The Writers Coin

I’ve played baseball my whole like and from very early on I knew the kind of player I was: a contact hitter with pretty good speed.

I usually hit leadoff and I bunted a lot—homeruns were not my thing.

One day when I was in my twenties, a new Cuban coach said something surprising:

You should be hitting homeruns. You have the swing and you have the body. Why don’t you hit homeruns?

I told him I’d never hit it out of the stadium we were in (325 ft down the lines and 380 to center, by the way) and that it really isn’t my game.

Grab a bat and go out there and try to hit a homerun on every swing.

At that point, I had played baseball for 15 years and this was the first time anyone had said anything like this to me.

I was skeptical and I didn’t believe I could do it.

But I respected the coach and seeing how perplexed he was that I didn’t think I could do it planted a seed in my mind.

• Does he really think I can do this?
• Can I do this?
• Maybe he knows something I don’t
• Maybe I can do this

So I grabbed a bat, dug into the box, and changed into a mentality I had never been in before: I am a homerun hitter.

I hit a couple line drives…the usual for me. I couple of balls went pretty far, but still not close to the fence.

Then I hit a ball as hard as I can remember hitting one.

And high.

And deep.

I flicked the bat away as the ball was still in the air and thought to myself, “If this ball doesn’t go out, a) I will be very embarassed because I just flicked my bat, and b) I cannot hit a homerun because that was the best I can hit a ball.

It barely cleared the fence but it went out—homerun.

I immediately turned to look at the coach with my big, dumb grin. As in, “Damn! You were right!”

It was a moment I’ll never forget: I did something I thought was impossible thanks to someone else that believed I could do it. Without that coach believing me and pushing me, I never would’ve done it.

The lesson here? Having someone that believes you can achieve something can play a huge role in any goals or resolutions you set for yourself. And even if you yourself believe you can do it, it’s always good to have someone else who does too.

Image by MissChatter and alex44k

I’m a huge baseball fan: I love to watch baseball, play baseball, and think about how my life would be different if I would’ve made it as a pro baseball player.

It would still be a dream of mine to play just one season of pro ball, be it in the minor leagues or an independent league.

Getting a paycheck to play baseball would be one of the greatest things ever.

And after reading that MLB’s minimum salary is getting bumped up to $414,000, I wondered what exactly that would look like when the money arrived in my bank account.

Using the handy paycheck calculator from Paycheckcity.com, I found out. Here is what heaven looks like:

I could still contribute the 10% to my 401(k) that I do today and my take home pay would be a staggering $8,359.

I’d be over the allowable limit in my 401(k)! Which I don’t think I’d need anyway since Major League Baseball has a pretty sweet pension plan.

Granted, I would be on the road half the year, wouldn’t get to see my wife and daughter a ton, and I’d have the pressure of knowing I’m a phone call away from being sent down to the minors.

But still…a guy can dream can’t he?

Image by AlphaTangoBravo

It’s no secret: I’ve been obsessing over buying a new cell phone for months. I counted down the days until my two-year contract with T-Mobile was up so I could get the latest and greatest phone.

It did not go as I expected.

I found out I was on a weird plan that was cheaper but didn’t offer discounts on phone upgrades. Which meant I would have to pay retail.

Which sucks because retail smart phones cost over $500.

But I did have two things in my favor:

1. I wasn’t in a contract, which meant I was free to go anywhere I pleased and get a new phone on a discount elsewhere.
2. My existing phone, the G1, was the first Android phone ever and so was selling pretty well on sites like Craigslist and Ebay. Selling that phone would help to pay for the new one.

Keeping all that in mind, I went out there to find the coolest phone I could get without spending too much money. I wound up getting a really nice phone I’m really happy with, but it took a bit of work.

To Leave T-Mobile or Not Leave T-Mobile

This was the first decision I had to make. Should I abandon T-Mobile to take advantage of some of the crazy deals on phones out there and sign a two-year contract?

I am a happy customer of theirs. No issues with them, their service, or their coverage.

And you can’t beat their prices—T-Mobile has the cheapest plans I’ve seen.

So this was a pretty easy call—I would be staying with T-Mobile for the time being.

If the iPhone was on Verizon I may have considered it, but no way I was going to go to AT&T after all the horror stories and the Consumer Reports slam they took.

Picking a Phone: The Research

This is my specialty: I am obsessed with reading about phones, so I did my due diligence with a few phones: the Samsung Vibrant, the G2 (which is the sequel to my G1), and the Nexus S, which just came out two weeks ago.

