DC Mom

It looks like the only Thanksgiving game where Jauron was head coach and Shoop was OC was 1999 against the Lions. Let's see if we can find the stats.

Looking online, it appears that Shoop was OC for the Bears, not the Lions. Let's see if we can find a Bears Thanksgiving game.

I call bull on this story. These are the final plays of the Lions in that game. http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2005112400/2...post-playbyplay

Brooks never got a fair shot. He showed some flashes with the Jets.

What do you mean?

Is Hartgartner doing a bad job outside of those low snaps?

1. Joe Montana 2. The 1984 Apple Ad 3. Goldie Hawn 4. Franchise Relocations in the 1990s 5. Prince

Being paid millions a year to have a good time? It would be tough for me to walk away from that.

I certainly know that I am whining about all this, and I certainly accept responsibility for my choices. I am depressed because I feel like I blew it. I don't know if this makes my decision to go to law school a good one or a bad one, but I spent a lot of time trying to research law school. I am not sure if I was doing it smartly, but I knew about the hard time balancing life with work when you are a lawyer, I know that a lot of lawyers are dissatisfied, etc. I knew that you don't go to law school unless you want to be a lawyer. Yet, I had found the law so interesting in other contexts, aced the LSATs, thought it was the best chance for me to make something of myself and took the plunge. I figured I would know pretty early whether or not law school was the right choice. The thing is that in my first semester, I was like why am I here, but I said to myself "you owe it to yourself to finish this semester." I did well, and then I was like hey, this isn't so hard and I went through the next semester. Then at times over the semester and especially that summer, I was like "I don't really like reading case after case, dealing with minutia, blah, blah..." I just couldn't see myself doing this as a career. But I didn't want to quit after I had gotten through that year and I figured I had to see what job opportunities I could get during on-campus interviewing. Well, I got a summer job at a firm I thought was a great fit and I didn't think about quitting the rest of the semester, but then I was like, I don't like this stuff. Yeah, work sucks, but why do this kind of work that takes over your whole life? Why am I paying money to do this? The truth is that my financial situation isn't that bad right now. I could leave with very limited debt. But in a year and a half can I say that? And my future wife? She hates that everything is up in the air right now, but she would rather see me happy then be stuck in something I don't like. So with all that why don't I drop out or take a leave now? Because I haven't had that real true practicing experience that would let me know for sure. I am worried that I will regret it. I think I will know after this summer at the firm. I may hate the firm lifestyle, but I could get some better exposure about the practice of law. Basically my decision has come down to this: 1. On the one hand, I don't know what I want to do with the rest of my life and I cannot know for sure if I would have enjoyed law practice or not. 2. On the other hand, I don't feel like this career is right for me and what I know about what the practice is like doesn't appeal to me. I feel like however hard and crappy and a waste it would be to drop out now, if I don't... then I fear that inertia will carry me through for years doing something I don't like. The last thing I quit was running for class president in high school. Nothing since. I have stuck with a lot of bad things just to see them through, but when do you cut your losses? I feel that my time in law school has been like chasing losses in the stock market. I know that this is a self-absorbed, whiny post and thread. I should be a man and just make the call. I just don't know.

And I guess it would give me piece of mind to know that I would face the same problems dropping out this past fall.

$80K in tuition and opportunity costs for the rest of the semester, next year, etc. This includes subtracting the higher pay I could get in my summer gig at the firm. There's a fairly definite job that would pay $35K and bide me some time.

Also, I am about to be married, which restrains my options. Continuing on means $80K in opportunity costs + tuition. I understand the quitter label, which may be a reality, but I wonder how much avoiding that label is worth.

Really, I would not be so worried if it wasn't because there have been key points when I have been severely questioning my choice. August 2005 February 2006 March 2006 July and August 2006 January 2007. There have been times when I have been happy with my decision, but the frequency with my severe doubts and this being the worse, seems to be a bad sign. Still, I have not actually done a full-fledged practical experience, so... I am scared I will regret walking away before this summer.

I have two weeks to decide to withdraw, so it's still up in the air at some level. I feel that a summer at the firm will tell me for sure whether the practice of law is not for me. I haven't had true experience practicing... I have just had law related work during the semesters and my first summer. Also, the money will be pretty good. My question is whether 1.5 years of law school looks worse on a resume than 2 years. I can take a leave of absence at either point.. but I have little time.

I have a couple of follow-up questions that I hope someone here might answer. Everyone tells me that I should try out my summer firm before I drop out and hopefully I will know for sure at the end of August. But by the time the summer is over, it will be 6 months or so later. Because of my financial and personal situation, I could not really afford to finish up that year. Would the full 2 years of law school on my resume make it more difficult than my current situation for me to get a job? Also, if I had dropped out after my first year, would I have been in better shape? One of my problems is that I am regretting not quitting after this summer (did research work, hated it).

I work hard. If I didn't, I wouldn't have the grades I have here (it certainly isn't about intelligence, I think). I have done a lot of crappy jobs in my young life. I actually enjoy manual labor in some level. At least at the end of the day, you feel like you have accomplished something, you can see your results (normally) and you don't have to feel guilty about having a beer and watching TV in the evening. I am not really trying to defend myself. I wish it was about work ethic. Then I wouldn't worry so much about what I was doing.

I know I am whining. But I can't stop thinking about something until I solve it. And by the way, I am registered Republican for what it's worth. Not that I am enamored with the party or anything, but I suppose it's where my loyalties lie.

It's tough to quantify. Perhaps I am just focusing on the negatives, but I started to think about how I want balance in my life sooner rather than later and that when I look ahead the prospect of being a lawyer depresses me. It just doesn't feel like the kind of person I am. And it's never really been about the work. It's just that I have found no passion in it. I wonder what the point of it is. I just don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I like being creative and thinking up new ways to do things. The law feels so stifling as far as that goes.

Thanks for the advice. As far as litigation goes, I think you are confusing me with someone else. Because I am non-confrontational, I don't think litigation would work for me.

I guess my priorities changed (wanting to have time with family) and I found that my personality does not mesh with law students or lawyers very well. I realized that while I find the theory and all that interesting, I have trouble with the nitty-gritty and small details. While being able to understand the theory and the generalities of the law has been great for law school finals and my GPA, I doubt it will mean good things for my career. I only have a general outline about what I want to do instead. At times, I have considered high school teacher and trying to get into the business world. I wish I did know what I WANT to do for sure instead. If I did, this decision would be far easier.

Did you do legal work before you made that decision?

Also, how do you put your incomplete experience on your resume? And why did you not want to be a lawyer anymore?

How did you know it was time to move on?

I didn't find the first year that tough. It took a lot of time, but I took it day by day and all I had to focus on were studies.

Ugh... I know there are a lot of typos, etc. I am just really out of it right now. My bad.