week. (My cats are great listeners, even if they're not such great conversationalists.) It suddenly dawned on me that the source of my misery was trying to separate the two. I was suffering from unrealistic expectations. There isn't "work" and "life". There's just life, and work is a part of it.

There will be times when different aspects of life will need to take priority for a while - like now with my busy time, I have to focus more on the work side of things. But in a few months when I can cut loose one of the firms I'm working with, then I can bring hobbies and personal relationships to the forefront.

It's still a balancing act, but it's not the same balancing act I had been taught to expect. We no longer live in a world where we clock in at 9, spend all day thinking solely about work, and clock out at 5 to have the rest of the day to ourselves. Sometimes personal stuff crops up at 10 in the morning, and occasionally a work matter will bother us at 7 at night. Instead of viewing the ebb and flow as an intrusion, it's really just a part of life itself.

That's not to say that it's good or healthy to always value one part over another - if we don't work, then the rest of our life is going to be pretty bad - after all, money doesn't grow on trees. And if we only focus on work, we might have all the money in the world but no time to enjoy it or people to enjoy it with. But instead of work/life, just focus on it all being life, and make the trade-offs necessary to make it a good one - holistically.

Reading List

I'm looking for some book recommendations to help me meet my goal of writing 12 book reviews this year. I prefer nonfiction, but a good thought-provoking fiction book is nice, too. (No fluffy beach novels. If I want fluffy literature, I'll get it in movie format.)

I've already reviewed The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo.

I'm in the middle of reading The Startup of You by Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha, and once I finish it, I plan to review it here.


I'm halfway through Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, so it might get a review, too.

I read some of Fear and Trembling by Soren Kierkegaard a few years back, and I really need to pick it up and finish it.

Books I plan to read and review:

• The God Who Weeps by Terryl and Fiona Givens - I heard an interview with Fiona Givens last year, and I was so impressed with her that I knew I had to read her book.
• Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg - This book seems to be a must-read for any woman with a professional career, and I really should have read it a long time ago.

So far, the list is heavy on business and social science with a dash of theology thrown in for good measure. What's missing are the books about physical science and psychology. Any recommendations?

Book Review - The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

One of my new year's resolutions was to write 12 book reviews this year. The plan was to average one review per month, but as you can see, it's the end of March, and this is my first book review. I've been reading lots of books; I just haven't been writing about them. (I guess I'm still like my elementary and middle school self - the bookworm who didn't like writing book reports.)

My first review of the year is The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. This book has taken the world by storm with its simple method of de-cluttering. Called the Kon-Mari method, the book advocates sorting belongings by category, holding each one individually, and deciding whether or not it "sparks joy". Readers are instructed to keep the joy inspiring items. Everything else should be thanked for its service and then bid goodbye.

I got the book because I had too much stuff. I had been carrying around boxes from move to move to move that somehow never got unpacked. I would often dream of my apartment catching on fire and burning to the ground to give myself a fresh start (while I and the cats were safely away and the blanket my late grandfather made for me somehow in the trunk of my car). When my apartment got flooded last year and half my belongings were destroyed, I was, very temporarily, annoyed that the flood didn't get the other half as well. Clearly, I had a problem, and it needed a solution.

New Year's Resolutions

It's that time again where we all resolve to do the same few things, do them diligently for the month of January, and then backslide only to repeat the process all over again the next year.

Before getting to 2016's resolutions, I'm going to report on how I did for 2015.

My 2015 resolutions were as follows:

• Exercise 20 minutes per day 3 days per week.
• Get a permanent job that makes at least $X per year. (where X was a number I privately chose but didn't disclose on the blog)
• Reduce my debt by $Y. (where Y was a number I privately chose but didn't disclose on the blog)

I failed at every single one of them. I don't really have any excuse for failure to exercise. I used to be really athletic until I got sick, but I've had my thyroid under control for a few years now, and I haven't gotten my exercising mojo back.

As far as the job goes, there just aren't jobs for lawyers anymore. So I started my own law practice in October. My income from my practice is measured in negative numbers. This led to a failure of goal three as well. At least I didn't go any further into debt, so that's something.

