Does anyone here choose to live in Houston? (Katy, St. Paul: luxury, university)

[I LOVE NORTH CAROLINA]

Originally Posted by HugeTon

Can someone please show this person the one-way out of Houston. Repeatedly he/she keeps bashing Houston for no mercy. If you don't like Houston that much, for the peace of this forum help yourself and find that exit sign, and please stop bashing the city for no apparent reason. You wished for cold weather in Houston. Give me a break. If you want cold weather, go to Canada. You can even come to Minnesota. Cold will come natural for you and you don't have to wish for it.

Oh I know all the roads leading out and I enjoy using them when I can. I am NOT bashing Houston, I am bashing the WEATHER If I could afford to move I'd be gone, would you like to contribute to my moving fund, I take cash and checks.

[coboblack]

Originally Posted by Malvie

I, too, have lived all over the US (Dallas, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, LA, NYC, Nashville, Little Rock, Atlanta, Minneapolis/St. Paul) and Houston is my favorite.

Austin has "Austintude", for which I do not care. I don't like the people in Austin (sorry), think they are snotty and full of themselves, and overly proud of their inadequate little town. I detested living in San Antonio; they've got great mexican food (better than Houston's), but it's overall a big small town.

Nashville, like Austin, is overly proud of---what? I never could figure it out. Percentage of rednecks per square inch? The hills are pretty but the winters there are long and gray; overall, I found it depressing.

Atlanta and Dallas being the closest to Houston, I can say nice things about. They're more expensive and still feature sprawl and crime. At least they're big cities, not glorified small towns.

Minneapolis/St. Paul: one word: snow.

Seattle---I need sunshine, not dank, gray, and rainy most of the time. Also, I guess you must like that "Attitude", because I note that you love Austin, San Diego, and Seattle---all of which exude same.

San Diego---yeah, San Diego is almost the perfect city, I'll admit, BUT: can you afford to live there? Or do you have to live as my friends do, in a condo 30 miles inland that cost twice as much as my house here? They see the water when they drive there, because they sure can't see it from their "inland empire" (read: desert) home. It's nice, but unless you're very well off....

Houston is the friendliest big city I've ever visited, much less lived in. It's big enough to have all the services (I don't miss NYC as much now that I'm back here); Major League Baseball, NFL, Symphony, Opera, art museums, the works. Every culture of the world is represented here, so ethnic food is as prevalent here as in NYC, Chicago, LA---but without the expense.

A word about "pedestrian cities"---this is overrated, sorry. I lived in NYC when I was young (I'm middle aged now). I walked all over that place. The first year, it was GREAT; the second, I was a "New Yorker"; the third, I was ready to have a car again. I grew weary of slogging through crappy weather because I had no choice but to walk. Yes, the subway is cool---but not at rush hour, and not when it's slush/rain/sneet outside and everything smells like wet dirty underwear, and not when you're crammed in so tightly that you have to pass your stop because you can't freaking shove your way out---and the guy next to you is sneezing on you.

In the other "pedestrian-friendly" cities you mention, including San Diego and San Francisco (that you didn't mention but I'll throw in), my friends there still have their cars, and still use them. They just pay exorbitant amounts to park them, and can't drive them downtown as there IS no place to park--necessitating, again, walking/public transportation---which is fine as long as you don't have a bum peeing on your feet (happened to me in NYC).

Screw that. Give me my air-conditioned car and a nice, wide freeway to drive it on, and acres of FREE or LOW COST parking to park it in when I reach my destination. Give me my HEB Plus store which carries food from around the globe. Give me wacky, wonderful Westheimer with its amazing mix of restaurants and stores (and yes, the porn places, even though I don't frequent them).

Give me no-zoning, so there are 3 grocery stores, 3 drug stores, umpteen cleaners, restaurants, Spec's, and all kinds of other goods and services within a quick 5 minute drive from my house, rather than driving 15 minutes to get to a major intersection.

Give me summer 9 months out of the year and "fall-like" which turns to "spring-like", with no "winter-like" (I haven't seen a snow shovel in years).

Give me a house here that I paid $200,000 for that my friend from San Jose gasped and said, "How much money DO you make? That's a $3,000,000 house in San Jose!!!" Give me a beach to which I can go when I want, with water warm enough to swim in (as opposed to the Pacific, which is cold in the middle of the summer). Give me a nice warm night with the top down on my convertible, wherein I don't have to wear a leather jacket because it's freezing in July.

I'm glad you enjoy all your attitudinous places. I'll take good ol down to earth Houston, thanks.

Houston---first word spoken from the moon.

You make some good points... I've lived in Houston my whole life.. I've always loved with it till I started traveling and now i'm getting fed up with it. I hate the climate. I'm sick of humid and hot green summers and humid and cold green winters. I want the different seasons..I want hills and mountains...I want snow. I have family in Colorado Springs and want to move there after every visit...hopefully I will in a few years. I do love the people here though...I went to N.Y. and although it was fun to visit I couldn't help but smile when the plane touched down in texas. I love the parking we got set up here...EVERY where in New york is a joke to park at.

