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Thanks MountainK:
How bout the heating in apartments(The ones in which heat is included in the rent). I spoke with a couple of apartment managers and they say if heating is included in the rent, it will be sufficient and you won't need to use ur own heating. Other people on this forum say that even if heating is included in the rent, one can't escape using electric heating of their own because the heating provided by the landlord will not be sufficient. What is your experience?
Thanksss
Hi there Wanderer
I was a bit confused by your heating posts....
many apartments with heat included will have a air conditioner and furnace unit. The a/c is on electric power while the furnace is powered by natural gas. Some apartment companies will include the gas usage as part of the rent....hence if you have a furnace powered by natural gas you can use as much heat as you want and it is included. Also for a building there may be one main gas line...hence makes it easier for the landlord/owner to just pay one gas bill for the entire complex.
Some apartments have electric baseboard heat. Since that is tied into electricity that is used for other things, not sure how the landlord can separate that out. In cases of heating by electric base boards....each room in the has a separate baseboard for which you can control the heat.
In either case, the amount of heat would be sufficient so that another heat source would not be needed.
Negatives
- Not multi-cultural at all, not much to do for minorites......let elaborate on that point because I will probably get ALOT of flack; Alot of clothing stores that Black and Latina women frequent do not have a presence here in Fargo. There are no laid back jazz/ R & B lounges or night clubs, there are no Latin nightclubs (salsa, meringue) there are no Hip Hop, R & B, Jazz, or Latin radio stations. If you dont like country or rock, its best to bring your own music.
- Lack of diverse restaurants, the Japanese Hibachi grill here is about as wild as it gets, in fact there is a lot of chain restaurants but not much in the way of good mom and pop eats, which is disapointing considering I was in Cincinnati prior to this assignment and there was plenty of AWESOME places to eat.
- As a minority YOU will stick out, everywhere you go.
But why are you expecting all these things to be accommodated when thy are not indigenous to the area?
Don't you think its a bit rude, to say the least, to complain about your unreasonable expectations, especially so as you've just gotten off the boat, so to speak?
Did you do any research on the area before moving, which seems to be a sensible thing to have done? I think not.
Do you not realize that every type of culture can't be everywhere in the USA?
Your unreasonable complaints is part of what's wrong with the USA.
If I go to another country, Mexcio for example, and then demand that the community I go to provide for the culture of where I am from, the people in that community will rightly get annoyed, be offended at my rejection of their culture and will regard me with negativity and ask me to leave.
That is what you are doing.
Would you not think it is highly offensive if you invited me to your house and then once I am there, I start complaining that you haven't accommodated my culture, tastes and preferences into yours and then worse, I start demanding that you provide them?
I am wondering...how important is it to have a 4wheel drive vehicle?..it is just a given everyone should arrive with 4WDR if possible?...we have a 2WDR Ram...Also a friend who lived in Wyoming says snow tires are unneccessary, just all-weather tires are really needed..
I would love to hear from anyone who relocated to ND also, aside from the Oil boom...particularly Jamestown (or Bismarck)???..I would love of a bird's eye veiw of Jamestown's shopping/ restaurant options..kinda hard to get an idea what a town that size means? make sense!!?!?
I am wondering...how important is it to have a 4wheel drive vehicle?..it is just a given everyone should arrive with 4WDR if possible?...we have a 2WDR Ram...Also a friend who lived in Wyoming says snow tires are unneccessary, just all-weather tires are really needed..
I would love to hear from anyone who relocated to ND also, aside from the Oil boom...particularly Jamestown (or Bismarck)???..I would love of a bird's eye veiw of Jamestown's shopping/ restaurant options..kinda hard to get an idea what a town that size means? make sense!!?!?
Lillibeth, There is very little shopping in Jamestown. Very small community. Go to the Jamestown home page.You'll wind up driving the 90 miles to Bismarck to shop occasionally. I swear by Blizzak snow tires. the reason 2 wheel drive is bad is if it is rear wheel. a 2 wheel drive Ram truck?...Not gonna be a good thing, hard to explain, but you will see if you are on snowy roads. Put some weight in the back, several bags of sand is what most folks do. You can usually get that at a menards, or hardware hank. Front wheel, honda's, smaller cars seems safer for driving in snow, in my experience, because the steering is in the front. 4 wheel drives are helpful, but some folks drive faster because they have a false sense of security. In my experience, ice is not predictable, doesn't matter if you have a 4 wheel drive car or not, if you go into a skid on icy roads.
I am wondering...how important is it to have a 4wheel drive vehicle?..it is just a given everyone should arrive with 4WDR if possible?...we have a 2WDR Ram...Also a friend who lived in Wyoming says snow tires are unneccessary, just all-weather tires are really needed..