Now, on to 2016.

1. Exercise 20 minutes per day 3 days per week.
I'm feeling pretty good about this. I signed up for a free martial arts class at church that meets every Saturday, so that's one day covered. There's also a local pickup basketball league that plays 3 mornings per week. I also have several exercise videos saved to my Amazon video queue. If I fail at this one, it will be out of laziness, not out of lack of opportunity.

2. Make a profit of $X at my law firm.
X is slightly larger than last year's X because self-employed people pay more in taxes for the same amount of income, so I'll need to increase my income to offset the higher tax burden.

3. Write at least twelve book reviews.
I read a lot, and I like to think about all the big ideas in the books I read. I don't really have many people to talk to about the books I read, though, because I don't often read book club type books. I figure at least some of the stuff I read might be interesting to other people, and even if it isn't, writing book reviews will keep my mind sharp and active. I envision one per month, but I phrased it as 12 per year instead to give myself more flexibility.

4. Organize my apartment by the KonMari method.
The book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up has taken the country by storm this year. I have way too much stuff, and it's just sitting in bins in my closet. It's time to get rid of all the stuff I don't need. I've read the book, and now I want to put it in practice. I'm in a Facebook group of other people also doing it, so I'm going to have some moral support. It's also going to end up being one of my book reviews, and I figure I can give a better review of the book after I've used the method.

Here's to a productive 2016 full of personal growth!

Homemade Herbal Cough Drops

I've been wanting to try making my own cough drops for a while because I don't like the flavor of commercial cough drops. They end up tasting like really nasty candy. Usually when I get a bad cough, a butterscotch candy works just as well as a Hall's and tastes a lot better.

I set out to find a recipe, and I ran across this one here. I modified it to make it simpler. Instead of fussing with a bunch of fresh herbs, I realized that the "herb infused water" that the recipe calls for is just a complicated way of saying herbal tea. So here's my recipe:

1 cup extra-strong herbal tea
1 1/2 cups honey

Mix together over medium-high heat in a 2 quart saucepan. Stirring frequently, heat until the mixture reaches 150 degrees Celsius (302 degrees Fahrenheit), measured by a candy thermometer. Pour into greased lozenge sized candy molds. Allow to harden.

I used locally produced honey from H&H Honey. For the mold, I used a Jello Bean Mold because a friend gave it to me a few years ago after she found it at a thrift store. (I wouldn't have paid full price for it, but it's just the right size for cough drops.)

For the herbal tea, I used three tea bags and allowed it to steep for about 15 minutes. I used two bags of Peet's Lemon Rose and one bag of Peet's Hibiscus C. I figure that honey lemon is a good flavor for cough drops and that some extra vitamin C is a good thing during a cold.

The two quart saucepan is important. I started out in a one quart pan, but the mixture gets really bubbly as it boils, so I had to transfer pans halfway through. Even the two quart pan started to look a bit iffy on size at the end. It took about 35 minutes for the mixture to reach the desired temperature.

One word to the wise that should go without saying, but I'm going to say it anyway: Don't poke it while it's in the mold to see how hard it is. It takes a long time to cool, and I'm now the proud owner of a beautiful blister on my left index finger.

The lozenges are still cooling, so I haven't tasted them yet. Now that I'm working from home, I catch colds much less often, so it may be a while before I can comment on their medicinal effectiveness. It was a fun project for science, though.

Basketball

I used to be in really good shape. I was a gymnast, figure skater, and springboard diver as a teenager. I played basketball on the ROTC team in college. I did ballet and ballroom dance as hobbies. I spent a year and a half riding a bicycle everywhere I went through the hills of North Carolina and Virginia.

Then I came home and went to law school. Between studying, going to classes, and holding down a full-time job, exercise kind of fell by the wayside. Then my adrenals and thyroid went on strike and I was too sick to do much more than get out of bed.

I'm better now, but I'm still out of shape. It turns out Isaac Newton was right. A body at rest tends to stay at rest. I keep meaning to start up a workout plan. I downloaded Couch to 5K running tracks years ago, and every now and then, I tell myself that I should go for a run.

