Where would you never move to?

[unclehobart]

I guess I don't have much of a problem from the napa valley on up. Thats lovely country. My problem is with nutso goverments, obscene real estate prices, traffic, phony hollywood whack jobs. I have never met so many people who put on more fake smiles and attitude in my life. Its all 'hey... were brothers here', all while they lie and cheat you, your ocean is freezing, smog gets bottled up over the decent areas all too easily, everything east of the mountains in hotter than 10 hells, LA is the perennial racial warzone, SF is the perennial sexual orientation warzone, pedestrians are arrogant and walk out in front of traffic, its been 30 years and yet you still have clinging 60s loser hippie wannabes. Ditch the tye dye and get a fuckin job and a shave, you bum, everyone thinks that they are a friggin artist and so uber shiek ragardless of wether its just screaming in Latin on the street corner or pissing in the bushes, you are branded racist/phobic everytime you ask the time of day, Cali is the center of the PC universe. The only way to survive is to latch on your fake smile and keep your mouth shut as described above, Gas prices are unholy, brownouts, blackouts, simultaneous mudslides and droughts in the same zip code... how the hell can you have a drought and flood in the same area... only in California, earthquakes, ... and after all... there are just too many people there already.

Wanna go out for a $30 espresso? I know this place where we can get a half decaf/ half double caf with skim iguana milk ... with a twist of mango, rub elbows with Julia Roberts hairdresser, and get shaken down for lose change by a Lithuanian albino bum.

 

[unclehobart]

Sorry ... I had too much caffiene this morning. My panties are in a twist.

 

[Huge]

lol...you summed it up pretty well!

 

[flavio]

Well alot of that only applies to southern California, northern California is almost like another state.

In the Bay area there the people aren't phony (I'd say the opposite), real estate is high but has been coming down. I don't have much trouble with traffic since I work at night and my commute from Oakland to SF is about 20 minutes. Even when I work days it hasn't been too bad lately and on top of it the whole area has one of the best public transportation systems in the country.

Every morning on the radio they have a surf and snow report, the weather is perpetually comfortable year around, I can be at some of the best ski resorts in the country in 3 hours, and my choice of restaurants is astounding.

My workplace has 30 employees, 2 from Russia, 3 asians, 1 Irishman, 2 from England, and 3 French. They supply snacks, sodas, good coffee, and beer in the kitchen and have a foosball table in the back. They yearly give all employees 4 tickets to 3 Giants games of their choice.

Center of the PC universe? I don't really notice having any trouble being my normal outspoken beligerent self whenever I want. Sexual orientation warzone? I don't think warzone is accurate, I mean there are gays here and nobody cares.



Now I've been to Georgia a couple times and Savannah seemed sort of interesting, a friend of mine lived in Athens for a year and liked it, and I camped once at Stone Mountain which was kinda nice. From what i understand though alot of the state is populated by redneck, close minded yeehaws. Atlanta has some of the worst traffic congestion in the country and they get locust swarms or something like that.

 

[fury]

DAMN

 

[unclehobart]

Rednecks, agreed... but rednecks are everywhere. closed minded, agreed... but that describes everything outside of Amsterdam. traffic, agreed... any city over 1 million sucks for traffic. locusts? WTF? disagree. I'm not that fond of Atlanta either... but gas is cheap and real estate prices are good... and we are right on top of the largest airport in the world to take us wherever we need. If I absolutely had to get away and settle... I'm thinking Hawaii. Real estate is cheaper than the left coast, and the separation between snow and surf is measurable in mere miles.

 

[flavio]

I don't know if it was locusts, it's been awhile since I was in Atlanta. The guy I was hanging out with lived in Kennesaw (sp?) and worked in Atlanta. He was talking about swarms of 4-5inch bugs that would cover all the car windshields. He also made Kennesaw out to be the redneck capitol of the world.