I would love to hear from anyone who relocated to ND also, aside from the Oil boom...particularly Jamestown (or Bismarck)???..I would love of a bird's eye veiw of Jamestown's shopping/ restaurant options..kinda hard to get an idea what a town that size means? make sense!!?!?
My experience with Snow Tires.
Snow tires will help you accelerate, corner and even brake, better then all season tires. But I don't know if you get out of them, what you put into them. Put them on and run them on packed snow and ice and you'll love them. But you have to pull them off during good weather because snow tires are softer and wear more easily then all season tires. So if you run them during the summer, you'll wear them out and need new ones next fall.
Of, you can have them removed and your other tires put on during the summer, as long as you have a good place to store them (not outside where they can weather and sun check). So there is an added expense to have two sets of tires, winter and summer.
All season tires can be run all year long, dry road, wet road, gravel, and mud. Snow tires tend to not handle mud very well as they tend to load up. I am not familiar with the Blizzak's though.
As far as 2 wheel drive vrs front wheel drive. If you are on a hill and your rear tires bust loose on the ice, you let off and gain traction again. If you are on a hill and your front tires break loose on ice, you momentarily loose steering. Not a desireable effect if you live in the mountains like I do.
You can add weight and get the same effect as front wheel drive. Their only advantage is that the weight of the engine adds to the wheels that pull. With a 2 wd pickup, you can simply add weight, like JanND mentioned. What I did for years is to get a truck innertube and cut it in half. Take wire and bind one end together and fill the tube with sand and then bind the other end together with wire. Place it over top of your wheel well in the back. Do the same to the other side with the other half of the tube. With a truck tube, you'll add about 200+ pounds to each wheel giving you over 400 lbs of added weight. Then, should you get stuck, you can always unwrap one end of a tube and grab a couple handfuls of sand and throw under your tires to get traction. If you do this early, the tube will settle and form to the wheel well and set there nice and tight. It's out of the way so you can still haul things.
Just my 2 cents worth. I haven't bought snow tires since back in the early 70's and I owned a car. I've never put them on a pickup.
Almost everyone here has either a front wheel drive car with good tread on the tires, or a 4 wheel drive truck/suv. If you are running a two wheel drive auto, you probably want snow tires and some weight in the back.
As far as shopping in Jamestown, I'm sure you will find all the essentials you will need right in town, however the mall is pretty small.
Snow tires will help you accelerate, corner and even brake, better then all season tires. But I don't know if you get out of them, what you put into them. Put them on and run them on packed snow and ice and you'll love them. But you have to pull them off during good weather because snow tires are softer and wear more easily then all season tires. So if you run them during the summer, you'll wear them out and need new ones next fall.
Of, you can have them removed and your other tires put on during the summer, as long as you have a good place to store them (not outside where they can weather and sun check). So there is an added expense to have two sets of tires, winter and summer.
All season tires can be run all year long, dry road, wet road, gravel, and mud. Snow tires tend to not handle mud very well as they tend to load up. I am not familiar with the Blizzak's though.
As far as 2 wheel drive vrs front wheel drive. If you are on a hill and your rear tires bust loose on the ice, you let off and gain traction again. If you are on a hill and your front tires break loose on ice, you momentarily loose steering. Not a desireable effect if you live in the mountains like I do.
You can add weight and get the same effect as front wheel drive. Their only advantage is that the weight of the engine adds to the wheels that pull. With a 2 wd pickup, you can simply add weight, like JanND mentioned. What I did for years is to get a truck innertube and cut it in half. Take wire and bind one end together and fill the tube with sand and then bind the other end together with wire. Place it over top of your wheel well in the back. Do the same to the other side with the other half of the tube. With a truck tube, you'll add about 200+ pounds to each wheel giving you over 400 lbs of added weight. Then, should you get stuck, you can always unwrap one end of a tube and grab a couple handfuls of sand and throw under your tires to get traction. If you do this early, the tube will settle and form to the wheel well and set there nice and tight. It's out of the way so you can still haul things.
Just my 2 cents worth. I haven't bought snow tires since back in the early 70's and I owned a car. I've never put them on a pickup.
O'gosh I think you told me exactly what we needed to know!..Ok stupid question, but just to be clear...if we do the 'added sand solution' will our 2WDR truck be adequate or should we sell it prior to moving for a 4WDR?..see we really do not have the means to incur any additional monthly payments. So if we can just weight our Ram that would be great. I assume we would be doing mostly intown driving.
Any advice regarding a mini-van?
I appreciate all this valuable info, Thanks!
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