Wife got a job to pay us 30K more in Ohio?

I live in Austin, Texas. The lakes here are awesome and the boarding scene is great. My wife just got a job opportunity in Canton, Ohio for 30K more than we make now. Ohio looks like it sucks for weather and lakes but my wife really wants to take the position (her family lives in Canton). It is so beautiful here in Austin but the opportunity is good also. From what I hear Ohio sucks for boarding. What do we do? Are there any decent lakes in Ohio?

Stay in Austin. $ 30k is not worth leaving a place you enjoy living. Other and perhaps larger opportunities will come along. Good luck in your decision making process though.

I second What Doug Hanson said

Ohio over Texas, uhhhhh no. Nice state, but not texas. At least you can finally pack your piece there now.

If You love Texas you should stay there....I know I wouldn't leave Ca for more money.

30k will not change Your life but the move will.

GOOD LUCK !

Not moving could also change your life.....there is an old syaing if the wife is not happy no one is

Kevin, that is a good point

I would also consider how much the raise would be after tax.

DUDE! Austin is comsistently rated as one of the top places to live in the US every year. I think it was number 1 a couple of years ago. I spent six months in Ohio one weekend (can I get a rim shot?). The economy has been in the toilet here in Texas for the past 3 years but it seems to be coming back to life slowly. Check on the average weather conditions in Feb for Austin TX -vs- Canton OH. Do you have a snow blower?

Dude if you like snow and freezing your arse off for 8 months out of the year, go for it!!! Dude, 30K is not worth it. I live in AZ and I've been to that god-forsaken awful part of the country and you couldn't get me to move for 50K. 50+ and we'll talk.

Texas doesnt have state income taxes right? Maybe the 30K won't be such a difference if you figure out what you would net from it. I am not sure of Ohio's tax rates. But maybe a detail you should research.

Defintely check the income. There is no way i would move to Snowville, USA for any amount of money. The good thing about places with snow is you can visit (snowboard) and then leave (unless you really, really like cold, nasty weather 8 months out of the year).

With that being said if it was $130k more a year, think of all the trips to Costa Rica and Hawaii you could take to melt away the Ohio blues!

Also look at cost of living between the two. Do you have an opportunity to make the same or more as you make here?

I personally couldn't imagine leaving here for Ohio but my wife and I are born and raised Texans.

This is a big life changing decision. Think long and hard before deciding.

Move Sell your boat, buy a snowmobile, a snowboard and keep your tow rope. Basically you have the same sport only extremely cold.
Good luck

It sounds like you're comfortable now.
The family is only a plane ticket away... Dude, stay in Texas.

Move to New Zealand where you can snowboard wakeboard and surf all in the one day
no wait don't stay in the US. I had this problem a few years back where my partner got offered a job in another country. We ended up going because it was good for her career but we originally said 2 years so she could get enough experience then move back home. That said its 3 and a half years later and I'm back home and shes um not!!
no regrets though.
in short money alone probably not worth it
If its good for her career (and it would depend on how good) then it probably is..

Mike,
My wife and I made that mistake (leaving Fl for CO) a few years ago and just corrected it. We loved Florida, but the money offered in CO was better. Long story short, money did not measure up because of taxes and cost of living, long winters and little water drove us back.

We finally has enough and just picked up and left for Florida (with only one of us having a job and our home sold in Denver and a new one being built in Orlando). All I can say is, if you like TX, do not do it. You will hate OH in the long run if it does not live up to your way of life in TX,, not knocking OH.

Just my .02,
RST

and their liquor laws, minimum 100% markup o wineand no direct shipment

Listen man, forget the North!

Take it from a guy who lives in Canada, with weather just as bas as Ohio (or worse?). Here's what a typical week-end day at the cottage looks like here in the summer:

7:00 Wake up. Look at the lake hopes to break a miror. Lake is choppy as hell.

7:00 to 11:00 waste four hours staring at the sky hoping that the rain and heavy winds will stop.

11:00 Get fed up of the kids running aroud the house and beating up each other because they have nothing better to do since the waether sucks outside. Also get fed up of hearing wife nag about my doing nothing but stare at the clouds.

