Man, this thread is right up my alley. I left the computer world back in 3/07 and took a buy-out from a major telco - full pay and benefits for 7 months...just to walk away. I took it. I decided that I would go in full bore from 0TT to CFII/CFI and get all my licenses and start my career as an airline pilot. The goal was to be done with training by 12/31/07 and then CFI until I hit 800TT 100ME (at the time, the mins to get into the regional that I wanted to get into here where I live). I finished my CFII/CFI in 1/08 and had racked up some debt by burying my head and knocking the ratings out. I left an 80k/yr job to pursue this route and pushed all my chips in.
After finishing up the CFII at the end of December (before getting the CFI-A add-on), I realized that I didn't want to start the new airline pilot career with 20k in credit card debt and all savings gone. I swallowed my pride, used my brain, and decided that I would put my airline pilot career on hold until I had wiped out the 20k in debt and had built my savings back up. The economy was already showing cracks in the foundation and the talking heads on CNBC were spelling doom and gloom for the months and years to come. So, I jumped back to something that I know - computers. I worked the job boards for a couple of months and landed a job with EMC, as a tech support engineer in March and put the flying stuff on complete hold. I just couldn't still be dabbling into flying and start the new computer job due to the fact that I tend to let my love for flying cloud my logical mind. Meaning, I knew that I would have to get my head completely right to start the new job with the right attitude. Just like the people in my office that view the job as their main source of income, and this job being the pinnacle of their professional life - not only now, but in terms of career progression. I was able to get close to were I was making before I left, and like the product that I am supporting.
I really thought that I would hate myself for selling out and running back to the computer field, by putting the flying thing on hold. But, I can honestly say that I don't have any hard feelings. With the economy going down quickly, high gas prices, unstable (even moreso now) regional airlines about to start furloughing, the most responsible thing that I can do now is to get out of debt and protect myself and family in anticipation for a more sunny day in order to make the career switch. And, I know that one day it will come. I am 35 now, about to turn 36 and I know that time is no longer on my side to do this.
I want to start back instructing on a part-time basis in a month or so, as now I have made peace in my mind that my new computer job is the tallest head on the totem pole - at this point in my life. That is what is going to get me out of debt and eventually enable me to get to where I want to go - flying jets for a living. Sure, I hate the office politics, the staff meetings, the 2 hour meetings that should only last 5 minutes, and the 10,000 emails that I have to sift through daily. But, I am able to pay off debt very quickly, max out the 401k, and enjoy every night home with the wife. Things that I know I won't have and will bitterly miss when the day comes to make the career switch.
In a way, I think my case is like executing that shell script that you have written about what you are contemplating doing. But, watching it run on someone else's server.
I got all of the way there (minus the 100 hours or so that I needed) to being hired on by a regional and starting the new airline career. Until whatever shakes out in this crazy economy and oil starts coming back down, I am certain that I have made the best possible choice at this point in my working life! Hope my chime in here provides prospective into what you are currently going through in your mind.
And BTW - I ran the numbers for a break even point on the CFI/CFII (under the premise that I never made the switch to the airline career), and I would have to fly at least 30 hours per month for 6 or 7 years to pay off the amount that I put into just getting there. This premise being on a part-time basis, of course.