So I'm 80% sure I'm moving..

[WebGem]

to Austin, TX this coming May. I'm moving there with one other buddy I went to college with in Nebraska. Anyone live there or been there? Any other suggestions other than Austin? Only 80% sure, but I did do a lot of research the last couple days. Both myself and the other person are open to move literally anywhere as long as it's a bigger city. The other cities I was highly considering were Portland, Seattle and San Diego. With the field I'm going to be likely working in (Actuarial), I'd probably be better off on the East Coast which is where I originally wanted to move but a lot of what I've heard about it since make me not want to go there. I'm not too concerned with finding a job right away and sure something will work out regardless of where I move, although I do want to decide on somewhere 100% for sure by the end of January to give me more time to get everything ready.

We are planning on visiting Austin sometime later this month to visit the city and look at different neighborhoods. I grew up in SoCal/AZ and went to Nebraska for college and have been here for 5 years and just want to go back to a bigger city ASAP. My friends situation is he's lived in Nebraska his entire life and wants to go somewhere new.

So any pro's/con's to Austin? Any other suggestions? We're both literally open to moving just about anywhere, although somewhere without shit weather would be nice. That is mainly winter, I don't mind the hot summers though, I lived in AZ most my life growing up and the summers really weren't all that bad.

I will help on the con list:

Cons: 12 hr drive to Arrowhead

[CrazyPhuD]

Originally Posted by WVChiefFan

Are you talking about The Salt Lick in Driftwood, TX?

I know people disagree, but it's the best BBQ I've ever had. Oh and Austin is a nice city, but the traffic is a bitch....like every other big city.

Heh really? The salt lick isn't bad and it's pretty good compared to a lot of TX BBQ places but the best? Have you been to KC for good BBQ? My knock on Texas is BBQ is that while you have a bunch of good cooks, they have shit materials to work with. Both the wood and the beef, the killer about TX beef is that it's bread too much for the size of the damn horns and not enough for the quality of the beef.

[Mr. Flopnuts]

I'm not even 80% sure when I have an erection. At least you know what you're doing.

[RJ]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I lived there about 20 years ago and liked it.

Pros:

No winter
Barbecue chicken enchiladas
College towns are always good to live in

Cons:

No seasons
No good barbecue back then other than barbecue chicken enchiladas
Biggest roaches I've ever seen in my life - they scared my cat

I'd be interested in hearing more about the barbecue chicken enchiladas. Does "barbecue" mean smoked chicken or grilled chicken? Was there a barbecue sauce involved? What type of cheese?

I'm intrigued.

[WV]

Originally Posted by CrazyPhuD

Heh really? The salt lick isn't bad and it's pretty good compared to a lot of TX BBQ places but the best? Have you been to KC for good BBQ? My knock on Texas is BBQ is that while you have a bunch of good cooks, they have shit materials to work with. Both the wood and the beef, the killer about TX beef is that it's bread too much for the size of the damn horns and not enough for the quality of the beef.

To be fair I'm not a huge BBQ fan and no I haven't been to KC, but compared to Memphis and Carolina style it's hands down better to me. I really liked the habanero sauce too, which I'm not sure is even still available.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by WVChiefFan

To be fair I'm not a huge BBQ fan

[Earthling]

Intense city. Best of times and worst of times I've ever had was when I was living in Austin. Mostly though, all my memories from there are good ones.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by RJ

I'd be interested in hearing more about the barbecue chicken enchiladas. Does "barbecue" mean smoked chicken or grilled chicken? Was there a barbecue sauce involved? What type of cheese?

I'm intrigued.

Honestly, I'm not sure. I suspect that it was baked or grilled, and then had a bunch of barbecue sauce on it. This far our I can't remember if it was chunks of chicken or shredded chicken, but I think it was chunks. And beyond the chicken it was your run of the mill enchilada with cheese and a tortilla and stuff. It was really quite good.

[WebGem]

I've been to KC probably 70-80 times and I've never once had any sort of KC BBQ anything.

[Art Vader]

Austin is great.

[Kidd Lex]

Originally Posted by kcfanintitanhell

Great city, wonderful music scene, progressive culture, horrendous traffic.

* 1 million

[blaise]

Just out of curiosity, what is it you've heard about the East Coast that makes you think it's so bad? Just the regular rude people kind of stuff, or something else?

[WebGem]

Originally Posted by blaise

Just out of curiosity, what is it you've heard about the East Coast that makes you think it's so bad? Just the regular rude people kind of stuff, or something else?

No. I used to want to move to NYC more than anywhere else. And really, really wanted to move to the East Coast. I was open to moving pretty much anywhere though. My girlfriend at the time didn't want to move there, and she only wanted to move to one of two places. Neither place bothered me at all so I just said okay. The plan was to move after grad school. Those plans changed like a week ago and now I'm moving somewhere with a friend of mine from college but when I brought up NYC to him he said it was way too expensive and that's fine with me so never talked about NYC again. I would much rather move somewhere else (that I'll like anyways) with a friend than move to NYC by myself.

