So if I were to leave kansas...

[lordofduct]

Yeah I'm motivated every day to drive over small children as they cross the street.


Nah...

I don't know where Flak Beard is here in Florida. But I will say here in South Florida (WPB to Miami) is kinda crap right now economically, and kinda crap culturally.

But up by Tampa/St. Pete is beautiful and I hear from my friends up there jobs aren't that hard to find. My buddy Jon Jon moved that and got an IT job real fast, and I wouldn't really call him the best IT fellow.



But yeah, my own personal opinion about it all. Anywhere out of the midwest would be good for you. Move to the coast, from my conversations with you you kinda need something completely new. Just avoid LA like the plague! (sorry Nathan)

[nikon_62]

I know a few people in Michigan who have bailed out and gone to Texas. The employment is a lot easier to find than here.

[racketboy]

I've lived in three completely different parts of the country.
I've come to the conclusion that no place is perfect.
Besides, anywhere that is especially "nice" is over-run with people.

[corn619]

I would try Texas. Its cheap to live there, from what I here from my friend who lives there the job market isn't that bad. At least when compared to the rest of country. The great weather is a plus. I'm looking at 2+ feet of snow and the highest unemployment rate in the country in RI. I'm very lucky to have a very well paying, secure union job. Its a bad time to move Moz to be honest. Its best not rush it, but if you see a good opportunity take it, you might not get another chance.

[racketboy]

It gets freakin hot during the summer in Texas though....

[IcKy99]

i live on the border of LA county and san bernadino county, i cant complain, diverse people, geeks are a plenty, good weather, lots of gaming stores id say the only downside is that living is kinda expensive, a decent apartment will cost you about 900 a month for a single room, and most of the jobs are retail.

[MrPopo]

Speaking from strictly a culture standpoint I've found Seattle to be fantastic for geeks. We've got Amazon, Microsoft, NoA, Wizards of the Coast, Valve, and a Google division all out here (among others), which leads to a high concentration of geekdom. Not to mention PAX is held here. However, it is an expensive place to live (especially in the city itself) and many of the best jobs require college degrees.

[Flashman85]

Man...none of this sounds all that good. But somehow you guys get by. You get motivation through some means. I don't get it.

I've only recently discovered some fellow geeks in my area who I went to school with and had no idea they were still around, but I still managed to keep some kind of motivation before that by doing anything social. I only joined Facebook because I was feeling particularly lonely and unmotivated one morning, and it's amazing how much that bombardment of human communication perked me up.

Community choir, volunteer work, taking a road trip to visit old friends, joining up with some low-key religious group, taking swing dance lessons, starting up a blog with a friend... I've found that anything that gets me out of the house or out of the office, even if it's stupid or a one-time-only deal, helps to keep life fresh.

I also like to have at least one side project going at any time--working on my vaporware homebrew Super Mario World; watching old, classic movies I've never seen; writing reviews for GameFAQs; etc.--because having a lousy job as the one thing that ties your weeks together is not a good way to go.

[Harvey]

I live in central North Carolina, about an hour west of the research triangle (Durham, Raleigh, Chapel Hill). There are plenty of geeks in the research triangle, probably due to it being so close to so many colleges and universities. I know because they have lots of hobby stores and game stores. I was just in a comic shop on Saturday at a Heroscape board game tournament featuring 19 Heroscapers from around the area.

Cost of living is pretty low in NC (my wife and I make about $35,000 between us and do ok), and people tend to be really friendly here. Cost of living would be a little higher in Durham or Chapel Hill, but if you lived in one of the many medium sized towns around the area, cost of living goes down. In general, we are basketball crazy here, but there are plenty of people I know who don't care too much about it if sports aren't your thing. I love living in NC, and don't really have a desire to live anywhere else.

EDIT: Also, weather is good here. It gets pretty muggy in July and August, but we have excellent springs and falls, and the winters are usually mild (discounting the large amount of snow we've just received last night). In addition, from the research triangle area, the mountains are about 3.5 hours west, and the beach is 3 hours east if either of those settings are up your alley.

[V3rtigo]

instead of asking for people's opinions, go find some data to back it up. for example, where i live, only 23% of people have a college degree. that bodes well for people without a degree. also look at cost of living. houses here are way cheaper than the other 3 states i've lived in. the big decision really though is, are you an urban or a rural person? i lived in a smaller city (400,000 people) and hated it.