Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Audio that has gone wrong somewhere....

My god Craig, that's horrible. Not to brag but you could buy a large 2 bedroom house in my area for $125,000. And that's Canadian, so $95,000. Better go buy a warm jacket!

So you're telling me that if I moved to Canada, I'd be able to buy a home, I'd have more disposable income, I'd have real seasons, and I wouldn't have to deal with either Schwarzenegger or Bush?! Why the hell aren't my bags packed yet?

oh, but don't forget, our dictator takes about 30% off our pay cheque. That's a little more than our southerly neighbours.

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Oh by the way Sushi the wooden speaker thing actually has been used for a while in a matter of wooden horn tweets in Zingali speakers.

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Well, that doesn't really qualify, does it? -- unless they use wood in the horn driver diaphragm, which I don't think they do. Horns themselves don't make sound (ideally they should not vibrate at all).

After State and Federal taxes, Medicare and Social Security 34.5% of my paycheck is gone.

How much of a market is there in Canada for a digital film recorder?

Here in WI a 30-40 yr old starter home runs about $80-120K. A new, 1800-2000sf 3br 2 bath home with a 2 car garage on a 90X120' lot will run $140-175k. I bought my old 1700sf farmhouse on 1.5 acres (200' X 360') lot IN TOWN with a 32'X96' shed, a 2 car garage, and a seperate 18'X18' greenhouse for $46,000. I spent about $40,000 so far, and am building an addition right now (for the new HT!). I live in one of the best places in the country! And better yet...my car insurance for 2 late model cars, a pickup truck, and a boat, motor, and trailer are a combined total of about $1,100/year! My homeowners insurance runs about $350/yr and we can go to a great restaurant (MUCH better food and bigger portions than what you find in other parts of the country) for under $30 for my wife and me! Traffic is light and people are friendly. Yet, for some reason, most of the people I went to school with had to move to NY or CA or FL to get away from icy hickville. Amazing how many have come back after 10 years or so away.

OK, done bragging now...

By the way, I am a bricklayer, not a doctor or an executive, and my wife is a 2 day a week secretary just to get out of the house, we are not rich. I can't understand how my brother, sister, and friends can live in those expensive areas.

The trick is finding one of these areas where it is less expensive to live where they have jobs available for a lab tech and a computer consultant. Sigh...

I don't know...I live about 20 minutes north of the Fox cities, and about 40 minutes west of Green Bay. Within a 1 hr drive There are 2 cancer centers, at least a dozen major hospitals, a mayo clinic, and countless walk-in care centers. There are many huge corporations (mainly paper mills) such as Fort Howard, Proctor and Gamble, Kimberly Clark, and lesser mills, along with (in my home town) Hillshire Farm (meat products), large manufacturers, etc. We are not an overly populated area, but there are many jobs, and a great need for service and technical sector jobs. The paper industry is laying off workers (sadly), but the economy here is still much stronger than in other parts of the country, and my electric bill runs about $50/month, not a few hundred.

Not ranting or bragging, but I have strong feelings when I see friends and relatives move to metro areas in "better" parts of the country, then watch them struggle. I am willing to bet that although there are wealthier people in other areas, the average person in the upper midwest lives better than the average person in other parts of the country. People making $100,000+ in CA probably live much poorer than we do making $40k, and you can trust most strangers around here.

Sounds good to me. Now to talk Jen (my wife) into it...

I'll never get Roger out of SoCal. I'd be willing to move, but I don't think he'll ever leave.