Getting hired

From Employment Digest, an article on getting hired.

Frugality

Leftovers are funny things; my family sometimes goes to restaurants for holiday dinners, in which case there are no leftovers. Which I miss. Other times, someone cooks and there may or may not be leftovers, depending on the type of meal.

One of my friends throws everything out the next day because she's afraid of food poisoning. Very afraid. Me? I'm not so worried about it, while thinking that leftovers do create curious rituals. One that I remember from childhood is turkey bits on bread with gravy. You know, the small bits of turkey that have been rescued from the carcass. With leftover gravy over bread. Not toast. Bread. Mashed potatoes and stuffing are optional if they're still available.

I do try to use leftovers so I don't waste money and frequently cook more than necessary to generate leftovers; I package them in lunch-sized portions for later use.

One of my duties is to Redact

One of the things I do from time to time is to redact information from documents. Right now I have about six projects on my desk to review and redact if necessary, so naturally, I think this is a great cartoon.

Court-Appropriate Clothing

At a Symposium of Judges, a Debate on the Laws of Fashion

By JOHN SCHWARTZ,

Published: May 22, 2009

Lawyers, note well: Briefs might be long, but skirts cannot be brief. Neckties must be sober, not silly. Violate these laws of fashion, and you might incur the wrath of — or, perhaps worse, a glassy stare from — the judge.

That is the message from a freewheeling panel discussion among judges this week in Indianapolis.

The sartorial discussion was part of a general exchange of views among judges and lawyers during the annual Seventh Circuit Bar Association meeting on Tuesday morning, but its impact is reverberating far beyond the conference room of the Westin Indianapolis as lawyers around the country join an online gender battle.

The topic was first raised by a federal judge, Joan H. Lefkow of the Northern District of Illinois, as the panel discussed good and bad trends in courtroom practice. Judge Lefkow said some women should dress more appropriately in court. According to an article in the National Law Journal and from the accounts of others in the room, she said one lawyer had shown up for a jury trial in a velour outfit that looked for all the world as if she was “on her way home from the gym.”

While the lawyer won her case, Judge Lefkow suggested to the judges and lawyers in the room that unseemly clothing in court was the kind of issue that should be the subject of quiet conversation in law firms.

That simple comment gave way to lively contributions from other participants, who quickly shifted the subject from schlubby to sexy.

Judge Michael P. McCuskey, chief judge of the Federal District Court for the Central District of Illinois and a member of the panel, said that at moot court competitions in law schools, he had seen participants wearing “skirts so short that there’s no way they can sit down, and blouses so short there’s no way the judges wouldn’t look.”

A member of the audience, Judge A. Benjamin Goldgar of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, joined the minicolloquy, saying that titillating attire was “a huge problem” and a distraction in the courtroom and that “you don’t dress in court as if it’s Saturday night and you’re going out to a party.” In the spirit of sexual equity, Judge Goldgar added that he was also unhappy with lawyers who sported loud ties, some with designs like smiley faces.

Judge Virginia M. Kendall of the Northern District of Illinois then got a supportive laugh from the audience when she said that giving clothing advice to young women in a law firm might not be as big an issue if the firms had more women as partners in the first place.

As the story made its way around the Internet, readers rushed in to fire shots of their own. At the Web site of the American Bar Association’s ABA Journal, one woman parodied the male judges’ comments: “I’m sorry, Sugar, I’d love to listen to what you’re saying, but I have a penis. As such, I am only able to use one sense at a time.”

She added: “What garbage! Poor men can’t control themselves, so women have to respond.”

That sentiment was countered by a comment from a man: “Yes, please ladies, by all means use your sexuality to get what you want (after all, that’s the only excuse you have for dressing in the manner described in this article).”

In an interview, Judge McCuskey allowed that “it did end up being a spirited conversation,” and said he had intended to say that the problem “starts in law school” and should be dealt with there.

In the panel discussion, Judge Lefkow, whose own taste in clothes tends toward the elegant, suggested that women wondering what might be appropriate for courthouse wear should browse the Web site Corporette. The site calls itself “a fashion and lifestyle blog for overachieving chicks,” and features fashion tips (“This week’s Suit of the Week is the lovely Albert Nipon pique dress and jacket, currently on sale at Neiman Marcus”) and polls (“Are fishnets appropriate for a conservative office?” Short answer: no.)

On Thursday, the site posted a Twitter message stating, “Wow — we’re honored that Judge Lefkow gave us a shout out!”

Judge Lefkow declined to comment, as did Judge Goldgar and Judge Kendall.

Law professors who deal with issues of feminism expressed scorn over the talk. In an interview, Susan J. Koniak, a law professor at Boston University, said she found the discussion about revealing clothing absurd. If clothing in court is such a distraction, she said, “we should just have a bag when we walk in, a burqa.”

“Men, women, everybody.”

Source: New York Times

Other Funding for Houses

Some programs are for updating the house, either for new infrastructure or for cosmetic updates to make the exterior prettier. This can be important in more run-down neighborhoods.

There are grants and loans for garages and insulation; these are important, not only for safety in the case of the garage, but for energy efficiency, which is another thing for which tax credits may be available. I do plan to have my new house, whenever I get it, audited for energy efficiency. Additional insulation, new windows, new doors, new hot water heaters and crazy things like caulking gaps or adding weatherstripping can help a lot. I would do it for the savings on heat bills alone, and not worry about whether you exceed your tax breaks; because face it, at some point, what with income limits for these programs, some people whose income qualifies for tax credits, will end up getting all the credit they can and having no tax liability for a given year.

I'm not linking to programs as they vary with state, county, city and neighborhood. It's important to learn about programs in your area before searching for a home as these sorts of funds may make a difference to you.

How to Speed up your PC

The New York times discusses five controversial ways to speed up your PC.

Mine is getting slow, but may be because I have a ton of pictures on it. I have an external hard drive, but that isn't doing me any good right now; first, I dropped it and had to get a new case because it just wasn't working, then my USB port burned out and I have to figure out where I may best put the hard drive so it may connect through another port and I can reach it, if necessary.

Mortgages

When calculating the cost of a mortgage, it's important to realize that insurance and taxes will be included so the end result may be more than you pay in rent right now. We were told to calculate what we could afford for a mortgage and to save any additional amount from discretionary income, to be in the habit of making a full mortgage payment.

In my case, the sale prices of houses would not mean a mortgage payment that's higher than rent; that's because I know I can't afford much and am looking at the low end of the spectrum. I know too many people who have gotten in too deep with bad decisions. There are mortgage calculators available on most real estate webpages so if you start looking at options, it's easy to see if it would at all be a possibility.

In one case, a classmate bought a house before graduation, based on a clerkship that paid well but in the end, it was unsustainable on her post-graduate income; in another case, a veteran didn't go to the VA first, but instead headed for a Countrywide mortgage, with no downpayment, featuring a 5-year ARM with a penalty, back in the day you could still do that, and a 15-year balloon payment on an interest-only mortgage. All I need to know is that the loan was through Countrywide and I know that someone with good credit would have done better elsewhere.

Every month I have less debt. It's just a tiny bit less but every little bit helps.

CLE's

In other news, I need 5.25 more credits and have 23 months in which to obtain them. To date, I have spent no money for credits and have paid for parking only in one case. Not bad!

During my last reporting period, I paid a total of $85 for classes and incurred parking payments in a couple of cases. Free is good.

My goal is not to pay for any credits in this reporting period and I'm well on my way to achieving it. I'll need to find a few more credits; if I stay where I am, there are free classes near where I'm working, so no worries on that. If not? There are plenty of other options of which I'm aware

E-Mail Policies

It's important for your firm to have an e-mail policy, and to follow it; many times, the fact that there is a policy and it's being followed, is a defense to claims that you're inappropriate with e-mail.

"Inappropriate" often means that you have a policy, follow it, and the opposition doesn't like that. Where I work, e-mail disappears in 90 days as a matter of course, decided in IT. Because the decision isn't based on any litigation, it's unlikely that the company could get into hot water for destruction; in this case, it isn't spoliation.