11:15 So we head out to the #%@$?! mall for some early back to school shopping (for lack of a better excuse)

12:00 Kids get hungry. Eat out at the mall. There goes 50 bucks!

1:00 to 4:00 Suffer through 3 hours of shopping with wife and two daughers. I'm also 500$ poorer than I was at the begining of the day

4:30. Sky clears. We head back to the cottage. I'm hoping for a ride or two, but instead we are geeted by thundestorms.

6:00 Again we run out of things to do because the weather sucks so badly. So we go waste more money either at movies, or restaurants or whatever.

So you end up paying a lot of that extra dough you earn on things that you wouldn't normally need in a warm area. Want some examples? take a look at these:

-Winter clothes (very ec$$pensive to have different wardrobes for each season, especially if you have daughters)

-skis, snowboards, skates

-winter tires (nevermind, you probably don't even know that such things exist),

-you'll need to change your car more often because of the effect of the extra wear and tear and rusting that automobiles endure here

-heating your home (over here, an average of 200$ per month for about 9 months per year)

-as I alluded to, you spend a lot more money here just to fight boredom. You shop more, go out to bring places like theater and museams because you just need to go somewhere- anywhere when the weather is so bad for so many days

- Trips to the carribean or some other warm location during winter

- special diets. Sitting around waiting for skies to clear can make you fat

- internet bills - we percieve getting the best high-speed internet connection as a good investment. Face it, I think i've spend a lot more time on wakeboard discussion boards, than on an actual wakeboard.

And I could go on for long... Face it man, you would be nuts to move to a cold place for 30K. You would definitely be out a lot of money once you count the extra expenses...

Santa

I live in Ohio and it was a total of 5 months from riding in the fall to riding this spring. But that's riding with dry suits and freezing water temps. Stay in Texas!!!!!

Man, people hate the north. I've been to Texas, Austin in particular and just don't see the glamour that all the Texans see. To tell you the truth, Dallas seems like KC with worse traffic. Austin wasn't even that special. We were down there for the Collegiate Nationals and really didn't see much other the I-35, The Austin Aquaplex, and Sixth Street, but still. And Auto, your liquor laws suck as well. Must have a TX ID to buy alcohol???

This is kind of an interesting scenario now though, as today I found out that my company is looking into making Dallas their next big hub and I could really move up quick if I moved there from what it looks like now, so I guess I'll have to start pondering the move to the great state of TX in the next 3 years..

What do you guys mean? Texas is moving north, for Mexicans!!!!

wrong on the texas id thing, find it in the TABC regs please. And texas is a direct ship state. Kansas, no conceal carry, of course you don't need to speak spanish

Well, you need to tell about 10 convenience store clerks I have encountered and an Austin area cop, because they all state different. Kansas is in the process of concealed carry, though that is not really a big factor in where I live. Being in the restaurant industry, concealed carry is not always a good thing. Also, the biggest thing I hate about TX is the drivers. We were down there for the Cotton Bowl a couple years ago and Dallas got about a 1/2" of snow, we had to dodge Texans driving about 40 mph. Up in KC, if you have a 1/2" of snow, you don't even notice.

Only thing I really like about Texas is our mutual hatrid of those scumbags north of the Red River.

I live in OH and agree with everyone. STAY IN TX so we don't have yet another set of rollers to contend with!

Really though, cracks me up how fickle people are. Admittedly I've got ideal wakeboarding water within 20 minutes of me. I don't know what the situation is near Canton. I ride from late March clear into November, well over 100 sessions each season. Seems like everyone around here bellyaches about the cold, but I happen to like the seasons and the changes they bring. I grew up in Texas (was born there)and really missed snow.. just not right without snow! That, plus holidays seemed to be missing something. Anyway, it's all a mindset. If you're into riding, you'll make it happen and enjoy it.

I travel all over the U.S for work, and I can tell you, there are beautiful places to live everywhere. Try not to be so narrow minded as to think that there is one great place to live. Every area has advantages and drawbacks. Luckily everyone isn't looking for the same thing, or else some place would be pretty damn crowded.
For example, lots of people seem to like Arizona..... Personally, I wouldn't live there for any amount of money.
I really like living in the north. The summers are beautiful, and if you are far enough north to have a REAL winter, the winters are great too. I downhill ski 4 to 5 days a week from mid November till mid April. Then I wakeboard from May till October. For ME, thats perfect. Only an individual can decide for themselves.