All had great features and all would be a HUGE upgrade over my now ancient G1. I just had to decide if I wanted a keyboard on my phone or not.

Where I Looked

I tried to find good deals on phones that I needed to pay retail for but guess what — they don’t exist.

Carriers will give you sweet deals if you sign up for another two years, but if you’re just looking for a new phone without any contract hogwash, you’re not going to find a deal anywhere.

Except for the Internet: sites like EBay and Craigslist are a great place to find deals.

I used Craigslist and found a guys selling a Nexus One phone in pretty good condition (so he said).

The Nexus One, by the way, is a phone that is no longer made and came out back in January of 2010.

Why I Bought an Older, Used Phone

You’d think I would want to but the newest, fanciest phone out there, but when you’re cheap like me you don’t drop $530 for a phone, no matter what it can do.

The Nexus One is a great phone that gets updates from Google before anyone else because it’s a “developer phone.” I could go into all the specs and details of the phone but I’m guessing you’re not interested in that.

Suffice to say, the phone is a huge step up from my old one, it’s in practically brand-new shape, and it’s rare. That will make it easier to sell when I want to upgrade.

How Much I Paid

I bought my “new” phone for $365. The guy I bought it from had a protector on the screen and the body of the phone since the day he bought it.

So when I say it’s brand new, I’m saying this is the best a phone can look after being used since January of 2010.

Then I turned around and sold my G1 on Craigslist for $150. Not bad for a phone that’s over two years old. I helped things out some by hacking the phone and upgrading the phone to a more advanced version of the software.

Which made my phone somewhat unique from the other listings for that phone.

So the net cost for my new phone was $215.

It took a lot of research, I had to overcome buyer’s guilt, and I didn’t get the latest and greatest phone, but I’m really happy with my “new” Nexus One.

Image by Johan Larsson

A month ago I thought my contract with T-Mobile was up, so I called them up to see why I couldn’t upgrade to a new phone on their website.

I had been obsessing over buying a new phone and I was finally ready to pull the trigger.

Here’s what they said:

Sir, you aren’t on a contract. You haven’t been for months. You’re on a contract-free plan that doesn’t feature any handset upgrades. Good day.

In other words, no phone for you.

Seeing as how I had been counting down the days until my contract was finally over so I could get a new phone, I was surprised. And I was pissed off.

My Mysterious Cellphone Plan

Turns out I had changed my phone plan months ago without reading the fine print. Here’s what my plan consisted of:

• 500 minutes per month
• Unlimited data
• Unlimited Texts
• No contract
• No phone upgrades

The plan is called Even More Plus and T-Mobile recently (and quietly) took it off their website. Which leads me to believe it’s either a really good deal for customers or people just don’t know/care about it other than the morons who accidentally stumbled into it.

Why This is All Moderately Interesting

Here’s what makes this plan so unique: you pay less on a per-month basis and in exchange you give up those “generous” phone subsidies.

In other words, I have the same amount of minutes and texts and all that as the “regular plan,” but I pay $20 less per month. So basically T-Mobile is saying, “We will give you a monthly $20 discount on your bill if you pay for your own phone. Oh and we’ll also let you leave whenever you want—no contract.”

The downside is that, when I want to buy a new phone, I have to pay retail.

Which for a smartphone will run you over $500.

Which sucks.

Math Time

It’s simple math. Let’s look at what each plan costs over a two-year span (assuming you already have a phone):

My plan: $59 * 24 months = $1,416

Regular plan: $79 * 24 months = $1,896

Pretty simple, right? My plan kicks ass to the tune of $480.

But after two years the regular plan will get a subsidy when the person upgrades their phone. Instead of paying over $500 for a phone, they’ll pay around $199. The carrier is essentially “giving” you $330.

Back to the math:

My plan: $1,416 + new phone = ?

Regular plan: $1,896 – $350 (new phone) = $1,546

And this is assuming you upgrade after 24 months. For every month that I delay my upgrade, the gap between the two plans widens by $20. So if I go three years with the same phone, my plan just got $240 cheaper.

So Which is Better?

The math shows that my plan is better, but it doesn’t account for how much money I will have to spend if/when I decide to buy a new phone. And it also doesn’t factor in the monetary value of not being in a contract.

I can leave whenever I want (which I like), but then I’m leaving this plan because no one else has anything like it that I know of. And it’s the cheapest plan I’ve ever seen for a smartphone.

I’m curious to hear what other people out there think: is this a good deal?

Would you rather pay less on a per-month basis and in exchange give up your privilege to upgrade to a new phone every two years at a discounted rate?

Image by pittaya