Houston compared to Raleigh (employment, homes, cost of living)

[lamishra]

And your native wife showed you what? Obviously not much. If you get involved in your community, great things can happen, but you have to be involved and have a vested interest in the people who choose to live there. Just "pointing out" negatives in an area leaves a lot to be desired. If you search for these things and get involved, you don't need to point out the lack of it.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by lamishra

And your native wife showed you what? Obviously not much. If you get involved in your community, great things can happen, but you have to be involved and have a vested interest in the people who choose to live there. Just "pointing out" negatives in an area leaves a lot to be desired. If you search for these things and get involved, you don't need to point out the lack of it.

Let's see, is that three off-topic posts in a row now, 'mishra?

You are not representing your area well in this thread. Remember that the people who post these questions are taking note of this, because they know they might be living next to the people they're reading.

[lamishra]

I'm sorry, you are the one who brought up your wife in this post, not me, when I refuted that triangle busineses don't have similar contribution campaigns and asked what exactly your wife showed you. I could really care less how I have "represented myself" as I think most people who live here and read these forums are about ready to tell you the same thing (only they won't for fear of getting the boot from the forum moderators).
If I get booted, fine. I'm OK with that. I have not been nasty to you, in fact in most of these threads I've been quite nice. As you said in your own words on a previous thread, read it or don't.

[jfre81]

No, you just brush off her experiences just as you do mine because they do not fit your viewpoint. That's why you consider places like Wake Forest to not be "remote" but Garner and Clayton are marginally in the metro because they're not as rich?

I don't need to see your suburb or your subdivision. I can take a 30-minute drive away and see the same thing. I can go outside any other major metro and see what I see in most of the suburban Triangle.

I will say Cary looks a lot prettier on the ground than it does on the satellite images. My wife tells me there were trees at Lochmere Estates where she used to go as a kid. We were looking at that area the other day. The trees are gone.

A mile or so away I counted five houses that looked exactly the same. One built an extended porch on the back. No telling if the HOA will come knocking on their doors because it breaks up the uniformity too much. Like the guy who had the traditional-style roof who had to take it all down because the HOA said no. I look at places like Cary and think of those drab, samey-looking highrises that Stalin had built all over Moscow on the places where magnificent churches once stood. There were probably some nice houses there in Cary before the McMansions.

I do not regret my stay in NC one bit. I have the most wonderful woman I've ever met with me.

My only regret, if I had one, is that I didn't get to see the Triangle before the yuppies and the keep-up-with-the-Joneses types truly took over. I could have dug the blue-collar textile/tobacco field town a lot more. I grew up in a place not too terribly different.

[lamishra]

Listen friend, I live in probably one of the LOWEST income areas you'll find in this area, I'm a native. I'm not rich and never will be. I live with policemen, state employees and teachers among also the unemployed and babysitters in probably some of the smallest houses in the whole area built in the 60's. Live in Cary but not the Cary most people want to live in. I didn't sell a 800K house in New York to live here in a 500K home.I bought my little humble house here in Cary 2 years ago for 150K and I'm lucky I have it. I also don't resent the growth in this area and don't resent the people who CAN afford it.
I try to see positives in whatever place I live and try to be upbeat about it and be a contributing part of my community. Sure there are downsides. I've never held back on my often negative opinions about the schools or the small downtown, but I HAVE tried to shed light on the area as historically as possible and show how things got the way they are. Seriously, when you lived here, did you volunteer in the schools? Did you work with the kids? Did you volunteer with low income residents or work for Meals on Wheels and help the elderly residents of this community? Did you donate to Coats for Kids? Or did you hep sort and distribute the coats? Did you try out the TTA?