It's awfully presumptuous for anyone to say "Texas is great, Ohio sucks"

Just my opinion, of course.

I use to travel to Cincinnati and the surrounding area.
There are a lot of great places to live, however, Ohio is not one of them.

I'm not saying Ohio is my first choice....

uhhhh, have traveled extensively through the US, spent 8 weeks in Cincannati and four weeks in Columbus doing enviro work for P&G, I feel like I am making a solid recommnedation on the Texas thing. No problem with conceal here in restaurants that serve alcohol, what ya don't see won't hurt ya. On the ID thing it is just not true, bars and convenience stores would go broke on Texoma if they stopped accepting Oklahoma ID's.

Mike

Dont Discount Ohio. I moved here 6 months ago from Colorado. Everyone thought I was crazy for moving, maybe even my wife!! We really love it out here (Cincinnati) Colorado is an exceptional place to live and we were their for more than 20 years but both my wife and I can safely say we love it here. What part of Ohio would you be moving to? I do extensive travel all over Ohio so I might be able to provide some local insight (as well as I have employees in most of the major cities who have lived there for some time, they might know more) I would say don't discount the area, it is very nice. Who knows, it might be a great adventure for you and your family?!

Canton/Akron/Cleveland Area (gulp).

Shane, I believe you that the law is open, but for some reason in Dallas that is the copout. I don't know if it is an easy way to turn down out of state id's to young people that look as if they could be under 21. But I'm telling you my story, that is what happened. It surprised me and I thought if it was a law it was sure a way to keep tourism dollars out of Texas. You can have your concealed carry in restaurants, personally I don't want to have a confrontation with a drunk customer that is carrying. That is my thoughts on the matter, might have to change them if I end up in DFW. I agree with Jamie that there are great places everywhere. Most people wouldn't want to live in Kansas, but I enjoy it. I'm an 8 hour drive from skiing in the Rockies, have beautiful lakes in Missouri, have very nice lakes within an hour that are not crowded, don't have to deal with excessive traffic, and live in a very comfortable county with one of the nation's best economies.

hang out in Kansas a little bit during hunting season, great place, nice people. Lot of birds few people. Don't want to change you minde on the CHL thing, I think you might be suprised in 01 these are the conviction rates http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/administration/crime_records/chl/convrates.htm Only a possible of 47 incidents as you possibly describe, out of 240,000 permits, not bad. NOt a big deal here, everyone just accepts it. Have a great 4th, you get down here and need a ride let me know. We have a great wakeboard community, www.dallaswakeboarding.com

Shane (Auto)
What exactly did you do for P&G? I am a buyer for P&G out of Anaheim, CA.

As for this topic, I get to travel to Cincinnati Ohio every year for a training class. I personally would not really like to live there.

Maybe I just like California to much, I dunno.

Also some was saying to go to Ohio and buy a snowboard, but I think Ohio is really, really flat, no mountains at all.

that's a real interesting story. i don't think i could move to ohio i would probably stay in texas if i lived there. i like new jersey though because i get the best of both - skiing in the winter & Wakeboarding in the summer.

I live in IL and grew up in IN. I hate winter and would move to Austin in a second. 30K is awful hard to turn down though. Of course you need to factor in cost of living, career advancement, lake location, etc.. Money is the reason I still live in the midwest. The only good thing about the winter is that it allows me to heal. I think I could get by with only 2 months recovery time though, as opposed to 6-7. I don't know all the details, but it would have to be one ONE HECK OF A DEAL to get me to move from TX to OH.

The last time I was in TX was for the Alamo Bowl.
BOILERMAKERS 37 - KANSAS STATE 34. What a game!

Man I left Austin a year and a half ago and I have regretted it ever since. I make more money now and the cost of living is less but I miss the lakes and the fun. AND I ONLY MOVED 1 1/2 HOURS AWAY> DON'T LEAVE TEXAS.

I moved from Ohio to Florida 2.5 years ago. I dont even care to visit.

Shane, I am not really against concealed carry. I grew up in a small town of 3500 on the plains, everyone hunted, etc., so guns really don't bother me. I guess if a gun is in the wrong hands it doesn't matter if their is a concealed carry law or not, they will be carrying.

The nice thing right now is I can drive about an hour to my parents house and ride or ski on a 500 acre public lake with no traffic. I would kind of miss that in TX. I will definately hook up with you if I do get down there.

Sam, I'd like to see the score if the Boilers and K-State hooked up these days. That was one of the worst games I have seen K-State play since the '92 Kansas game when we were slammed 41-7. It ranks up with some of the 2002 season games during the 6-7 campaign. We totally self destructed after A&M in the Big XII game in '98. Nothing against Drew Brees and a quality Boiler squad, but you guys just wouldn't have matched up with a primed '98 Cat team, but I guess you have scoreboard!

Anyway, back to the Ohio thread, sorry for the highjack.

I was ohio born and bred for about 22 years. But I have kind of done the opposite of you. I have moved south to NC. To count out Ohio I personally think would be a mistake. The winters aren't nearly as bad as all the southerns think. And certainly not as long as most people on this thread have made it sound. Does it get cold, of course but does here in NC also. Will it snow, yes of course but there are a few ski hills (not I didn't say mtn.) and I think one is rather close to Canton. Granted the summers are longer and hotter where you are but for myself I like some seasonal change. Just don't have a whole lot of that here in NC. Some but not like Ohio. We wakeboarded quite a few months out of the year. Other part we snow skied so ***-for-tat I suppose. Cost of living is super cheap compared to most places and insurance is much cheaper then where I am at now. Faster pace of living too! Not knockin' some southerns but geeesh, get outta the way already "yall"!!!!

Bill

I know this isnt a good way to make friends; however, get out of texas!
way too conservative, im slightly confused as to how it is considered part of the united states. this isnt ment to offend texans, i bet the christian right would be happy to get their own country; as would the west coast, east, etc.(too much diversity = lack of "real" representation)...
dont expect gold as far as snowboarding is conserned. it at best is adequate practice for real riding (with the exception of icey terrain parks... it takes a different kind of man to tackle inverts in thoes).
honestly, between texas and ohio i might choose purgatory...

I'm from Ohio, (Indiana side of the border actually) and we've been riding since early May and expect to go until late September or October. Also, there are lots of great places to Ski/Snowboard within a couple of hours of Canton. You'll be close to Rivers and lake and a few of them private if you have the inclination. Warm is nice, but there is something to be said for have a little diversity in your activities.

Eric

I don't know about the rest of ya'll but I have no clue what Ben just wrote. Someone pleaze explain it to me.
Thanx

haha yeah what the ••••••• that? what kind of drugs are you on Ben?

I'm from the Akron area. Texas is better for wakeboarding...period.

(Random) Facts:
- the cost of living in Canton has to be one of the lowest in the country
- there have been major bouts of layoffs in NE Ohio in the last few months. Canton is a depressed City and looks/feels that way. You can get a lot of home for your money though. A mansion lakefront for $350K.
- Canton is a very small town, not much to do. Akron, and of course Cleveland are much better. Many who live in Akron commute to Cleveland and Canton.
- you can be in the water without a wetsuit from the end of May to mid-September.
- There are at least 7 public lakes within an hour of Canton. Summer weekends are very busy from 11:00 to 5:00. Can usually find clean water otherwise.
- Take up snowboarding or skiing and you'll start loving the snow and pray for blizzards. That season is end of December through mid March.

I have non-boating friends that have moved from Columbus and Boston to Austin and love it.

Yeah, I am from a town on Lake Michigan in Indiana about an hour from Chicago. People who don't know Central Texas or much about Texas period just don't get it. They have no idea how beautiful Austin and the surrounding areas are. I live in Austin and there are at least three lakes within a 30 minute drive. Plus all of the parks and such in the area and in a normal summer it hardly rains. I can think of plenty of places I would Like to visit but none other than Austin that I 'd like to live in. Don't leave!!