Jazendar wrote:I was born in Juneau Alaska, not only is the job market vast (you'd be surprised, especially with rapid expansion rates rising), but it's a beautiful place to live and is home to a completely different culture than you'd see in the lower 48. It really is a great place to live (I moved when I was about 15, or i'd still be up there. I still have plans to make it back there for extended amounts of time, if at all possible.) When I left, the dividened was around 2thousand. It fluctuates every year depending on the revenues of oil production.
Jesus Christ!!! How come everyone isn't migrating there? There has to be a catch and it can't just be the freakin cold ass winters. (Which is a bonus for me, not a negative mark.)
Lyion wrote:If Hillary wins Texas and Ohio, she'll win the nomination.
Tossica wrote:Seriously, there is NO WAY Sony is going to put HD-DVD out of the game.
Jazendar wrote:I was born in Juneau Alaska, not only is the job market vast (you'd be surprised, especially with rapid expansion rates rising), but it's a beautiful place to live and is home to a completely different culture than you'd see in the lower 48. It really is a great place to live (I moved when I was about 15, or i'd still be up there. I still have plans to make it back there for extended amounts of time, if at all possible.) When I left, the dividened was around 2thousand. It fluctuates every year depending on the revenues of oil production.
Jesus Christ!!! How come everyone isn't migrating there? There has to be a catch and it can't just be the freakin cold ass winters. (Which is a bonus for me, not a negative mark.)
People don't move there because they think of the 6 months of darkness / 6 months of light that some (very little) parts of Alaska actually have. Juneau, the capital, for instance, gets dark at night and light during the day like every other state in the U.S. It may get darker about 2 hours later and lighter two hours earlier, but alas basically the same.
Also, people hear of the cold chilling winters and think of negative 60 degree temperatures, which is a joke. The only negative sixty degree temps you'll see in Alaska are with wild wind chill factors in the ocean areas North of Alaska, or the far Northern parts of Alaska. The lowest it got while I lived there 15 years was about -11 or so. That might still sound cold, which it is, but that was extremely rare. In the summer it's rare to see 75ish degrees, but it does happen. In some parts, like Ketchikan, it will rain 200 days out of the year (including snow). So by any means, if you're not prepared for rain, don't move there. During the summer it will rain 1 out of every 3 days (give or take). I encourage you to fly to Seattle and take a ferry boat ride across to Juneau, takes 3 days on a Ferry but it is a hell of a lot cheaper than the 600 dollar ticket you'd fly with Alaskan Airlines. Also you can take your car that way as well.
I could ramble on for days about Alaska but until you actually spend a few weeks there, you'll never know how much you would enjoy it. I wish every day that I wouldn't have moved to California, and if my job and financial situation traveled with the same benefits, I would be there next week.
To be fair, Jazender, Fairbanks does get to 50 or 60 below not counting wind chill. Then again, it's in the middle of the state without any buffer from nearby water, and gets far far far colder than Juneau or Anchorage. I have heard, but I have never gotten any confirmation, that the University of Alaska at Fairbanks has tunnels between the buildings, so that students can get from their dorms to class or the mean hall without having to actually go outside when it's that cold or you've got severe blizzard conditions. Would make sense, but may be urban legend, too.
Me, I don't think I could live in Juneau if for no other reason than it's only like 30,000 people, which is way too small for my tastes. Not to mention, it's not connected by road to anywhere, so if I want to go driving, I have what, 5 miles in any direction before the roads stop? I think I'd end up with some level of cabin fever knowing that I was effectively trapped there, unless I got a boat or a plane trip elsewhere.
Anchorage I might be able to handle, since it's > 200k people, but there the problem would be some of the problems with everyone ELSE considering it incredibly remote: Do good bands come play there? etc.
Also Jaz, since you lived up there, what IS the cost of living like? How much more expensive are groceries compared to where you are in CA, say? How about getting stuff shipped in, like if you order something from Amazon? How about gas prices, electric bill, etc. etc. etc.?