[Malvie]

Originally Posted by coboblack

You make some good points... I've lived in Houston my whole life.. I've always loved with it till I started traveling and now i'm getting fed up with it. I hate the climate. I'm sick of humid and hot green summers and humid and cold green winters. I want the different seasons..I want hills and mountains...I want snow. I have family in Colorado Springs and want to move there after every visit...hopefully I will in a few years. I do love the people here though...I went to N.Y. and although it was fun to visit I couldn't help but smile when the plane touched down in texas. I love the parking we got set up here...EVERY where in New york is a joke to park at.

Having been raised mostly in Texas (with a little Arkansas, Oklahoma mixed in), I thought I'd love the winters too--especially during college/20's, when I skiied a lot in Colorado.

What I found, though, is that like many things, snow is a lot of fun for VACATIONS. When you actually live with it---not so much.

I love Houston, and I find the heat and humidity daunting. I'd still rather put up with the humidity than shovel snow, or suffer ice storms.

[ShelbyGirl1]

Grass is always greener...............

[Malvie]

Originally Posted by I LOVE NORTH CAROLINA

Oh I know all the roads leading out and I enjoy using them when I can. I am NOT bashing Houston, I am bashing the WEATHER If I could afford to move I'd be gone, would you like to contribute to my moving fund, I take cash and checks.

I have friends in Charlotte who are DYING to move back here. They thought they'd love Charlotte, but they don't. According to them: unfriendly people, unpleasant winters, terrible road infrastructure, much more expensive than Houston. They want to come back here. Oh, and they made some of the same complaints you did (heat, humidity, traffic, no-zoning, etc).

(they made intermediate stops in Little Rock and Nashville, both of which they loved, before Charlotte. They wound up in several of the same cities I did, just at different times.).

[Stephanie P]

Originally Posted by zdg

Are you sure it isn't Katy you hate and not Houston? I'm actually asking; not making a point.

It's really the whole area that I do not care for. I want 4 seasons, would love to have mountains, you know, just some variety.
But, like I said, my husband and I are making efforts to move, it might take a few months, or up to a year.
We will have to wait and see.

[Stephanie P]

Originally Posted by HugeTon

Can someone please show this person the one-way out of Houston. Repeatedly he/she keeps bashing Houston for no mercy. If you don't like Houston that much, for the peace of this forum help yourself and find that exit sign, and please stop bashing the city for no apparent reason. You wished for cold weather in Houston. Give me a break. If you want cold weather, go to Canada. You can even come to Minnesota. Cold will come natural for you and you don't have to wish for it.

Actually, she is being very responsible by not just picking up and leaving. People need to have stable employment, even if it takes them somewhere they do not care for. Unfortunately, sometimes it just takes awhile to get a transfer or a new job, especially in this economy.

[I LOVE NORTH CAROLINA]

Originally Posted by Malvie

I have friends in Charlotte who are DYING to move back here. They thought they'd love Charlotte, but they don't. According to them: unfriendly people, unpleasant winters, terrible road infrastructure, much more expensive than Houston. They want to come back here. Oh, and they made some of the same complaints you did (heat, humidity, traffic, no-zoning, etc).

(they made intermediate stops in Little Rock and Nashville, both of which they loved, before Charlotte. They wound up in several of the same cities I did, just at different times.).

All places are not for all people, many people enjoy living in Texas, I'm just not one of them.

Originally Posted by Stephanie P

Actually, she is being very responsible by not just picking up and leaving. People need to have stable employment, even if it takes them somewhere they do not care for. Unfortunately, sometimes it just takes awhile to get a transfer or a new job, especially in this economy.

[kittyhawk]

Originally Posted by Stephanie P

It's really the whole area that I do not care for. I want 4 seasons, would love to have mountains, you know, just some variety.
But, like I said, my husband and I are making efforts to move, it might take a few months, or up to a year.
We will have to wait and see.

It seems that your agenda and every single post you make on this forum is a complaint about Houston and it's climate, geography, etc.. I believe you when you say you can't tolerate the humidity but if you are so miserable that you have to go on a forum to vent your frustrations and have nothing positive to say, then I'd seriously consider getting some professional help. Climate should only be an itsy bitsy part of what makes a person happy or unhappy. It seems to me that you are fixated on it. You are wasting your life if you are living in "hell" as you like to call it. I've lived in rotten climates all over the US, but it never defined my mood because I've always found positives with the people I've associated with.

For grins, I'd like to see you survive a North Dakota winter. You'd be back in your N Dallas suburb in a month.

[I LOVE NORTH CAROLINA]

Originally Posted by kittyhawk

It seems that your agenda and every single post you make on this forum is a complaint about Houston and it's climate, geography, etc.. I believe you when you say you can't tolerate the humidity but if you are so miserable that you have to go on a forum to vent your frustrations and have nothing positive to say, then I'd seriously consider getting some professional help. Climate should only be an itsy bitsy part of what makes a person happy or unhappy. It seems to me that you are fixated on it. You are wasting your life if you are living in "hell" as you like to call it. I've lived in rotten climates all over the US, but it never defined my mood because I've always found positives with the people I've associated with.

For grins, I'd like to see you survive a North Dakota winter. You'd be back in your N Dallas suburb in a month.

Why so touchy? Actually she has said some positive things about Houston. But not everyone can handle the nasty heat and humidity here, I sure can't. Just because we don't like the weather doesn't mean we're not happy well adjusted people.
I have not doubt that she would do just fine in North Dakota in winter, I'd sure love it and when I do finally get out, I'm never coming back.