We can debate the positives and negatives about adding Maryland and Rutgers to our conference, and God knows there are plenty of negatives, but your post reminds me of one of the positives. We have so many alumni and fans that live in Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York that can now attend Michigan games in their own backyard. I'm glad you get to go see our team this afternoon. GO BLUE!
Instead of starting a new thread, I figured I'd just throw this out there and see if anybody can help me out.
My family and I are moving from San Diego to Cincinnati for the next three years and I'm looking for a place to watch games with the good guys. Any ideas?
Also, I have a Michigan decal sticker and a license plate frame on my car. Am I going to run the risk of my car getting repeatedly vandalized over the next three years? I just want to know how hostile of a situation I'm getting myself and the family into with this move....
But look at how much it gets people talking. If I worked at ESPN, I'd publish one of theses stories every month. I'd just make up crap and get people to comment on the article.
oh wait they already do that....
The Big 12 looks like it might implode. They're talking about adding Houston, Boise State, Colorado State, etc.
That looks like desperation to me. Five years ago I would've pegged ACC as the most likely of the five to fall apart, but I was wrong about that.
How hard is it for a conference to expel a member from its conference? Does it happen?
I would really like to see the Big Ten leave Rutgers in the dust someday... But admit it's not very likely. But is it even possible?
I'm not even a huge NBA fan and I love that crew. I like Fox NFL Sunday as well but I don't even think those guys have as much chemistry as the TNT program.
Thanks for the post.
My fear is to make this career change, graduate after two years, and be unemployed. I have a wife and two kids to support. We've saved up for this for ten years and we can make it for two or three years but that's about it. Like I said, I want to be a Deputy DA but won't snub my nose at a Deputy Public Defender position out of law school. It at least gets my foot in the door. I'm fine with staying in Cali but wouldn't be adverse to leaving if it means having a job or not having a job. Clark County in Nevada seems like a great place to practice criminal law.
Is the 20 percent unemployment statistic you threw out there because 1/5 of the class didn't apply itself? Are unrealistically looking for high paying corporate gigs? Or is the job market just not there... at all...? Once again, I'm not trying to live sunder the overpass with the family by making this career move.
Is law school really that bad of a decision?
I'm looking at transitioning from active duty to the Marine Corps Reserve in a couple years and plan to go to law school. I would love to go to Michigan Law but that's probably nothing more than a reach school for a guy like me. I'm looking more at Pepperdine Law out in Malibu where they have the Yellow Ribbon program for my GI Bill benefits and I can graduate without any school loan debt. Moreover, they have an accelerated program where I can complete law school in two years.
It doesn't sound like a terrible career move to me. But after reading two pages of posts in this thread, it sounds like a lot of people aren't big fans of law school. Is it because of the job market being saturated with law grads? Is that more for Big Law or does that trickle down to prosecutor offices as well?
My family executed orders to California in Summer 2013 and drove across the country. We made our way through the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Devils Tower, Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, and finally made our way down to Salt Lake City on our way to California.
We really enjoyed the Museum of Natural History, and my wife doesn't even like that kind of stuff. I would recommend going there if you have some time. Their dinosaur exhibit was amazing. There's also some really great Mormon temples throughout that city that are really cool to stop by and look at.
Now if you head South after the game to Las Vegas, stop by Zion National Park. It's beautiful. Just google for pictures of that place. I'd rather do the north rim of the Grand Canyon for a day then go to Vegas but it's your mini honeymoon.... So go to Vegas and have fun.
I'll be going on a fishing trip to Mammoth Lakes in May with some guys in the family and really love it there. If you wanted to do something close to that AND catch the game then I'd look going to Park City, Utah. It's right through the pass when you're heading East out of Salt Lake City and is a lot of fun. It's very similar to Mammoth Lakes, in my opinion.
Does anybody else get really disappointed when they log into MGoBlog after managing to stay away from the computer for a few hours only to realize there aren't any new threads? Or that there's one or two new threads that are trivial in nature and each have only about 15 comments.
Yeah, I think my heart actually sinks a lil bit when it's a slow day on the blog.
I never said it was only "really" a Michigan hat if they're going to commit to Michigan. You put those words in my mouth, not me.
If I recall correctly, McDowell wanted to go to Michigan State but his parents wanted him to go to Michigan. In fact, they didn't want him to go to Michigan State to the point where they were holding their parental consent hostage and the whole process was dragged out for a couple extra days after NSD. His mother finally gave in and signed the papers and he was on his way to Michigan State.
The Michigan hat on McDowell's table was more or less there only because his parents really wanted him to pick it, not because McDowell really wanted to go there. I'm not so sure his heart was ever set on Michigan at any point in the recruiting process. That's just how I remember that storyline, I could be way off. But that's where my "very flawed" logic stems from...