I also consider Hawaii one of the places I would consider moving to. But I'd like to hear more about the supposed snow

Mauna Kea (Hawaiian for 'white mountain') is a 13,796' (4205 meter) volcanic mountain whose summit sometimes gets a skiable/boardable mantle of snow. There are no lifts, no grooming, no resort, but a road goes to the summit

that's all I could find and it really doesn't sound like it makes for a reasonable ski/boarding experience. That means I'd have to fly to Tahoe or Mammoth several times a year to get my fix.

Other places I might consider moving to:

Phoenix or Flagstaff, Arizona
Portland, Oregon
New Mexico
Fort Collins, Colorado
Hawaii

 

[unclehobart]

Kennesaw is pretty bad for rednecks, but it doesn't hold a candle to Harrisburg, PA.

I live about 10 miles SE of Kennesaw and have never seen these mysterious swarms of X-Files critters.

Ku'u and Na here are our rarely visiting Hawaii babelets. They can tell you where the skiing is out there.

 

[flavio]

Bah...don't get me started on PA. I have cousins I used to visit out in the country in PA. They had fun toys like horses, dirt bikes, a dune buggy and snowmobiles but they are quite backward thinking people. Both my parents grew up in Latrobe, PA where Rolling Rock is brewed and although i like the beer I always hated visiting the place.

So you don't have any large bug problems eh? Maybe my buddy was pulling my leg, he seemed pretty serious about it at the time. We had just seen a Grateful Dead concert at the Ted Turner/CNN place.

 

[Gonzo]

pedestrians are arrogant and walk out in front of traffic

That must be NoCal. In LA, if you're in a crosswalk, traffic must stop. If you are jaywalking the cops ticket you after you've been pummeled by every vehicle in town, and legally I might add. NYC & Chicago are far worse for this than LA or SD.

 

[flavio]

Yep people walk right out in front of cars here, it's true. Not at crosswalks and they don't even look to make sure your stopping.

I was going 40-50 mph down a street at night once and this girl walked out in front of me. I didn't see her until I was about 10 feet away. I slammed on my brakes and she jumped out of the way. Then she started screaming at me and calling me names.

Of course she was wearing dark clothes, not at a crosswalk, and stepping out in front of moving cars but she's calling ME an idiot.

 

[br0ck]

Now I've been to Georgia a couple times and Savannah seemed sort of interesting, a friend of mine lived in Athens for a year and liked it, and I camped once at Stone Mountain which was kinda nice.

Hehe, A guy up here also thought the senery from Atlanta to Savannah was great. That was awhile ago though.

I'd live anywhere in the USA, even Bezerkely, DC, and Philly. I'd have to bite my tounge, but I could live there.

But if I had a choice where to live, it'd be on the west side of Michigan. Kalamazoo, Benton Harbor, and St. Joe area is very beautiful. Even all the way up to Traverse City and Petosky. It's a little hilly there, but not out of control hilly. You get lake effect snow from lake Michigan, and I like 4 solid seasons.

 

[HomeLAN]

Anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon line.

 

[Gonzo]

You may have to explain Mason-Dixon line to our public educashon students skooled since 1980. Not one that I've mentioned that too has any idea what it is seriously

 

[greenfreak]

Unc, could he be talking about Palmetto bugs? I'm sure Q knows all about those. When I lived in Florida, they were described as big flying cockroaches.

One of them got stuck in the water of the pool I was in and chased me around-it freaked me out.

 

[unclehobart]

But palmetto bugs in locust grade hordes? I've never seen more than three or four in my line of site under the worst of circumstances. The only thing that comes to mind is this certain type of marsh junebugs that are the size of nickles. They only hover over water, like bridges and roads cutting through swamped terrain. During the mating swarm, the clouds are immense and will blot out your windshield in a second as you drive through it. But I don't recall them being of this area. I remember them being more in southern Alabama and the Tennessee Valley Authority fog out swamp areas.

 

[HomeLAN]

Here ya go...

 

[greenfreak]

I don't know if we were the only kids who did it but up here, we referred to cicadas as locusts, even though they really weren't. I had never seen a real locust before till I was in the parking lot of Publix and saw one on the ground. That was the only one I saw in the nine months I was there.

Cicada:

Locust: