Moving to Midland (Houston, San Antonio, Corpus Christi: for sale by owner, apartment, power lines)

[starfields]

To me, lifertexan's posts almost read like utopian communist propagandists' class warfare pamphlets [perhaps tinctured with a bit of an "oil bust" grudge against Midland?]. I do not hear lifertexan bemoaning the fact that everyone in San Angelo doesn't have all the landed gentry advantages and get to live in a Park St. mansion on the Concho river. I'm equally bemused by what I gather is his "point," that Midland, Texas is not an island nation unto itself. Is it selfish to seek/ aspire to live in an area [neighborhood or city] which is safer, cleaner, more prosperous, visually appealing, and better educated? Is Midland her sister's [Odessa] keeper? Is it "racist" to plan a vacation to Amsterdam instead of Lagos, Nigeria? Is it only logical for someone to endeavor to examine as many cultural, socio-economic, religio-political, educational, climatalogical, and other factors as possible, and weight and process them when considering relocation?

Pam, If you want my advice, forget the West Texas meteor "crater" and drive on to Monahans and Balmorhea state parks. Go see McDonald Observatory, Fort Davis, Marfa, Alpine, and the Big Bend. Drive to Abilene and feed a giraffe by hand from a bridge at the zoo.

Here are some more photos which for some reason are not as bright and colorful as they should be.

This Chinese pavilion shows the flat landscape which many could find unattractive: http://i18.tinypic.com/312eeq1.jpg

A closer inspection--analogous to knowing what to consider about Midland-- of the pavilion reveals rich details: http://i18.tinypic.com/2h3s9af.jpg

Museum of the Southwest [in museum district]: http://i18.tinypic.com/448txyv.jpg

Cottage-bungalows: http://i19.tinypic.com/2drxkcw.jpg

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by pammybear

Hi Soccermom! We are kind of in the same position! ....swim and piano lessons for the children but hopefully the school will refer me for that. I think some of the music teachers are in the local Symphony Orchestra and they may give lessons.

So maybe that will give you some place to start anyway. Some people on here are very helpful like Lucidus and can probably answer your questions or point you in the right direction! Maybe we will meet up one day!

Pam

Midland has an excellent COM Aquatics Center.....where they teach swimming, diving, SCUBA diving, etc. It just opened its new expansion--COM Physical Therapy and Wellness Center, too. I belong to the adult conditioning program, and swim 3-5 days a week.

http://www.comaquatics.com/

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by starfields

To me, lifertexan's posts almost read like utopian communist propagandists' class warfare pamphlets [perhaps tinctured with a bit of an "oil bust" grudge against Midland?]. I do not hear lifertexan bemoaning the fact that everyone in San Angelo doesn't have all the landed gentry advantages and get to live in a Park St. mansion on the Concho river. I'm equally bemused by what I gather is his "point," that Midland, Texas is not an island nation unto itself. Is it selfish to seek/ aspire to live in an area [neighborhood or city] which is safer, cleaner, more prosperous, visually appealing, and better educated? Is Midland her sister's [Odessa] keeper? Is it "racist" to plan a vacation to Amsterdam instead of Lagos, Nigeria? Is it only logical for someone to endeavor to examine as many cultural, socio-economic, religio-political, educational, climatalogical, and other factors as possible, and weight and process them when considering relocation?

Pam, If you want my advice, forget the West Texas meteor "crater" and drive on to Monahans and Balmorhea state parks. Go see McDonald Observatory, Fort Davis, Marfa, Alpine, and the Big Bend. Drive to Abilene and feed a giraffe by hand from a bridge at the zoo.

Here are some more photos which for some reason are not as bright and colorful as they should be.

This Chinese pavilion shows the flat landscape which many could find unattractive: http://i18.tinypic.com/312eeq1.jpg

A closer inspection--analogous to knowing what to consider about Midland-- of the pavilion reveals rich details: http://i18.tinypic.com/2h3s9af.jpg

Museum of the Southwest [in museum district]: http://i18.tinypic.com/448txyv.jpg

Cottage-bungalows: http://i19.tinypic.com/2drxkcw.jpg

LOL!!! I couldn't agree more....

[pammybear]

Thank you so much Cathy and Star for "getting " it! I really appreciate your help. We are excited that Midland has a sister city in China--we have that here in Virginia also!



