[kazoopilot]

Originally Posted by Bhaalspawn

Do yourself a favor and try something new; try living in another state. There are lots of other great locations in this country to start a life. You deserve better than Michigan. To paraphrase one of my favorite authors:

"Michigan is a huge economic cemetery and our careers and economic well-being are all dying, slowly."

Run for your life. Seriously.

Michigan is good enough for me. It's home.

[Driller1]

Originally Posted by kazoopilot

Michigan is good enough for me. It's home.

And for me!!!

[mackinac81]

Me too, wherever I go, I'll tell people how great it is

[grhtex]

I moved the family to Texas in June of 07. Luckily my MI house (in Lambertville) sold in 14 days back in May of 07. I had a job in MI in IT but I wanted to pursue another opportunity in the Dallas area. Another part of the reason for moving was strategic. We saw things as getting worse before they got better in MI. More job loss, more house depreciation, and overall less opportunity for our teenage kids in the next 4-8 years. Plus my wife had health issues that we thought a less cold climate would help with (it has).

So FWIW - Here's my quick thumbnail view of things here in North Texas.

Are we homesick and miss family and friends ??? YESSSS Absolutely.
Do we miss Snow ? Not really, but it's romantic to think about.
Do we miss the 4 seasons? Yes - There are seasons here but the changes are much more subtle. The sun shines a lot more here even in the winter. I tend to like that. I found beautiful cool sunny days in March where people were out on the lakes fishing for crapie and stripers.
Is it as pretty here as Michigan? Not in my opinion but this is too subjective to answer for everyone. There aren't as many trees or lakes, but there are beautiful rolling pastures and horse farms.
Would we come back? Mom and Dad- Yes some day. Kids ages 14 and 16? No, they say they like it here and see much more opportunity. My son is into music and my daughter into sports and modeling and they have found many more outlets for that here than compared to MI.

We're North of Dallas in a smaller town that is growing rapidly. Lots of building still going on although the housing market has slowed down here too the home prices are holding steady. There are 4 new high schools being built within a 10 mile radius and new medical facilities, restaurants and retail development all over the place. RE the schools. Our community of about 6-7K people approved a 700 Mill bond and have built one new middle school, and new high school and several elementary schools. They just spent .5 mill on new band equipment and are building their second indoor athletic facility. My wife has a 4 year journalism degree and she went down to sign up as a sub - no prior experience teaching necessary. She was in and has been subbing about 3 days per week. The need for teachers is huge. I hear adds on radio and see bill boards looking for teachers. She will likely get her certification and go full time. Many teachers come from all over for opportunity or to get their start. My sons Physics teacher was hired out of Winnipeg Canada to come down and start an honors physics program.
I work in IT and one partner I support has 50 positions available that they have not been able to fill.
The summers are hot like everyone says but the humidity is much lower compared to the midwest. I track humidity on my back porch with a digital thermometer and it averages about 30% in the heat of summer. Everyone reacts differently to heat versus snow arguments but even though I do miss snow I don't miss shoveling, driving in it and scraping it off my car. In short the heat doesn't bother me that much. If it bothers you don't come here. I often go for bike rides in the evening with the temps still in the upper 90s - no problem as long as you have water to drink.

Other general impressions:
Houses are less expensive per sqft to build with lots of amenities (this doesn't take into account current depreciation going on in MI) and no state income tax but everything else is more expensive in my experience including:
Property taxes (less than lambertville but maybe not other areas of MI)
Insurance
Electricity
water,
toll roads (but are they soooo smooth and won't ruin your car).

Every thing is newer here at least in the outer rings of development moving out and away from the center city. Even in the city proper it seems over-all cleaner than rust belt cities with very few old and boarded up buildings and much better roads.

If you do decide to move Texas isn't so bad. Like any other place it's not perfect. It's a more conservative state but by no means a monolith - especially in a place like Dallas. You'd find something for everyone here on the political and cultural spectrum. The hardest part I think most people find about moving is rebuilding a social network. For the kids it's easier, not so for the wife and I. this by far has been the hardest part about leaving Michigan.

Having said all that I think someday the wife and I will likely be back. Once we get the kids launched out of high school and into college they can have the choice to go whereever they please and at least we gave them that opportunity.

Best of luck to all those in MI looking for answers during tough times. Part of my heart is still there with you....

[hindsight2020]

Originally Posted by kazoopilot

Michigan is good enough for me. It's home.

