OT: A look at the future from 1954

[odinn7]

Sounds fantastic, like something I want to do. Best of luck to you.

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

Andy,
 You are doing something I have given much thought to as well.  I'm very very jealous.

 I'm getting tired of my sprawl-ridden town and would like to move to somewhere slower, quieter, and with much fewer Starbucks (and other chain stores/restaurants).  There are parts of Oregon that would work for me, but those are becoming discovered by expatriot Californians and some retirees who sold their houses and are now running up the prices here (daveblackeye15,who lives in Eugene, will get what I mean).  
So let me know, can you folks use a pretty talented biologist/teacher (me), and a hugely talented data analyst (my wife).  Maybe the Great White North could be the answer to our question.

Sorry, sprawl and chainification are a huge thing on my mind these days.  I surrender the soapbox.

-Ed

[AndyC]

Yeah, there are a lot of things I'm looking forward to escaping. Lately, the crime, the drugs, the traffic, and the pollution in the large urban centres of Ontario seem to be getting worse. The city influence extends out to a lot of places that used to be nice little towns. And there are the new housing developments full of people packed side by side who have no interest in each other or the community. People with so many things to do, they often end up doing nothing. And with all the fast food and convenience stores, we shop poorly, eat poorly and spend too much.

Now that we have a daughter, we decided the time is right to make a change. My wife and I both grew up in small towns, so she's happy to be leaving her big inner-city church, and I'm glad to leave the stress of a busy newsroom in a competitive market.

The only thing that might be hard to take is that where I work, I'm kind of a small-town celebrity. People have read my column every week for years, and take what I say seriously. I get on a local TV roundtable show about once a year. Back when I still went to the bar, I could count on getting a good number of beers bought for me by people who wanted to talk politics or air grievances. Before all of this, people knew me because my dad was the police chief in the 70s. It can be unsettling, because complete strangers know who I am, and I've got to struggle to remember if I know them. I can't even give somebody the finger in traffic without worrying about offending a loyal reader. I was kind of glad to move to the neighbouring city at least in part for the anonymity, to go home and leave my work behind. But it was always there to go back to. Two weeks from now, I'll just be the new guy, or the minister's husband. I'm leaving a job that, while stressful, offered a lot in the way of notoriety and influence, albeit on a smaller scale, and I'm a little bit worried about how I'm going to handle that.

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

Maybe your fame will follow... being the writer in residence of an even smaller town has gotta be worth something!  
I think you guys are making a great lifestyle choice.

_Ed

[The Conqueroo]

Yeah,But Can You Go WWWDotClickClickClickNekkidChicksMan??!!