Why you should be careful before moving anywhere (Houston: job market, school)

[mo wannabe]

Ozarkboy I have been catching up on these latest posts and you were making me mad and then I read the on about the gay parade and just cracked up. I don't really shop much, we don't go out to eat(my cooking is better) and I never go downtown for anything except maybe a dbacks game once or twice a year. You asked me to think about what I would be giving up by moving from Phx. That is a great question and I have been thinking about it alot lately and here's my list.
My friends(unfortunatly we don't see each other alot,everyones to busy)
The beautiful mountains
The smell of the creosot bush after the rain
The diversity of the people here(everyone is from somewhere else)
What I won't miss is to long to list. So you can try to keep me away but it won't work. Don't worry I don't think people are going to move there in droves, everyone here thinks I'm crazy. That's OK with me. I don't want to follow the pack.


Oh yea, I will miss the avacados

[ozarksboy]

Originally Posted by mo wannabe

So you can try to keep me away but it won't work.

Well, if you won't listen to me, listen to nu2pomona and others who have warned you that this part of the country is just full of trash.

The roads are littered with newspapers, auction handbills and fast-food wrappers. The ditches are so full of beer cans, soft drink cans and styrofoam cups that they dam up with just a little bit of rain. Nu2pomona also warns that people's yards are full of junk cars and dead appliances, and somebody else, I think it was OA, pointed out that he had seen a trailer house with a satellite dish on it!!

The people are trash, too, apparently. I thought we were hard-working salt of the earth types, but it turns out we are lazy, fat hillbillies, accoding to what I have read here in the Missouri Forum. The quality of work is sub-par and you can't even count on us to come to work because we follow something called Ozarks time.

We're really not worthy of being your neighbors. Don't move here. It's a turrible, turrible place. Just leave us alone to our wretched lives of hunting and fishing and floating and gardening, all on that slow-paced Ozarks time. We've got no right to expect that civilized folks like yourself would come down here and find happiness, so just stay there where you are or move off somewhere where people aren't quite so stupid and lazy; I've heard Wisconsin is awful nice and so are Texas and Indiana.

[Cali BassMan]

Well I for one think part of the littering problem in California is the price they charge at the dump. Alot of folks just can't afford to pay $25.00 to throw away an old washing machine...
So how does the garbage service work in rural areas of Missouri? Do the dumps charge a high fee?

[simplewife&mom]

The people are trash, too, apparently. I thought we were hard-working salt of the earth types, but it turns out we are lazy, fat hillbillies, accoding to what I have read here in the Missouri Forum.

You forgot the frazzled hair women and dirty naked kids in the yard!

Hey - thanks a lot Missouri Forum members, you're giving me some good laughs and helping me through the loneliness of my husband's new job. He's gone out of town 4 days each week, working at a job where he's miserable - in Oakland, CA. I miss my man, but you guys are a lot of fun.

[OA 5599]

You sure are right ozarksboy, Texas is a wonderful state. The weeks and weeks on end of 100+ degree heat weather and sun of an Austin summer make it so you know exactly what to expect. It sure is nice to know that you'll be sweating every single day from April until October, rather than wondering if you should wear shorts or grab an umbrella like a Missouri summer.

The steady influx of people from other states and countries means that you'll not only get tens of thousands of new potential friends every year, but also get the urban sprawl to accommodate all of them, meaning that you will never be more than 5 miles from a Wendy's or a Sears!. Having to drive an unthinkable 30 miles for one in Missouri was just such a hassle.

Oh, and then there are the people...they are all so important! Many walk around with a cellphone glued to there ear in some sort of super-critical phone call, and all wearing exactly the same kinds of expensive, designer clothes! Those blue-collar people in Missouri are just so unimportant that they'll waste 10 minutes of their time talking to a stranger, while an urban Texan would use that time to do something important like buy a latte or check their stock prices!

Texas is great indeed, and I strongly encourage that people relocate to the Lone Star State instead of the Show-Me State. In fact, one of you could even rent my house when the lease runs out in June, because I'm moving to that backwards, dumpy, un-educated state known as Missouri!

