Patrick - I lived on the South Side of Chicago for a while, then out in Naperville, and now out in Cary, which is within Packers-jersey-wearing distance of the Wisconsin border.
I *loved* the South Side - we lived off of 51st street near the University of Chicago. The restaurants are great, the co-op groceries down there are fantastic, everyone you meet is from other part of the country and the world, the Science and Industry museum is right there, there's a 10-minute express bus downtown, and it's really a lot more open than the north side or downtown, in my opinion. I know exactly where Gruss lives by his description, and that's a great area - it's like you're downtown, and suddenly you're surrounded by trees and cafes and cool breezes. He's also walking distance from Navy Pier and Grant Park, home of the worlds most, um, grey band shell ever, and a massive, reflecting kidney bean. No, really. And the W bar is very nice - go to the top floor. /And/ McClurg Court cinemas down there are ridiculously nice - it's where Star Wars 1 premiered in Chicago, and for good reason. If you're more partial to the suburbs, Naperville is basically the gold standard. You're surrounded by forest and prairie preserves, the train takes 30 minutes to get to Chicago (be sure to get the express, or it's an hour or more), there's a great Children's museum downtown, lots of activities, good hospitals, a Whole Foods right up the road in Wheaton, and all sorts of other stuff. Job-wise, there's lots of growth in the area. My Dice/Monster alerts are showing tons of jobs - lots more than a year ago, and that's just jobs from companies who are using Dice and Monster. Talk with recruiters, and you have your pick. Weather is not as bad as you might think. Summer's usually pretty mild - two years ago, it didn't hit 90 until September, and it was pretty nice all year this time. Winter hits full bore around January - usually a couple of feet of snow or so, and it holds on past April 1 some years. - Jim McPatrick O'Ledwith wrote: >Anyone in Chicago? How's life there? How's the job market? Anyone >there who has lived in San Francisco or NY? How does it compare? I >could ask more specific questions offline if anyone is up for a game >of 20 questions... > >Just tinkering with some thoughts... >~Patrick > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Special thanks to the CF Community Suite Gold Sponsor - CFHosting.net http://www.cfhosting.net Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:134744 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