Another policy is to minimize putting things on e-mail unnecessarily; so often people e-mail, twitter and text, but could easily walk down the hall, or make a 30-second phone call. Memorializing the information electronically just makes more work in the long run as it creates a document.

Of all the document review projects on which I've worked, the first one had the most ridiculous, innocuous, non-responsive e-mails of the bunch. It was easy to move quickly through some batches as they were requests to assistants to subscribe to a magazine, order a new cellphone holster, order a new car charger, order a cd, and many other examples of information that was not truly personal but didn't have a purpose related to the lawsuit.

Warrantless Car Searches Limited

In old news, the Supreme Court limited warrantless car searches. Now the cops have to find another tactic!

You think Big Brother is watching you?

Think again. In China, where government keeps a tight rein on the economy, on jobs, consumer goods, and restricts families to having one child each, now if your name isn't on the official list of names, you have to change it!

If you remember a few months ago, a grocery store refused to decorate a cake for little Adolph Hitler Campbell, for reasons which may be obvious. While giving this name to a child borders on criminal stupidity, the government didn't step in and deny his parents the opportunity to do so; while it seems okay in this case, just on therapy bills alone, where do you draw the line? There's always some overzealous bureaucrat who thinks their way is better.

Tight Credit Market

The tight credit market and business losses are making card issuers reduce credit lines, much to the distress of those who got in over their heads.

I thought that going to law school would benefit me economically; turns out, not so much, but I'm not doing as bad as this guy! Who knew that a little thing like crazy student loans could keep you out of the bar? I wonder if part of it is the change in the economy and the fact that unless he got a highly-paid job, he would have real trouble repaying the loan. Then again, not allowing him in sortof makes that all too likely.

In a Federal case, a guy who made it into the bar in Minnesota attempted to discharge his $350k in student loans through bankruptcy; my understanding is that ship sailed in the early 80's, courtesy of people like a colleagues sister, who attempted to discharge a month or so after the rules changed, moved out of state and didn't pay for years. Until a friend was over, answered the phone and gave the caller her employment information. That's an awkward friendship moment!

It seems that many things seem like a good idea at the time, but turn out later not to have been. We're conditioned, in American society, for immediate gratification, unlike a few generations ago where cash was king and you just plain didn't get something if you didn't have money.

People did crazy things, too, like save.

Credit Card Debt

There's a lot of talk about the credit market and the result of upcoming changes in credit regulations; in my case, my card is from my credit union and has a small credit line, though a fairly high interest rate. Someone much more financially smart than I said that credit card interest isn't a problem until you carry a balance of more than $1,000. Currently, I have a balance, though in the last year, I have not carried a balance; I try to make one purchase on the card each billing cycle but think I missed one.

My current balance is a result of a blowout the other day and a trip to the tire store, where I made an unplanned purchase of two new tires. Of course it happened in the middle of my pay cycle, so I didn't have a whole lot of unallocated funding; I get paid every other week, so pay dates change monthly, but my student loan comes out of my account on the same date each month. It's meant to come out of the second paycheck in the month, but this time it didn't work out that way. The money is scheduled to leave my account two days before payday. And I have a substantially similar sized check outstanding that's making me nervous. I have money in savings and am only concerned about whether it gets pulled into checking. So far that large check hasn't cleared and I hope it holds off until payday. At that point, I know I'm fine, as my next bills aren't due until more than a week after payday.

Now that my tax return took care of some small outstanding debts, I'll be in a much better financial position, once that big check clears. My total monthly payments have gone down by $400 for the moment. Because I want to buy a house, I'll put as much as possible into savings. Theoretically I would be able to pay off my bar loan next year, upon receipt of my income tax refund; while the interest rate is lower than a mortgage would be, the interest isn't tax-deductible so it makes more sense to eliminate it first. It's also my smallest payment. Whether or not I buy a house, I would like to pay off that debt as soon as possible.

Multiple Programs

It turns out there are a lot of different programs out there; the lender who came to talk to my last class reviewed three programs which may be used together. That includes money from the federal government and the county, but does not include money from the city in which you're looking, neighborhood-specific programs or money from foundations designated for certain areas. In some cases, $25-30K may be available. Per borrower.

Conventional loans require a credit score of 700 or above and/or a downpayment of 20%. Most of us with student loans don't have the 20%. There are VA loans for veterans and surprisingly, the Department of Agriculture has programs in some rural areas; at the break, our lender told someone who qualifies for both that she should check further as the VA loans have a fee that she doesn't think the Ag loans have.

Me? I'm looking at FHA financing, which is kind to those without great credit, doesn't require huge downpayments and may be available for people without great employment history. There are fees involved but the benefits of some available programs outweigh the fees greatly; while the downpayment required is 3.5%, half of that can be provided by programs but because the loan can't be for more than 100% of the sale price, the borrower must provide half. That's 1.75%, the amount of the fee; on a house costing $100,000.00, that's $1,750. Even I can manage to have that amount of money. This is money you must pony up yourself, though it may be given as a loan or gift from family, or may be withdrawn or borrowed from a 401K or IRA.

Excess money from programs for which you qualify goes to pay down your mortgage. The upshot? Because I live in an area with lower cost housing than many metropolitan areas, and housing prices have gone down, so long as I can find a lender, I should be able to qualify for programs and get a loan that is reduced to the degree that I can afford it.

Combined with the income tax reduction provided by a) the Federal Stimulus; b) mortgage interest, so long as that remains a deduction; and, c) one of the county programs, which 1) has a fee to get into but reduces personal income by 80% of mortgage interest paid, reduces tax obligation by the other 20% of mortgage income paid, and is valid so long as it's your homestead, buying a home now has huge tax implications. In a good way.

Homebuyer Programs

I used to think that the first time home buyer programs provided only funds for closings and downpayments. Turns out I was wrong. While there is a significant amount of money available where I live, there are many programs available, some of which reduce interest.

My county has a program with an initial fee, which you can negotiate for the seller to pay, and provides you with an income reduction. Whatever the amount you pay in mortgage interest, 80% of the total goes to reduce your income; if you earn $50K on your W-2's, and had paid $10,000 in mortgage interest, your income is reduced by $8,000, so down to $42,000, not counting any other deductions you have that would reduce your income. One you calculate your tax liability, the other 20% of what you paid in mortgage interest goes to reduce that liability; if you end up owing money, that amount would be reduced by $2,000 in my example.

While this may not mean much with the stimulus credit of up to $8,000 for those who buy homes this year, it isn't limited to one year; this program lasts as long as you own your home.

Realtors

Realtors are good and bad; my understanding, is that they're always working for the seller, whether it's the listing agent or the one you're working with, unless you have a representation agreement. I do know that some are good and some are bad; fortunately, I know someone who was happy with his realtor so may end up working with that realtor if I move forward with this.

Like Mortgage Bankers, Realtors make their money on commissions; back a few years ago, when the housing market was going like gangbusters, there were mortgage brokers who couldn't be bothered with the low end of the housing spectrum; they'd leave 6 loans on the table because the houses were only selling for a couple hundred thousand. Easy money. Instead, they opted to chase the high priced deals for which they had to work harder to find a loan. Silly brokers! They could've taken the low-hanging, less bragworthy fruit and made plenty of money.

I assume that some realtors are the same, though I know my friend is considering selling and has been told to wait; his house is in a good neighborhood that isn't too far from the neighborhoods I'm talking about, where housing costs are much lower.

Home Inspections

Home Inspections are generally required as part of these programs; in fact, the programs that provide funding for repairs, cosmetic or otherwise, have people lead you through the process of hiring someone from their approved list. I think that's great because I wouldn't have a clue in the world where to start.

