Daughter of CA Yankee Attending U of Alabama (Birmingham, Huntsville: appointed, apartment)

[brownbagg]

i dont care for dreamland

[kamoto]

@Harry, what is this dream you refer to? I'm 53 years old. If I moved to Alabama, I'd be doing so as a retired single individual. I'm a loner, without many friends. I spend my time gardening, cooking, and exploring the outdoors. The rest of the time I sit in front of the TV. So I'm having trouble with what I could be perceiving about Alabama and what I'm in for.

@Threestep. Explain the notion of real estate doesn't mean you have arrived. Are you saying that you perceive Mountain Brook as snooty and that just because I want to live there, doesn't mean I will be accepted into Alabama life? I could care less. I looked at Mountain Brook because the cities demographics are a fit for how I wish to live. Tell me a city with similar demographics, where I can get a lot for 1+ acre, that has at least 15K citizens with nice homes, and I'll move there as well.

My daughter is a CA resident. She is attending U of Alabama and will pay out of state tuition. It is possible for her to gain in state tuition a year or so from now, but that means I must become an Alabama resident. And since I"m exhausted from work, want to sell my house at the peak in silicon valley, and I"m tired of having neighbors on top of me, Alabama seems like a pretty nice place to move to. My daughter alone can't make this move and gain in state tuition. I could retire up to Montana, or retire to Alabama. I'll take a shot with Alabama for the time being.

[harry chickpea]

Originally Posted by kamoto

@Harry, what is this dream you refer to? I'm 53 years old. If I moved to Alabama, I'd be doing so as a retired single individual. I'm a loner, without many friends. I spend my time gardening, cooking, and exploring the outdoors. The rest of the time I sit in front of the TV. So I'm having trouble with what I could be perceiving about Alabama and what I'm in for.

@Threestep. Explain the notion of real estate doesn't mean you have arrived. Are you saying that you perceive Mountain Brook as snooty and that just because I want to live there, doesn't mean I will be accepted into Alabama life? I could care less. I looked at Mountain Brook because the cities demographics are a fit for how I wish to live. Tell me a city with similar demographics, where I can get a lot for 1+ acre, that has at least 15K citizens with nice homes, and I'll move there as well.

My daughter is a CA resident. She is attending U of Alabama and will pay out of state tuition. It is possible for her to gain in state tuition a year or so from now, but that means I must become an Alabama resident. And since I"m exhausted from work, want to sell my house at the peak in silicon valley, and I"m tired of having neighbors on top of me, Alabama seems like a pretty nice place to move to. My daughter alone can't make this move and gain in state tuition. I could retire up to Montana, or retire to Alabama. I'll take a shot with Alabama for the time being.

We have similarities. I grew up in Vermont. I was older than you when my wife and I "retired" back to Alabama from south Florida. I designed and brought to market the software for a complete P.O.S. system, developing every single line of code myself. My wife had already lived in Mountain Brook for a number of years with a previous husband, doing the whole "succeeded!" mainstream lifestyle (which has some perquisites but is largely a gilded hamster wheel in a nice cage). She was a master gardener in Florida and Alabama, and I'll just say that I know how to cook and am more introverted than most people you'll ever meet. I had a huge vegetable garden the first three years here. We also enjoyed evenings watching movies and British tv - which I still do after her passing.

You can certainly live in Mountain Brook and not be part of the 'clique' and still be surrounded by nice homes on your drive to Publix and Whole Foods. The type of crime that will be around you is more white collar and less violent, but your love of a pickup and assault shotgun just might be a little off-putting to neighbors in that socioeconomic group... You certainly won't want to be playing target practice on your 1+ acre lot there, or messing with straight pipes and such.

OTOH, if you go out in the country to play, you might find that you are fresh meat for other groups. Any California accent, perceived geekhood, and excess of available money won't help your cause.

Think of the most conservative area of California, imagine it four times more conservative and you'll get a sense of the political climate. It is an impeachable offense in the state for the governor to have a personal life that doesn't equate to loyal wife, going to church Sundays and Bible class Wednesdays. (Yeah, I know there are serious issues, but that is the focus of most of the hate there.) Alabama is the buckle of the Bible belt. Religion permeates the culture in a way you cannot have experienced in Boston, AZ, or CA. If you find the values and mores of California somewhat normal, please understand that there is a better chance of George Burns rising from the grave and having a love child with Lady Gaga than Alabama becoming accepting of California values.

Don't get me wrong, Alabama can be a wonderful place to live, but you can't live completely isolated from a surrounding culture, and it is best to make sure you understand it and are ok with it before investing too much. (FWIW, I think you might be more comfortable out a little on 280 than in Mountain Brook proper, but that is just a thought.)

[kamoto]

@harry. Sorry to hear you lost your wife. i hope your getting along well these days.

So lets say I move to Chelsea. My son is only 13. He may stay with his mom in California, but if he came with me, could he ever get a date. Or would he be branded as trouble, since his dad is single, lives alone, and we don't see him in church. He already is surrounded by Chinese and Indian, and has limited options to date herei in California. I would not want to bring him to Alabama and give him a new set of problems.

You got me thinking that maybe I'm better off having her accept the offer at Baylor in Texas. If I'll never be accepted in Alabama, then I question having her attend the university of Alabama


Kindly ken

[harry chickpea]

My point was to try to get you thinking realistically, not to completely scare you off. To do so, I needed to push the envelope a little hard in the direction I didn't see you looking. Demographics are generalizations, and what happens on an individual basis can be completely different.

I didn't see mention of your son before. One thing to consider there is that Alabama is one of the toughest states on marijuana. If he is not into it, great. If he is, or you suspect he might be, looking at states that have a more relaxed view might be in his interest. Also, in large parts of the south children are often sent to private religious schools instead of the public school system. I'll be blunt. I've not been impressed with schools in the south overall compared to the northeast. South Florida was by far the worst, and not all schools in Alabama are bad, but you do have to take care in your selection of an area and the schools available.

As for your son and dates, the old saying was to watch out for those southern belles, they will charm you right into a ring on their finger. I'm not sure how much that still holds, but I don't think I'd worry about his getting dates.

Texas has its own culture and culture issues. If you are thinking of Baylor, look into those. I'm not suggesting anything more than doing your homework before making a major move, something that I would suggest for anyone. I would hope that other posters here could clarify or disagree with things they might think I have described incorrectly or inaccurately. People here are pretty good about politely holding different opinions. Thank you for the mention of my wife. I miss her dearly, but am more or less coping.

[BamaDave]

Look into Huntsville. It's more diverse than Birmingham with many people from other parts of the country and world. It doesn't have as many amenities as The Ham, though.

[Threestep2]

I loved our two stays in Alabama. Work for a Birmingham based company out of OK.

What I do not understand are fools who do a bit of Internet surfing, come up with ideas, give no information and immediately go into the defensive.

Pick up and semi auto may be an achievement in Cali. Our circle in AL kept and keeps information about toys low key. You may as well post a street address

Your daughter is enrolled but you cannot pull up the school's site to figure out the requirements for various tuition scenarios?

Your son is 13 and you are concerned about his options in the world of dating?

Yes, you can live in Mountain Brook as if it were an island and send your son to private school. You can move to cookie cutter 'r us Chelsea for cheap.

In almost 20 years in the South, Texas, Oklahoma I have once been asked to go to church - by my mother in law.

Where and how you and your family will not fit in is mostly in your court.

[Tourian]

I'll admit I am now suspect of the OP's motives, but i still don't see how his mere mention of Mountain Brook made the conversation escalate so quickly. If the guy thinks buying a home here and will save him some dough by qualifying for in state tuition, so be it. But him choosing Mountain Brook doesn't necessarily mean he is announcing to the forum that he has arrived or making some statement about his status - although I agree that is where the conversation headed after that.

Or maybe my between line decoder ring needs a firmware update. Either way M-B does not have the monopoly on nice homes and neighborhoods. It obviously has the densest concentration of them.

To the OP - just talk to UA admin about the residency thing. By reading the page provided it looks to me like they leave it open to their judgement call. I doubt your son will have trouble finding kids to play with or girls to like him and no one is going to care if you keep to yourself and don't go to church unless you make it a point to be abrasive and defensive every chance you get when you interact with people. Having a love for guns and nice pickup trucks is so common that it isn't even worth talking about. And yes some people in M-B drive trucks too.

[Tourian]

Originally Posted by BamaDave

Look into Huntsville. It's more diverse than Birmingham with many people from other parts of the country and world.

I disagree.

There's lots of people from other parts of the country and world here too and more of them. HSV has a lot of people who come there for that one industry but that doesn't give them the lock on diversity. People come to live here from all over for healthcare, banking and construction or for any of hundred other reasons.

[mcalumni01]

this article let you know just how diverse birmingham is...never really knew it was that diverse......

http://b-metro.com/theworldwithin/26184/