[OT] From Texas to New Hampshire

[R S]

These are all good things to know, much appreciated.  Austin is a liberal dot in the conservative state of Texas.  As an example, Austin was the only area in the entire state not to vote against the gay marriage amendment.  Although I do enjoy it here somewhat, it's not what it's made out to be.  The great thing is crime is relatively low and the atmosphere is laid back.  Schools (K-12) have really gone down hill, and the cost of living has shot way up.  Traffic is horrible.  It's actually worse than Dallas despite the size comparison.  My average commute to work is 1 hour, while living in the city.  The 110+ heat in the summer does not help either.  Being single, it was a great city to live in.  Now with a family and my personal goals, it's not the place where I want to be.

A few of the things that interest me most about New Hampshire are the local/state government, the 'Live free or die' motto, and the climate/terrain.  I'm big on cold, I hate the heat.  The tax status is quite attractive as well.  The warm welcome I'm receiving definitely helps.  

When I first came to Austin and joined the local LUG, the response I got from an introduction was "Go home, we don't need another out of work admin here".   That is probably specific to the LUG itself, but it felt like a bad sign nonetheless.  I soon left the LUG thereafter.  I've been involved in other groups (GLLUG - Lansing) (CTLUG - Central Texas) without any of these problems.  Getting such a warm welcome from the first LUG I contact in the area is a good feeling and I really appreciate the responses I am getting from you all.

-- Ross

Jon maddog Hall <maddog at li.org> wrote: Hi Ross,

I moved to New Hampshire in 1984, after living in Maryland (18 years), Pennsylvania
(five years), Connecticut (six years) and Massachusetts (two years).  It is a
great state, one of only two places I would even consider living in the United States.

>What do you feel is the best area overall for IT employment in NH?

The Nashua/Manchester/Concord area is probably the most developed in the state,
with Portsmouth/Durham/Dover coming in after that and Hanover following.  Other,
smaller towns such as Peterborough and Keene are also considerations, but they tend
to be limited in job opportunities.  Of course there is also the White Mountain area,
but that is mostly tourism, whereas these other areas have a bit more
industrial/retail development, with universities around.

Portsmouth/Durham/Dover is much closer to the seacoast, and is developing a software
industry.  When Pease Air Force base shut down, they turned it into a manufacturing
and transportation/shipping hub.  The University of New Hampshire has its major
campus in Durham and there is quite a lot of nightlife in that area too.

Dan was right about the number of people that commute to Massachusetts, but there
are lots of industries in New Hampshire also.  The closeness of Boston gives you
the big city, if that is what you like, but Nashua/Manchester is also nice and
although they do not have quite the music scene that Austin has, you can still find
plenty to do.

A lot of people live in places like the Royal Crest Estates, or a sister apartment/
townhouse complex nearby which is very close to both a major artery into
Massachusetts and the Nashua area, particularly if they are trying to get used to
the state before finding a final place to work and live.

Since you lived in Michigan and your wife lived in Connecticut, I do not have to tell
you about the New England winters.  You learn to embrace them.  When I moved to
New England I took up Nordic skiing, ice skating, snowshoeing and using a four wheel
drive vehicle.  The White Mountains are great for winter sports.

We tend to be a conservative state ("Live Free or DIE"), but while the weather
sometimes gets pretty cold, the people make up for it by being warm.

>I'd like to be involved with your group via mailing the lists if there aren't any
>objections.

No objections at all.  We have a fairly widely-flung mailing list.  It is why we
called the group the "GREATER New Hampshire Linux User's Group", to be able to
embrace people slightly outside the borders of our state.  Austin is, after all,
our neighbor.  If you do move to Nashua, one of our groups has its meetings at
Martha's Exchange Restaurant in the downtown, so it would be easy for you to
get to a meeting or two every once in a while.

Warmest regards,

Jon "maddog" Hall
-- 
Jon "maddog" Hall
Executive Director           Linux International(R)
email: maddog at li.org         80 Amherst St. 
Voice: +1.603.672.4557       Amherst, N.H. 03031-3032 U.S.A.
WWW: http://www.li.org

Board Member: Uniforum Association
Board Member Emeritus: USENIX Association (2000-2006)

(R)Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in several countries.
(R)Linux International is a registered trademark in the USA used pursuant
   to a license from Linux Mark Institute, authorized licensor of Linus
   Torvalds, owner of the Linux trademark on a worldwide basis
(R)UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the USA and other
   countries.



 __________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/private/gnhlug-discuss/attachments/20061217/8a8d5935/attachment.html