When I tell myself that, it's because I forgot one very important fact. I absolutely loathe running! The only way you're going to get me to run is if I'm being chased by a sabre tooth tiger on the savannah. Since the sabre tooth tiger is extinct and I live in the middle of the desert, I don't foresee myself running anytime soon.

A lot of runners seem to exude an almost religious fervor about their chosen athletic activity. Running is apparently the most virtuous form of exercise there is, and all that stuff. But it's definitely not for me. I've decided that running isn't morally superior to other forms of exercise, and the best workout routine is one that I'll actually do.

Some acquaintances of mine play pickup basketball three mornings a week before work. So, early Monday morning, I'm going to go shoot some hoops. And I have a whole bunch of pilates workouts saved in my Amazon streaming video queue for off days. I also dusted off my goggles and swim cap so that I can swim laps in the apartment pool when the mood strikes me.

I'm looking forward to seeing the look on people's faces when the 5'3" nerd wipes the court with the competition! :-)

SMART new year's resolutions

Every year, I make the same resolutions (eat right, exercise more, etc.), and every year, I faithfully follow them for about 2 weeks. Then real life sets in, and the best laid plans go awry. This year, I’m applying some of my professional skills toward better resolutions.

The hip new(ish) buzzword in performance evaluations is the setting of SMART goals as a way of assessing workplace success. A SMART goal is something that is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. For example, “eat healthier food” doesn’t count because it’s not specific or time-bound, and it's a bit hard to measure. A better goal would be “eat at least one serving of fresh green vegetables every day”. Someone who leads a sedentary lifestyle shouldn’t set a goal to run a marathon next month because that’s not attainable, but setting a goal to run a 5K by the end of the year probably is.

With that in mind, in order of hardest to easiest, here’s my SMART 2015:

1. Exercise 20 minutes per day, 3 days per week.

Ideally, I would like to exercise more than that, but it’s a start. I used to be in really good shape until my thyroid decided to go haywire when I was in law school. There was a time when just getting out of bed was a massive achievement, so I need to start out small here when rebuilding. I’ll try to work up to more, but I want the initial goal to be modest.

2. Get a permanent job that makes at least $X per year.

X is a number that I have in mind personally that I’m not going to post here. Ever since I left my cushy (but ethically uncomfortable) job at a defense contractor, I’ve been freelancing/consulting/temping or whatever you want to call it. I kind of prefer “consulting” because I’m still doing professional level work, just on a contract basis instead of a long-term basis. I’ve had gigs lasting up to a year, and I know nothing is certain in this economy, but I still want the stability of a standard job.

This one has some sub-steps. I’ll have to keep up on my networking, and I’ll have to keep applying to jobs. I’m casting a wide net at this point. Ideally, I would like something as a faculty member at a college or university. I’m also considering attorney and HR jobs. In the meantime, I’ll continue with the contract work.

3. Reduce my overall debt by $Y.

Once again, Y is a number I have chosen but will not post here. This goal is a sub-goal to my more long-term goal of buying a house. That goal will take a few years, but I need to start somewhere. I’m already really good at sticking to a budget and living within my means. (The debt is from school and my bout with unemployment this past year.) Basically, if I keep getting good contracts or if I land a good job, this goal will be the easiest of the three to meet.

I guess this means I’ll need to give myself a performance review at the end of the year!

2014 in review

I haven’t blogged much in the past year. 2014 started out by getting laid off from a job I liked (but a commute I hated). I uprooted my tidy life and headed off into the great unknown, arriving in Phoenix just in time for the legendary summer season. (The heat wasn’t as bad as I had expected, but the hurricane-induced flooding was inconvenient. My sources tell me that was a once every hundred years occurrence, so I figure I’m good to go.)

I went on vacation with some friends this summer to Bryce Canyon, which was a bright spot to an otherwise very hard year. It took me months to find a job, which was demoralizing. When I did finally land a job, it was only a temp gig. I was fortunate that it kept getting extended, and I’ve made some good contacts to help me out with my continuing quest for a more permanent job.