Thanks again!

Pam

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by pammybear

Thank you so much Cathy and Star for "getting " it! I really appreciate your help. We are excited that Midland has a sister city in China--we have that here in Virginia also!



Thanks again!

Pam

You're quite welcome, Pam.....BTW, Midland has four sister cities at the present time:

http://www.midlandtexas.gov/midland/...idyouknow.html

[lifertexan]

To me, lifertexan's posts almost read like utopian communist propagandists' class warfare pamphlets

Dear komrades,do not much get too upset. Is discussion only.

I would probably not say much if others weren't trying to portray Midland as some kind of Palm Beachy/Harvard mixture. "We are so much more educated than the other towns around here". It is the frickin Oil Patch, not Oxford or Boston. Readers here deserve the other side of the story, instead of just the stuff that a public relations firm for Midland would snicker at while writing it. M/O was known as the armpit of Texas long before some guy called lifertexan started saying mean things about it on this forum, and I wasn't the one who coined the term "odessalation" to describe the area. If people move there and like living there, fine by me,but at least they will go in with both eyes open instead of thinking they are headed to the Texas Riviera.

[perhaps tinctured with a bit of an "oil bust" grudge against Midland?].

Why would someone from the San Angelo area have an oil bust grudge, whatever that is, against Midland? Just curious.

I do not hear lifertexan bemoaning the fact that everyone in San Angelo doesn't have all the landed gentry advantages and get to live in a Park St. mansion on the Concho river.

Again, I'm not sure what this has to do with anything. Did I ever berate M/O for having poor people? I don't recall it.

I'm equally bemused by what I gather is his "point," that Midland, Texas is not an island nation unto itself. Is it selfish to seek/ aspire to live in an area [neighborhood or city] which is safer, cleaner, more prosperous, visually appealing, and better educated? Is Midland her sister's [Odessa] keeper?

My point is that the statistics you use to try and elevate Midland to something it isn't are contrived and don't tell the true story. That doesn't imply that Midland is doing something wrong, or that wanting to live in Midland instead of Odessa is wrong, only that your claims for being a more educated city are true only in the same statistical sense that American families have 2.5 kids each.

[starfields]

Pam, Please update us with your husband's latest impressions of Midland. Did he fly in: did he comment on the airport?

Originally Posted by lifertexan

... It is the frickin Oil Patch, not Oxford or Boston. Readers here deserve the other side of the story, instead of just the stuff that a public relations firm for Midland would snicker at while writing it. M/O was known as the armpit of Texas long before some guy called lifertexan started saying mean things about it on this forum, and I wasn't the one who coined the term "odessalation" to describe the area. ...

Again, Midland is not Odessa, and Dubai, UAE is supposed to be quite nice...

Originally Posted by lifertexan

Why would someone from the San Angelo area have an oil bust grudge, whatever that is, against Midland? Just curious.

In another post, I believe you mentioned that you once worked in the oil patch. Given your venom-dipped pen when it comes to nearly all things Midland, it's not a wild stretch to imagine that some 'oil bust' related misfortune befell you? This is how the voice of your posts strikes me. If I'm way off or insulting, my apologies.

Originally Posted by lifertexan

My point is that the statistics you use to try and elevate Midland to something it isn't are contrived and don't tell the true story. That doesn't imply that Midland is doing something wrong, or that wanting to live in Midland instead of Odessa is wrong, only that your claims for being a more educated city are true only in the same statistical sense that American families have 2.5 kids each.

This http://maps.yahoo.com/index.php#mvt=...1.921861&mag=7
map indicates that the distance between the Midland County and Ector County court houses is 17.7 miles. I'm guessing the distance between Midland's western city limits and Odessa's eastern city limits is at least 10 miles. Some day in the distant future, the cities might conjoin, but for now there is a pancake flat, desert buffer populated mainly by jack rabbits and rattlesnakes. Beverly Hills isn't Compton even though a number of Comptonites might work in Beverly Hills.


That Midland is moving away--even by degrees-- from the pervasive factory farm, chicken fried steak 'think', enough to support a clean, beautiful natural foods restaurant like Strawberry Fields Cafe http://www.naturalfoodsmkt.com/logo_...WFTXW28DSE.jpg
shouts upticking progress on a number of fronts.