Good luck making a living flight instructing at WMU (I interviewed there for winter 2006 employment but decided against it after visiting Battle Creek) or working for Peanuckle (tc) for exactly that (peanuts) in DTW (if you get to live in base anyways). In your defense that's not just a Michigan thing, the airline biz pays squat (yes people, airline and regional airline pilots make squat, gone half the year and get furloughed every other day to begin working at year-one pay, as there is no lateral career options in the airline flying world, it's all seniority based payscales not transferable among companies) unless you work for FDX, UPS or WN (Southwest), today anyways. But by attempting to only find aviation work in MI you're essentially saying you're gonna side kick it on other fields and do the flying thing for fun.
As to the weather, hands down you're better off working in the south at least on the general aviation side, as it provides de facto year round business, flight instructing is not strong during the winter months in Michigan, particularly primary instruction, fact of life.

But hey at least it's home, just a waste of college major choice really.

[kazoopilot]

Originally Posted by hindsight2020

Good luck making a living flight instructing at WMU (I interviewed there for winter 2006 employment but decided against it after visiting Battle Creek) or working for Peanuckle (tc) for exactly that (peanuts) in DTW (if you get to live in base anyways). In your defense that's not just a Michigan thing, the airline biz pays squat (yes people, airline and regional airline pilots make squat, gone half the year and get furloughed every other day to begin working at year-one pay, as there is no lateral career options in the airline flying world, it's all seniority based payscales not transferable among companies) unless you work for FDX, UPS or WN (Southwest), today anyways. But by attempting to only find aviation work in MI you're essentially saying you're gonna side kick it on other fields and do the flying thing for fun.
As to the weather, hands down you're better off working in the south at least on the general aviation side, as it provides de facto year round business, flight instructing is not strong during the winter months in Michigan, particularly primary instruction, fact of life.

But hey at least it's home, just a waste of college major choice really.

I know it was a dumb major choice. I've always loved airplanes and flying, but I should have known that there were no flight jobs in Michigan. However, it's not like aviation is booming anywhere else right now! I majored in Aviation Administration, so I hope that will make me a little more marketable to non-aviation companies. Yes, my plan for now is to find a non-aviation job and fly for fun. I don't have my commercial license, anyway.

Honestly, for me, living in Michigan is more important than working in aviation. I wouldn't move to the south if they paid me a billion dollars and handed me the keys to a Citation X.

[GlassPipe]

I live in Lansing currently. Job market here is a joke. I'm not really a career minded person though - I just want enough to pay the bills and feed the kids. Trying to figure out how to get back to Antrim County in the NWLP. I'd go to work for Walmart or pump septic tanks for all I care. I just want to go home.

I've got a good paying job in Lansing, but it's with GM - wondering how long that will last??? I've looked around for other jobs where I could be more active instead of sitting at a desk all day, but no luck! Litterally hundreds of resumes and only been on one interview in the past 2 years. Errr...

I blow glass on the side - hopefully between making pipes, ornaments and jewelry along with a glass blowing instructional video I'm working on putting together, I'll be able to leave Lansing and go north. You've really got to be versed in a few areas to really survive the starting out part of being up there. My folks were, and they're still there and thriving. But it's getting that start that's the hard part. A lot of folks keep up a list of seasonal jobs throughout the year to make ends meet. Takes a certain type of person to be able to pull it all off. Or, of course, nursing. lol - Those are in high demand everywhere!

Don't plan on taking a degree job and living in the woods while driving to TC daily - more than likely just isn't going to happen. A lot of retired folks from down in the SE part move north and suck up what little work there is just to keep things going for themselves. Companies are quick to pick up on this and post part time jobs for peanuts - but you have to have a degree and loads of experience. See where this is going??? Tough life, but if you can build a house, teach a kid to ski and run a webserver (just examples) then you can probably make a good life in the north. As for the UP - It's my understanding and experience that it's mostly people who have lived there most of their lives or are retired and work part time jobs here and there. Good luck with that!

Have fun all - I really hope this whole situation turns itself around for everyone. Rough time to live in such a beautiful place.

[Tickety]

If your looking for an aviation job, why dont' you try Duncan Aviation. There always hiring.

[MittenDweller82]

I'd take the Citation X make it to London and get the H##L out of America before all goes to squat (that and I've always wanted to live in the UK) Thats crazy man, of course you'd move to the south if a Citation X was in your possession.

[GlassPipe]

Originally Posted by Sociologist

get the H##L out of America before all goes to squat

Yeah, just about any EU country is going to be better than the US in 10 years. Watching MSNBC at work here all day - all they've been talking about is the DOW and how it's going DOWn in flames. lol - see what greed does to people? That's karma coming back around to bite them in the arse.