Okay, so when was the last time we REALLY had a hat on the table? I think McDowell didn't want our hat on the table but his parents put it on there for him....
I think Butch Jones is building something special at Tennessee. Or maybe it's just because I worked right next to the world's biggest Vols fan in Afghanistan for about seven months and I'm just drinking some of his kool-aid...
But look at Tennessee's recruiting classes over the last couple years: Their current recruiting class is ranked 3rd and 2014's class was ranked 7th. Tennessee should start challenging the likes of Georgia and Florida for the SEC East title very soon.
That's just my two cents though. I know very little about football and won't act like I do.
How does Tennessee supposedly lead but then Crystal Ball projects MSU and Michigan?
Is he a soft commit for the Vols? Is he talking about Tennessee a lot? Or is this just what the Vols' fans are claiming?
Maybe, just maybe, Harbaugh sees something in the kid and wants to visit him and talk about a few things.
And maybe, just maybe, Harbaugh knows just a little bit more about scouting, watching film, recruiting, developing, and seeing the potential in raw talent.
Yup, I think I'm going to go with Jim on this one. But you can talk down on the kid all you want... Maybe dropping a few more F bombs will help you really drive your point home.
They must've modified the original Post-9/11 GI Bill. Im glad that they changed it from 10 to 15 years because it'd allow me to transfer the GI Bill to my children. 10 years wouldve been cutting it close.
I think it's also important to note that you can divide it up as well. For example, I can get out and use 12 months of my GI Bill for graduate school and then transfer the remaining 24 months to my wife. OR I can take those remaining 24 months and give 12 months of it to my daughter and the other 12 months to my son. You just have to meet the requirements (6 AD years to transfer to a spouse, and 10 AD years to transfer to children).
They also modified the GI Bill a couple years ago to save $3 billion per year. You will receive all of your BAH if you are in school for that entire month; however, if you end your fall semester on December 15th and are officially on winter break, then you only get BAH for half that month. So as a UM student you may get $1578 for Sept, Oct, and Nov but be prepared to only receive $789 for Dec. It kinda stinks for students who are still expected to pay a full month's rent, but thats the way the cookie crumbles.
My parents love coming out to San Diego to visit. They live in southwest Michigan so it gets them away from the cold every winter. Now that we have kids and everything, my Mom tries to fly out every 4 months or so to see her grandkids.
My parents always wanted me to get orders to the East coast so they could drive and see us more often, but I think I'll pass on 'trying' to get orders to the East coast. If the Marine Corps decides to send me to Virginia then I'll spend three years visiting memorials, museums, monuments, and other historic sites with my wife and kids. We'd be close to Maryland, Rutgers and Penn State for Michigan games too.
Like you said, there's advantages to all of them. As long as your daughter understands that, she'll enjoy her time in the service. Too many young servicemen and women throw themselves a pity party when they dont get the duty station they want and really waste some of the best years of their lives moping around the barracks.
I agree with UofM Marine. San Diego is a great place to be stationed. You've got the San Deigo Zoo, Safari Park, SeaWorld, LegoLand, Disneyland, Six Flags, Universal Studios, beaches, etc. There's just so much to do when you're not working.
You cant beat the weather either. If my in-laws didnt live in Southern California I'd consider staying here when I get out.
The GI Bill has been completely revamped. GoWings2008 posted about the $600 kicker, which in return gave the servicemember an additional few thousand bucks in tuition assistance, and was a great deal. I enlisted into the Marine Corps back in 2004 and signed up for the kicker as well. This was all under the Montgomery GI Bill...
Now it's called the Post-9/11 GI Bill which is a MUCH better deal. This GI Bill gives active-duty servicemembers 36 months of in-state undergraduate tuition assistance. For example, if your daughter is a Michigan resident and leaves the service, she can attend a Michigan public school for 36 months with her tuition being covered. If she is an out-of-state resident, she'll have to pay the difference. If the school she attends is a private school, then the Post-9/11 GI Bill will pay up to $20,235 per year.
My recommendation to your daughter is to work on her associates degree while she's in the Navy so she can get out, if thats what she chooses to do, and go to school her junior and senior year and not pay a dime. She'll then have a year's worth of her GI Bill leftover to go to grad school.
Thats not even the best part of the Post-9/11 GI Bill though. It also gives you E-5 (with dependent) Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) while you're attending school for those 36 months. The payout is tied to the zipcode for the school your daughter will attend. I believe BAH for UM is around $1300 per month whereas the BAH for a school in San Diego is $2000 per month. You can use the following calculator to compute BAH for an E-5 with Dependent for any school as long as you look up the zip code:
The Post-9/11 GI Bill also gives you a $1,000 stipend for books every year.