Why in the heck would I want to do something like that....leave a flashy, youthful, progressive, cultural oasis like Austin for gritty, unshaven Missouri? Maybe because the rough edges and trash-filled gullies of Missouri really aren't that bad in the grand scheme of life, and are more than offset by things like the Current River; a good number of real, down-to-earth people; four beautiful seasons; and a feeling of "home" that nowhere else can match.

What about longing for all of that Austin charm while residing in the cultural backwater of Missouri, you say? Well, it sure is nice, but not that all that necessary for happiness, and will always be a short plane ride away.

[simplewife&mom]

Originally Posted by OA 5599

You sure are right ozarksboy, Texas is a wonderful state. The weeks and weeks on end of 100+ degree heat weather and sun of an Austin summer make it so you know exactly what to expect. It sure is nice to know that you'll be sweating every single day from April until October, rather than wondering if you should wear shorts or grab an umbrella like a Missouri summer.

The steady influx of people from other states and countries means that you'll not only get tens of thousands of new potential friends every year, but also get the urban sprawl to accommodate all of them, meaning that you will never be more than 5 miles from a Wendy's or a Sears!. Having to drive an unthinkable 30 miles for one in Missouri was just such a hassle.

Oh, and then there are the people...they are all so important! Many walk around with a cellphone glued to there ear in some sort of super-critical phone call, and all wearing exactly the same kinds of expensive, designer clothes! Those blue-collar people in Missouri are just so unimportant that they'll waste 10 minutes of their time talking to a stranger, while an urban Texan would use that time to do something important like buy a latte or check their stock prices!

Texas is great indeed, and I strongly encourage that people relocate to the Lone Star State instead of the Show-Me State. In fact, one of you could even rent my house when the lease runs out in June, because I'm moving to that backwards, dumpy, un-educated state known as Missouri!

Why in the heck would I want to do something like that....leave a flashy, youthful, progressive, cultural oasis like Austin for gritty, unshaven Missouri? Maybe because the rough edges and trash-filled gullies of Missouri really aren't that bad in the grand scheme of life, and are more than offset by things like the Current River; a good number of real, down-to-earth people; four beautiful seasons; and a feeling of "home" that nowhere else can match.

What about longing for all of that Austin charm while residing in the cultural backwater of Missouri, you say? Well, it sure is nice, but not that all that necessary for happiness, and will always be a short plane ride away.

I would take MO with its "hillbillies" and trash any day over your description of Austin.

[OA 5599]

I could just as easily paint a wonderful picture of Austin, a horrible picture of the Ozarks, or vice-versa . Austin is no more full of pretentious upper-crust urbanites and/or hipsters than Missouri is full of "hillbillies" and trash. The stereotype certainly exists in both places, but you certainly can't lump everyone from a city or state into a single group, and Austin and Missouri are no exceptions. Most of my neighbors here are retired or in their 40's and 50's and are both friendly and very nice. The miserable summers, urban sprawl, and fast population growth are very real, however. I'll miss things about Austin for sure, but when I'm back in Missouri I feel a lot more at home there than I do in Texas.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by simplewife&mom

You forgot the frazzled hair women and dirty naked kids in the yard!

Are those the same as "wimmin" and "nekkid" kids? Jus' wanna make sure we're talkin' 'bout the right part of the country here.

[Lake Junkie]

Originally Posted by OA 5599

I could just as easily paint a wonderful picture of Austin, a horrible picture of the Ozarks, or vice-versa . Austin is no more full of pretentious upper-crust urbanites and/or hipsters than Missouri is full of "hillbillies" and trash. The stereotype certainly exists in both places, but you certainly can't lump everyone from a city or state into a single group, and Austin and Missouri are no exceptions. Most of my neighbors here are retired or in their 40's and 50's and are both friendly and very nice. The miserable summers, urban sprawl, and fast population growth are very real, however. I'll miss things about Austin for sure, but when I'm back in Missouri I feel a lot more at home there than I do in Texas.

Amen to that, OA.

I certainly hope that our dear anonymous readers understand that some of this is in jest, and some of it is in doubt...

I personally love my wild Missouri home.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Cali BassMan

Well I for one think part of the littering problem in California is the price they charge at the dump. Alot of folks just can't afford to pay $25.00 to throw away an old washing machine...
So how does the garbage service work in rural areas of Missouri? Do the dumps charge a high fee?

Goodwill and the Steel Recycling Institute accept old working appliances. Go to those websites for more info.