Random thoughts...

[RonClinton]

Well, looks like a recent purchase of mine is on a bit of a whirlwind trip across America. I bought some items off eBay that were shipped from Georgia and scheduled to arrive yesterday. Now, I thought this was long shot anyways since that it had made it to Phoenix, Arizona on Saturday, but had at least one more stop before hitting my local branch. My thoughts were that it might get delivered on either Tuesday or Wednesday. Well, the USPS decided against that for some reason and has shipped it all back to Memphis, which is about a three hour drive from where it originated. I mean, I guess I'm hoping that my package is enjoying its trip!  Â

I hope it finds its way to you soon.

Speaking of mail, I received today via FedEx an item that I've been after for...well, for as long as I can recall, but certainly with a dedicated focus for at least a decade. It always seemed like I was finding variations of this item after the fact...a day late and a dollar short, so to speak. But at last one is in my hands, though it didn't come particularly cheap...but then gold never is. I've been so wrapped up in real estate stuff (we're selling our current home, buying another out-of-state) today that I haven't even had a chance to open the box yet...I've just been staring at the box for a couple hours. But even that feels satisfying...to know it's in there and it's mine. Once I bask privately in the utter glory of this item for a day or two, I'll post a pic of it here and on X. I'm certain many will not understand or share my excitement as it's not a book per se, but it is, for me, one of the most exciting acquisitions I've secured in a good long time.

[Sock Monkey]

I hope it finds its way to you soon.

Speaking of mail, I received today via FedEx an item that I've been after for...well, for as long as I can recall, but certainly with a dedicated focus for at least a decade. It always seemed like I was finding variations of this item after the fact...a day late and a dollar short, so to speak. But at last one is in my hands, though it didn't come particularly cheap...but then gold never is. I've been so wrapped up in real estate stuff (we're selling our current home, buying another out-of-state) today that I haven't even had a chance to open the box yet...I've just been staring at the box for a couple hours. But even that feels satisfying...to know it's in there and it's mine. Once I bask privately in the utter glory of this item for a day or two, I'll post a pic of it here and on X. I'm certain many will not understand or share my excitement as it's not a book per se, but it is, for me, one of the most exciting acquisitions I've secured in a good long time.

Thanks. It looks like it's in transit once again. We'll see where it winds up next!

Congratulations on whatever this new acquisition is and even though it isn't a book, please post those pics!

As far as buying and selling a home, man, I don't envy you going through that process. My wife and I did that same thing a couple years back and it was just a hassle. Though our move isn't as big as yours as we stayed in-state, but moved about three hours away. We've discussed at length the desire to move out of the state of California, but that'll have to wait a few more years until I've wrapped up my venture back into academia. If you don't mind sharing, what beautiful state are you soon going to be calling home?

[RonClinton]

Thanks. It looks like it's in transit once again. We'll see where it winds up next!

Congratulations on whatever this new acquisition is and even though it isn't a book, please post those pics!

As far as buying and selling a home, man, I don't envy you going through that process. My wife and I did that same thing a couple years back and it was just a hassle. Though our move isn't as big as yours as we stayed in-state, but moved about three hours away. We've discussed at length the desire to move out of the state of California, but that'll have to wait a few more years until I've wrapped up my venture back into academia. If you don't mind sharing, what beautiful state are you soon going to be calling home?

Thanks. We're moving from Washington state to Arizona, in the mountainous, lush desert area of the Sonoran Desert and Tonto National Forest area...getting out of the grey and drizzle to year-round sunshine. The move will be a slog, especially with thousands of books, but it'll be over in a month's time (well, month-and-a-half at this point). We initially focused on your state, sunny-but-more-temperate California, looking at Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Diego, Carlsbad, Monterey, etc., but ultimately decided that CA's high cost of living and sociopolitcal environment just wasn't what we were after.

[Sock Monkey]

Thanks. We're moving from Washington state to Arizona, in the mountainous, lush desert area of the Sonoran Desert and Tonto National Forest area...getting out of the grey and drizzle to year-round sunshine. The move will be a slog, especially with thousands of books, but it'll be over in a month's time (well, month-and-a-half at this point). We initially focused on your state, sunny-but-more-temperate California, looking at Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Diego, Carlsbad, Monterey, etc., but ultimately decided that CA's high cost of living and sociopolitcal environment just wasn't what we were after.

Very nice! I tend to like a little less desert in my locales, but I find Arizona--and New Mexico for that matter--to be very beautiful. California is beautiful, especially here on the central coast. I'm about an hour and a half north of Santa Barbara in quite a bit of a smaller community, but we share the same weather and it's hard to complain. Today's high is a whopping 72 degrees, the beach is literally 1.5 miles from my house, and I never get tired of whale-watching (or sea otter watching for that matter; I don't care what anybody says, there's nothing cuter than a pair of animals that hold hands so that they don't drift away from one another). That being said, both of your issues with California are exactly the reasons why we are looking to move as well. My wife and I were talking about the property taxes are so high that even when we pay off our house, we'll still need to pay close to a $1000 a month for property taxes, which seems kinda bonkers to me.

And I didn't have nearly as many books as you and it was a freaking chore to move! I did go crazy on packing my books to make sure they weren't damaged in transit, but still the friends and family were looking at me sideways with all the boxes they had to help load and unload that were just my collection. Add on to that my movies and comics and I felt like I was just this side of a hoarder.