This past week is the first time I've ever really looked up information on all these various parts of the country. I've looked at Portland, Seattle, SF, SD, Texas, and a couple east coast cities in Boston and DC. It was mainly the fact that when I looked up random lists of 'best cities to live in' the east coast ones didn't nearly as much as I thought they would. I literally probably looked at a hundred lists though, it wasn't like 4 or 5. The last 3 cities we were looking at were Austin, Portland and SD. I'm gonna look a little into Charleston, SC because a good friend of mine suggested it to me today but after talking to him I don't think it's going to beat out Austin.

So I guess I was just jumping to assumptions. If I talk to anyone who lives there I feel they'll be biased towards it, and it's not like I can go visit 10 different cities to check them out. I just saw all these other cities showing up towards the top of lists more often and figured that meant people enjoyed living there more. I'm sure if I did move to NYC, Boston or DC I'd have a blast and love it and same goes for anywhere else I've mentioned. I just want to be back to a big city.

I have visited Boston NYC and DC all before, and have been to all of them in the past 6 months actually. I didn't have a bad time at all, and I love NYC. I just thing after I looked at everything I did Austin seemed like the best choice for me personally, and it wasn't too hard to see it.

[tooge]

So you are going there without a job? How will you pay for food, rent, gas, etc?

[blaise]

Originally Posted by ChiefsFan5840

No. I used to want to move to NYC more than anywhere else. And really, really wanted to move to the East Coast. I was open to moving pretty much anywhere though. My girlfriend at the time didn't want to move there, and she only wanted to move to one of two places. Neither place bothered me at all so I just said okay. The plan was to move after grad school. Those plans changed like a week ago and now I'm moving somewhere with a friend of mine from college but when I brought up NYC to him he said it was way too expensive and that's fine with me so never talked about NYC again. I would much rather move somewhere else (that I'll like anyways) with a friend than move to NYC by myself.

This past week is the first time I've ever really looked up information on all these various parts of the country. I've looked at Portland, Seattle, SF, SD, Texas, and a couple east coast cities in Boston and DC. It was mainly the fact that when I looked up random lists of 'best cities to live in' the east coast ones didn't nearly as much as I thought they would. I literally probably looked at a hundred lists though, it wasn't like 4 or 5. The last 3 cities we were looking at were Austin, Portland and SD. I'm gonna look a little into Charleston, SC because a good friend of mine suggested it to me today but after talking to him I don't think it's going to beat out Austin.

So I guess I was just jumping to assumptions. If I talk to anyone who lives there I feel they'll be biased towards it, and it's not like I can go visit 10 different cities to check them out. I just saw all these other cities showing up towards the top of lists more often and figured that meant people enjoyed living there more. I'm sure if I did move to NYC, Boston or DC I'd have a blast and love it and same goes for anywhere else I've mentioned. I just want to be back to a big city.

I have visited Boston NYC and DC all before, and have been to all of them in the past 6 months actually. I didn't have a bad time at all, and I love NYC. I just thing after I looked at everything I did Austin seemed like the best choice for me personally, and it wasn't too hard to see it.

I've never lived in Portland, Seattle or Austin. I did live in DC though and thought it was a great place to be. Fairfax County VA is pretty Johnson County KS -like, if you like the suburbs. I lived in NW DC near the National Cathedral. It was a bit pricey, but city life generally is. And despite a lot of the negative stuff you hear about DC, that part of town is very safe and nice. There was lots of stuff to do, good economy, good climate, lots of young professionals. You could go to city bars, or go to hiking parks, or go to the ocean. You could also get to Philly, Baltimore or NYC pretty easily.

[Portlantis]

Originally Posted by ChiefsFan5840

No. I used to want to move to NYC more than anywhere else. And really, really wanted to move to the East Coast. I was open to moving pretty much anywhere though. My girlfriend at the time didn't want to move there, and she only wanted to move to one of two places. Neither place bothered me at all so I just said okay. The plan was to move after grad school. Those plans changed like a week ago and now I'm moving somewhere with a friend of mine from college but when I brought up NYC to him he said it was way too expensive and that's fine with me so never talked about NYC again. I would much rather move somewhere else (that I'll like anyways) with a friend than move to NYC by myself.

This past week is the first time I've ever really looked up information on all these various parts of the country. I've looked at Portland, Seattle, SF, SD, Texas, and a couple east coast cities in Boston and DC. It was mainly the fact that when I looked up random lists of 'best cities to live in' the east coast ones didn't nearly as much as I thought they would. I literally probably looked at a hundred lists though, it wasn't like 4 or 5. The last 3 cities we were looking at were Austin, Portland and SD. I'm gonna look a little into Charleston, SC because a good friend of mine suggested it to me today but after talking to him I don't think it's going to beat out Austin.

So I guess I was just jumping to assumptions. If I talk to anyone who lives there I feel they'll be biased towards it, and it's not like I can go visit 10 different cities to check them out. I just saw all these other cities showing up towards the top of lists more often and figured that meant people enjoyed living there more. I'm sure if I did move to NYC, Boston or DC I'd have a blast and love it and same goes for anywhere else I've mentioned. I just want to be back to a big city.

I have visited Boston NYC and DC all before, and have been to all of them in the past 6 months actually. I didn't have a bad time at all, and I love NYC. I just thing after I looked at everything I did Austin seemed like the best choice for me personally, and it wasn't too hard to see it.

Portland's fun. Do not move there unless you already have a job lined up, though.