If you left Houston to live somewhere else, why did you leave? (Sugar Land: new house, unemployment)

[tstone]

Originally Posted by gold dust

To me, the suburbs that sprawl from the city seem to not have any life of their own. No local theater (plays), no local pubs, no local mom & pop restaurants, to name just a few things. This is what traumatizes me the most about the move to Houston. If someone disagrees, by all means, please let me know!

Well for example, 'Clear Lake' on the League City side is basically what you describe above. On the Houston city limit side, it has all of those things you listed that you usually can't find in the burbs. Except for local theater, which is not really my bag anyway.

But that describes a lot of the "city-limit burbs." It's a short drive to find uniqueness and ''life'' of its own, plenty of mom & pop restaurants, and local pubs, etc to be found. You can even find the debauchery-type establishments if you look for them. But it's still sprawled like a burb, not very walkable, 'uniqueness' is found mostly in strip malls, etc... but that means I can still have a nice house, yard, low crime, etc w/o paying an arm & a leg. It's a bit more expensive than an independent suburb town, but it's worth it to me having a compromise of both types of places. And on a good day, downtown is about 20 minutes away.

[bostoner]

Originally Posted by Wysiwyg

its a common corner store? man, you guys should really get out of houston sometime. i have a feeling third-world watering holes is going to be an awesome experience for you folks. foot/back massage optional with your ice cold beer

"To me, the scent of spilled beer on the floor of a bar is like sweetness of flowers," he says
this is mr.right for someone. i sure hope not yours

Actually, that does sound like something my partner would say! LOL It doesn't take much to make him happy. Like, EasilyAmused said, it's the simple things in life.

[Topaz]

Originally Posted by gold dust

Hi Topaz! Ah, I do agree with you there.....

How long did you stay in Oregon?

About 8 months, long enough to get over my fantasy about what it would be like to live there. Awesome scenery, I'll give it that.

[Wysiwyg]

Originally Posted by Topaz

I do wish the people with a Houston address would stop trying to disown those of us who live in the burbs. I think Houston needs all the supporters it can get regardless of our zip code.

Bah dont worry about these loopheads. For your enjoyment, "Houston's center" is all the way to the southwest end tip of the loop. that means sugarland/katy and little communities in between have more influence/gravity to the city over all. those people in other parts of the loop are just proud of being "in". whatever lol they even think they live in an island "similar to manhattan"

[kittyhawk]

You are obviously a new urbanism idealist. To top it off, you are a liberal who can't stand the heat. Of course, you will find Boston more attractive.

However, one person's quality of life does not equal another's, and in my case, Houston provides a better opportunity to let my wife stay home with our children, provide them with a good public education, and provide me with good job opportunities to boot. BTW, I make a 6 figure salary and STILL could not afford to live in a desirable Boston neighborhood. So much for quality of life in the NE...

Of course H-Town has it's problems--so does every city. Proud residents from each area will always be "shameless boosters" of their cities. This is not at all unqiue to Houston. What's laughable is that of all the places, Bostonians are in no position to call others shameless bosters. They are worse than anyone at ignoring their own issues.

[EasilyAmused]

I thought there was a housing crash going on in Boston and the general area.

[tstone]

Originally Posted by Wysiwyg

Bah dont worry about these loopheads. For your enjoyment, "Houston's center" is all the way to the southwest end tip of the loop. that means sugarland/katy and little communities in between have more influence/gravity to the city over all. those people in other parts of the loop are just proud of being "in". whatever lol they even think they live in an island "similar to manhattan"

Loophead... nice term!!

Honestly, I'd be proud of being "in" if I owned one of those homes in the West U or (esp) Rice areas. Damn proud if I owned it mortgage free.

But what if I were acting slave to the landlord guy who's figuratively squeezing my manhood by charging me a premium so I can be "in" (i.e. trendy)? Is that something to be proud of?

[njmomto2]

This is funny to read this thread, living in NJ currently, one of the reasons we want to relocate to Houston is FOR the weather. For the record, for the next 5 days in NJ it is forecast to be hotter and more humid than in Houston for the same time period. During the hot humid summer days in NJ, we love to go swimming or to the beach, it doesn't stop us from doing outside activities. From November through March though I hardly leave the house except on an occasionally nice day. I rarely ever see my neighbors until spring. It's usually not warm enough for my daughter to wear a sleeveless Easter dress or anything without tights. I long for nicer winter weather and NO snow! I'll take heat over cold misery any day!

[njmomto2]

by the way, I've lived in the Northeast all of my life and just came back from my first week in Houston. The housing is SO much nicer and SO SO SO much more affordable, our jaws were dropped! The only difference I could find (at least in the Woodlands area) is the lack of any property. That's the only thing I'd miss about living in NJ. Other than that the people were nicer and we felt like we were on vacation just being on Market Street. We loved it! Hoping to move soon!

[11thHour]

We lived in Houston for just over two years. We moved away for several reasons. First - we missed our family and friends too much. Second, my wife's same position with the same company paid much higher where we are now. Houston is far too big for us also. Horrible traffic, poorly designed/laid out roads. Public transit needs to be vastly improved in Houston. Where we are now, even though we live literally in the foothills of the rockies, we are only 15 minutes from the light rail station, which takes my wife right to the doorstep of her job. We also both couldn't cope with the Houston summer humidity. We can handle heat fine - it's get 100+ here in the summer regularly, but the humidity killed us. For me, it was 'flatness' that did me in. I grew up in the rockies, and I live for alpine skiing, mountain climbing, and 'peakbagging'. Can't do that in Houston - and I missed it so much I had to get back to what I love most - the rockies (other than the mrs of course!). I still work in Houston - my job has me based there. I work for the airlines so I just commute down once a week to start my trip, work a trip for a few days, and commute back up after trip release from Houston. Nothing against those who like it there, but each time I pass through I'm only reminded of how much happier I am now that I don't live there anymore.