I got a new cat, Obsidian. Her previous owners couldn’t keep her, and I took her in to rescue her from going to the shelter. Ebony isn’t too thrilled, but they’ve moved from swatting and hissing to just the occasional growl. Every now and then, when they think I’m not looking, they’ll even groom each other. I’m going to try to be better about documenting 2015, but no guarantees.

The Great Outdoors

This past weekend, I took a trip to Bryce Canyon with a few of my friends. It was a nice trip out of town - good food, good company, good hiking. It had been a really long time since I had gone to a national park. I used to be very outdoorsy; I was a Girl Scout for 11 years. But since adulthood and all the responsibilities that go along with it, I haven't had much of a chance to experience the great outdoors.

I googled and found out that there are 59 US national parks. I've only been to 9 of them (I've also been to 4 Canadian national parks), and embarrassingly, I've never been to Yosemite despite having lived most of my life in California.

I think I'm going to make it a point to travel to a few more of them. When I was driving through the forest, there were signs reminding me that these are "your public lands". So, I'm going to explore my land!

I'm fortunate to live in the southwest, where there are tons of nearby parks. On my short list to visit are:

• Arches
• Carlsbad Caverns
• Grand Canyon
• Joshua Tree
• Saguaro
• Petrified Forest
• Yosemite

My slightly longer list includes Haleakala, Hawaii Volcanoes, and Denali, but they're not exactly road trip parks and will have to wait until I'm not broke.

The ones I've already seen are:

US

• Bryce Canyon
• Crater Lake
• Death Valley
• Glacier (this is the US half of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, located on the Montana/Alberta border)
• Mount Rainier
• Olympic
• Redwood
• Yellowstone
• Zion

Canada

• Banff
• Glacier (this park is located in British Columbia and is unrelated to Waterton-Glacier)
• Jasper
• Waterton Lakes (this is the Canada half of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park)

I think overall, my favorite US park is Crater Lake, but Yellowstone and Bryce Canyon come in at a close second. Glacier was nice, but it snowed when I visited (in July!), and I don't like snow.

My favorite Canadian park is Banff, though I liked Jasper as well. Banff has the distinguishing feature of animals that walk through town like they own the place, and also the advantage of not having snow on the ground in July. (The other three were snowy and cold even in the summer. That's Canada, eh?)

Money Saving Mondays – Television

Welcome to the second installment of Money Saving Mondays!

Who wants to pay $100+ for 8 bazillion channels with nothing on? Not me! There are a lot of websites out there about the practice of “cord cutting” (free or low-cost legal alternatives to cable).

To make this work really well, you’ll need a high speed internet connection. The internet companies will probably try to sell you on a fancy expensive 5 megabit per second plan, but I get along just fine on a 1 megabit per second plan. I used to have a 756 kilobit per second plan, and that was a bit slow, but it was for two people often trying to stream at the same time. It should be fine for one person. Also beware of data caps from your ISP. My plan allows 50 GB per month, which is good enough for a single light user like me, but if you watch a lot of internet based tv and movies, you’ll need a higher data allowance. An hour long tv show is usually 400 MB at standard definition. A full-length movie in high definition can run in the 2-4 GB range.

Depending on where you live, your options vary, but here’s my setup:

Rabbit ears
The first step to low-cost television is an antenna. Homeowners have the option of mounting an outdoor antenna on the roof, but since I’m a renter, I’m somewhat limited in my options. Federal law does allow renters to place an antenna or satellite dish 3 feet in diameter or less on the balcony/patio/porch regardless of lease provisions, but I opted for a set of rabbit ears sitting on top of my tv instead.

I spent $20 on an antenna, but if you get lucky, sometimes you can get one on sale for less. It’s the standard VHF/UHF antenna (two prongs and a ring). I can pick up about 50 channels, including some really good ones that are almost cable-like in quality. I live in an area that is populous but flat, so that increases the range. If you’re in a rural or mountainous area, you’ll get fewer channels. If you type your address into antennaweb, you’ll get an idea of which channels you can pick up with which types of antennas.

Netflix/Hulu/etc.
Another component is Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime Video, etc. I get a limited selection of streaming video included with my Amazon Prime account. Since I have the account for shipping anyway, I’m counting this as no extra cost.

