Yes, it’s true, I’m only updating because my mother whined that Catherine updates her blog more often than I do. She’s obviously a better daughter, who openly and publically keeps her family aware of the goings on in her life, whereas I am some giant black hole of…no really, I made one of those “how well do you know me” quizzes that have been tearing through facebook like wildfire, and my mother only scored a 25%, so she’s actually upset.
Today I am going to bitch about bumper stickers on cars at work. “But Sidney,” you may want to say, “that is FREE SPEECH and we all know you support free speech!” Yeah, yeah, I do, but guess what? When you work for The Man & Big Brother, Inc. YOU DO NOT GET FREE SPEECH. It is not covered in the employee handbook, so suck it up and remove your OFFENSIVE, MISOGYNISTIC, HATEFUL bumper stickers before I have to vandalize your car. I refuse to even take/post photos of the offensive sticker, but know it involves a photo of SWEET BABY JEZUZ, red dripping bloody letters and the words “abortion” and “murder” in the same sentence. Yeahhh….
On to happier topics. I have so far survived about six rounds of layoffs here at The Man & Big Brother, Inc. Which means I still have a job, though no guarantees past December. I was talking to EE last night about some of the drama (not publish-worthy, I assure you) that’s gone on in my life lately and – supportive friend/ex that she is – she says, “well, it seems like you have fewer and fewer reasons to stay in New England. Maybe it’s time to move?” Maybe, indeed. The prospect of job searching, job finding, and moving, all absolutely TERRIFY me. I’m only 28 though, so I’m supposed to still be footloose and fancy-free, right? The problem is, if I leave CT people will “expect” me to go to one of three places – back to South Florida where I grew up and where my father’s family still lives, out to Las Vegas where my mother’s family lives now, or to San Fransisco where I have been saying I wanted to live since I was 16 years old and where I have many, MANY friends and alums from my college, and where I would probably have a much easier time meeting women than here in CT where my two friends and I always call each other and ask, “hey, have you ever been on a date with so-and-so?” before going out with a new lady, I do not exagerate the queer community is THAT small, between the three of us we’ve covered most of the lesbians between New Haven and Springfield, possibly even Northampton. CoCo and Kevin want me to go to Atlanta, KT wants me to go to Austin, B wants me to go to Oregon…these are all nice suggestions, but I have no idea where **I** would want to move. Other than San Fransisco, but I hate the thought of living in a crappy share with multiple housemates, one who would probably have some big smelly dog that would chew up all my underwear…I’m just so spoiled sharing my condo with my two cats and one roomie and having my own little balcony where I tame squirrels and my pilates studio (and you know how hard it is to find a good place to exersize) with my trainer who I love…I may hate CT, but there is something to be said for the quality of life I manage to have here, despite the high(ish) cost of living.
So I went on over to findyourspot.com and took the quiz. I’m not sure it really listened to me. Hmm. Here is a sampling of my suggestions:
Honolulu, Hawaii America’s Tropical Paradise
This state capital has long been an important port city; its name is Hawaiian for “protected bay”…
Population: 905,300 | Average Home Price: $786,000 | Precipitation: 23″ | Snow: 0″
Baton Rouge, Louisiana The Cajun Capital
This town was named after the red stick its founder saw on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River…
Population: 603,000 | Average Home Price: $159,000 | Precipitation: 61″ | Snow: 0″
Las Vegas, Nevada Entertainment Capital of the World
Ladies’ Home Journal called this one of its Best Cities for Women, citing skyrocketing job growth and shriveling crime rates…
Population: 1,722,000 | Average Home Price: $250,000 | Precipitation: 5″ | Snow: 1″
Charleston, South Carolina Cosmopolitan Southern City
Fort Sumter, the scene of the first shots of the Civil War, overlooks this city’s harbor…
Population: 603,180 | Average Home Price: $285,000 | Precipitation: 52″ | Snow: 0″
Jacksonville, Florida Florida’s First Coast
Here in Florida’s “youngest city” the median age is just 32…
Population: 773,800 | Average Home Price: $291,000 | Precipitation: 54″ | Snow: 0″
Baltimore, Maryland The Sparkling Harbor City
This Atlantic seaboard city is home to the National Aquarium…
Population: 651,000 | Average Home Price: $310,000 | Precipitation: 40″ | Snow: 18″
Santa Cruz, California Fun on the Central Coast
This city’s old lighthouse now features a surfing museum, overlooking the famous “Steamer Lane” surf spot…
Population: 54,200 | Average Home Price: $784,000 | Precipitation: 29″ | Snow: 0″
San Bernardino, California The Inland Empire
You can satisfy your craving for heat at this city’s annual California State Championship Chili Cook-off…
Population: 195,000 | Average Home Price: $396,000 | Precipitation: 12″ | Snow: 0″
Valencia, California A Blueprint For Paradise
This spot features over 21 miles of “paseos,” pedestrian walkways for leisurely travel throughout the community…
Population: 50,750 | Average Home Price: $525,000 | Precipitation: 21″ | Snow: 0″
San Francisco, California The Golden Gate City
The towers of this city’s Golden Gate Bridge are purposely out of alignment in order to compensate for the curvature of the earth…
Population: 751,700 | Average Home Price: $720,000 | Precipitation: 21″ | Snow: 0″
Santa Barbara, California The American Riviera
More than 1,200 movies were made in this city at the Flying A Studio before the movie industry centralized in Hollywood…
Population: 92,500 | Average Home Price: $1,180,000 | Precipitation: 17″ | Snow: 0″
Washington, District of Columbia The World’s Greatest Capital
This most patriotic of American cities was laid out by a French architect…
Population: 572,000 | Average Home Price: $572,000 | Precipitation: 39″ | Snow: 16″
West Palm Beach, Florida The Gold Coast
This famous Florida spot hosts “Sunfest,” the state’s largest music and art festival on the waterfront…
Population: 1,216,000 | Average Home Price: $326,000 | Precipitation: 60″ | Snow: 0″
And yes, I find it highly amusing that my old stomping ground (I was born in WPB) is LAST. hehe.
I was amazed by the avarage home prices in some of these towns. And it really says AVERAGE. If I were the entrepreneural kind, I would buy some homes in, say, Baton Rouge for $159,000, ship them to Santa Barbara and sell them there for over a million.
And the guy that gave Washington DC the title “The World’s Greatest Capital,” I wonder how many capitals he has seen. Or maybe they failed to teach him the difference between World and USA in Geography class. It happens. Washington DC may well be “the greatest national capital of the USA.”
I know how hard choosing can be, but it’ll probaby sort itself out sooner or later.
Johan Lont´s last blog post..jclont: (burglars please ignore this tweet) I’m leaving in 5 weeks & staying 4 nights.
I have to say, I don’t think Washington, D.C. is even the greatest national capital of the USA. Honestly, I think we should have left the capital in Philadelphia. DC is a swamp.
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