Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests Only in California.

Born and raised here in Cali for most of my life. I absolutely love this place.

I went in to the Army and was stationed in Missouri, traveled throughout the Midwest and South.

I went to college in Oregon.

Why I love this place, well over 4yrs ago when I gradauated college I had a tough choice to make. Work in Portland or work in Cali. I chose Cali. Same job, same company, different locations. $18,000 difference in pay! Of course I chose to live in the most expensive part of Cali so my pay refelected the increased Cost of living.

Alos because the weather is better. Sure its the 7th straight day above 75 degrees and the rest of the nation is expecting snow or near freeezing temps. Its a rare occasion we hit below 35-40. My duaghter loves the weather here so much more than living in Oregon. The freedom that sunshine brings is tremendous for her.

The level of educated people here is awesome! Silicon Valley is home to a lot of smart people and I even think the teenagers know that college is not an option, its mandatory unless you want to work at Burger King. Last I checked we pay HS kids $9.25/hr to flip burgers at the In-N-Out.

So everyone can gripe about he high cost of living and damn it if I don't! Bu in reality our Utilities are really low because the lack of seasonality in the weather. Groceries are a bit cheaper and the abundance of fresh veggies right from the farm is amazing! So that leaves housing, and sure I livein San Jose, the 11th largest city in the nation at just under 1 million and the average pre-owned house is $520K with a new home costing in the $750K range but the PAY is much much higher! Rundown neighborhoods are a rarity as even living in the bad part of San Jose is gonna net you a $350K house at the minimum! So the trash doesnt live here, they all moved to the Central valley. The pride in ownership really shows. Sure I've saved some cash and sure I can afford to own a home in just about anytown outside of Silcon Valley and Manhattan at my current salary, but ya know I just really like it here. Same thing goes for the CSVT, I still have it becasue I like it!

I think the schools here are fabolous compared to Missouri and Oregon. I think its great my child has friends who were born in HK, Japan, Korea, India, Mexico and are now living in the states. It has given her a grasp of the globalness that is the world and how people are different.

I live 30 minutes from the Beach, Santa Cruz. And yes, I was there this past weekend on Sunday with my shirt off in shorts checking out the bikini clad babes sunning and watching my daughter build sand castles and playing in the surf. The Boardwalk is open year-around! and both of our big theme parks (Six Flags and Great America) open the last weekend of March. Of course, I can drive 4hrs and be in Lake Tahoe for some of the grestest slopes in the nation.

We havent had a major earthquake in 17yrs and our reservoirs are full of fresh drinking water with the snow pack being above average. No drought problems.

National & State parks are abundant here and can be used year-around. When Cali was being populated in the late 1800's they had already formed conservation groups which had started buying up land for parks, big national parks. So now, we have beautiful cities that are well laid out with lots of open spaces. We have urban growth boundaries which means little sprawl. Check the Coastline of Cali on a state/national park map some time. Over 50% has been reserved as park areas which means NO HOMES! This is why traffic is bad, were all packed into these urban growth areas with no room to grown. Guess we have to build up.

Most people in Cali don't give a F about politics. Why? Were too damn busy trying to get ahead by working our asses off to even care. Of course we have the Govenator, and were proud to be a PROGRESSIVE state in our political views and thoughts. I don't really care about the Gays getting married, hell my Godfather died of AIDS in the 80's. I would prefer the term Civil Union, tho. I'm not married but me and ol girl have been shacked up for the past 10yrs. No one hassles us and my firm recognizes her as a spousal equivalent so she can have my dental benefits.

I did drive 18miles to work today and it did take 45 minutes with $2.27/G gas

Overall I cant complain, it's the old adage, You Pay to Play. Life is good and damn-it I don't mind living in an Apt and not owning my own home. If I owned my own home it would take away from my PLAY TIME!

So set your priorities and if you cant handle the lifestyle don't move here.

Don't forget this is from me who lives in the Bay Area- Silicon valley. Those who live in Fresno can buy houses all day and night for $200K

assvt.........relax.......breathe

so pack doesn't like cali.....at least we don't have to shovel snow in so cal and the girls still wear their summer clothes (i.e. skimpy)even in the "dead of winter". most other states can't say that. we pay too much in gas but what can you do. it certainly beats the crap out of living in georgia (no offense intended). the only things necessary to make this place perfect are:

-deport all c.a.r.b. and p.e.t.a members as they are the reason for our fuel prices and automitive restrictions

-deport all the people who are too stupid to know how to drive

-deport all politicians who are not serious about running the state right but would rather fatten their wallets with a job where lying, cheating and stealing are accepted ways of keeping ones job(sounds like lawyers to me)

-fair gasoline prices, not these robber barren prices we are forced to endure (admittedly achieved with my first comment)

with these changes only florida and hawaii will be viable living options.

I didn't say it's like cali,, I'm glad it's not. I said the two things he said were good about cali are true here. Our average temps during the short winter are 40s-50s during the day. And most of the people stay inside, and the girls wear skimpy clothes and since they're inside, they still wear them even if they have to be outside for short periods while shivering. Umm, what are you talking bout SUVs, I was talking bout gas prices, not how much gas is used. I believe our gas prices are 20-30 cents cheaper than Cali.
I haven't heard about this 2007 crap, gotta link?
I know we have plenty of idiots, but from what I see on TV, the article at the thread's beginning, and from people I've met,,, georgia intelect actually seems to be higher than most of california's.

I'm not saying georgia is like california as you seem to think I said. It's not and I'm glad it's not. But California certainly isn't better than georgia. I'm sure California deer hunting and bass and catfish fishing doesn't stack up to Georgia's.

I'm not saying California doesn't have its good points. It just has more bad points, the kind that you have to deal with everyday, that don't make it the ideal place to live. Georgia has some beaches and Alabama's and Florida's are close as well. We have less traffic in places other than Atlanta. Lower gas prices. Less idiotic crap going on (peta, emissions testing, banning products that are partially developed using WATER). Like I said, hunting and fishing are also probably better here in Georgia. Our education system sucks, but from what I hear/see most of Cali's does too. Neither state is good, but California in the social/political sense isn't a good place to live. In a natural sense, maybe it is pretty good and diverse. We have snow in north georgia and no snow in south. Not a lot to do unless you live in atlanta, but that's why I say georgia isn't the best place to live either. And we enjoy going to our friends houses, but normally we do more than say how ya doin,, but I also think our teenage drinking level has gotta be pretty high down here.
So in conclusion, both states suck, but California isn't better (overall) than Georgia.

So this is what CEG has come to...arguing about which state is better...lmfao

All I know is New Mexico should be nuked and I'll be back home in sunny lovely SoCal in 16 days never to return to this hell hole 3rd world-country-type state ever again.