A co-worker turned me onto the site TouchArcade, which is dedicated to games for the iPhone and iPod Touch. I’ve realized only recently that there’re a lot of great games available for the iPhone OS, and with prices ranging from $1 to $5, some of them have given me more fun per dollar spent than console games like Mario Strikers Charged. Who needs a DS when you’ve got an iPhone (especially now that New Super Mario Bros. is coming to the Wii)?

If you spend any time reading TouchArcade, you’ll quickly realize that a lot of games that normally go for $3 or more will have short duration sales in an effort to boost their download rankings. Higher rankings = higher sales, even when the game reverts to the higher price point. If you’re a cheap bastard like me, you can save money by subscribing to TouchArcade’s 99 cent category feed (I have it on iGoogle) and swooping in on the games you want to buy. Have fun!

I frequently find myself dropping off or picking up passengers at the International terminal at LAX. Picking people up can be kind of a crap shoot due to the serial immigration + baggage claim + customs lines. I typically park in the lot closest to the terminal so that I don’t have to play the game of avoiding LAX police and security while endlessly circling and hovering in the white zone, which they tell me is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. So here are a couple tips for making parking at this lot the most pleasant experience possible:

LAX maps at lawa.org.

Take the Departures ramp into the airport.

It seems counter-intuitive since you’re there to pick someone up, but trust me, it’s better. Departures is full of people who are going to a terminal, pulling up to a curb, dropping off a passenger, and then getting the hell out of LAX. Arrivals is full of people who are going to a terminal, slowing down to 5 mph while scanning for their passenger, pulling over, getting moved on, circling the airport, re-entering the pickup area, making phone calls to see if the passenger is outside yet, etc. Not to mention the fact that three of the lanes on the arrivals level become left-turn only lanes where the cars almost invariably merge right because they have no intention of going left.

The departures level is also the superior way of entering the parking structure. Since the parking structure is used more often by people picking up arriving passengers, they tend to queue up on the arrivals level, usually causing a backup into the flow of traffic. The entrance on the departures level is also slightly closer, which means that you’re already on your way in while some schmo on the arrivals level is trying to merge right to avoid being forced into another circuit of LAX.

Note (July 2017): With Uber and Lyft dropping off and picking up passengers on the Departures level, the Departures level is now worse than Arrivals. There’s a fleet of pink moustaches endlessly circling up there. Just go in via Arrivals and duck into parking structure 3 as quickly as possible.

Park on Level 2.

Level 2 is always less crowded than Level 1 (arrivals) and 3 (departures) because you’ll have to go up or down one floor in order to cross to the terminal. It’s usually not too hard to find a good parking spot close to the elevators. Even if you were to find a parking space on Level 3 on your way to the down-ramp, you’re probably better off continuing on to Level 2. Keep in mind that when you’re reunited with your party, dozens of other reunions are happening at the same time. Most of the throng that joins you in crossing the street will likely get caught in the exit queue on Level 1 (which ingeniously merges with the Level 1 entrance queue for one aisle length), but sometimes traffic backs up from Level 3 on down. Fortunately, the down-ramp from Level 2 spills immediately into 3-4 exit booths, which minimizes the amount of time you need to spend idling in line. Don’t forget to have your $3 handy.

Bring something to amuse yourself.

No matter how good you may feel about having gotten into the parking structure quickly and parking in a great space, the euphoria wears off quickly and you’ll find yourself bored while waiting for the poor bastards that have had to deal with the Department of Homeland Security. Bring a magazine, a DS, or compose an email to yourself on your iPhone that will eventually become a new blog post about how to park at LAX and why your methodology is superior.

When I bought my car two years ago I checked out Lending Tree and eLoan to get financing and finally settled on a 6.95% loan, which was lower than what my bank offered. I didn’t even entertain the notion of getting financing at the dealership. Today, the rates seem to be a full percentage point higher, probably due to the general skittishness of the banks around credit.

There is an alternative to banks, however. I was generally aware of credit unions and the fact that they often provide lower rates on loans and higher rates on savings, but I hadn’t really bothered to look into the difference until recently. My personal financial situation is much the same as it was two years ago, but with the house of cards collapsing around us, I’ve been doing a little more due diligence on ways to optimize things. After refinancing the mortgage and switching over to the American Express TrueEarnings card, I looked into refinancing auto loans.

USC Credit Union is offering fantastic rates on auto loans. How fantastic? Greater than three percentage points lower fantastic! Specifically, they’re advertising 36 Months at 4.74%, 48 Months at 4.99%, and 60 Months at 5.24%. You could get a loan to buy a new car, a used car, or simply refinance your existing loan.

As with most credit unions, the membership is limited to a select group of people, but chances are, that select group could include you. Membership in USCCU is open to the usual suspects: students, alumni, faculty, staff, and employees of the University of Southern California; but it’s also open to anyone who lives in the City of LA. That’s 3.8 million people! They’ve also extended USCCU membership eligibility to people with ties to certain institutions. If you meet the qualifications, all you need is $11 to open an account and become a member, after which you can apply for some of these great rates.

Obviously, not everyone who comes across this blog is going to have the privilege/burden of living in El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula, but credit unions are everywhere, and if you take the time to investigate the ones near you, you might find some similar deals. The National Credit Union Administration* has a Credit Union search feature you can use to find and evaluate credit unions in your town.

* Think of NCUA as the FDIC of credit unions, with similar deposit insurance guarantees. From their website: “The original intent of Congress to create a system of not-for-profit cooperatives that promote thrift and thwart usury today serves nearly 82 million members with deposits exceeding $520 billion and loans over $355 billion in more than 9,500 federally insured credit unions.”

Since I pay off my credit card balances every month, I make almost all my purchases by credit card in order to get the rewards points. I’ve switched the primary card I use a few times looking for the best rewards program, and recently I noticed the promotion for the American Express TrueEarnings card at the Maui Costco:

• 3% back for gasoline
• 3% back for restaurants
• 2% back for travel
• 1% back for everything else

Rebates come in the form of an annual rebate certificate that you can exchange at Costco for cash or purchases, and there’s no annual fee provided that you have a Costco membership automatically billed to the card (you get 1% back on this, too). Going over my expenses over the past year, it looks like I’ll get a rebate of 1.5%. You can go to their online calculator to calculate your annual rebate.

Personally I like American Express. The one time someone compromised my card, I received a phone call and was able to resolve the issue with no hassles. Other card companies sometimes treat you like an accomplice in the crime and demand notarized sworn affidavits in order to reverse charges. I’ve also taken advantage of their automatic no-cost rental car insurance when I was involved in an accident in a rental years ago. While it wasn’t completely hassle-free, it was a good enough experience that I’d definitely recommend using your AmEx for renting a car. AmEx also offers extended warranty coverage up to 1 year on your purchases, which a friend of mine used when his stereo died 9 months after the original warranty ran out. That, combined with a good deal he found, allowed him to upgrade to a much better system for free.

Have you found a better deal in a rewards program? Let me know in the comments.