[Coda]

I can't afford to aim low. I am, as I said, 31 years old. I'm married and I have a disabled child, and I live in Los Angeles. Both my wife and I have student loans to pay off, and being underpaid for several years has caused us a lot of debt -- it's been a vicious cycle; something bad will happen and we have to draw on credit to pay for it (e.g. having my car totaled by a driver that wasn't paying attention, having to pay for medical bills because my employer didn't offer me health insurance, having my laptop break and need replaced because it was my sole source of income (and having a job that required that it be a Mac laptop), getting bloody ripped off because my employer didn't pay enough for relocation when I MOVED to LA) and when we finally start getting enough money to start paying down the debt... something else bad will happen and we'll have to draw on more credit because we just used the money we had to try to pay down the old debt.

The end result is that I have a certain cost of living, and I CAN'T compromise below that cost or else some bill won't be getting paid.