I’m bored. But not just right now – I’m bored almost all the time. Mostly at work, though. In life, too, I feel unchallenged and feel the need to break out of a shell that surrounds my creativity, excitement, and passions. Its like I’m in a mid-life crisis and I need to rebel, get a two seater convertible, or some other impractical car.

But I don’t want to be impractical. I don’t want to play things super safe either but I’m looking for something that will change my life for the better and give it more excitement, meaning, and fun. So far, all I’ve come up with is going back to school. But not to finish my education – I do have a bachelors degree in computer science – rather, to law school or get my MBA in something not related to computers.

This is not an easy decision to make – so hard, in fact, that I haven’t made it yet. But I am very interested in what having a law degree or an MBA in something can do for me. I’m also worrying about the costs and question my ability to pay for it. I’m also a little worried that I won’t do well and will struggle to pass or worse, fail completely. But one of the hardest things to wrestle with us the return on the investment. Us the extra education worth it?

On the one hand, there are the extra knowledge I get. It certainly will be cool to be well versed in legalese or operational theory or even marketing strategy. It could come in handy even if I continue to stay in the computer field I’ve chosen. It could even help me in my personal life and help me be a better husband and father (when that day comes) because I’ll be exposed to new ideas on management and my rights under the law (if we still have rights). The networking will be very helpful and I’m sure I’ll meet lots of smart people who share my goals and values in life. I’m sure I could use them to find a new job if I wanted (or give them a job working for me).

But that’s the thing about the job part. I’m not sure the networking or the knowledge I get will increase my salary enough to justify the nearly 120K it will cost. If my wages grow by 20K a year, its still 6 years to pay it off and we aren’t talking about the taxes, lifestyle changes, and the fact that I’m not going to pay off the loans in 20K chunks a year.

It will also mean that my nights and weekends are shot studying and who knows what kind of sacrifices my lovely wife would have to make. She’s supportive but there is only so much you can ask a person to do or not do for the sake of your boredom. And with the lost time means little or no chance of getting to the gym and, therefore, the risk to my health. I’ve already gained weight since I started my new job last August and I’m beginning to feel the adverse effects of letting myself go (like love handles, wider waist, and less energy).

So, I’m stuck in a boredom rut and thinking this might be my way out of it. But this shouldn’t be the way to get me out of this situation. But I’m hard pressed to find something that’s going to challenge me.

Sigh.

Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry.