antique stuff

Not according to Jim.

The difference in property tax : +$3100 The difference in car registration : $400 Getting out of the commie North East: Priceless

I'm working on it.

....unless you've been in the house for ten years. Then the other poor bastard will be paying your taxes.

You don't read too well?

Jim said (you even quoted it above):

"We've been Californicated here... "

Sam's is drinkable surely, but I wonder if it can still be called a "micro-brew"? Didn't Miller buy out Widmer's some 25 years back? Miller is worse than Budweiser. Miller screwed me out of much (for me) money when I was in college. I've been paying them back ever since.

The Walmarts in most of the country are exactly the opposite. They tend to concentrate in the small cities, and the super-stores are *everywhere*. OTOH, we do our (un)fair share of making things miserable for all retailers. The first WalMart in the state opened in '95. ...not that I much care. Ammo isn't too much more expensive across the street at Dave's.

Hello Luhan,

Yep, such are the tangible benefits of living in a free country like the US.

I would be pretty content with a simple life. After all, we already barbeque most of our dinners and the kitchen remains idle a lot. It's not that easy though if you do analog stuff. The gear alone weighs tons, plus we have two full size dogs ;-)

Regards, Joerg

Hello Luhan,

Phoenix is too crowded for my taste. Too much smog even though Jim will always counter that it's only dust. The eastern end of Mesa, maybe. The occasional rattlers I wouldn't mind since we've got them here, too. Same with the heat. But when Jim mentioned what his house cost and the taxes he has to pay (even more than we do...) I think I'll look for another state. Arkansas appears to be more and more promising, at least from a cost point of view.

CA ain't that bad, mostly because of Prop 13 which put a lid on spiraling tax increases. But if Arnold can't get stuff like workers comp under control, and fast, there might not be that much biz left in a few years.

Regards, Joerg

Hello Jim,

If it isn't chilly all the time I don't mind humidity. Mosquitoes are another story. A friend moved from here to De Queen, AR, and he really likes it. He had scoped out the area traveling before making the offer on a house there. To make a point he bought a brand new Camaro and then told us the pittance he pays in license fees (aka taxes) over there. That hurt.

Regards, Joerg

Hello Luhan,

ROFL!

One of the best German restaurants is in San Jose, "Teske's Germania". I went there with a few folks after an Embedsyscon and ordered Schweinehaxen. Fork and knife sticking out, the whole works. They looked at that in disgust but it was delicious. Just the right meal for a day when your cholesterol levels are dangerously low.

Regards, Joerg

Hello Graham,

Ahem. That wasn't nice.

Try Johnsonville "Brats" from Costco. Weird name for a bratwurst but they taste better than many varieties in Germany. More spicy, too. I like them the most when slow cooked on a Weber charcoal grill.

Regards, Joerg

I thought that German restaurants and decent cuisine were mutually incompatible ?

I *do* like the wonderfully named bratwurst though.

Graham

Hello Luhan,

The Pilseners and Hefeweizens sure are. But we have some excellent micro brews out here. Some of the (almost) mainstream brews like Sierra Nevada are top notch. Winfield would vote for Samuel Adams though which is also a wonderful beer. Then there is Widmer's Hefeweizen from Oregon.

Regards, Joerg

Hello Luhan,

Except for a few large cities our Walmarts aren't super centers so they don't carry much in terms of food items.

Regards, Joerg

Or, just borrow somebody's plate for a day, and don't get pulled over. :-)

Cheers! Rich

If you reside in Vermont for three months, you're a legal resident. If you have a vehicle in the state for six months, even if you're a resident of another state, you must register it in Vermont (NY is three months, IIRC).

It does in some states. I hope you have a good lawyer, the state has a lot of 'em. ...including the ones in the black robes.

I saw one guy who had a plate with all top-bottom reversible letters/numbers. He had mounted it upside down. It wouldn't fool anybody who got really close, but I bet it would fool the automated cameras and OCR systems on the toll highway.

I don't see anything in the Highway Traffic Act specifically prohibiting that, only defacing or altering the plate, not keeping it clean, covering it with material to prevent cameras from "accurately photographing it", etc.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

I just knew it, this discussion is getting down to 'taste great' vs 'less filling'!

My youngest got his BS in Mechanical Engineering a year ago. He was the "perpetual student", with near degrees in Chemistry and Business.

What's he doing to make a living? He's selling real estate, and running several internet businesses ;-)

...Jim Thompson

A number of years ago I bought an Indian (Native American) painting in an art shop in Nevada City.

The art shop owner had a PhD in Physics from Berkeley.

He had shredded it up and made an interesting collage from it, right inside the entrance to his shop ;-)

But life is what you make of it... if you go into ANY business BECAUSE it will make you money, you will fail. Choose a vocation that you like to do, and learn the joy of sleeping well.

...Jim Thompson