Where should I live???

[PHO2GR4]

There is only one answer: Austin, Texas. It's like Texas, without all those idiot redneck Texans. In brief:
1) Excellent weather. Maybe a bit hot in August, but we have cold beer for that.
2) Tons of outdoor activities: 4 wheelin', fishin', campin', hills, beaches, Big Bend, Piney Woods, Corpus Christie, kayaking, bicycling, dog parks... um... food... rodeos... the Alamo, with Pee Wee's bike in the basement...
3) Low cost of living, relative to so many other "popular" areas.
4) VIBRANT economy, with tons of jobs for engineers and such.
5) Strong housing market: low enough prices to buy what you want, with good year-to-year appreciation.
6) All of the benefits of being both a capitol city and a university city. Lots of money for schools and other infrastructure.
7) South By South West and Austin City Limits music festivals!!! We're the self-proclaimed "Live Music Capitol of the World!"
8) Breakfast tacos.

[RickOKC]

Reno? Cold? Naaaa. Chicago is cold. Wisconsin is cold. That place where Dub lives, is stupid cold. Reno has very mild weather in my opinion. I like 40s/50s/60s/70s. Outside of that is too cold or too hot.

Bart

Besides, I saw on the news that their favorite pastime is feeding people through wood chippers (or was that a movie?) Regardless, I don't trust them.

Aaaand with legalization just around the corner...

You know.

<gulp> Oklahoma recommendation officially withdrawn. Even though we have a long history of "that" being one of our top cash crops, any minute now we will probably re-institute the requirement for men to wear buckles on our hats and women will be barred from showing their wrists.

There is only one answer: Austin, Texas. It's like Texas, without all those idiot redneck Texans. In brief:
1) Excellent weather. Maybe a bit hot in August, but we have cold beer for that.
2) Tons of outdoor activities: 4 wheelin', fishin', campin', hills, beaches, Big Bend, Piney Woods, Corpus Christie, kayaking, bicycling, dog parks... um... food... rodeos... the Alamo, with Pee Wee's bike in the basement...
3) Low cost of living, relative to so many other "popular" areas.
4) VIBRANT economy, with tons of jobs for engineers and such.
5) Strong housing market: low enough prices to buy what you want, with good year-to-year appreciation.
6) All of the benefits of being both a capitol city and a university city. Lots of money for schools and other infrastructure.
7) South By South West and Austin City Limits music festivals!!! We're the self-proclaimed "Live Music Capitol of the World!"
8) Breakfast tacos.

Hmmm, I hear really great things about how Austin is not only "Engineer Heaven", it could also be considered the easternmost city in California (or is that California should be considered the westernmost section of Texas?) Whatever, it's a REALLY neat place! Breakfast tacos -- OH HECK YEAH!

[Ldub]

Besides, I saw on the news that their favorite pastime is feeding people through wood chippers (or was that a movie?) Regardless, I don't trust them.

That'd be our 2nd fav passtime...



By way of observation, with a bit of reason & logic applied, I dare say that staring through a hole in the ice, waiting for a stupid fish to bite your hook, is at the top of the list...at least in the 9 months of winter we usually experience.

You may ask yourself..."self, why do people do that sort of thing?"...to which your self should reply...

"See below schnapps ad"...



OH whoops...I was saving that for the "dynamic duo"...

Here's the right img...

OK...I couldn't find the ad copy, but it was a pic like this...



& the caption read:

Is Jim coming fishing today?

Naaaaa...his wife lets him drink at home...

[vt_maverick]

OK...I couldn't find the ad copy, but it was a pic like this...



& the caption read:

Is Jim coming fishing today?

Naaaaa...his wife lets him drink at home...

Too true, went ice fishing with the father-in-law up in northern Wisconsin a couple Christmas's ago. There's nothing like lugging your shack and gear across a sheet of ice through a roaring 50 MPH wind. And after all that effort you can expect to catch mostly (at least in this lake) 6" fish.

I really want to try that tip-up fishing though, seems like all the fun with none of the actually holding the fishing pole part required.

[CrnCnn]

I would go back to Reno if I could. I miss it for sure. I regret my decision to move back to AZ on the daily. For you tho, I understand it was rated pretty high on the list for lack of jobs right now. If you like the heat and crap roads the you could try at Raytheon here in Tucson. My friend works there as a mech engineer and makes good money. Phoenix may have more options for you.

[mdwyer]

There is only one answer: Austin, Texas. It's like Texas, without all those idiot redneck Texans.

...and yet still in Texas. I'll take Austin seriously when it succeeds from Texas. Until then, this card-carrying lefty pinko liberal tosses another vote in for Colorado.

We're dead-frickin'-last as being obese, and we're well educated. There's a lot of engineering and tech out here, and it isn't all rocks and oil. Cable/Satellite TV pretty much started here, so there's plenty of communications tech, here, and we've got a strong television market. Some of those communications bounce off satellites that are manufactured here by Ball or Lockheed/Martin. For some reason, there's a lot of biosciences companies. If Saccharomyces cerevisiae is your thing, there's plenty of places around here to put that skill to work. If computers are your thing, there's scatterings of all the big ones here. Between NREL, Vestas, and a dozen solar startups, there plenty of work in renewables up here, too.

I think Austin does have a scene that we can't yet top, but we're getting closer every day. South Park and Book or Mormon came from here. We're exporting some pretty good acts, lately; we've come a long way from John Denver. We've got awesome venues like Red Rocks. We've got a full complement of sports teams in beautiful stadiums (...glossing over that whole NHL thing for the moment...). We've got nearly 50% more Roller Derby teams than Texas, despite being 1/3 the size.

We can buy liquor on Sundays. Finally.

We're pretty welcoming. Now, you'll have to get used to some things if you come here. You probably won't need your suit and tie anymore. Sorry. You might have to add some jeans to your wardrobe. When you get to the state line, you're assigned a late-model Subaru and a fleece jacket. You're going to have to get used to green chile being poured on everything. You'll be able to get a steak at a drive-up window, but good seafood will be trickier.

Did I miss anything?

[vt_maverick]

...and yet still in Texas. I'll take Austin seriously when it succeeds from Texas. Until then, this card-carrying lefty pinko liberal tosses another vote in for Colorado.

You know people say the same thing about Boulder and Colorado too...

Both are good options IMHO.

[pbkid]

You know people say the same thing about Boulder and Colorado too...

Both are good options IMHO.

Boulder, yes, absolutely. Buncha crazy hippies (beautiful place, crazy pp). Colorado, not as much, depends on the city.