Happy Birtday Lyion

[vonkaar]

May you live another year!

wait, I meant... may you live another 41 years!

[Lyion]

Thanks sir, but sadly this was a user error on my profile.

Not 41 until Nov-8... Bday isn't 8/11.. I was Bass Ackwards. Not to be confused with Bass Fishing, mind you.

Good God I'm old.

Hey, how's marriage treating you? How's life in Dallas?

[vonkaar]

Shrug... we are pretty sick of Texas. It's so freaking boring. We are usually in San Diego 2-3 times a year... probably move there in a year or two. We are checking out Portland and Seattle as well. I'll miss the crawfish and gulf shrimp, but that's about it. Oh, my family too... but that's what the holidays are for, yeah? This place sucks.

Marriage is fun =p. We get along really well and are pretty cool with giving each other space. Already making babies too... first one (a girl) is due Nov 14 =). She has been really nice throughout all of this - haven't experienced craziness or anything disturbing. 27 weeks along (today) so, let's hope that continues. All of my friends told me to expect the worst.

How about you? =)

[leah]

woooo, baby vonkaar!

did we know about this already? i can't keep straight who's having babies.

[Lyion]

Hey, congratulations on the upcoming family addition!

If you want to miss Texas, move to Ohio. It's a wasteland up here. Oddly the four seasons have grown on me and the cost of living is excellent. Sadly, my financial planning has taken a turn for the worse so no retirement for me anytime soon. I grew up in San Diego, but honestly it's not really a great place to raise kids anymore, unless you make an obscene amount of money. Washington state is great, however. I'd tell you to look out for the rain, but my buddy told me they have been in a drought all summer and had silly high temperatures.

Also, it's a lot tougher to move away from family when one has rugrats. They provide sanity <and babysitting> to a crazy time.

I'm still gainfully employed so I can't complain there. I'll be glad when the economy turns around and my 401k returns to pre 2009 values.

p.s. Hi Leah. When are you and the guy getting hitched and creating a brood?

[leah]

when indeed!! :P hopefully marriage will happen in a year or two, but i doubt we'll have a brood probably ever. we're not kid people we'll leave that to people who are!

[vonkaar]

Leah... No, I don't think I told anyone (on NT) about the baby. might have hinted a few times, but

We are naming her Vonkaarina Vonkaar Galloway.

Ellen (Azlana) has us all excited about Portland... she's sorta preached the Pros of that area to me for the past 10 years. I haven't heard any cons yet =). We really like the area and plan to go up there, maybe next year. I think I'd really get the 'Seattle Sunshine Blues' since I've had 'change' for most of my life. But then, I might miss the 'seasons' if we moved to San Diego. Though, how could one complain about 72° weather for 300 days a year? Plus, her family is out there so we'd have "some" help with child rearing. Heh, rearing...

[Drem]

portland's all right if you like progressive yuppie towns. the weather's ok but i wouldn't say it's 72 for 300 days. i'd say it's like one thing one day and then the total extreme opposite the next day. every day, on and off. and it rains quite a bit. in the middle of summer, in the middle of a sunny day, whenever. it just rains whenever it wants to

and then in the middle of summer (right now) we get about two or three weeks of hot weather. which is followed immediately by a huge monsoon-ish thunderstorm every week

and with global warming and etc, the sun/rain factor gets weirder every year

those are the only cons i can think of

also i think the people are generally self-absorbed and rude

but it is a pretty cool city. kim and i plan to move there in a couple years

[Zanchief]

Ellen (Azlana) has us all excited about Portland... she's sorta preached the Pros of that area to me for the past 10 years. I haven't heard any cons yet =).

Ask Phil Jackson.

[Lyion]

portland's all right if you like progressive yuppie towns. the weather's ok but i wouldn't say it's 72 for 300 days. i'd say it's like one thing one day and then the total extreme opposite the next day. every day, on and off. and it rains quite a bit. in the middle of summer, in the middle of a sunny day, whenever. it just rains whenever it wants to

He was talking about San Diego, which does have beautiful weather year around. Plus, it's a short hike to Big Bear if you want snow.

The biggest complaints I have about there are the cost of living, education, taxes, and job situation.

also i think the people are generally self-absorbed and rude

but it is a pretty cool city. kim and i plan to move there in a couple years

No such problems in San Diego. People and area are excellent.

Leah, a lot of people in their 20s don't want kids. It'll be interesting if you still feel that way ten years from now. You certainly might, but a lot can change.

[Reynaldo]

Funny about Texas. My wife and I are looking at moving from outside Houston to Orlando in early 2010. The sad thing is that Texas has been one of the few states that has been resilient to the recession.

At least I should be able to find a pretty quality home on the cheap.

[Kaemon]

Grats on the baby Vonk, my little one turned a year this past spring.
It's a life changer.

[vonkaar]

Thanks, Kaemon =). Congrats to you as well.

[ClakarEQ]

It's a life changer.

How do you mean? (j/k :p)

[Dimuza]

Yes, this board needs another thread explaining about the life-changing qualities of child-rearing.

j/k, parents. Cong to vonk & kaemon on the newbies

[Trielelvan]

Happy very belated birthday Lyion and congratulations Kaemon and Vonk. This is a busy year for babies

[Ganzo]

Happy upcoming B-Day Lyion, grats on future girl Vonk

[Savanna]

random visit Happy birthday Lyon and grats to all you baby makers!

Veneficus and I are in Oregon about 40 minutes west of Portland in the wine country. Let me just say this one thing - I can't stand the rain. Seriously I may never get used to it..I hate it with a passion and am miserable in it! I miss Colorado, I miss the sun and even the snow but more so I miss actual season changes! It's kind of hard to get used to rain all year then we get this dabble of sun for a few months! Actually, this summer has been beautiful, now that I think about it, so I'll stop complaining for a little bit. Have this new deck outside, started to get the rest all nicely landscaped and rain will be here before we know it uggg! Lots of people love the area though but once I finish my nursing degree I hope to get us outta here asap since Vene works from home. His company would love to move us to Texas.

[Phlegm]

Fyi, California now has the second highest state tax in the country at 10.5%, only Hawaii is higher. The state as a whole has the highest sale tax rate, highest car registration fee/licensing fee, and many of the state government offices are now close one or two friday a month. All of this is due to the Governator budget cuts/problems.

[Arlos]

A lot of that can be traced to fallout from Prop 13. There are people (like my parents) who either are in their original residence from the 70s or used the ability to swap within the same county, and are paying property taxes based on the 1970s assessed value.

-Arlos