Food Safety--Why People Are Turning to Organics
http://www.organicconsumers.org/orga...hics031604.cfm

http://www.datamonitor.com/~06480133...20DMCM4149.htm
"Natural and fresh food flourishes in key consumer demographic groups"

Marketing and demographics are key when keeping up with consumer trends
http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallb...r-trends_x.htm

[lifertexan]

In another post, I believe you mentioned that you once worked in the oil patch. Given your venom-dipped pen when it comes to nearly all things Midland, it's not a wild stretch to imagine that some 'oil bust' related misfortune befell you?

Venom dipped? Not at all.I just think that people deserve an admittedly subjective opinion of the area other than that it is sorta like Palm Beach. And even just a cursory look at opinions on the area show that I am hardly alone in my assessment, including many current and former residents of the area. At the same time, many of you like it, and I don't have any gripes about that. But this forum serves as a place for those who don't know certain areas to get opinions from all sides, not just the sugar coated ones.BTW, I worked in the oil fields around SA 25 years ago, and quit because the driller insisted on stopping on the way in every day and spending an hour at a little bar drinking. It got old quick,especially when I could think of a lot of other places to drink beer at where there were single women. So no big oil bust grudges.

This http://maps.yahoo.com/index.php#mvt=...1.921861&mag=7
map indicates that the distance between the Midland County and Ector County court houses is 17.7 miles. I'm guessing the distance between Midland's western city limits and Odessa's eastern city limits is at least 10 miles. Some day in the distant future, the cities might conjoin, but for now there is a pancake flat, desert buffer populated mainly by jack rabbits and rattlesnakes. Beverly Hills isn't Compton even though a number of Comptonites might work in Beverly Hills.

I'm not saying Midland is Odessa, and never have. You seem strangely unwilling or unable to grasp the point. Imagine that Odessa doesn't exist, and all the blue collar, less educated workers of the area live in a Midland of 200,000 . What does this do to the demographics of Midland in regards to it's % of college graduates? It brings it in line with the % in Abilene and SA. In the Abilene metro statistical area the blue collar workers live in the same city as the white collar ones,and bring down the % of college graduates per capita. There isn't another town for the blue collars to live in. In the SA metro statistical area the blue collar workers live in the same city as the white collar workers, and bring down the % of college graduates per capita. There isn't a separate town for the less educated to populate. In the Midland/Odessa metro area, generally speaking the white collar workers live in Midland, and the blue collar workers live in Odessa. This makes the % for Midland go up, and the % for Odessa go down per capita, but it is an artificial skewing of numbers based on the class segregation of the two different areas of the Petroplex. While politically the area is divided into two different entities, economically and in every other respect the towns make up one metropolitan area. No one thinks of Midland w/o Odessa, and visa versa. Midland is not Odessa, but Midland appears better statistically because Odessa drains off the less educated in terms of classifying their permanent residency for demographic breakdowns.

[pammybear]

Hi Star! So far so good. He finds the people at work to be very friendly and helpfu. He has found a nice gym and has begun working out. He has been out a couple of times with a realtor and has found of course, as in other areas of the US, the newer homes have fewer trees. Many of the older homes have lots of mature trees, and many of these homes have upgrades so don't know what we will end up with but we are in no rush and the realtor will meet with him again this week. The schools were on Spring break so he didn't get to visit there.

His favorite store is Big Lots and he found one in Odessa! Except for missing us terribly and us missing him, all is well. He drove but he has flown into the airport before for his interview and he was very impressed.

Thanks for asking!

Pam

[soccermom98]

Hi Pam,
Thanks for the information, you have given me a good starting point. My husband will also be going first but I don't know if I can expect him to be as thourough as I would be as far as scoping the place out and getting the right info, asking the right questions etc. It does seem as though we have a lot in common. I too am going to be looking for a gym and definitely activities for the kids to be involved in. Soccer is really big here as I am sure it is in most places. I am worried about the schools, that I believe is my main concern next to the area in which to live. Being from a small town where everyone knows everyone and their business (which I don't really care for) but unfortunatly true, I feel comfortable here and this move is going to be hard on me. I have been reading through a lot of the postings and there seem to be a lot of negative things. That makes me very nervous. I look forward to hearing more from you and how your move is going. Thanks again.