Home Inspectors look at the house from a maintenance/issue perspective and determine if there's a problem with anything that isn't up to standard or if there's a foreseeable future problem. I don't know how to tell the age of a roof, whether there has been water in the basement or if the foundation is sinking. Never mind if the floorboards need to be replaced to to leaky plumbing. I believe that lenders in my state require a housing inspection for underwriting purposes; no sense in providing a mortgage for problem properties.

One person asked about "other hidden costs" not meaning hidden costs, but expenses about which those who have not previously bought a house may be unaware. Hidden costs are things that are slipped in without your knowledge.

Mortgages

Mortgages are available through many sources and the changes in lending habits may eliminate some of us as home buyers. I know my credit is okay, but not necessarily great, same with my work history. I did talk to someone who used to be in the mortgage business and learned that since I've been working at least 9 mos. of the year, the last couple of years, that may be sufficient; the fact of an FHA loan may make a difference. Of course, he has been out of that industry for a couple of years; on the other hand, it's well-known that jobs have been few and far between for several years now so doing contract work may be sufficient. I wouldn't be concerned if I had steady employment through one agency, but my pattern has been a project from agency A, followed by one from agency B, lather, rinse, repeat.

This is an area about which I need to learn more and it may be that what I learn indicates that this is not my time to buy a house.

Homestretch, HUD Homebuyer class

I found my Homestretch class on a link from the HUD page. I was able to find the cheapest available option; while all classes shown are HUD approved, prices vary. My particular class is three evenings, though it's also offered on a Saturday. While that may have been easier, I had conflicts on the dates with my location.

Pricing in your city will vary; the first classes I found were $50, which is a lot to determine whether you can afford to buy a house. Then I found some for $45, $35 and one for $25, but for county residents, only $15. It's my county of residence so it's the best location for me to take the class. I live in the suburbs, in an area that's fairly well-off; the urban counties have a lot of other things with which to be concerned, so don't have such a cheap program. I know that often programs of this nature are at least in part funded with grants so it's possible that there was a grant involved that reduced the out-of-pocket cost to attendees.

Other places to seek information; if your state has a Housing Agency of some sort (mine has a Housing Finance Agency), counties, cities and neighborhood associations. All of these entities may have information on financing programs, either for first-time buyers, people working to stave off foreclosure and those who need home improvements, either for cosmetic reasons or for energy efficiency. In addition, there may be foundations or other non-profits that also provide funding; I read a tiny article in the paper that told about the foundation providing funds for the neighborhood hardest hit with foreclosures.

The only issue I have about that, since it's a neighborhood in which I have rented, is that this was a foreclosure neighborhood back before foreclosures were rampant. I lived in a duplex when I was in school, and the house on one side of it was foreclosed upon. The former homeowners attempted to take the dryer with them and created a big mess; natural gas filled the home and the gas company called the Fire Department, which blocked off the street at both ends of the block so they could safely go in, turn off the gas and let that which had accumulated in the house dissipate.

ABA information on Loan Forgiveness Programs

Here's information from the ABA on some loan forgiveness programs. I didn't read through all of it so don't know how it would work with the capped repayments.

More on Student Loans

We all went to school optimistically and I graduated, from high school, college and law school during times of great economic distress so have a history of trying to find a job when the market sucks. Now that all I have are student loans, it's not so bad; it was horrid a few years ago, when I had consumer debt as well.

I feel bad for the recent graduates, who grew up in better economic times and are part of the spoiled generation. There's a whole generation out there unaccustomed to adversity in any form and now they're learning that mommy and daddy can't fix everything.

The so-called helicopter parents who intervened in every part of their children's lives, provided them with every possible consumer good and gave them the expectation that they could have whatever they wanted immediately, no question, did them a huge disservice; these same parents aren't necessarily in a position to follow through on tuition payments, new cars, condos and unlimited use of credit cards due to the current economy. Their kids just don't have the tools to cope with that.

Japan's Stimulus

Back on the chain gang. Young Japanese, working on the farm for the first time.

Like the CCC of old, who built a lot of parks and roads in the US, unemployed youth are being trained to do farm work instead of whatever it was they thought they were going to do.

Paying Down Credit Card Debt

Your Credit Card Company is here to help. Of course, with default rates escalating, it's in their best interest to help you. In fact, they're eager to do so because they have evaluated all your expenditures and calculated the likelihood that you'll default within six months.

Rep. Maloney is helping too.

Income Based Repayment

I found the calculator, unfortunately at a time it was broken but am just not sure about this; currently I'm working for government and if I sign up for this, my Federally Subidized loan will have reduced payments and if I work for eligible entities and make payments for ten years while I'm in this program, the remainder of the debt will be forgiven.

Because my job is temporary, I don't know if this is worth it; I keep hearing rumors that a position will come open but it hasn't yet happened; I have less than four months to go, though it's possible my position would be extended. Because I have a few other questions, I'm not sure this is the way to go.

If you look at the fine print, while the cap is 15% of income, it's based on household income, not individual's income. The problem I have with that is that student debt is owned by the student, not the spouse; in effect, with the higher payments with joint income, the spouse is required to pay on this loan. That doesn't make sense to me. If I change to this, my payments go down a couple hundred bucks; if I were married to someone with a job so had higher household income, my payments would go up.

The interest rates are higher than on my current debt and people who graduated a few years after me have even lower rates so not necessarily a good idea. When employment is so uncertain, this might not be that good of a deal for those of us currently mired under in debt. Especially for those married folks who would have higher payments and higher interest.

Giving Notice of Debt Collections

In New York City, they have a problem with debt collectors failing to notify the debtors of court order to seize their bank accounts.

That's horrible! I know that in my state, you must be notified and only the money in the account on the day of the order can be seized; if the amount seized was less than the full debt, another court order would be required to attach money put in the account later.

Alice's Wonder Spray

A low-cost household cleaner.
~~~

ALICE'S Wonder Spray

This cleaner will kill 82 percent of molds and 99 percent of bacteria in a household, according to Ami Voeltz of Do It Green Minnesota. It costs only 14 cents, whereas a store-bought cleaner runs $4 to $20 a bottle. Making your own is kinder to the environment, and you save packaging by using your own reusable bottle.

• 1 c. white vinegar

• 2 tsp. borax

• 32 oz. (4 c.) hot water

• 20 drops essential oil, optional

•1/4 c. liquid dish soap

Directions

Combine vinegar and borax with 32 ounces hot water. Add an essential oil (if desired, for fragrance) and dish soap. Place in a spray bottle and be sure to label it.

~~~

I have all the ingredients but need to make sure I have a clean spray bottle. I wonder if the dollar store sells them?

Justice Clarence Thomas

Interesting article on a meeting he had with high school essay winners.

Changes to Student Lending

The private student loan industry is not happy with Obama's plan to change the game on them; they make crazy amounts of money, and if you recall, there was a big scandal a few years ago about gaming the system so that the loan officers would recommend loans with whatever company made it most beneficial to the school. I believe that was mostly for-profit institutions but could be wrong on that.

It used to be that people could get part time jobs and work their way through school. Tuition costs have escalated so that isn't possible. It's even worse once you get into advanced degrees.

Remind me now, why did we do this?

Credit Card Debt

While it's true that I have a balance on my credit card right now, based on date incurred, it isn't due yet;I haven't yet changed cycles so won't have to pay for awhile yet. I may have two additional purchases but am still being very careful with my card.

As changes imposed by Congress are coming up, Credit Card companies are doing what they can now to make more money. The mistake may have been leaving too big of a gap in passage and implementation of legislation. I don't expect changes in my terms; I have a fairly high interest rate and a low credit line with my credit union. Credit card defaults reached record highs in May and aren't going down any time soon.

I'm very happy not to have default as a possibility. At least not with my credit cards.

Jobs

Here's an article from April, talking about jobs. While Joe Biden says the administration "Misread" the economy, unemployment has gone up to 9.5%. Jobs aren't being lost in as great numbers, but not too many companies are hiring. More families are becoming homeless. The outlook is grim and people keep talking about the Depression.

