To break the monotanty of the heated arguments and other things, I'd thought I'd report some good news I found out recently.

With my A in Economics, I bumped my GPA to 3.92 and won an award for having over 3.9 after a year of being in the college program. I am halfway there to a Bachelors in Business Management.

I am gaining a good reputation as a team member from people in my learning teams. The college network has spread news of my sucess to some small businesses in the local area. A few of them law firms, that are impressed that I worked at the larger law firm for 4 and a half years in an IT department that had a 90% turn-a-round and an average of 2 years per IT employee. The larger law firm found out about my college program and heard from the other lawyers about me, and somehow discussed the projects I worked on and the money it saved them. Word is that I was earning too much for my position, and could not be promoted because I only had an associates, and they wanted to put a salary cap on my position, but could not due so while I still worked. So when a law firm wants to get rid of someone, they do things to try to make them quit, so the employee does not collect unemployment. The fact that I stayed on at the firm, even though I was given the despair treatment, shows the other lawyers of a loyalty and ability to work under pressure. Eventually I guess they had no choice but to terminate my employment? Had I a bachelors, I might have been promoted to a higher position. So some of the mystery is solved. I talked to one small law firm, and a partner there talked about an employment or contract after I graduate. I am not sure about that, but I'll keep my options open.

Other small businesses have contacted me for advice, and I am working pro-bono to help them solve problems. One business needs a business plan to raise money from investors and banks to grow the business. I am writing them one in my spare time, while talking to one of their managers to get more details. They are profitable after one year, and have a problem with supply not meeting demand. Another is a resteraunt that has a labor dispute, and I gave the Head Chief and Business Manager some advice on how to settle it with the owner. If things work out, I'll be gaining some reputation as a business consultant.

I learned more about business in one year, than some managers that I worked for knew in their whole life. ;) Yet I still have a lot to learn.

I used the law firm as an example in many of my college papers on problems they had and how to solve them. I earned A's on each paper. I didn't name the law firm by name, nor any manager, but I picked what would be the best solution for everyone, and to raise productivity, morale, and other things. Not sure if it will work in real life, but it may be a reason why some law firms are talking about me.

So I am beginning to think that going back to college was a very good idea, and so was changing careers to business management. There are a lot of businesses out there with problems just waiting to be solved.

These is very powerful ideas and theories to learn.

So I had an idea to offer computer and business consulting with my next small business. I plan my next degree to be a MBA with an emphasis on IT Management.

Now if I can just do something to get my illnesses under control, I could have it made.

the comment one manager made to me that "Programmers are a dime a dozen these days" stating that I could easily be replaced by someone willing to work for less.

Apparently the local big law firms don't downsize, RIF, or layoff, they just try to get employees to quit their jobs. If you quit your job, you look bad, as it looks like disloyalty. If you get fired in under a year, it is a good sign that you failed probation and were a bad employee. Yet if you make it 3 years or more, and are fired, it is a good sign that you either outgrew your job and couldn't advance, earned too much, or they didn't want you earning a pension (which I would have started earning in my 5th year, hence the 4 and a half year cutoff). Laywers are kind of hard to figure out sometimes, they do things differently than other companies for reasons known only to them.