Excellent, compose an email, ask a few generic questions, go to lunch, and bam, 3 responses!
I was born and raised in NY, and have lived in SF for two of the past three years (a year back in NY for business purposes). I was in Chicago this weekend for a friends wedding, and did a little walking around while there; I stayed (and wandered) around the Lincoln Park neighborhood and was downtown briefly on Sunday afternoon (albeit not a good representation of the workday hustle and bustle). I thought Lincoln Park was an adorable neighborhood, and just for kicks, I went to a few open houses (both rent and own)... very nice... felt like the charm of neighborhoods in SF, mixed with the populace (and abundance of 'stuff') of NY. Maybe I'm just a bit nostalgic... The infamous weather in Chicago has deterred me from investigating relocation thoroughly, but from the sounds of it, I could hack the summers and winters (I chose SF largely for the weather... it's my definition of perfect). Commuting... well, I've done the live/work downtown, the commute from the far reaches of subways, the commute from the suburbs... as long as I _can_ get to work without having to drive (bus/train/subway/bike/walk/whatever), I'm happy. I commuted 100+ miles round trip when I was with UPS in NJ and would have rather been stuck in traffic in a bus than my own car. It always seems to be six of one - half dozen of the other, anyway. I love where I am, geographically, but I've been reconsidering my shift in career, from (primarily) development to project management. Countless people at my current job have said "why did you make the switch to the business side?" and after a while, I started asking myself the same. Maybe finance just isn't my thing... it seems like some people love it, some don't. The job market in SF just doesn't seem to have the variety I'm craving (I'll try not to whine too much about that). I don't know... I don't have ties anywhere to speak of, so it's easy for me to think of packing up and moving, but maybe I should just wait it out and see if the feeling passes. Or not. I sure would miss the Tuesday night drag shows, though... I met the head of IT from a local chocolate company at the wedding I attended, and (as always), after a few cocktails I said "So, do you have any openings?" When he said to send him my resume... well, let's just say that it's always nice to hear those words, you know? Man, how I miss CF. I'm still doing it on the side, but I can't say that my current application is written in it (although it could, and AFAIC should be), which was always fun... picking fights at happy hour with those cocky ASP folks... ;) OK, enough from me... thanks for the input guys. I'm going to mull it over a little and possibly (probably?) ask a few more questions in the next few weeks. Cheers, ~BP On Mon, 08 Nov 2004 16:43:26 -0600, Jim Campbell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > 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:5:134754 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