Any servicemember qualifies for the Post-9/11 GI Bill as long as they served 36 months on active-duty after the September 11th terrorist attacks. The GI Bill can be transferred to a spouse IF the servicemember serves no less than 6 years on active duty and can be transferred to a child IF the servicemember serves no less than 10 years on active duty. Keep in mind that the GI Bill MUST be used within 10 years of leaving active duty service so it has a shelf life.
There's other perks to the Post-9/11 GI Bill too like the Yellow Ribbon Program. Many academic institutions choose to participate in this program. They understand that the Post-9/11 GI Bill wont cover all of their tuition expenses so they pay for HALF the difference and the VA matches and pays the other HALF so the servicemember isnt left with paying the difference in tuition. This works for out-of-state residents and for students attending graduate school. For example, this is how the Yellow Ribbon Program would look for a law student at Notre Dame Law School:
Post 9/11 GI Bill (Indiana , 100%) = $20,235.02 NDLS Yellow Ribbon Contribution = $15,150.00
VA Yellow Ribbon Contribution = $15,150.00
Total award for Eligible Veteran = $50,535.02+
I wish your daughter the best. I believe I went to the same schooling that she's graduating from, if its in Pensacola, Florida... I spent about six months down there after recruit training. Semper Fidelis.
I bought two tickets on StubHub for the Minnesota game and had the same delivery method. The tickets I bought for my wife and I said "Electronic Delivery" and "With Expected Upload NLT Sep 26th".
It just so happens that I got an email from StubHub today with my tickets. It'll say "Download Your Tickets - Order # - - - - - - - - - -" and you'll need Adobe Reader to open and print them off. So mine came a few weeks ahead of schedule.... Good luck!
My pregnant wife and I took our 18-month old daughter to the B Dubs Bowl and she really enjoyed watching the band, fireworks, music, and everything. She crashed near the end of the 3rd quarter though.
With that being said, just my wife and I will be going to a game in September. My parents will be watching both of our kids. I think I'm going to take both of my kids to the Utah game next year. I'll just take a long weekend off from work and we'll drive up to Salt Lake City from San Diego.
I can appreciate your advice but I just can't bring myself to wait to bring my kids to Michigan games for another 7 or so years....
I'll be taking my wife to her first game at the Big House in September. I took a bullet and went on StubHub and bought a pair of tickets for about $300 to the Minnesota game. We'll be sitting in Sideline 22, Row 21. I did a little searching on the Google and read over some old threads on MGoBlog about the best seats in the House. Seemed like there wasn't a whole lot of agreement on where newbies should sit for the first time.
MGoBlue didn't give us very many options for purchasing tickets and I didn't want to gamble with ticket scalpers on game day.
On a side note, her first game was the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl last year and I'm hoping the Minnesota game will leave a different taste in her mouth for live football games. While the result of the game was unfortunate, I'm glad that we can look back and say that we watched Lewan and Gallon play in their last game in addition to watching Morris start his first game.
... I think he can do all three. As a Marine and father of two kids, I am pursuing my degree via distance education to set a good example for the two of them. Sure, there's days where I dont get to spend very much time with my wife and kids because I have a research paper to write as soon as I get home from work, but I dont feel like Im neglecting them or being a bad father or husband because of it. I spend as much time with them as I possibly can when Im home. Maybe being a "Marine + student + father" is a little different than being a "student + football player + father" but I think he can do it. I wish him the very best.
To look forward to the 29th! I get to leave Afghanistan (hopefully for the last time) AND we pull in another top recruit. Thats going to be a great day....
Recent Comments
They must've modified the original Post-9/11 GI Bill. Im glad that they changed it from 10 to 15 years because it'd allow me to transfer the GI Bill to my children. 10 years wouldve been cutting it close.
I think it's also important to note that you can divide it up as well. For example, I can get out and use 12 months of my GI Bill for graduate school and then transfer the remaining 24 months to my wife. OR I can take those remaining 24 months and give 12 months of it to my daughter and the other 12 months to my son. You just have to meet the requirements (6 AD years to transfer to a spouse, and 10 AD years to transfer to children).
They also modified the GI Bill a couple years ago to save $3 billion per year. You will receive all of your BAH if you are in school for that entire month; however, if you end your fall semester on December 15th and are officially on winter break, then you only get BAH for half that month. So as a UM student you may get $1578 for Sept, Oct, and Nov but be prepared to only receive $789 for Dec. It kinda stinks for students who are still expected to pay a full month's rent, but thats the way the cookie crumbles.
My parents love coming out to San Diego to visit. They live in southwest Michigan so it gets them away from the cold every winter. Now that we have kids and everything, my Mom tries to fly out every 4 months or so to see her grandkids.