You can take it or leave it. But enough already with doom and gloom when this is a fine area to live in, as are many other areas in the country.
BTW, I never said Wake Forest wasn't remote, I said the area between Raleigh and WF is not remote, and I would say the same thing about Garner or Clayton if asked. In addition, I don't consider Wake Forest part of the "metro" and have never said that. You are putting words in my mouth because you assumed I'm rich and and am partial to certian areas over rother.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by Q-Tip in "holy crap" thread that is buried well in the index

From a somewhat bitter and I can admit jaded resident of the area...I will happily admit it sucks. I very rarely visit this particular board because it takes all my willpower to stay away from the "we are moving from the New England area, where in Raleigh should we live?" posts. To every one of them I want to say it sucks here, the heat is unbearable, the schools atrocious, we're closed minded and racist, and if you want your kid to not resort to becoming a redneck, stay away! If you must live here, move to the city, buy a house that has already been constructed and stop chopping up our land so you can have your cookie cutter sub development and house. You are bringing the exact lifestyle and problems they are trying to get away from with them. /rant

As a native, tell me this - how long must one live there to call a spade a spade?

Here you can do it as soon as you get here. Everyone does it. Houston sucks on a lot of counts. I've gone over several of them. I've even gone over ways it can be better for people to live in the Triangle. None of it made anyone happy.

I sense that the only way I could have pleased everyone is to say that I loved every single bit of it, I moved against my will and I can't wait to get back.

There are actually several people on here I find to be high-quality individuals and many of them already know who they are...

I'll put down the bat if you do. I'm no vet, but in my layman's capacity I pronounce this horse dead as of 0232 hrs EDT 8 Aug 2007. Are you with me? The lack of a response is taken for a yes.

[Snowpea]

Originally Posted by jfre81

To be clear, the only parts of the Triangle I truly dislike are Cary and northwest Johnston County where I once lived. I do not want to spell out the reasons here.

Even in places I dislike I can find something appealing. There are some nice looking Yankee transplant girls popping up in Cary....they can distract you from the fact that their house looks almost identical to their neighbors' house 50 feet away..

Ah, so the pretty Cary girls turned you down. I felt that your negative posts on this forum were coming from a place of hurt and now I understand. Your way of dealing with rejection is unusual. Perhaps you would be better served by focusing your attentions on your wife and your new city (assuming the Houston girls are less distracting for you). All the best in your new locale.

[OmegaBaby]

Originally Posted by jfre81

Here you can do it as soon as you get here. Everyone does it. Houston sucks on a lot of counts. I've gone over several of them. I've even gone over ways it can be better for people to live in the Triangle. None of it made anyone happy.

I sense that the only way I could have pleased everyone is to say that I loved every single bit of it, I moved against my will and I can't wait to get back.

That's not the case at all. Lots of people make valid negative comments about Raleigh on this message board (I do!). The difference is that many of your negative comments are simply false (like your comments that Wake county schools are awful when in fact the school system is one of the highest rated in the nation) or inflammatory (like calling us yuppies and keep-up-with-the-Joneses types). If I think your comment is blatantly false or inflammatory, I'm going to call you out on it.

And you seem to be flooding this message board with your comments and drowning out everyone else.

Originally Posted by jfre81

There are actually several people on here I find to be high-quality individuals and many of them already know who they are...

I'm honored that you consider me a high-quality individual.

[jfre81]

Never, ever did I say Wake County schools are awful, wholesale. Do look up a post where I said the schools were awful and do post it here, in quotes, if my memory has failed me. Awfully crowded, yes.

Everyone has also completely forgotten that I objectively recommended to the OP that she move to the Triangle based upon what the OP was looking for. It is not a bad place at all and has a lot to offer for a lot of people. It offers what the OP appears to be looking for. If that's the right thing, then great.

I was here to help the OP. I hope I did so. The Triangle got my endorsement.

What more do you want?

[epattridge]

Originally Posted by Claire_F

And for a lot longer. I'll take two months of hot temperatures over six months any day of the week.

I remember a morning just a few weeks ago, in mid-July, where I woke to a temperature of 58 degrees outside. That's something I never experienced in Houston! The daytime temperatures can indeed rival Houston's during the hottest months, but the nighttime temperatures are usually very pleasant. (Present heatwave - which is being experienced by most of the country - excluded, of course.)

Excactly!! Actually it really isnt two months. This week has been brutal, but compared to Houston the heat doesnt last that long. I remember a few years back, I believe it was year 2000 in SEPTEMBER in Houston we were getting 106 to 110 deg (actual temps). Everybody gets a heat wave of some sort. I prefer the 4 seasons here in Raleigh.