College Funding. Yikes!

As a college student (again), one of the most important things I considered before going back was the cost.  Financing education is not something to take lightly. I have three daughters.  When they are ready for college, they will need to take out some loans of their own simply because I’ll still be paying off my own student loans (law school is crazy expensive!). 

This info graph contains a lot of information.  If you can’t read it, click the link here. 

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I'm going to be a criminal defense attorney

Now that I have completed my first year of law school (well, almost completed. I still have four final exams to take) I am that much closer to living the dream of being an attorney.  And the closer I get to the dream, the closer I am to becoming a criminal defense attorney.  My husband wants me to be a California criminal lawyer but I’m just not sure I want to take the California bar that bad.

Don’t get me wrong. I’d love to live by the beach.  In a house full of windows with a cool sea breeze and a wrap around porch.  I can see myself in this dream working on the porch in the early morning hours while the dogs played in the ocean.  But, in reality, the California bar is the hardest to pass.  And, I would want to practice as a Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer that would mean a healthy commute to get from my nice beach home to the city each day. 

Decisions. I know for sure I’m taking the Utah and Arizona bars. And I know that I can probably take the California bar and pass it. But the cost and the travel and the idea of that commute, in that traffic, really does not level out on the old scales of justice. 

Wordless Wednesday

RFID Chips Scare me to Heck!

Did you know that there is a chip in some credit and debit cards that emits via radio signal the account number, expiration date and other information? This Radio Frequency ID ( RFID ) chip is probably one of the scariest things I’ve ever heard and the first time I saw the commercial for the major credit card and its fast pass option, I think I actually had a shiver run down my back. Because credit is dangerous in the wrong hands. Period. That’s why I got an rfid wallet. Even though I don’t have any cards with the RFID, I’m still want to be as safe as possible.

Costs and Saving Money on Transportation

Now that the economy has tanked and my neighbors and I all live out west, far, far away from necessities such as grocery stores, post offices, freeways and spas (spas are a necessity. Yes they are), some of my neighbors have become cost conscious and purchased motorcycles to save some money on gas.  I asked one neighbor if he expected to go through his motorcycle tires  the way I do car tires.  Because it makes sense to me that if you drive a motorcycle more than you drive a car. Then the tires will wear faster on the motorcycle.  And if that’s true, then how is owing a motorcycle really saving money in the long run?  Especially if you didn’t get rid of your car when you bought your motorcycle?  So you have a car payment AND a motorcycle payment, and insurance and maintenance on both. 

Ear Buds

One thing that I use regularly as a law school student is ear buds. I use them to listen to music at lunch, to listen to recorded review sessions when I have down time and mostly, I use them to tune out other people when I am studying.  I am looking for a new pair of molded ear buds that are a little more comfortable and that keep out just a little bit more noise. 

MTV

I appreciate the guest post, Jewel Rodgers

I remember being a young girl, like from the ages of 9-14 or 15, and my friends and I spent so much time watching MTV and VH1. I have memories of lying on my girlfriend’s bedroom floor, painting our toenails, and watching music video after music video. We would get up and try the moves out ourselves, and if her parents weren’t home, we’d blast the volume up as loud as it could go. Do kids still watch MTV and VH1? Does Direct TV even have those channels anymore? I sound like such an old lady! I just never hear anyone talking about MTV or VH1 anymore, and I don’t think I’ve ever passed the channels as I’ve flipped through before. I wonder what kids watch these days. Pre-teens, I mean. Once you hit 15 or 16, and get a license and maybe a car, there is no more sitting around watching MTV and VH1. At least for me, that was when it ended. Once we were 15 or 16, all we wanted to do was go!

Appearances. They matter.

Now that I’m in law school, I don’t have time for stuff I used to just put off until the last minute.  Now, I can’t even find time to put stuff off. I just don’t have time for anything it seems. Thankfully, there are places like  online florist FloristExpress.net that enable me to put certain important things like anniversary’s, birthdays, weddings, secretary’s day, etc., off yet still be able to come through with a gift and look like I’m not a crazed law student who works and raises kids and a husband too.  I get to look like I actually know what I’m doing and that I’m keeping it all running smooth.  

Appearances. Sometimes they really are everything. 

Sadly

I've blown off most of this evening playing Facebook games and reading blogs and NOT doing what I was supposed to be doing:

Drafting an assignment answer that is due Wednesday;
Drafting an outline that is due Friday;
Drafting an outline of my presentation that is due TOMORROW;
Drafting and outline of my motion that is due Saturday;
Reading for any of the three classes I have tomorrow;
Reading the 21 cases I pulled for my research project that is TOMORROW;

Slacker 101.  I think I get an A+ ! 

Call me Redneck. See if I care.

So here is the thing, I like my men a little, well, how to say it, country I guess.  Call me crazy, but I think it is hot when I guy can sport a pair of overalls and no shirt while he walks around working on a truck and coming in and out of the house to cool off while drinking my homemade lemonade. Now regardless of the fact that you can’t hardly find coveralls for men anymore or the fact that my own husband of all these 17+ years would rather be dead than wear coveralls or overalls, I still think it’s hot. I blame my redneck genes.