I find that depressing; in my area, hourly rates for temporary attorneys have gone down. While there were a few corporations that paid $3 less an hour a few years ago, a couple of the agencies are going to the lower rates. Because I'm not actively seeking temporary attorney projects, I don't know if that's a reflection of firms lowering their rates generally or the agency thinking they'll have an edge.

I'm Back!

For no apparent reason, except that I didn't post, I stopped posting. In April. I just couldn't muster up another post at that point but have returned, to hopefully continue daily.

Keeping Food Expenses Down

While I haven't gone so far as to start with the Ramen Noodles, I did see one of their PR people interviewed on tv a few weeks ago; Ramen is cheap, easy and sometimes those are the only priorities.

I've mentioned before that a church near my house has a free food day and those going for food drive better cars than I do; they're the ones who are overextended and in big houses they can't afford. I also learned that someone at work, who is in a financial management program, has been criticized by others for accepting food that someone else gets from a food shelf. Someone's father gets the food and is given too much so it would otherwise go to waste so why not give part of it to someone who's happy to have it?

My point of view may be colored by my childhood; my grandma lived in a senior citizen's high rise and because of her low income, qualified for USDA programs. She kept the honey, milk and butter but took the cheese and passed it on to us. Her reasoning is that she qualified for it, so she took it.

Some people swear by a combination of shopping at Wal-Mart for non-perishable foods and Aldi for perishables. Aldi isn't that convenient to access where I live so I don't think about it and don't go that often.

There are a couple of other programs that provide lower-cost foods. Angel Food is a national program so may be available in your area. I haven't tried either the local program or national one; I do pretty well with sales, coupons and coupons for buy-one-get-one-free offers at my grocery store.

I'm looking forward to Farmers market season so I can have fresh local food.

Your Resume will be Kept on File

We've all been told that our resumes would be kept on file. Most of the time it seems like a throwaway line, so you don't feel bad about not getting the job, or decide to hate the company. While it likely is at times, I have had calls back from companies who kept my resume.

In fact, one time I ended up getting the job. It seemed like a good idea at the time, so I took the job. I ended up working there for a short period of time as it wasn't a good fit for me on many levels. I had been working as an editor, dealing with content and went to a job with the same title, at another fairly small, very dysfunctional company, but with work that was far less interesting. It was really a project manager position rather than editorial, but of course there was no way for me to discern that before starting the job.

I haven't actually had anyone tell me they'd keep my resume on file lately, though the associates at my last contract attorney position told me to keep in touch and let them know if I become available again. They still have one of my colleagues doing contract work; they talk about hiring her in a staff attorney position but have not done so as of yet. I don't think the firm has had layoffs, though it can't be her work that stops them from making her permanent. They really like her and are happy to have her.

Tax Refunds

Because I procrastinate too much, I spent Wednesday evening doing taxes. It should've been fine but it wasn't; I used the same super-easy service that I used last year but with glitches this time.

In the end, my taxes got done and I've had confirmation, both from the IRS and from the state, that they went through. I'm getting a refund from both sources, thanks to a required contribution to a pension fund, which lowers my income, a deferred compensation fund that is optional and to which I divert almost more than I can afford; at the same time, not getting any younger, I can't afford not to beef up my pension fund. The other big thing was claiming interest on student loan payments. Capturing the full amount of the credit only makes me wish it was larger. My interest payments exceeded by far the allotted amount. With the massive student loan debt that's out there in this economy, why is it so small. It isn't just lawyers who went to private schools these days who have massive debt and are underemployed!

I guessed what my refund would be, without even looking at my tax information before doing so. My guess was a bit high, but only by $200. The resulting amount is sufficient to pay off miscellaneous bills I want to get rid of, including a medical bill, and to have a fairly significant amount to add to my savings. That's going to be important.

Are you worried about Layoffs?

It seems that most people think layoffs are more likely to affect others with whom they work; while the last layoff I experienced was from contract work, I wasn't terribly surprised. It wasn't very busy, there were three of us, there was a new manager who didn't know us very well and my strongest advocate was out on sick leave, so it wasn't a shock to me.

I don't know if I'm just more cynical, realistic, or what; in the end, I'm in a stronger position right now. The work I'm doing needs to be done and there isn't someone else on hand with the skills and the time to do it. So I'm fine for now. I'm also working somewhere that doesn't expect to have layoffs, but will have some summer positions that go unfilled and has other positions that have gone unfilled.

Branding Yourself

These days, everything is branded, so no big surprise that people are told to market themselves in job searches as Brand You! Because there isn't enough pressure just from having the job search, and there isn't enough pressure from knowing there's a ton of competition, and there isn't enough pressure from knowing that the economy sucks and the likelihood that you're going to be chosen for an interview isn't increasing with the distance from receipt of your diploma.

I don't have my name out there on too many webpages; it's still on a few job sites and on LinkedIn. I'm not on Facebook, though just today someone expressed surprise about that; apparently it isn't possible to like the internet without embracing Facebook. I'm on a couple of sites, including LinkedIn and I find it difficult to manage without having a plan.

In my area, there are actually people who run classes for use of social media, which is great for those who have money to pay for that sort of thing and have a need to fill. I'm thinking of anyone who has a small business and gets contacts through word-of-mouth. Especially for those who provide services. I even saw a CLE that addressed social media.

For my purposes, my name isn't online for too many reasons and I'm fine with that. If I had a less unique name, I would be more likely to be on more sites; since employers now routinely google people, it seems that discretion is the better part of valor and stupid pictures of ones youth are better off in boxes.

Blood Diamonds and other Conflict Minerals

I know women who don't want diamonds as they sometimes fund war; whoever controls the diamond mines in some African countries use the profits from the sales thereof to buy guns and ammo.

The new thing to avoid are conflict minerals from the Congo. Congress is working on legislation. Personally, I don't have much to worry about; I'm not in a position to be buying diamonds or other gemstones at this time. If I was? I'd be more likely to buy vintage jewelry, the original funding for which would likely have benefited the British Empire, back in the days during which the sun always shone upon it.

I'm interested to learn more about the legislation.

Privacy

Do we still have an expectation of privacy? When I was in Law School, I wrote a paper that included a section on privacy. I believe the question was whether an employee with an office had the expectation of privacy for a phone conversation when the office door was shut. At that time, pre-Facebook, in some jurisdictions, the employee did have the expectation of privacy.

In my workplace, I have a door on my office, but have been advised that the walls are thin as it's new construction and there is a phone room in a hallway with no offices, that's next to the elevator, in the atrium. That should provide privacy as there's no reason anyone would be standing there longer than it takes for the elevator to arrive in a four story building.

Technology is having a huge impact on the reasonableness and will likely result in a change in the law; is the reasonableness test reasonable in these days of Google cars putting your neighborhood online.

Challenge

Challenge: Use up two books of postage stamps before postage rates go up again.

Why? Because they're Christmas stamps.

Method: Pay bills by check. Mail them in.

Requirements: Planning ahead. Money

Difficulties: Did I mention planning ahead? Or money?

Extreme tactic: Writing letters. Sending Easter Cards.

Other options: Going to the Post Office. Buying one or two cent stamps, using them in conjunction with the old stamps.

While I agree that saving money is a good thing, online payments aren't always the best. Why? If you're anything like me, the only thing stopping that check from bouncing is the fact that you can fudge it a bit by mailing it in on the due date so it arrives at the same time your bank account gets replenished.

Gardening

While I don't garden myself, simply because I'm likely to commit herbicide by providing a draught or a flood, it's gardening season and people are getting their seeds and seedlings together so they can have fabulous, fresh fruit and vegetables again.

I ended up not going with the farm share this year because I couldn't rationalize the up-front cost with not cleaning up my small bills. That's more important to me right now than random produce later. I also live and work near farmers markets so I know that fresh food will be available in convenient locations.

What Charities aren't intended to do

I recently read an article in the BBC about a British charity, the head of which is implicated in procuring a weapons cache found at a Madrassa in Bangladesh. What has this to do with the law, CLE's or the US?

