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Apr. 8th, 2003 | 01:15 pm

For the past year or so, Francesca and I have been musing about leaving San Francisco and finding a new home somewhere in the U.S. or even Canada. Lately, the talk has intensified to the point where we've started doing actual research on it. Now we're setting a timetable for ourselves that would result in a move sometime in early 2004.

Why would we want to leave San Francisco you might ask? The only obvious reason would be that it's expensive as hell to live here. That's not our main motivation, even though it is a consideration. I've been living here for 5 years and there's a lot I love about the city (great record stores, amazing weather, never a shortage of things to do and places to see). There are also things I don't like too much (too many fucking people, too cliquish, too many yuppie fucks and tourists all over the place), but they're things that you might find in any big city.

I think the point is that we're just tired of living in a big city. It's not that we don't like SF per se. We want to find a small city or college town where the pace of life is a little slower, but where there's still some things to do. Originally, I thought we'd have to move up the west coast to Portland because we couldn't deal with warm summers and cold winters that we'd find elsewhere in the country. But now I'm feeling like I'll consider the east coast and even the midwest as possibilities.

After having an exchange with [info]reddawn on the topic, I thought I should solicit suggestions from everyone. We're trying to make a short list of 3-4 places by the summer and then we'll try and visit and make a decision by the end of the year. The only place that we've researched and have any enthusiasm about so far is Providence, RI. So please, suggest away...

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Comments {15}

M.

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from: [info]vestalvixen
date: Apr. 8th, 2003 01:39 pm (UTC)
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Providence is ass. You'd spend all your time driving up to Boston (for entertainment purposes), and the job situation there is just as bad as everywhere else. I want to run away from home too, but I'm ready to admit there's nowhere to run to. Austin's supposed to be hip and happeneing, but how hip and happening could any place in TX be?

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The Beer Retard

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from: [info]beer_retard
date: Apr. 8th, 2003 02:06 pm (UTC)
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I probably wouldn't go to Boston much and neither of us have cars anyway. That's one thing I forgot. We're pretty anti-having-a-car, so wherever we move needs to have adequate public transportation. But back to entertainment, it's getting to where I don't really like going out anymore even in a place like SF where there are any number of things going on. From what I've heard Providence would provide me with the occasional punk or indie rock show that I might get an itch to see. We really want to move to a place where the pace is considerably slower than the big cities. Since Boston is close enough, we could go there if we needed a taste of the big city (which wouldn't be that often). Jobwise, I just need a lousy library tech position and since there are colleges there, I should be able to find something.

So do you just mean ass in terms of being boring, or do you really think it's a shithole?

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M.

Re:

from: [info]vestalvixen
date: Apr. 8th, 2003 02:22 pm (UTC)
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Well, there's not much to do in Providence for entertainment, and their public transportation is rather sucky. Though you're right, they've got a bit of a punk/indie scene. I do think a car is necessary. Everyone I know there has one. But the Brown, RISD, and whatever else students get around somehow so maybe it's not as necessary? And, as you know, there's plenty of jobs in the library industry, so at least that's not a problem.

Ass in terms of boring and a shithole. But living is pretty cheap. But don't let me dissuade you. You should experience it for yourself. There is stuff to do down there.

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from: [info]blimeyoreilly
date: Apr. 8th, 2003 01:43 pm (UTC)
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Not all tourists are bad, y'know - was in San Francisco myself about 10 years ago for a week... :)

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The Beer Retard

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from: [info]beer_retard
date: Apr. 8th, 2003 02:15 pm (UTC)
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Ah, I should've specified what kind of tourists. I mean the ones who take up half the sidewalk floundering around with their heads up their asses, maps all over the place, etc...always asking me how to get to fucking Fisherman's Wharf/Pier 39 (which is the lamest of lame places to go). I'm sure you weren't like that.

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from: [info]blimeyoreilly
date: Apr. 8th, 2003 02:25 pm (UTC)
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To be honest, I have no idea what I did there...
I know I didn't see Alcatraz, I didn't see the Golden Gate Bridge, I didn't see Fisherman's Wharf, I don't even think I saw the Pacific.
Still, ran into Les Claypool in an incredibly cool record shop (forget the name) and spent the rest of the time just generally lowering the tone of the place and confusing people with my accent - I lost count of the numer of times I told people I wasn't Australian :)

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Sorry, A System Error Has Occured

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from: [info]systemerror
date: Apr. 8th, 2003 03:53 pm (UTC)
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I don't know how much you'd dig on the Midwest, but Iike I said before, I really enjoyed the time I spent in Champaign-Urbana, IL. Defenitely a slow paced college town, but not too far from Chicago if you want to get your big city on. The Urbana Free Library was very impressive when we stopped in there.

