Tell me about Tampa Bay? What do you know?

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Stewie

My nephew and his girlfriend are renting a place similar to that. He's friends with an Air Force doctor he worked with in Iraq that can't sell his place. They're both in school and pay nearly nothing for rent. The doc lives in Virginia and the Tampa house was a winter "investment."

yep, the housing market is for shit if you already own a house in Florida.

[petegz28]

It's a city in the state of Florida

[Setsuna]

Besides the many young and dumb college chicks there, that's all you need to know.

[BigRedChief]

Some people have been asking about my new place, so if we are not friends on Facebook, here ya go.

Everyone is welcome to visit if you are in the neighborhood. Even Go Chiefs. Just drop me a pm.

The house is pretty average. We are going to update the house. But, you buy a place like this for the backyard and being on the water. It has an 11,000 boat lift but as of right now all we have is a pontoon/party boat. The open water is just around the corner. Many sandbars to park the boat and get out onto the ankle/knee deep water in the Gulf.

[crazycoffey]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Some people have been asking about my new place, so if we are not friends on Facebook, here ya go.

Everyone is welcome to visit if you are in the neighborhood. Even Go Chiefs. Just drop me a pm.

The house is pretty average. We are going to update the house. But, you buy a place like this for the backyard and being on the water. It has an 11,000 boat lift but as of right now all we have is a pontoon/party boat. The open water is just around the corner. Many sandbars to park the boat and get out onto the ankle/knee deep water in the Gulf.

You look successful, I must say bad things about you now....

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by crazycoffey

You look successful, I must say bad things about you now....

hes a Dem. they dont have jobs. must be a squatter /DC idiots

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by crazycoffey

You look successful, I must say bad things about you now....

Mortgage payment is only $400.00 a month more than I was paying in KC. And that increase is because of flood/huricance insurance. It's the market down here not my paycheck that allowed me to upgrade my digs.

[COchief]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Mortgage payment is only $400.00 a month more than I was paying in KC. And that increase is because of flood/huricance insurance. It's the market down here not my paycheck that allowed me to upgrade my digs.

BRC, you do something military/consulting related correct? I do SAP finance/consulting/training I believe AAFES or whatever in DC is converting to SAP. I could get security clearance but have all civilian experience. Would there be opportunities for someone like me? Or is this completely out of your realm?

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by COchief

BRC, you do something military/consulting related correct? I do SAP finance/consulting/training I believe AAFES or whatever in DC is converting to SAP. I could get security clearance but have all civilian experience. Would there be opportunities for someone like me? Or is this completely out of your realm?

I no longer work at CENTCOM.

You just can't get a security clearance. You have to be sponsored by a company and they have to pay the $2500-3500 cost. But, the hard part is getting a the military to accept you with an "intermin" clearance. That authorization will have to go all the way to the top. And it will only be approved if they can't find anyone with qualified with a clearance.

I did the hiring for all the tech positions at CENTCOM. There were many times we loved a guy and tried to get him accepted as an intermin but we could never get it done.

Maybe SAP is hard to find and you might be able to find someone to sponsor you. My advise is to find a recruiter and have him find a place that has been searching for someone with SAP experience and had no luck.

They will do some first sweep through your life. Approx two weeks later they will deliver the results to the "decider" and give you the thumbs up or down on the "intermin" clearance. If they sign off, it's a "real" clearance as far as work goes. You can do whatever your job entails. There will be no limitations. It takes about 18 months to get the clearance finalized.

[Al Bundy]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Some people have been asking about my new place, so if we are not friends on Facebook, here ya go.

Everyone is welcome to visit if you are in the neighborhood. Even Go Chiefs. Just drop me a pm.

The house is pretty average. We are going to update the house. But, you buy a place like this for the backyard and being on the water. It has an 11,000 boat lift but as of right now all we have is a pontoon/party boat. The open water is just around the corner. Many sandbars to park the boat and get out onto the ankle/knee deep water in the Gulf.

Looks great man. What part of Tampa are you in?

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Al Bundy

Looks great man. What part of Tampa are you in?

St. Petersburg.

[COchief]

I posted the below for Cosmicpal back in 2009, some of it is Denver-Tampa specific, but there is a ton a useful information (women/ culture/traffic wise) especially if you're a 25-40 single person. Also BRC, nice work man, you are doing FL right brother.

If you post age, interests, single/married, kids etc we can help you out a lot more...


I have some hopefully useful info as someone who moved from Den to Tampa and back.