[RonClinton]

Very nice! I tend to like a little less desert in my locales, but I find Arizona--and New Mexico for that matter--to be very beautiful. California is beautiful, especially here on the central coast. I'm about an hour and a half north of Santa Barbara in quite a bit of a smaller community, but we share the same weather and it's hard to complain. Today's high is a whopping 72 degrees, the beach is literally 1.5 miles from my house, and I never get tired of whale-watching (or sea otter watching for that matter; I don't care what anybody says, there's nothing cuter than a pair of animals that hold hands so that they don't drift away from one another). That being said, both of your issues with California are exactly the reasons why we are looking to move as well. My wife and I were talking about the property taxes are so high that even when we pay off our house, we'll still need to pay close to a $1000 a month for property taxes, which seems kinda bonkers to me.

And I didn't have nearly as many books as you and it was a freaking chore to move! I did go crazy on packing my books to make sure they weren't damaged in transit, but still the friends and family were looking at me sideways with all the boxes they had to help load and unload that were just my collection. Add on to that my movies and comics and I felt like I was just this side of a hoarder.

Yes, it's those issues that caused us to become AZ residents rather than CA...AZ is admittedly a second choice, as there's simply no beating the beauty of the California coast region. AZ is the right choice for us, but it would not have been our first choice if it was an apples-to-apples equation.

[Dave1442397]

Yes, it's those issues that caused us to become AZ residents rather than CA...AZ is admittedly a second choice, as there's simply no beating the beauty of the California coast region. AZ is the right choice for us, but it would not have been our first choice if it was an apples-to-apples equation.

We've been thinking about AZ as well. We have probably six or seven years to go before we move, and I can't wait to get out of NJ. We're going to Sedona on vacation in September, which will be my first visit to AZ apart from stopovers at PHX.

Our property taxes are already more than $1,000 per month, so most other places will seem cheap! One thing I do want to avoid is anything with an HOA. I've read The Association   I also watch Lehto's Law on YouTube, and his HOA horror stories make me want to avoid them if at all possible.

[Sock Monkey]

We've been thinking about AZ as well. We have probably six or seven years to go before we move, and I can't wait to get out of NJ. We're going to Sedona on vacation in September, which will be my first visit to AZ apart from stopovers at PHX.

Our property taxes are already more than $1,000 per month, so most other places will seem cheap! One thing I do want to avoid is anything with an HOA. I've read The Association  I also watch Lehto's Law on YouTube, and his HOA horror stories make me want to avoid them if at all possible.

That is one of the nicer things about living in a place that has a high cost of living, moving to other places is often equitable in cost or cheaper. I am on the anti-HOA train as well. My punk rock anti-authority tendencies from my youth bristle under being told what I can and can't do. Frankly, we're looking about trying to move to some place more rural with some acreage. I grew up in that kind of area and miss it. We could do it here, but the land is so expensive.

[RonClinton]

We've been thinking about AZ as well. We have probably six or seven years to go before we move, and I can't wait to get out of NJ. We're going to Sedona on vacation in September, which will be my first visit to AZ apart from stopovers at PHX.

Our property taxes are already more than $1,000 per month, so most other places will seem cheap! One thing I do want to avoid is anything with an HOA. I've read The Association  I also watch Lehto's Law on YouTube, and his HOA horror stories make me want to avoid them if at all possible.

Yes, our property taxes in WA are over $1000/month as well, or $13K+ a year. As comparison, our property taxes for a similar home in AZ will be in the $4000 range. That's a $9K per year savings. Based on our three visits in the last half-year, gas is less and groceries are around the same, perhaps a bit less. That said, it's not just a financial decision for us...we're looking for somewhere with year-round(ish) sun, sane politics and culture, and, just as importantly, we do love the lush desert area we're moving to...jagged southwestern mountains, rivers, lakes, cacti and immense greenery, etc. Not all AZ looks like this, but this is very typical of the area we're moving to:

tonto.jpg

[Sock Monkey]

That's some beautiful scenery, Ron!

[sholloman81]

As a Phoenician, it's always nice to see AZ get some love!

[Dave1442397]

Yes, our property taxes in WA are over $1000/month as well, or $13K+ a year. As comparison, our property taxes for a similar home in AZ will be in the $4000 range. That's a $9K per year savings. Based on our three visits in the last half-year, gas is less and groceries are around the same, perhaps a bit less. That said, it's not just a financial decision for us...we're looking for somewhere with year-round(ish) sun, sane politics and culture, and, just as importantly, we do love the lush desert area we're moving to...jagged southwestern mountains, rivers, lakes, cacti and immense greenery, etc. Not all AZ looks like this, but this is very typical of the area we're moving to:

tonto.jpg

That's the kind of place I like. We're also still thinking about Reno. The Tahoe area has gotten super expensive, but it's a short ride from Reno. Not as nice as living there, but between property prices and insurance woes, Tahoe is looking out of reach.

Parts of Colorado are still under consideration too.

I want somewhere I can get to trails to ride my bike within minutes. All I do in NJ is road biking, but if I had scenic trails to ride I'd switch to a gravel bike in a heartbeat.

The cheapest option I've seen so far is to leave the country and go to Portugal (for easy access to all of Europe). A couple can have a nice lifestyle there on $3,000/month, which is just a hair more than our mortgage payment here. We might just go there and rent for six months to see if we like it.

[RonClinton]

I want somewhere I can get to trails to ride my bike within minutes. All I do in NJ is road biking, but if I had scenic trails to ride I'd switch to a gravel bike in a heartbeat.

When my wife and I were walking through the Sonoran Desert via one of the many trailheads they have, it seemed like there were just as many bikers -- if not more -- than folks walking/hiking. Very popular down there, and the trails are great.

thisone.jpg

[RonClinton]

As a Phoenician, it's always nice to see AZ get some love!

Well, howdy, future neighbor.