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The Beer Retard

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from: [info]beer_retard
date: Apr. 9th, 2003 08:44 am (UTC)
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Might be a wee bit too extreme weather-wise, but I will look into it and ask my Chicago peeps what think as well.

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heyrocker

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from: [info]heyrocker
date: Apr. 9th, 2003 06:13 am (UTC)
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My fiance and I actually went through this discussion last year, and our eventual decision was Vancouver. Its not going to happen anytime soon as she is in school full time for the next year and a half, but that seems to be the place where we will end up. I'm a Midwesterner at heart, I adore Chicago, but a variety of things have conspired to make living here very difficult. Its more and more expensive, its harder and harder to get anywhere, we're becoming victims of the same thing that is troubling all the big cities in America. Plus its cold as a motherfucker here in winter. However there are certainly a lot of issue involved with the emigration, and it would be made easier for me as Bethany is a Canadian citizen. As a compromise I might suggest Seattle, another city I just love. They have an awesome film fest too.

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heyrocker

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from: [info]heyrocker
date: Apr. 9th, 2003 06:18 am (UTC)
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One other thing I just noticed above that you mentioned is the desier for good public transportation. I will tell you that in my experience the more you want to get away from the big city the harder it is to rely on public transportation. Its just a fact of life. Shit, even the big cities largely suck. Chicago is basically impossible to completely navigate through public trans (although its good for some things.) However I do have friends in Seattle that live through the busses and they seem to get along fine. Also, the busses there are electric so they are super quiet and don't stink like the buses here do.

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The Beer Retard

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from: [info]beer_retard
date: Apr. 9th, 2003 08:54 am (UTC)
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Vancouver is a possibility for us too, even though the emigration thing would be a hassle. I've only been there once for a day or two, but I liked it. I'm not against Seattle, but Francesca is from there and she doesn't really want to live near her parents. I can't say that I blame her. I was going to ask you about Champaign-Urbana, since a friend recommended it...but if Chicago's brutally cold, I guess it would be bad there too. I've also heard good things about Madison, WI. But again, maybe too extreme in the winter. I'd like to think I could handle a seriously cold winter, but I've lived the last 20 years of my life in Texas or California.

It's interesting that you should bring up film fests because I've been checking on that for every place we're looking into. I guess it's pretty important to me if I'm researching that before jobs, public transit and housing. Providence actually has a pretty good one, which surprised me. Not quite on the level of SF, Chicago or Seattle...but better than the one in Houston, which I survived on for years.

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heyrocker

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from: [info]heyrocker
date: Apr. 10th, 2003 05:09 am (UTC)
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Madison is a fun town, and its only a 2 - 3 hours from Chicago if you ever need to come in to see a rock band or something. A lot of them come through there anyways, its a convenient stop between Chicago and Minneapolis (which is actually another town you should consider that is brutally cold but great otherwise.) We used to drive up to Madison all the time to see bands play. Its funny Francesca has that problem with Seattle, as its the same problem I have with Seattle. I love my parents dearly and we get along really well, but I don't want them stopping by all the time either. Champaign is pretty small, its largely just a college town. Again though, its far enough from Chicago that bands play there as a stopover between Chicago and St Louis, and its within a couple hours drive. I woul lean towards Madison personally. I'm sure both places are dirt cheap to live in.

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from: [info]lilslapbox
date: Apr. 9th, 2003 07:14 am (UTC)
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selfishly i think you should still consider baltimore. i know it's bigger than you guys were considering but i think you might like it. and you could even visit your yuppie fuck sister every once in a while. the city has a low cost of living (relative to the area), public transportation, decent music scene (so i hear), diversity, good food, and proximity to your favorite family member (although that's not saying a lot these days). this area has great outdoor activities...biking, hiking, etc. also there are a good amount of universities in b-more so a job should not be an issue. just some thoughts, anyway.

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The Beer Retard

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from: [info]beer_retard
date: Apr. 9th, 2003 08:56 am (UTC)
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I'll consider Baltimore and, at the very least, check it out the next time I come to visit you in DC. But chances are I'm going to be living closer to you once we move, even if it's up the coast a little. Unless, of course, we go to Portland.

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from: [info]swblack
date: Apr. 12th, 2003 11:33 pm (UTC)
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Wow, another anti-car person. Cool. The public transit system here in New Orleans is pretty bad, so buying a car is always very, very tempting, but I just don't like car culture or driving.

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