- Best places to live IMO are Hyde Park, Channelside, downtown St Pete, or of course close to the ocean. Rentals are unbelievable cheap due the real estate clusterF. You can find a great deal, take your time and do not compare to Denver. You can rent a nice house for what a decent apartment goes for in Denver.

- Do not live Downtown for any reason, Tampa is very bizarre because the downtown business area turns into a ghost town at 5:15. Nothing, and I mean nothing happens there except work. It was very strange to me but that is just how it is.

-Ybor can be fun, but it is a really young area (they allow 18+ at almost all clubs) and most importantly VERY DANGEROUS. Tampa is a real big city, Denver is a pussy city as far as crime/thugs. Do not get wasted and screw around in Ybor, if you stumble down the wrong street, you will get mugged and possibly killed. You can not wander around like you can in Cap hill/Wash Park late at night. If you leave your car overnight it will be broken into, stay on the main street if you go. You will see tons of cops, they are there to keep you alive and not hassle you.

- I would recommend hanging in Hyde Park or Channelside, both are much safer areas and the crowd is 25-40.

- Prepare to get laid easily. As someone who worked hard for ladies in the sausage fest that is CO. The ladies in TPA are soooo easy to deal with, Tampa is the exact opposite of Denver. Girls move to the beach, dudes go to the mountains. There is almost always more girls than guys at any bar/club. You will notice this immediately and it is a great benefit if you're single.

- Change your style. FLA is much more dress up oriented than CO. A beard and a North face vest will not get you laid in TPA.

- Take advantage of the water. Some of the best money I have ever spent was used to kayak through the mangroves. If you look online you can find a route/rental place just west of the Dale Mabry bridge. You can rent a yak for $40 and it is a ton of bang for your buck. Also beaches, bikinis etc.

- Live close to work and travel for entertainment. Traffic can be atrocious, and you do not want to spend 2+ hours a day in your car. Get used to toll roads, they are everywhere and expensive. Tampa is HUGE distance wise compared to Denver, you will probably spend much more time in your car.

- Take a lot of weekend trips. One of the things I do not like about living in CO is there is not a ton of short car trips you can take for a weekend (the mountains excepted but I've grown complacent with those). You can get to Atlanta, Miami, Daytona, even the keys if you leave Fri after work. Go to the keys at least once, but I wouldn't stay for more than 3-4 days as they are pretty small and I personally tired of them quickly.

- CO is a state where people make their hobbies their entire persona (sick powder days anyone?). FLA is not cliquey, you do not see the groups of people who only dress and hang out with other punk, snowboarders etc. The people tend to dress and appear more "normal" and let their personalities and thoughts define them instead of adopting a hobby and revolving all dress, lingo, and social lives around it (I hate this about CO).

Have fun, I loved living in Tampa and if I could go back in time I probably would not have moved back to CO, but now own a business here and am stuck for a while.

Oh and regardless of your tastes, go to one of the huge country dance places like Dallas Bull for a night, it is an experience. And of course go to Mons Venus, its world famous for a reason.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by COchief

I posted the below for Cosmicpal back in 2009, some of it is Denver-Tampa specific, but there is a ton a useful information (women/ culture/traffic wise) especially if you're a 25-40 single person. Also BRC, nice work man, you are doing FL right brother.

Thanks, the mortagage is $60 cheaper than my house in Lees Summit. But I do have higher taxes and need flood/hurricane insurance. Still only $200 a month more than when I was in Lees Summit. Houses are still damn cheap down here.

Originally Posted by COchief

- Best places to live IMO are Hyde Park, Channelside, downtown St Pete, or of course close to the ocean. Rentals are unbelievable cheap due the real estate clusterF. You can find a great deal, take your time and do not compare to Denver. You can rent a nice house for what a decent apartment goes for in Denver.
- I would recommend hanging in Hyde Park or Channelside, both are much safer areas and the crowd is 25-40.

Have fun, I loved living in Tampa and if I could go back in time I probably would not have moved back to CO, but now own a business here and am stuck for a while.

Channelside is a disaster area now. Many of the businesses are closed. Yabor is still open but the "cool" place to drink, be seen, pick up the ladies is downtown St. Pete these days. It's a happening place on late nights.

[Bowser]

Now that's a kick ass pool. Hopefully you have as many parties/bbq's as humanly possible back there.

[BlackHelicopters]

Buy some drugs from Gooden in Hillsborough County