Moving/Job

[OpenMind11]

Originally Posted by mr roboto

Here's a huge list... List of biotech, pharma & medical device companies in Minnesota

Article on Minnesotas Life Sciences industries. Minnesota's Life Science Ecosystem Retains World-Class Status | Qmed

Interesting quote from that one "According to Newsweek in 2010, 22% of the employees in the greater Twin Cities work in the medical technology sector, a larger percentage than technology workers in the Bay Area (21%). With almost 27,000 medical technology jobs, Minnesota is second only to California in total employment and is first per capita, with almost three times the national average in this area (The Lewin Group, 2010). Estimates by trade association LifeScience Alley put the total life science employment at over 300,000."

Thanks I appreciate your feedback. My wife is in life sciences and I'm trying to help her find companies in the area, its always hard as everything gets lumped together with other biotech/medical equipment type jobs.

[Minntoaz]

Hmm I'm torn... mainly because summers here are brutal but NOTHING like Texas... we have annoying heat for 2 months and it's warm for about 4 months solid. The produce here is... okay. Coming from Phoenix area it's definitely one of my bigger complaints (tough life, I know). Sure they have farmer markets of local, in season produce from about June-October but for the remainder of the year you have to find a grocery store that has quality produce which is hard to find (Byerly's is the only consistent place I've found) and then you will pay good for it. However I eat A TON of fruits and veggies (like 5-7 servings of fruit and 5-7 servings of veggies per day) and we don't spend more than $150 a week on groceries (for 2 people).

As for driving... well you will definitely need patience. The pace of driving here is about half of that in most major cities. This is partially due to the way the roads are designed, it's like old country roads in a city. People merge directly on to the freeway instead of have that half mile long lane to do so. In addition people are used to driving cautiously due to all the elements, as well as the plethora of pot holes that some ares have.

If you stay out of Uptown Minneapolis and parts of Saint Paul you should avoid the hipsters but there is definitely a fair amount. They aren't the Seattle/Austin/Brooklyn type you may be thinking of. In fact most of them are very down to earth people and aren't trying to shove anything down your throat. Basically just don't talk politics in Minneapolis-St.Paul and you'll be fine.

As for the rest of the criterion, I think you will find it.

[Brucifer]

I thought OP was going to be a Navy archaeologist?

[ellysbelly]

Originally Posted by Minntoaz

The produce here is... okay. Coming from Phoenix area it's definitely one of my bigger complaints (tough life, I know). Sure they have farmer markets of local, in season produce from about June-October but for the remainder of the year you have to find a grocery store that has quality produce which is hard to find (Byerly's is the only consistent place I've found) and then you will pay good for it. However I eat A TON of fruits and veggies (like 5-7 servings of fruit and 5-7 servings of veggies per day) and we don't spend more than $150 a week on groceries (for 2 people).

Coming from South Florida, where I could get an embarrassing amount of fresh and local grown fruit and veg for under $30 (year 'round, no less) for my family of 5-- I totally feel your pain, as it's one of my bigger frustrations about living here, too-- as we, too, consume an inordinate amount of produce and it takes up a far larger portion of my grocery budget than I'm used to (still think that the tradeoff is WAY worth it, but how I miss my local farmer's markets!)

While, they don't have quite the same quality as a farm stand, but I've found that both Costco and ALDI have consistently good produce-- and their prices tend to be a good bit better and the quality is just as good, if not better than Lunds & Byerly's. I also have switched over to some, selected frozen fruits and veg (especially in winter-- when the fresh produce is both ridiculously overpriced and the taste/quality is **** poor) and Costco has truly excellent prices and quality on organic, frozen produce.

ALDI's produce quality can vary from store to store (likely due to volume/turnover)-- so if you have a few of them near you, you might find that one has consistently better selection and quality.