Regular Hulu is free, but you have to wait a week for shows to go up. If you want them right away, Hulu Plus is your best bet. It’s something like $8 per month (I don’t know for sure because my sister lets me use her account, since it doesn’t cost her any extra to share). There are a lot of shows available, but usually only the most recent five episodes are posted.

Netflix is also reasonably priced (once again, in the $8ish range, but I piggyback on my sister’s account). There’s a large selection of movies and television shows, but it takes several months for the shows to be posted.

If there’s a show that you just have to watch, and you can’t find it anywhere for free, iTunes and Amazon also have season passes for many current shows. If you buy standard definition instead of HD, you can expect to spend $30 for an entire season. If you only have a few shows, it can be a real bargain, but it adds up if you watch a lot.

Other websites
Many television channels will post recent episodes on their website. This is a free way to watch shows that you missed.

There are also sites that stream specialty content (news, weather, documentary, special interest, religion, etc.). Finding them can be hit or miss, but if you google for whatever you’re looking for, you’ll probably find a whole treasure trove.

Computer (or streaming media device)
Watching all this stuff from a computer can get annoying. Sometimes I just want to sit on the couch and watch things on the television itself. This is where technology comes in. The Roku is a popular device to solve part of the problem. It’s a small purple box that costs anywhere from $50 up depending on the model. It’s wifi enabled and plugs into your television. It allows you to watch Netflix, Hulu, etc. on your television. There are hundreds of channels available for the Roku – some are free, and some are paid. When my sister and I lived together, I used her Roku, and I really liked the interface. However, you can’t surf the web or watch regular streaming video with it, so that limits its usefulness in my opinion.

I have an old desktop computer that was collecting dust, so I freshened it up and hooked it up to my television. I went to the computer parts store and bought a vga to rca converter box for $40 and plugged everything in. I had to turn the screen resolution way down and magnify the text, and it’s still sometimes a bit hard to read on sites with small print, but the video quality is fine. I can watch Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc. just like I could on the Roku, and I can also watch video from anywhere on the internet. I’ve ripped some of my dvds to the hard drive so I can watch them there, too. (I have a dvd player, but sometimes it’s easier to just use the computer instead of digging the discs out of storage.)

Redbox
If you love your movies, never fear. Redbox is an alternative to expensive movie channels. There are kiosks located at grocery stores, convenience stores, and gas stations all around, and rentals are just a dollar a day. Plus, if you use your google skills you can often find free rental coupon codes.

Public library
Last but not least, there’s the public library; it’s not just for books anymore. Libraries rent out movies and television shows on dvd, and they’re not just old dusty documentaries. Major blockbusters and popular shows are available. It’s one of the best kept secrets in the quest for cheap entertainment.

Money Saving Mondays – Cell Phones

I’ve tossed around the idea for a while of starting a new blog feature called “Money Saving Mondays” where each Monday I chronicle a way that I save money without depriving myself of modern conveniences. I can’t guarantee that it will happen every week, but I’m going to give it a go. Today’s edition is cell phone plans.

Cell phone plans are quite expensive. An average smartphone plan can cost $50-$150 per month. My monthly smartphone bill? $0. And yes, I do have a smartphone.

What’s my secret? Two acronyms – MVNO and VoIP.

Review of Phoenix so far

It’s been about 5 weeks since I uprooted myself to Phoenix, 700 miles away from my friends and family. I don’t regret the decision yet. I hope I don’t end up regretting it at all, but the nice thing about our highly mobile society is that California isn’t going anywhere, so I can always move back home if I decide I hate it here.

It’s been an adjustment living so far from my support systems, but I tend to be a pretty independent person anyway, so it hasn’t been that bad. I still haven’t found a job, which is a bit stressful. It’s hard to network when I don’t know anyone, and it’s hard to get the attention of recruiters without a referral. I have a few more months before I get desperate, so I’m still restricting my job search to college faculty or lawyer jobs. If I have to dig further down in a few months, I’ll start looking at HR or paralegal work. If things get really dire, there’s always a temp agency for general office work until I can get back into my career.

Here are some general impressions about the area so far.