I once met a group of foreign gentlemen who were setting up a non-profit; based on what they had to say about it, it seemed that their objective was to overthrow the current government from their country of origin. You know, usual banana-republic type story with despotic regime overthrown and new regime as despotic or more so than the last.

Because the country in question is poor and the infrastructure isn't as sophisticated as that of the US in the 19th century, combined with the government experience of these gents, they had a far-reaching agenda. Did I mention that in large part these were former government employees? So, rather than starting small with their non-profit, they had a lot of big ideas. Great ideas but no funding for them and because they had been government employees, no understanding that they weren't going to be as big as say, the Red Cross immediately; the more I talked to them, the more it seemed like their true objective was to overthrow the current government of their former country. I'm not aware of immediate plans that they had, it was just the impression I got, based on the breadth of their plans for the country.

It was interesting to me to see a parallel in the story about the UK charity and its jihadist Madrassa. I guess it isn't unreasonable to get the idea that a charity would be used for improper purposes.

Treating Each Employee like a Records Manager

Recently, Gabe talked about treating each employee like a records manager. That's what I'm working on. Policies are being created, records retention schedules updated and hopefully position descriptions and annual reviews will have a percentage of time to be devoted to records management. My workplace, like many other offices, doesn't have support staff to deal with records management, yet people don't understand its relation to themselves.

People keep too many documents; case in point, a review I was on in which, after the review a bunch of boxes were located somewhere crazy, like the CEO's basement or storage area at work. Because the documents weren't scanned in as they hadn't been captured in any of the previous go-rounds, an agency was contacted from which 50 or so attorneys were procured for supposedly a couple of weeks. Nor were we told it was paper. Imagine the frustration and annoyance we felt upon learning a) it was paper and b) the review would last a day or so, maybe. Depending on whether you obtained one of the last boxes.

That, and a review for which some of the employees whose documents had been collected, literally had everything since they had started. 16 or so years previously. Now, dealing with IP may be different than some other areas, as after 16 years a patent would still be enforced; however, many companies have an electronic records person who strictly deals with ensuring that copies of all relevant documents for a given project are in the project file. Once the project is over and docs have been turned in, the theory is that this is the official record of the project and anyone who worked on any aspect of it is able to delete their copies of the final and any previous renditions of the project.

As a practical matter, this would streamline both the production time for discovery as there would be fewer documents to collect and would have a huge impact on the actual review as some reviews eliminate duplicates but so often a duplicate isn't an exact duplicate so would still be there. But never just one copy because there seems to be a minimum requirement to keep five copies of any electronic document. Mind you, that's each person's quota, so if 10 people touch the document, there are a minimum of 50 copies of it saved electronically. If people would buy into the fact that records are kept centrally and there's no need to keep that paper copy or the series of renditions leading up to the final one, it would help the bottom line greatly.

People being how they are, it's likely that multiple copies of documents won't go away so there will be tons of work for document review attorneys once the lawsuits get rolling. Every big player in the financial sector is up for at least one lawsuit, right?

The Legal Profession

I keep reading about the legal profession and changes it needs to make. Recent ideas have included changes to billing, concept and pay structure. Which is great, but what about those of us with crazy huge student loans and no visible means of support therefor?

I can see why each of the above makes sense; the cloud-computing model of law firms can charge less because it has less infrastructure, but for large firms and work in complicated business models such as corporate work, it makes far less sense. While I realize that companies are becoming frugal and wanting to pay less, they also need to pay for the expertise that they want to use.

It would also be great if law school tuition went down to affordable rates, but higher education, like everything else, has a certain financial structure. In this economy, it's more likely that donations will go down and tuition will go up, especially at private schools.

It's all well and good to say things need to change, but my guess is that law firms never had crazy bonuses like Wallstreet did and it feels like people are lumping attorneys in with the financial players who looted their companies.

Groceries, Coupons and Fanaticism

I'm not a coupon-clipping fanatic, though I know people save a lot by using coupons; I do but don't obsess over it. Most of the coupon savings are direct from my grocery store. I buy things I know I'll use and will stockpile a bit but at some point you need to use it all. I try not to buy extra, unnecessary things, which can vary with the day. I waffle about some things that I like but don't truly need. Sometimes I'll buy, other times I won't.

I don't think complete deprivation is the answer; if I did, I'd be buying Ramen noodles, hummus and peanut butter. And nothing else. Instead, I buy fruit that I like, but hold out for sales for pineapple. I need fruit but it doesn't have to be pineapple. A couple weeks ago I bought pineapple 2 for $5 for the first time since Christmas. I just don't need it for $5 apiece.

I'm also trying to use what I have; you'd be amazed at all the duplication in my pantry. I have multiples of the same herbs and spices, and tons of condiments to use up. I don't need to buy salad dressing for a long time since I have a stockpile of it. While it isn't that expensive, I just need to use what I have and not keep so many varieties around. I'm trying to pay more attention to whether I already have one and wait until I'm out or nearly so to buy another. It doesn't sound like a big savings because eventually I spend the money, but I defer that expenditure until I really need it, so instead of having money tied up in canned goods and condiments, I wait until I'm actually going to use the item. Unless it's on sale and I buy ahead because I know I'll need it soon or know I'll use the item frequently by the time it goes on sale again.

Finances and Conventional Wisdom

Conventional wisdom used to indicate that the way to reduce debt and plan to be more secure in the future was to pay off any serial debt such as credit cards by first paying off the smallest balance or the highest interest. You would at least pay minimum + monthly interest so the balance would actually decrease. The smallest balance is easiest to pay off, so you feel a sense of accomplishment. Then, you were supposed to add the amount you paid on that bill to the next smallest/highest and so on, until you had eliminated your serial debt. That's the method I used a few years ago when I had way too much debt. It took awhile, but was effective.

Today's conventional wisdom is different. Because the world's economy has imploded and even in the world of document review there isn't too much work lately, the new plan is to pay minimum balances on everything and stash a little more into savings. Or stash something into savings. While I'm paying extra on two of my student loans, I don't have too much extra being paid out so I don't know how much sense that makes for me; it's about $80/mo so not a whole lot.

One of my colleagues plans to make minimum payments because we work for the state and it's a contract negotiation year so who knows what's going to happen. She plans to change her habits for the next 2-3 months, but has more room for changes than I do. She has a bill with Dell and a credit card balance, in addition to having wireless internet for which she pays $60/mo but doesn't use even monthly. She likes the convenience of it. Me? I'd like the convenience of having $60 more to pay to Dell or to pay on my credit card! She also pays $90/mo for a cellphone package, which includes a family plan for a husband who uses 3-min/mo. That would be an incentive to me to change my package; I did at one point pay for extra cellphone services and not use them much so got rid of that option.

My priorities are somewhat different and I have a greater need to have less debt than to pay for services I don't use. While I would like to put more money in savings, I'm not sure it makes more sense than attempting to reduce my student loans. I really want them to go away though that's going to take some time. My smallest loan used to be the highest rate of interest but has reduced itself over time and is now lowest. Meaning that with previous conventional wisdom, this is not the loan to target. Then again, the lower interest rate means more money goes on principal and I have a better chance of paying if off sooner.

CLE's

Remember to look around your area for free or low-cost CLE's. Sources may vary and I learn about many by word of mouth; many of the free ones are repeated annually so are good to remember. I have found many by just googling around for "free cle" and the name of my city and have learned of others from colleagues on document review projects or from project staff.

I have attended a free CLE at each of two law schools and have learned of others taking place at the two other law schools. My alma mater hosts a CLE in April that's an evening class for one credit, sponsored by a local big law foundation. My friends alma mater is hosting a CLE sponsored by a non-profit; it's half a day and free.

While there are those who prefer all-day CLE's and pay because they want to choose the topic, I firmly believe that free is good. I'm not in a position to have my CLE's paid by my employer, though if I found one that was relevant, it's likely they would do so. One of my friends is licensed in TX, so has to send in course handouts and pay a fee to obtain credits. Unlike my state, she has to come up with 15 credits annually; of course she prefers all-day or at least half-day CLE's to minimize her out-of-pocket expense. One credit wouldn't be cost-effective for her.

