�You don�t have to be straight to shoot straight.� �

Although we’re moving next week and I won’t be able to get down to serious bar study until about June 5th (that’s the goal, anyway), I still can’t help but think about this monster every single day. For a prep course I’m currently debating whether to pay for the Bar/Bri books-only option, or to spring for another $150 and have the option to attend classes if the urge strikes.¹ I’d definitely prefer the classes, but I’ll be living a 5-hour drive from where the classes are offered so it seems unlikely I’ll be able to attend many of them. Mr. Montana Bar/Bri (who has been very nice and helpful) says that some people do make the drive to attend classes in those subjects about which they’re most concerned. My costs could skyrocket if I started doing that, though.² Grr.

So do any of you who have grappled w/the bar exam and Bar/Bri have any thoughts on this dilemma? Are the books pretty good? Were the lectures very helpful?
(more…)

1. The Bar/Bri course for Montana only costs $795 for books-only, $945 for books plus classes. There is no tape, cd, or iPod option.↩
2. Gas each way would probably be about $30, plus a hotel if I wanted to stay overnight. That means attending two classes in a row would cost me about $100, three classes in a row about $140, a whole week $220). And how often will I really want to take 10 hours of potentially valuable study time to make that trip?

   On the other hand, I’m pretty far from the world’s most self-disciplined kind of studier. ((Yeah, sure “studier” is a word. One who studies. I don’t need no stinkin’ dictionary!↩

Last night I had the pleasure of having dinner with Denise of Life, Law, Gender, and the blogger known as Unblague. I have been reading Denise’s blog regularly for a couple of years and after having the chance to talk w/her on her birthday last year it was great to finally meet her in person. She’s every bit as fun, funny, and wise as she sounds on her blog.

That’s also true of Unblague, with whom I also had coffee on Monday. She, too, is witty and fun with just a bit of a sarcastic side reserved primarily for those of a Republican persuasion (so we obviously get along very well)ââ�¬â��again, just as you’d guess from reading her blog. I only regret that it took us this long to finally meet, but I’ll have to take comfort for that lost opportunity in the fact that she’s been so busy through the last year that we probably wouldn’t have been able to spend much time together, anyway. Yeah, that’s it.

At any rate, we had a terrific time joking about trees falling on Prii (Priuses? Denise’s car may be cursed) and whether we ought to be posting pictures of shoes on our websites. (The consensus was clearly “yes.”) We also discussed more serious things, such as how hate begins, who benefits from it, and how to reduce its presence and effect in society; Laramie, Matthew Shepard, and hate crimes legislation; and whether it’s better to support a politician who agrees w/you 65% of the time and gets elected, or to support a politician who agrees w/you 100% of the time but is not elected. Along the way Unblague learned that I have three shirts that are identical except for their color,¹ we both learned that Denise has had so many different experiences she must have lived a dozen lives, and I learned that they are not big fans of my footnotes.²

So thanks to both Denise and Unblague for a great evening! I hope we will meet again someday soon. Montana really isn’t as far away as you think…. [tags]friends, blogging[/tags]

1. If you find something you like at a good price, why get only one?↩
2. This I do not understand. Footnotes are so much fun! Ok, I admit: footnotes are often an indulgence for a writer and are not always user-friendly or beneficial to the reader. But they’re easy to ignore, aren’t they? Hmph. Perhaps this will be the next poll…↩

“I can’t imagine that any legit business in America would have the gall to send this “offer”. Is it really good politics for the RNC?” ââ�¡â��

“Apparently the people at DeLayââ�¬â�¢s legal fund think that Colbert is actually a conservative. Or maybe theyââ�¬â�¢re just that desperate for supporters.” ââ�¡â��

“With us, you can judge your law firm and read others judgmentsââ�¬â��all anonymously. Weââ�¬â�¢ll even email you new judgments on your firm as they happen.”

“Amazingly, Americans (and people in other countries) actually drink a product that can rightfully be called Osteoporosis In a Can. And, it gets worse from there. Read on.” ââ�¡â��

“On Thursday the House Judiciary Committee will cast a vote on ââ�¬Å�H.R. 5417: the Internet Freedom and Non-Discrimination Act.ââ�¬Â� Blackprof.com readers should call the judiciary committee members and urge them to support the bill.” ââ�¡â��

“Should a person use the phrase “big girl” or “little girl” in a derogatory way?” ââ�¡â��

One of the best things about being finished w/law school is facing all my debt.

Not.

But face it I must. Interest rates are going up again July 1 so if you’ve got student loans you might want to consolidate. Of course, if you have student loans, I’m sure your lender has made sure you know all about consolidationââ�¬â��perhaps much more than you ever wanted to know.¹ However, in doing my own second consolidation I’ve learned a couple of interesting bits of new info, including:

1. Private loans have 9 month grace period from date of graduation. You should get a letter 45 days before repayment begins. That letter will tell you when payments are due and allow you to choose your payment plan.
2. Make sure your lender has your correct address for that 45-day letter! You never want to miss any payments or pay late, obviously, but being late in the first couple years can have even worse consequences than you think. I think. ²
3. If you’d like to learn a bit about your loans you might want to with the Student Loan People. Once you login there you should be able to get a list of all your loans, including details about amount you owe, interest rate, and whether the loan is in repayment or deferred, and when your next payment is due. Try the NSLDS for info about your federal loans only.
4. Judging by the change in my loan amounts from yesterday to today, it looks like I’m paying at least $10/day in interest. That amount will only grow until I start repayment…
5. The loan consolidation interest rate a year ago was 2.7%; the current consolidation rate (before July 1, 2006) should be 4.7%.
6. If you consolidated any federal loans last year and you graduate(d) this spring, those loans will go into repayment about a month after you graduate. If you don’t have a job (like me) and you’d like to defer repayment until you do, check w/your loan servicer to get an Economic Hardship Deferment Request.

As interesting as all that is, I’m still not sure what to do about consolidation this time around. Since my last consolidation I’ve borrowed another $18,500 in federal loans I could now consolidate. Those loans have an interest rate of 5.3%. If I consolidated them, they’d only be at 4.7% (but probably a couple tenths more b/c I probably won’t get the lowest available rate). So is it even worth my while?

Loans. So not cool. [tags]debt, loans[/tags]

1. Access Group must have called me a dozen times in the last couple of month before I finally told them that if they called me one more time I would go elsewhere to consolidate. They haven’t called since.↩
2. Can anyone verify this? I remember something like this from my loan exit info session, but, of course, I didn’t write it down. I remember learning something like if you make all your payments on time in the first three years (or something like that) the lender must (by law) reduce your interest rate by some amountââ�¬â��like a half or quarter percentage point. Does anything like this ring a bell w/anyone? This came in the part of the lecture where the “expert” said that the most common payment to miss or be late on is the first one and that it’s our responsibility to know what’s due and when b/c the lender wins if we ever mess up. Please please comment if you know anything about this b/c, while I’m planning on paying everything on time, I still want to know I’m not remembering things that didn’t happen.↩