Gas was 99 cents per gallon when I left, which was in '98, groceries were similar in price. PG&E I cannot be too sure about, I'd need to talk to my family. Like I said, I was 15 at the time when I left so I wasn't too concerned with anything other than school and driving. Ironic enough, with the weather conditions and everything, one can apply for permit at 14-1/2 and retrieve a license at 15-1/2 (Atleast it was at the time, not sure about the present.) Again Amazon shipping I'm not too sure about, but I wouldn't think it could be too expensive. The cost of living wasn't harsh, each house in Juneau had at the very least one acre to their lot, some to most of which even more. Yes, 30,000 people may seem small, but type Juneau in google and check out the downtown area, if you can get elevation views of the area, it is a bit more urbanized than you'd think. Juneau is also connected to Douglas, an island half the size of paved Juneau, by large bridge.
I can't talk about the experiences in Fairbanks, I have relatives who live inland and they do talk about the mild blizzards they receive. I can't imagine them being any more severe than any coastal weatherstorm, though. The houses are built fortified, and the culture up there really aids to the well being of other people, which is nice.
We used to boat from Juneau out to some of the random little islands where we had a cabin. Fishing and four wheeling in the sand on the beach was part of some fun activities.
Look up the Mendenhall Glacier online, it was 5 miles from where I lived. In the winter the Lake froze over and you could walk across the ice to the glacier. There was a path up along the side that would take you up in the mountains above the Glacier as well. In the summer the small lake was water obviously, aside from one giant piece of glacier that hangs out in the middle. On the right hand side is a huge waterfall that pummels the ice fueling the lake and the river to continue running.
In 1997, when the Hail Bop comet was flying over, we used to go to the glacier, lay atop the ice and watch it. There was a nice with heavy northern lights coupled with the comet aflight. There's no other place in the world like Alaska. Customs in Alaska aren't hard getting used to. Moving to Mexico where it's 110 degrees or whatnot, you can't do anything to get warm but spend more money for air conditioning (which, by the way, my utilities bill was over 250& during the summer, constant). But when it's cold, pack on another layer and you're fine. Like I said, the culture of people that I experienced were always extremely helpful and projected warmly faction~
All in all, vacation or home, it's a beautiful *affordable* place to visit. As far as I know, the only expensive thing about Alaska is getting there if you plan to fly, Alaskan Airlines charges up the ass within Alaska because they are the only ones that fly. If you take the Ferry, it's to my understanding that the faire is cheap. As stated before, a vast job market (surprisingly).
As far as bands traveling, in all honesty I doubt it because of the overall simplistic view of Alaska (Antartic weather, Dark six months, Igloos blah blah), the publicity isn't enough.
Ugh, I don't like rain, though. Snow, yes. Rain, no. Growing up in south Florida made me really sick of rain and living in Alabama has cemented that.
I don't mind the cabin fever. This will sound crazy, I'm sure, but I don't go anywhere except home, work, restaraunt sometimes, shopping, back home. I work long hours so I rarely have time for anything else. I don't need to drive anywhere, etc.
So far I like what I am seeing, especially the low population. I seriously HATE high populations. High populations bring high population problems. I have grown quite content with my 15k population living here.
Lyion wrote:If Hillary wins Texas and Ohio, she'll win the nomination.
Tossica wrote:Seriously, there is NO WAY Sony is going to put HD-DVD out of the game.
Ice crystals in the air reflecting the light, I believe. Though I was under the impression sun dogs were those circular rainbows that appear in the sky on really cold days (also from ice crystals)
Maeya wrote:Ice crystals in the air reflecting the light, I believe. Though I was under the impression sun dogs were those circular rainbows that appear in the sky on really cold days (also from ice crystals)
yup
they can be rainbow looking too from time to time, but the pic I posted is what we see here 99/100 times
