Comments on: Geography as destiny

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 21:55:51 +0000

Didn’t I mention that I’ve ruled out the entire West Coast, except possibly Seattle and environs?

True story: I once got headhunted, when I still had a résumé posted on Monster.com, for a job in San Francisco. The headhunter started to tell me about the job, and as soon as she mentioned that it was in SF, I politely said, “Oh, sorry, I’m not interested in jobs in San Francisco.” She pointed out that my Monster.com listing said I was willing to relocate. “Oh, I am,” I replied, “but not to San Francisco.” Dead silence on her end for a minute, and then she said in a tone of complete bewilderment, “No one has ever said that to me before.”

I like SF to visit, but it’s just too far away from home…and if I’m going to spend more than 50 percent of my income on rent/mortgage, it’s gonna be in NYC or Boston.

By: Brad

Brad — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 21:25:33 +0000

San Francisco? Urban, urbane, close to nature…sounds like a match!

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 19:01:26 +0000

Ha! Good one, Tom. So’s Belleville, for that matter…though Alton is certainly prettier.

I wouldn’t rule out Champaign-Urbana, actually. I have discovered that to some extent, for me, size matters…er, when it comes to towns, that is. But the tinyness of Chambana is mitigated somewhat by the advantages of a typical Midwestern college town. If only it were possible to fly from there to NYC and back for less than a trillion dollars round-trip, I’d give it some serious thought.

Climate issues are affecting me in a big way today (and yesterday, and tomorrow too, looking at the forecast). It’s supposed to be fall now, but it’s headed for the upper 80s today and tomorrow. NYC is sunny and 75 degrees at the moment, a perfect early fall day. This is the time of year when I miss home the most—too often, this town goes straight from the 80s to the 50s, with no sunny bright crisp sweater-weather days in between. (Even Minneapolis is in the 80s today. The longer I live away from the East Coast, the more I appreciate its climate, which really is pretty temperate relative to, say, that of the Great Plains.)

Through a complicated series of mental leaps that I won’t attempt to trace for you, I was looking at real estate listings in Sharon and Cornwall, Connecticut, today. Now that’s where I really need to end up—in the Berkshires, whether in CT, NY, or MA. I spent my summers there for the middle part of my youth, and it’s still my favorite place in the whole country. Pity about the economy, or lack thereof…

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 17:52:11 +0000

Alton’s a little farther East and in a blue state.

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 15:56:59 +0000

Heh. Signs have been pointing to St. Louis for a long time, it’s true…but I’ve started to think that I’ll be happiest if we head a little farther eastward than that. Maybe it’s because I just finished What’s the Matter with Kansas?, but I’m ready to live in a blue state for a while.

As for the Dordogne…can I visit you there after I retire to London and the west coast of Ireland?

By: Jamie

Jamie — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 15:29:05 +0000

Signs point to St. Louis (after a few years of enjoying your great new job). And then signs point to your retiring in the Dordogne and being our next-door neighbors.