My parents always wanted me to get orders to the East coast so they could drive and see us more often, but I think I'll pass on 'trying' to get orders to the East coast. If the Marine Corps decides to send me to Virginia then I'll spend three years visiting memorials, museums, monuments, and other historic sites with my wife and kids. We'd be close to Maryland, Rutgers and Penn State for Michigan games too.
Like you said, there's advantages to all of them. As long as your daughter understands that, she'll enjoy her time in the service. Too many young servicemen and women throw themselves a pity party when they dont get the duty station they want and really waste some of the best years of their lives moping around the barracks.
I agree with UofM Marine. San Diego is a great place to be stationed. You've got the San Deigo Zoo, Safari Park, SeaWorld, LegoLand, Disneyland, Six Flags, Universal Studios, beaches, etc. There's just so much to do when you're not working.
You cant beat the weather either. If my in-laws didnt live in Southern California I'd consider staying here when I get out.
The GI Bill has been completely revamped. GoWings2008 posted about the $600 kicker, which in return gave the servicemember an additional few thousand bucks in tuition assistance, and was a great deal. I enlisted into the Marine Corps back in 2004 and signed up for the kicker as well. This was all under the Montgomery GI Bill...
Now it's called the Post-9/11 GI Bill which is a MUCH better deal. This GI Bill gives active-duty servicemembers 36 months of in-state undergraduate tuition assistance. For example, if your daughter is a Michigan resident and leaves the service, she can attend a Michigan public school for 36 months with her tuition being covered. If she is an out-of-state resident, she'll have to pay the difference. If the school she attends is a private school, then the Post-9/11 GI Bill will pay up to $20,235 per year.
My recommendation to your daughter is to work on her associates degree while she's in the Navy so she can get out, if thats what she chooses to do, and go to school her junior and senior year and not pay a dime. She'll then have a year's worth of her GI Bill leftover to go to grad school.
Thats not even the best part of the Post-9/11 GI Bill though. It also gives you E-5 (with dependent) Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) while you're attending school for those 36 months. The payout is tied to the zipcode for the school your daughter will attend. I believe BAH for UM is around $1300 per month whereas the BAH for a school in San Diego is $2000 per month. You can use the following calculator to compute BAH for an E-5 with Dependent for any school as long as you look up the zip code:
http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/site/bahCalc.cfm
The Post-9/11 GI Bill also gives you a $1,000 stipend for books every year.
Any servicemember qualifies for the Post-9/11 GI Bill as long as they served 36 months on active-duty after the September 11th terrorist attacks. The GI Bill can be transferred to a spouse IF the servicemember serves no less than 6 years on active duty and can be transferred to a child IF the servicemember serves no less than 10 years on active duty. Keep in mind that the GI Bill MUST be used within 10 years of leaving active duty service so it has a shelf life.
There's other perks to the Post-9/11 GI Bill too like the Yellow Ribbon Program. Many academic institutions choose to participate in this program. They understand that the Post-9/11 GI Bill wont cover all of their tuition expenses so they pay for HALF the difference and the VA matches and pays the other HALF so the servicemember isnt left with paying the difference in tuition. This works for out-of-state residents and for students attending graduate school. For example, this is how the Yellow Ribbon Program would look for a law student at Notre Dame Law School:
Post 9/11 GI Bill (Indiana , 100%) = $20,235.02
NDLS Yellow Ribbon Contribution = $15,150.00
VA Yellow Ribbon Contribution = $15,150.00
Total award for Eligible Veteran = $50,535.02+
I wish your daughter the best. I believe I went to the same schooling that she's graduating from, if its in Pensacola, Florida... I spent about six months down there after recruit training. Semper Fidelis.
I bought two tickets on StubHub for the Minnesota game and had the same delivery method. The tickets I bought for my wife and I said "Electronic Delivery" and "With Expected Upload NLT Sep 26th".
It just so happens that I got an email from StubHub today with my tickets. It'll say "Download Your Tickets - Order # - - - - - - - - - -" and you'll need Adobe Reader to open and print them off. So mine came a few weeks ahead of schedule.... Good luck!
... I think he can do all three. As a Marine and father of two kids, I am pursuing my degree via distance education to set a good example for the two of them. Sure, there's days where I dont get to spend very much time with my wife and kids because I have a research paper to write as soon as I get home from work, but I dont feel like Im neglecting them or being a bad father or husband because of it. I spend as much time with them as I possibly can when Im home. Maybe being a "Marine + student + father" is a little different than being a "student + football player + father" but I think he can do it. I wish him the very best.
To look forward to the 29th! I get to leave Afghanistan (hopefully for the last time) AND we pull in another top recruit. Thats going to be a great day....