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Thursday, July 05, 2007

TIME FOR AN UPDATE...

OK..some stuff has happened lately. Most of you already know this.

1) My wife and I had a baby. It's a boy. Henry Leopold. 8 lbs., 7 oz. He is 3.2857 weeks old. He sleeps, eats, and poops like a champ.

2) My job outlook is uncertain. Across the board, my company is low on work on-the-books. They basically laid off one guy, starting tomorrow. There's a possibility our whole office will fold. My boss said that given my situation (new dad, and stuff), he recommends I have a "backup plan." So, if you know of anyone looking for a guy with a GIS/Ecology background, lemme know. I am re-pondering going back to school for a PhD and stuff. I am thinking of the kinds of research work I could be doing, and how it would beat the pants of the stormwater management stuff I have been working on so much, lately. I also have plans to met with a few folks about possible jobs--engineering and planning companies. Mostly as a stopgap, if things fall apart here. I DO NOT want to commute 30-50 minutes each way, every day, to work at a huge engineering firm. I am looking for job postings in the following locations, basically in this order of preference:

1. A 40-mile radius area surrounding Eudora (not that I love this area--I'm just not ready to relocate yet)
2. Wyoming (top choice, if moving were no object--close to family, but spectactular, from an outdoor recreation potential perspective)
3. Idaho (like Wyoming, but more so, but farther from family, but close to Abbie)
4. Montana (like Wyoming, but more so, but farther from family)
5. Western Nebraska (cheap land/housing, family roots, no humidity, sparse)
6. South Dakota (sparse, nice landscape, etc.)
7. Western North Dakota (see South Dakota)
8. Central Missouri (good gardening potential, cheap land/housing)
9. Western Kansas (see Western Nebraska)
10. Utah (close--relatively speaking, to Peter, and beautiful, and sparse)
11. Northern Minnesota (Lakes! Fishing! Cool climate! Progressive people!)
12. Northern Wisconsin (See Minnesota)
13. Northern Michigan (See Minnesota)
14. Northern Iowa (See Minnesota, minus the lakes)
15. Canada (Like Northern Minnesota, but more so. But: Far away. Citizenship issues, and stuff.)
16. The Northeast U.S. (See Canada, without the citizenship issues)

I would probably consider any of locations 2-14 to "permanent" moves, in that they are all places I could see buying some land, building a house, planting some fruit trees, and staying til I croak.

Other possibles--portions of NE, KS, MN, WI, MI, ND, MO not named above, Illinois, Indiana (G-Had!), Colorado, Arizona (Flagstaff, basically), Alaska. These are all non-permanent, probably.

Long shots--Scandanavia, Kentucky, West Texas, New Mexico

I should just do a GIS site suitability analysis to figure out where I want to live, but it would probably give me the same list & prioritization as above.

*************************************************************

Google Desktop just sent me an alert that I have received an email in my Gmail account. It's a message I actually received December 11. Super useful.

-m




Comments:
Sorry man. That is the worst timing. I have to recommend western PA above many of your suggested options there. We have decent folks for Easterns and without so much crowdedness. 1 1/2 hours from Erie and steelhead... few hours from Alleghany mountain forest and Elks and bears. I took out a few tasty foot-long+ brookies last weekend using a bamboo flyrod and handmade fly from a stream 45 min from here.
A 0.25 mile walk and I had a herd of fish all to myself under the shade of giant hemlocks.

And yet you can still easily access a somewhat major city and do cultural stuff if you get a hankerin for such things.

At the very least you have to rank us above a state full of Hoosiers. I have found the people of Indiana to generally be of poor character... for "midwesterners" anyway. Also even more narrow-minded than one would expect. If you travel to Southeast MO, you will find people there use Hoosier as deragatory term in speaking of outsiders. Its pretty bad when ozarkers look down on them.
 
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