In my case, I have attended several morning CLE's at my alma mater and while they all say it's going to be one credit, it was more frequently 1.5 credits. That doesn't sound like much, but if you start when your reporting period begins, rather than a month or two before, it can lead to huge savings. Right now, I have two more sessions of my stats class and at that point, so long as I attend both, I'll need about 8 more credits.

My sources are:

Non-profits
Law firms
Law firms hosting CLE's put on by non-profits
Law Schools, especially my alma mater
Law Schools hosting CLE's put on by non-profits
Law Schools hosting CLE's put on by Big Law
Bar Association which has a free one-hour webcast once in awhile
Bar Committees and Sections which sometimes have a free one-hour CLE, either in the morning or at lunchtime
Government agencies; our Attorney General's office and Revisor of Statutes Office hold free CLE's each year

Talk to people who have been licensed longer than you have. My first reporting period I was unaware of free CLE's so ended up paying a lot of money. A lot of people who know about free CLE's procrastinate and end up paying a lot of money. Would you rather take a day without pay and attend a free CLE or would you rather pay a bunch of money and take the day off? Surprisingly, many choose paying and taking the day off without pay because they wait until the end of their reporting period. Don't make that mistake!

Credit Cards that are Bad Ideas

My first credit cards were two store cards, for which I was solicited at age 20. I had gone to JC Penney, where I hardly ever shopped, and to my favorite local department store, Daytons, which is no longer and wrote checks for whatever it is that I bought. Shortly thereafter, the stores called, offering me credit, which I accepted.

One reason, despite my lack of sophistication about finances, was that my older sister had trouble getting credit. Because in order to get credit, you need to have credit. Many people start with a co-signer on a loan or credit card so they can get the loan or use the card.

Thus I was introduced to the world of revolving credit. What I didn't know then is that store cards have very high interest, though, in those days, interest was higher anyway. I rarely used the Penneys card, but frequently gave my Dayton's card a workout.

I tended to keep a running balance and over time discovered that if I got close to my limit, they raised it. Which is great for them, but not so good for the consumer and not so good for the stores now. As it stands, Target's profits took a dive and they're calculating for higher defaults and Macy's which bought the company that was once Dayton's, has had its stock reduced to junk status.

Convincing people that they needed something new this very minute was a great idea while it lasted. I'm a reformed member of the shop-a-holic generation and rarely go to a department store.

Credit Card Interest Going Up

As usual, credit card interest is going up; it's to be expected. While I'm still using my card for transactions, I'm in a bit of a shaky place and need to put the card down. I don't think I'm in dire straits as my bill is under $200 and won't require payment for nearly six weeks. Nevertheless, when payday rolls around, they get more money.

Someone with far more financial sense than I have once told me that it's okay to carry a balance on your card if it's less than $1,000. I'm not going to do so.

Another cute idea, this one by Chase, was to have a one-time fee of $10 for transferring a balance to their card; but then they decided to make it a monthly fee! Their customer base is likely to have been much smaller if they had disclosed up front that they had an annual fee of $120.

Credit card defaults have also risen to a 20-year high. Also to be expected. Most likely companies have programs that people can go into that will help them, hopefully, to get by their crisis.

Saving Money on Groceries

While I'm all for a bargain, I mostly look for sales or coupons for things I know I want. Sometimes I'll take a chance on a new product but as I primarily use fresh food, rather than canned or packages of pre-made food, I rarely do so. For me, it's a false savings to buy a brand I don't like as well because it's on sale or to buy something I don't like because there's a good deal. If I don't like it, what kind of deal is that?

I have a friend who swears by Aldi and Wal-Mart groceries, two places I don't shop at very frequently; I don't like Wal-Mart so rarely give them the business and while I go to Aldi once in awhile, it hasn't gotten into my regular rotation. Partly because I never know what they have.

I had an acquaintance who was super-cheap, shopped thrift stores and garage sales for everything and bought food at a store that sold food past its expiration date. I'm neither that cheap nor that adventurous.

The new thing I read about recently? Grocery auctions. To me, that's mind-boggling; keeping in mind that I don't want to stockpile food and their goods may be scratch and dent or oversupplied goods. Then again, it's a social outlet as well as a way to buy food. You'd have to be up on the prices in your area for it to be helpful.

Broader Power

A week or so ago, Timothy Geithner decided it would be good for government to have broader power with which to regulate the financial industry.

This is the same government that has brought us excess charges for things like toilet seats and hammers and can't manage its own spending properly. Never mind sex, drug use and graft at the Department of the Interior. Or credit card fraud, generally.

I'm worried about our country.

Oversaving

I somehow don't think oversaving is a real issue in the US right now. While I should have enough money, right now it doesn't feel that way.

I want to save more money but each paycheck it seems harder to keep my savings balance. I'm not going out and living the high life; last week I had food, $30 and half a tank of gas so knew I'd be fine until payday, so no extra spending for me! I needed to make sure I had money to fill my gas tank being that I needed to go to work every day and all.

While I agree, I like to look back on my life and be happy, I don't think that happiness is necessarily caused by material possessions. In fact, the quest for that may be what brought down our economy; between the bankers looting the companies and buying crazy expensive things, and those who overextended themselves, either on credit cards or with HELOCs, it was people wanting stuff who created a lot of problems, both for themselves and others.

Me? I just want a nice, stable job so I can pay off my loans and buy a condo.

Stimulus Package Payday

Yesterday I got my tiny reward from the stimulus package; we were notified earlier this week that perhaps our take home pay would be increased a bit this time. In my case, it is. I'm up a whopping $20.50, which is almost real money.

I still think that anyone trying to be responsible is getting screwed; while they have recalculated the tax due per person, this is really the only benefit I get from the stimulus.

I haven't yet decided what to do with my incredible bonus, perhaps save it for a rainy day? That rainy day is going to be here soon.

Cell Phone Contracts

It seems that I'm not the only one thinking about letting my cellphone contract go. I'm actually out of contract and have been for over a year. My phone still works and I have a backup phone donated to me by someone who frequently gets new phones, so I'm good to go as long as I want to keep my current carrier.

The problem is, while I haven't analyzed my use, I haven't been using very many minutes; less than 10% of my anytime allotment. Keep in mind that doesn't count evening and weekend use or in-network calling, both of which I use. I have to look at my last several bills to see if the switch is viable or whether it would cost me more in the long run.

The benefit is that I'd free up a bit of cash, always a good thing, and have less incentive to add bells and whistles. I just need a basic phone as I don't use it for anything but talking. I'm usually by a landline and a computer, so communication really isn't an issue, generally.

Because contracts are required and it gets expensive, I don't see the need to have a ton of minutes; this, despite the trend toward losing landlines and using cell phones exclusively. One of my friends is just about to cut off the landline and get a cell instead; however, said friend takes about six calls per month at home so it really would make more sense that way.

I'm a chatter sometimes and worry that if I had nothing but a cell, I'd eat up all the minutes talking to family members who have trouble getting off the phone.

Your Medicine Cabinet

In keeping with Spring and the rising emergencies to my North, where the Red River is rising and Fargo is expecting floods, Medicine Cabinets also need to be maintained to ensure you have proper supplies that are up-to-date.

Soon the weather will be warmer and it'll be nice to know that appropriate supplies are on hand

Juror Tweets

Tweets from jurors on jury duty are going to be a big deal. I can't imagine what's wrong with people who publish more information than allowed; while the fact that one has gotten jury duty is one thing, tweeting while actually on jury duty seems a bit ridiculous. Yet people do it.

I would expect that, with such communications prohibited, those who ignore the ban and are caught would open themselves up to punishment from the court. I don't know if it matters whether or not they're discussing the case; perhaps electronic communication devices should be confiscated at the beginning of the day, to be returned at the end. After all, if there's an emergency, it should be possible, if old-fashioned, to contact the courthouse and leave a message for someone.

