I'm a native of Southern California. I have lived in the Seattle area for well over a decade, which in some minds grants me native status here in the great and beautiful state of Washington. Summary: I've spent my whole life on the West Coast.
Now, as I come up on seven and a half months of unemployment, my husband and I have decided to move. Even when we were both working, we couldn't afford to buy a house here (that is, without ending our savings for retirement AND without financing ourselves into oblivion). The job market is uber-competitive and getting more so as migrants from California and Oregon are apparently arriving in search of work. I had a workshop at my local unemployment office yesterday, and the consultant told me that between now and mid-January, finding a job in my field (technology) was going to be all but impossible.
Back in September, my husband and I had a serious talk about what we want going forward. We really need to buy a house, not only for ourselves but also to meet the needs of my developmentally-disabled brother, who currently lives in a self-contained basement apartment downstairs. We've lived in this house for three years and don't know any of our neighbors. Our social life is withered and homogenized, comprised of a few dinner parties with former coworkers. We really want a sense of community among real people, not social-climbing yuppies who work (and brag about working) 100-hour weeks.
We're lonely, bored, isolated and on the verge of really starting to feel the pain of unemployment. And so, we're moving.
I used to make fun of people who lived in the Midwest. I mean, what's there? Corn fields, cattle, tornadoes, snow and wingnuts. A left coaster my whole life, I have never lived more than 30 minutes from either Los Angeles or Seattle. I have shamelessly mocked my Minnesota kin for living in what I've always considered to be the nation's freezer. "How could you live in a place that's THAT cold?" I've laughingly asked. "How could you live in a place that's THAT flat?"
Well guess what? Anyone got a nice, big crow?
I have a job offer as a consultant, contingent on my placement with a client of the consulting company that's going to hire me. The pay cut I'll take is less than 10%. We can buy the duplex we need for our family for less than half of the current value of the single-family house we live in now. And best of all, it's a bastion of liberalism!
Oh, shall I tell you where I'm going?
Here's a hint: Russ Feingold is going to be my new senator.
Here's another hint: Tammy Baldwin is going to be my new congresscritter.
Madison, Wisconsin!
I leave here for the cross-country drive in two weeks. I am scared, excited, and ready to go! My brother, who has worked as a union grocery store clerk for four years, has quit his job. The moving company is booked. A one-year lease on a house, where we'll live until we figure out where to buy, is signed.
I want to give a shout out to Ben Masel, Angry Mouse and Colorado is the Shiznit for their support and helpful advice.
Slainte!