Oh My Ga!

Today's Question From My Jeopardy! Desk calendar: Category: Baby Talk for $400... It's the part of a pair of overalls that is worn over the chest... My guess - the bib.

Answer: What is the bib?... Yeah! more fake money for me, Plus $2200 for the week

Song Lyric For Today
Hey, my love, you came to me like wine comes to this mouth,
grown tired of water all the time
You quench my heart and, you quench my mind
- Two Step by Dave Matthews Band

Being that we are newlyweds ourselves, Wife and I watch Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, and last night's episode was up to its typical goodness. Jessica Simpson is one dumb broad. Anyway, for those of you who watch the show, bear with me... but in last night's episode Jessica (Ms. Simpson, if you're nasty) thought her new "thing" would be to say "Oh My Ga!" instead of "Oh my God." It got really annoying, really, really fast. As stupid as that phrase is, I bet there are millions of little 12 and 13 year old girls out there (mostly of the middle class, suburban, Caucasian variety) running around saying the exact same stupid phrase (probably some 22 and 23 year olds too).

Law School News - I got a financial aid report back from a 2nd/3rd tier school I applied to. They had already given be a full tuition scholarship, but all those fees and expected living expenses sure add up fast. It would still be nice to only have to take out a federal loan, and not a very big one at that.

Top 7 Reasons Not To Go To Law School
1. Money - So this clashes with my #1 reason I am going to law school. Do I have a problem with that... hypocritical much? Not really. But it's true. The average attorney in America makes $40,000/year. Not a bad salary, but not exactly living the high life either.
2. "I've Always Wanted To Be A Lawyer" - So. I've always wanted to be a quarterback for the 49ers (ever since the Joe Montana days) or a pitcher for the Cubs... but that's no reason to sink $100,000 or more into a training program. I've also always thought it would have been cool to be an astronaut... but then again, maybe I would hate it. How could you know what you've always wanted when you have no idea what it's really about?
3. "I got great grades as an undergrad AND a great LSAT score, how can I not go?" - Easy. Unless you know (or at least have a pretty good idea) what law is about, and that you want to go into it, you will probably end up being another one of the huge number of law students trying to break into an already overcrowded industry
4. "My family always said I liked to argue" - This could be the dumbest one of all. Being a lawyer is A LOT more than arguing. Argument, while important for litigation and trial, is still a very small part of law practice. Maybe if you always loved to write, then you might have something... but arguing... trailer trash on Jerry Springer like to argue, but would you want them as your lawyer?
5. It's the next step - Conventional wisdom told us that THE professions to be in are 1. Doctor, 2. Lawyer, and 3. (to a lesser extend) Businessman. Well conventional wisdom is not meant to last forever. Conventional wisdom also said that owning people (read: slaves) made good economic sense... do you still think that's a good idea (OK, maybe this is a cheap shot bringing in slavery... but I think you see my point). There are literally thousands of other jobs you can go into that do not fit into these nice little categories, and yet are perfectly wonderful careers. Do what's best for you, not what your parents (or grandparents) generation thought made sense
6. Adventure - This one kind of contradicts one of my reasons as well, but there are much cheaper things you can do that are adventurous (do an extreme world tour for example)... and for most of them, you probably have a good idea whether you will like it our not.
7. I don't know what else to do - I'll admit, this one is tricky. On it's face it sounds stupid (which it is), but when you think about it, this reason can be deceptive. Sure, "I may not have a burning desire for the law, but at least when I'm done I'll have a law degree, and probably a pretty good paying job," you may think. It may be hard to argue with that. But again, what if you hate it. I would really think about it before going off to do something just because you have nothing better to do.

OK, enough preaching from someone who has never led the quire. I hope you take my advice for what it is, the uniformed rantings of someone with too much time, and not enough attention span.