While people are accustomed to communicating in any fashion that they choose at any time they choose, there really should be limits. It's disrespectful at the least to be tweeting or texting while sitting on a jury. I mean, during court time.

Otherwise, I thought it was common practice to prohibit discussion of an active case with those outside the jury. How is it that people don't think electronic communication counts?

We'll see more of this issue.

Walking away from your Home Loan

People are starting to talk as though walking away from your home loan isn't a bad thing. I have mixed feelings about this; if you're overextended because you're greedy, it's totally different than if someone was a fraud victim or has lost their job.

At the same time, I can see that there will be a different result if you walked away or were foreclosed upon these last few years rather than at a better time for the economy. I don't know what the answer is, but am not certain that FICO scores taking into account the fact that the housing bubble burst and the banking system imploded is the right answer.

Again, people who are responsible are being screwed.

Medical Expenses

One way to cut medical expenses is to cut pills in half, if you can get double the needed dose, and if the pill has the cut line on it. My dad had to do that with one of his prescriptions, not to save money, but because the dose the doctor thought he should take a smaller dose than what was available.

I'm just leery of the idea that the insurance company might try to advocate it at times it isn't an appropriate fix. It is a way to save money, but it doesn't seem appropriate for the insurance companies to drive it.

Expense Reports

For anyone who owns a small business, does direct contracting or works for a fairly small business (not a corproate behemoth), Expensify seems like a good option to organize your expense items and turn in your expense report.

I work for government, so this would never be an option for me, nor is it an option for corporate American. There are a lot of people for whom this would still be an option; anyone doing direct contracting, such as a woman who is working on a project at my agency. She owns her own business and directly contracts for this work so might benefit from this sort of thing.

I know a lot of people who have a full-time job and then have a small business on the side who might benefit from this.

RFID Tags

Everyone knows what those are, right? The labels that can be read and tracked; rumor had it that Wal-Mart started using them, the better to see who in the community shopped at their store? It seems odd to me to think the'd track people out in the community, but I don't shop there often enough to worry about it.

These are also in the non-hackable new passports and are a great inventory device. So great that Wired Magazine came up with a list of the top ten uses for them, including tagging Saguaro Cacti, which are frequently stolen.

Some of the other items on the list are incomprehensible to me; Japanese aren't worried about privacy and have chips everywhere. They use far more technology than I ever will, even on my best technology days. At first glance, the entry for Mexicans seems racist; however, there are a lot of kidnappings in Mexico so it would be a way of finding people and likely the wealthy would buy into it. Imagine if anyone here suggested that?

Cell Phone Providers

Because I haven't been using my phone too much lately, I think I'm paying too much for the service that I have. Verizon doesn't appear to have any lower-priced options for me so I'm looking in to other possibilities. While there is nothing inherently wrong with Verizon, except their upcoming sale of private information unless you opt out, I'm not getting good value for my money as I don't come anywhere near using all my minutes. With tax, I pay slightly more than $45/mo; over $500 mo, which is a lot, considering I haven't used 20 of my 450 anytime minutes this month.

I checked PhoneDog and MyRatePlan and determined that I can get a pay as you go plan from Virgin Mobile; 200 minutes for $24.95. 500 evening and weekend minutes are included. So long as you purchase another card each month, any remaining minutes are rolled over, maximum 5,000. It seems like it might be a good option for me; there would be an immediate investment in the phone and possibly a car charger to use with it.

I did look at Verizon's prepaid plan, but it seems that paying $0.99/day of use plus a fee per minute or $1.99 with a lower fee/minute would cost more than they seem to; if I pay the lower rate and have a call every day, that's $30/mo + minutes used. Virgin's plan is more straightforward in charging a set fee for a set number of minutes and appears to be a better deal. Not only that, Virgin has more options in their pre-pay phone set and more price points.

Has anyone used either of these pre-pays? If so, what did you think?

Recessions Effect on Lawyers

Who are they trying to kid? There has been a glut of lawyers on the market for a generation; I'm working on a project with an attorney who graduated from Law School in 1976 and says the market was bad then and has never improved. They keep churning out lawyers.

In my state, there are four law schools and there were too many attorneys graduating before the 4th school opened. In fact, the university started its own law school only after having been rejected in its bid to buy the stand-alone law school.

While I saw an ad today, many of the 25 or so attorneys with whom I last worked on a project are currently out in the cold, collecting unemployment. I met up with four experienced attorneys for cocktails a couple of weeks ago, only two of whom were working at the time. A corporation that was a steady workhorse for one of the agencies outsourced its document review to its location in India a year ago. At first, they had a higher level review done in-house, but I think they've even stopped that; they're just not using contractors in their US facility.

The last review on which I worked was quite complicated; it was a techno-IP project and I don't believe the associates at the firm really understood everything. We muddled through it, with protocols determined, some of which were later changed, and learned to notice the keywords we needed. We worked closely with the associates, unlike on most reviews so came through it pretty well. I'm skeptical that it would be done as well in a foreign country; while I know some companies in India have their outsourcers work the afternoon shift, so they're in the office during US office hours, not all of them do so.

There will be more and more innovations and fewer and fewer traditional law practices but I doubt it will stop anyone from applying to law school. I have a neighbor who wants to go to law school. She's planning on going in 2010. I think she's nuts and so do her parents; she thinks she'll be the exception and be the one to get the high grades and get the job that she wants. Because I know her education history, I'm a bit skeptical that she'll get the grades and the job.

She wants to work in the non-profit world, which is great if the economy is doing well; it sounds easy to get into an entry-level position, but one of the things you don't necessarily see coming is someone from a big law firm or the AG's office downsizing their life once loans are paid off. No matter what experience you or I have, those people trump it.

Case in point? I worked with an attorney who saw a posting for the perfect non-profit job for her. She procrastinated a bit and wasn't one of the first people to respond. Even worse for her? An attorney who had experience with the AG's office applied and, of course, got it based on his experience with the AG. Another case? One of my networking contacts worked for BIG law for a few years, paid off her loans and downsized to the AG's office. After several years there she moved to an environmental non-profit.

I hope my neighbor realizes that with the economy in shambles, borrowing for an expensive private law school isn't going to be the best bet for her future. I wish I had had someone to un-recommend law school for me when I applied.

Carbon Neutrality

I don't worry so much about being carbon neutral; I have to drive to get to work or my only option is to go straight home after work, as my bus schedule is limited. Therefore, I have the option to go somewhere straight from work, rather than taking the bus home and driving to where I'm going.

I have always had old things; most of my furniture is vintage, as are many of my household goods, accessories and some of my clothing. I like old, so am unlikely to build a new house, which would be difficult to do on a carbon neutral basis. I focus on doing my best not to do egregiously wasteful things; if I was working in a place with better public transit, or lived somewhere that had better access to the transit available, I'd take the bus more. As it is, it doesn't make sense for me to do so right now. One of the benefits of my current employment is low-cost transit; I can either buy a bus pass at a reduced rate or pay for low-cost parking and have opted for the parking.

I have analyzed carbon footprint information on more than one occasion and have concluded that I'm doing better than I was a year ago; at that time, I was traveling on a project and was flying out to another city every few weeks. I enjoyed it while it lasted but my carbon footprint is reduced based on lack of flight alone. Once we were in the city we were all in one car, in hotels that were fairly close to the offices in which we worked.

While I didn't go ahead with the farm shares, due to the uncertainty of what vegetables, volume of produce and other expenses that would've rendered the upfront fee onerus, I plan to make an effort to shop more frequently at the farmer's market. It should be possible as there will be a market near where I'm working and there is a Saturday market near where I live. I'm also making an effort to use fewer plastic bottles and am trying to remember to take a reusable bag with me, at least to the farmer's market so I don't end up with 8,000 plastic bags. As it is, if I buy one or two things I don't take a bag.

