re: The OT view on California

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Lol, I've lived in Connecticut, New York, and Cali

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Lol, you've lived in the anti-gun trifecta.

Cali should float the frick away from America. San Diego is nice though

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For example, if you're not making at least 170K, you don't even entertain the thought of moving to the bay area or L.A.

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Or you just prepare for the fact that your 2,500 square foot house on 1/2 acre will instead be a 1,000 square foot bungalow or condo.

We also have gay marriage, no affirmative action for public universities (which I hate), Prop 13, and we let people solicit political stuff in front of grocery stores.

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A top 25% HS student in most southern states would struggle to be average in decent California schools.

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Do you have any link to support this? I was quite surprised by how poorly California public schools fared in the rankings when I lived there. They were routinely ranked in the 30s out of the 50 states. Perhaps because Cali has such fantastic universities, the people there assume the high schools must be great too?

LINK

LINK

Yeah on average our high schools are poor and mostly NAM. But if you look at schools that are mostly white and Asian, they are extremely competitive.

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California is a beautiful place. It is so incredibly diverse with oceans, redwoods, deserts, mountains, huge cities, small farm communities, wineries, remote rural hamlets, urban tech hubs, ghettos, palaces, ect. It has the best weather in the world. Unfortunately, California has three things that are huge strikes against it: 1. It's government. The California government is a shite show of corruption, beaurocracy, waste, and burdensome red tape (in Louisiana we only have 3/4! ). 2. Cost of living. It's incredibly expensive to afford the kind of life that would allow me to enjoy all of the great activities available in that state. For the amount of money to buy a crack den in San Diego (one of the best cities in the world), I could have a palatial estate on the Diversion Canal complete with a boat house, sailboat yacht, and a hunting camp in Mississippi. The amount of money it takes to "not be poor" in California allows me to live like a King in Louisiana. 3. The people. Many are nice, but most aren't polite. People don't smile at each other, they don't go out of their way to help strangers, they aren't humble. Most of them come across as self-absorbed, pretentious, obnoxious, racist, fake, a-holes. Don't worry Californians, you're not alone in that stigma, at least. I have found the same to be true for people from New Jersey, Atlanta, New York City, and Ohio.

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I had CA (entire state) as part of my territory for my old job and was out there a good bit. This is pretty much spot on.

Nice climate, great activities, mediocre people, and crazy regulations.

Buy something at macys in union square and get the items put in a plastic bag. You'll pay a $0.10 SF bag tax per bag. WTF?

Yat27: This post isn't directed specifically at you...

I've just read the last few pages, since the anchor was removed. Lots of interesting viewpoints in here, some accurate, some not quite as much. At least in my opinion.

The urban areas of CA are very crowded and traffic can be an absolute nightmare. There's no doubt about that. State income taxes are among the highest (if not the highest) in the nation and vehicle registration cost is ridiculous. Employees at businesses like grocery store cashiers, drive up window people, gas station attendants, etc who couldn't clearly speak and/or understand (my) English made me absolutely crazy. But if it's such an awful place, why do so many people live there?

There are close to 39 million people in CA, our most populous state. There are only 26 million in TX (#2 in population). With no state income tax, lax gun laws and a friendly business climate, why aren't Californians flocking to TX? Based on my last drive through west TX, there's certainly space available.

Despite all of CA's onerous taxes and business regulations, it has the highest GSP in the nation - about 50% higher than TX (again, #2). It may be a pain in the arse to do business in CA, but more business is happening there than any other state in the nation. And entrepreneurs aren't running their businesses there to break-even or lose money, it's profitable.

Housing expense can be a bitch, but it typically is is desirable locations in, or out of, CA. You want a (relative) bargain on a house in CA? Move to fricking Stockton. And guess what? It'll be hot in the summer, but you'll be an hour closer to Yosemite and Tahoe.

I've found the people in San Francisco and the Bay Area to be very friendly, in general. Much more so than the people in Los Angeles. People in both areas are quite a bit different than folks in LA, but I expected that going in.

California is like a beautiful woman - probably a little crazy and definitely more expensive, but usually pleasant to be around and great to look at.

Why do people on this board love San Diego and San Francisco so much? But hate Los Angeles so much....

If you're shopping at Union Square, are you really worried about a dime? How much was your room at the St. Francis? How much did lunch cost? A beer?