It isn't a perfect system, but my theory is that I have had a smaller carbon footprint my whole life, simply because I have always had old things and when I was a child wore hand-me-downs.

Keep a Log of Expenditures for 30 Days

Another tip from Google Tip Jar is to write down every bit of money you spend for 30 days, so you really know where your money is going. It's easy to get into the habit of silly expenditures; for awhile I was buying iced tea, then I decided only to buy it on sale. Now I have decided not to spend that money and instead am drinking more water.

While I have never logged my spending for 30 days, I know a financial advisor who provides new clients or potential clients with a small notebook in which to record their spending. People are probably surprised at the results because it is so easy to get into bad habits and not recognize it. It's easy to do what is convenient, which is most often more expensive.

I've been bringing my lunch to work because I perceive buying food during the day as an out-of-control expense. I occasionally go out to lunch and, because I am Catholic, and don't eat meat on Fridays during Lent, I made a conscious choice to buy my lunch at the cafeteria on those Fridays, simply because I most often eat meat as part of my lunch. In keeping with the Lenten theme, my lunch isn't anything exotic, a grilled cheese sandwich and fries; however, I prefer my cheese sandwiches to be hot and melted, so I indulge that choice. Because I plan ahead, it won't affect my bottom line significantly; my lunch is less than $5 and I rarely eat out these days.

Keeping track for 30 days is great for someone who doesn't pay attention and needs to figure out if excess expenditures are being made. It's a great way to begin a budget. If I hadn't made the effort, bit by bit, to cut out the unnecessary, I'd do it myself. Unfortunately, I don't think I have any excess right now and refuse to give up chocolate.

Money Saving Advice from Google Tip Jar

I just learned about Google Tip Jar a few days ago and am excited about the prospect of finding money-saving tips. They're from many sources, most of which are unfamiliar to me, and there are several categories.

Much of the information is common-sense, but nobody uses that anymore. One of the tips I read is to drink water, to avoid wasting calories on beverages. Another, complementary tip, was to buy a water filtration system and bring filtered water with you. I have a glass at work and fill it from the tap on the drinking fountain. I also try to bring a water bottle with me and re-fill it when I'm out, rather than to buy water.

Another tip was to bring a flask of coffee or tea with you to work and avoid paying a lot of money. On document reviews, this wasn't really a consideration as beverages were provided. Most reviews provide coffee and filtered water; on some we had cocoa, hot tea, soda and carbonated water available. A couple of times there was also lemonade and iced tea mix. Now that I live in the land of government, water is available.

There are coffee clubs, which rent coffee makers and provide various types of coffee for a price. They seem pretty expensive to me as well; prices vary by breakroom and can be $1 or $2 a day. The more expensive option provides more types of coffee. They must have more expenses as they have several thermal pots into which the coffee is brewed. All I need is hot water, which I can make myself, in the microwave, or pay for. I tend to put some change in the kitty and use the hot water from the coffee maker just because it's faster. It isn't hotter, just faster.

Even Death Doesn't Stop Debt Collectors

I used to work with a woman whose first job out of law school was with a debt-collection outfit; you call the bank holding the deceased's credit card to let them know? Next thing you know, someone is calling you, asking for payment. Legally, the person's estate is responsible for payment, not any other individual who would not otherwise be liable. I know from experience, having been interrupted in the middle of the shower when an attorney/collector called my mom's house a few days after my dad died, that people can get scared when attorneys call.

Not all posthumous-debt collectors are attorneys, but a bank in my area has hired a law firm, which has a collections branch. My sister freaked out, thus the interrupted shower. Her take on the situation is that a phone call from an attorney is an emergency. Mine? Unless the house is burning down, don't bother me in the shower. An attorney is not an emergency.

While I believe in paying debt, many people are without insurance or any other asset, so the debt collector is taking advantage of the fact that people just don't know they're not responsible for another person's debt when that person dies. You also don't know that person's situation and it's entirely possible that they're committing to payments but can't really afford it. I'd have trouble making those calls because it's just unseemly.

I'm glad that my federally backed loans die with me; as it is, every month, the debt that doesn't die with me is reduced a little. Right now I'm insured for enough money that my co-signer will not be left holding the bag if anything happens to me.

E-mail Organization

I have multiple e-mail accounts, and am not always good about clearing them out. In my personal life, I have an account related to this blog and a couple of accounts related to myself, one of which is a hotmail account that I rarely open. At work, I have one account.

My primary personal e-mail account is through g-mail and I had over 1500 messages in it. I'm subscribed to e-mail from various places; among other things, I never de-activated my job searches because you never know what's going to come up. I have some subscriptions that are daily, some weekly, others monthly and some that are random. In addition to those, I get e-mails from comments here and on another blog to which I sometimes contribute. And I have personal messages, along with messages from social networking mechanisms.

As a result, I have quite a bit of e-mail some days, which is fine if I'm diligent and decide the outcome when I see the e-mail. Because of the masses of storage, it's easy to scan, read and not hit the delete button; I might want to see this again. In most cases, I really don't want to see it again, and its continuing presence, further and further away from the first page of messages, shows that.

I spent quite a bit of time the other day, deleting job postings to which I never replied; my current theory is that, unless I'm absolutely not going to be home that evening to apply for the job, if I'm interested, I'll reply the same day, otherwise I should just delete the next day. Of course, since I've been in my year-long position for four months, I haven't yet updated my resume, and need to do so this month. As much as I'd like for this project to be extended, I can't count on it. Because government moves slowly, it took several months for my current position to be posted and several more to make it through the hiring process; therefore, I have to update soon as it takes awhile for an appropriate job to come through.

Meanwhile, my e-mail is cleared out, at least for awhile.

Medical Insurance

Medical insurance is very expensive these days. Everyone knows that policies available from ggencies aren't comparable to those provided from employers; and this, when employers don't provide insurance that's as good as it used to be. It's great that COBRA coverage is a possibility, but for many of us, when healthcare, rent and student loans have the same dollar obligations, healthcare is the one to go. My friend just went to the doctor before paying her COBRA and, rather than paying the premium, opted not to have insurance and just pay massive amounts out of pocket. In her case, the premiums in total were about the same as the payments and she has now gone to her husband's insurance.

If you have a job that provides benefits, be thankful; I'm still paying on a medical bill incurred when I had crappy insurance that paid, in total, $300 for emergency visits. That paid for the doctor, in one capacity; however, he was wearing a couple of hats that evening and ordered a couple of tests. I'm on a payment plan, since the bill was large enough that there was no way I could pay it off immediately. Fortunately, the provider is reasonable and makes payment plans for those in my position. If I earned less, there was a possibility of a reduction in the bill, which is great to know for the future.

Meanwhile, I have insurance now. The problem I recently had was that I had a choice of plans and when I reviewed them, it appeared that I would be able to use the clinic I had most recently gone to and, much more important to me, keep my opthamologist. Because there was nothing indicating I needed a referral for such visit, I made an appointment and went.

Imagine my horror when claim was rejected on the grounds that it was out of network. The bill isn't tiny. Prior to choosing a plan, I had reviewed the webpage and it showed my opthamologist. It turns out that the plan is organized in such a way that I must first choose a clinic and only use the opthamologist linked to that clinic. But you don't know that until you're on the inside. When I called, much to my surprise, after explaining the situation and telling the rep. that I had no way of knowing my opthamologist wasn't an option and, furthermore, I would never have chosen their insurance if I had known, she said they'd pay for it; it turns out that there was no way for me to know my opthamologist wasn't an option.

I have changed clinics to the lone option linked to my opthamologist, which is a bit frustrating, though I was told that I can change clinics once a month and that I could wait until it's time to go to the opthamologist again, switch for a month and then switch back. I opted not to do so as that seems like something that would trigger a change in policy. I have been going to the same opthamologist, who is also an eye surgeon, and would prefer to continue to do so, so I am happy with the new clinic. It's as convenient as the old one.

If my primary care physician hadn't retired a few years ago, I might feel differently, though as it is, it should be fine.