Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: midnight Target on August 05, 2002, 04:50:42 PM
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I have been offered a position (actually a partnership) with another firm. This would be a no-brainer except the other company is in Casper, Wyoming.
Anyone familiar with the Q of L in that area? I know the weather will not be like Southern California, but who's is?
Help?!
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Try this: It may help. (http://www.moving.com/community/)
Or this one: Already set on Casper (http://www.monstermoving.com/Jumpresults.asp?City=1487)
Hope it helps.
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Looks like it's dinky, cheap, prolly not alot of traffic and cooler in the summer.
it also has a winter (could be dangerous)
I dunno where they stand on earthquakes, burning hills, massive fog related traffic accidents and mudslides tho..
you may have to make your own.
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If you need a real urban environment you will be inhappy anywhere in Wyoming. It's sparsely populated and rather rural. It is also VERY cold in the winter!
What do you think is important in your life, outside of work? Look to see if you caould still be involved with those activities there without significant travel. If you can give it serious thought. Another consideration is whether you are looking for a long term commitment or a short term career "enhancement" that will be a stepping stone. Will this move enhance you resume???
Good luck!
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MT, you can't be serious. Not only does the weather suck but the entire state is populated by right wing nut burgers who carry guns. I would feel safer walking around Watts at two AM with money hanging out of my pocket than I would feel in Casper, Wyoming at high noon with an Al Gore bumper sticker on my car. Get real bud. They still settle disputes with pistol duels.
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Its elevation is 6200 feet, higher than Denver. Denver is 90 miles away. Your dollar goes along ways, for roughly $180,000, you could own a new 3000 ft. sq. house with 20 acres. I warn you however, that conservative values might rub off on you after you live there for awhile, since folks actually care about one another in Wyoming. ;)
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Thanks guys, even you Rip. :p
There are a few hippies in Casper Elfie, and lots of sheep!
Actually this is a gut twister. I have a pretty cushy job now, as you can tell from the amount of time I waste here. Business is booming and well, life ain't bad. Plus my adult kids all live in Ca. I know they're adults but I would see them a lot less.
OTOH I have the opportunity to own 33% of a 10 year old company that is turning a profit. The owners would be my friend, his wife and myself. Lots of traveling, pretty good money, the ability to write my own ticket so to speak. I have 1 kid left in school and she is just about to enter High School. I have a notion that life for her might be a little simpler there too.
Still pretty torn on this one.
Any and all opinions are welcome.
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Originally posted by midnight Target
I have 1 kid left in school and she is just about to enter High School. I have a notion that life for her might be a little simpler there too.
I think you just admitted something, think about this statement. ;)
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Originally posted by Ripsnort
I think you just admitted something, think about this statement. ;)
Should I lay down on a couch first?
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Heheh!
Whatever your decision, taking one out of ones comfort zone is always a good thing. As for families, it can be benficial, but depending on friendships, it can be harmful.
Go with your gut feeling, its usually the right decision.
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my gut feels mushy, not much help there.
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Pray about it (I'm runnin away as fast as I can, but it works) :)
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Holy crap dude - I grew up in Wyoming, and my extended families live in Casper.
Listen VERY carefully:
Wyoming is a pretty great place, it has a lot of great mountains, great fishing, and is a great place to raise a family. If I could find a job in Wyoming, I'd move back in a heartbeat. However, DO NOT think of any of these things when you think of Casper. Do not thing of Casper as being a nice place in the mountains.
It is a windy, cold, desolate toejamhole where murderers and rapists are sent for an eternity of torment when they die.
Get him to move the business to Lander, or Jackson, or better yet, Laramie. Then hire me. :)
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sounds like the IT job in Casper that I passed on this week....
IT Director perhaps ?
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No, Engineering firm associated with the RV and Mobile Home industry.
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oh CASPER! (Gasp!) I again failed to read thoroughly...my thoughts were along the lines of Cheyenne.
Sure, move there Midnight :)
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Originally posted by Elfenwolf
MT, you can't be serious. Not only does the weather suck but the entire state is populated by right wing nut burgers who carry guns. I would feel safer walking around Watts at two AM with money hanging out of my pocket than I would feel in Casper, Wyoming at high noon with an Al Gore bumper sticker on my car. Get real bud. They still settle disputes with pistol duels.
Man leave it to elfie to find the only true positives about that area!!! :)
If elfie hates it, it can't be all bad! :D
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LOL See MT? If Maverick and Ripsnort like it then you KNOW the place is full of armed right wing extremists! If Wyoming is so great then how come normal people won't live there???
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Originally posted by Elfenwolf
LOL See MT? If Maverick and Ripsnort like it then you KNOW the place is full of armed right wing extremists! If Wyoming is so great then how come normal people won't live there???
Please note. Normal and elfie are diametrically opposed concepts.
Therefor, if elfie is against it, it likely is normal.
:p
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Hmmmm, look innocent enough from here:
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The owners would be my friend, his wife and myself.
You obviously know these people far better than I, but this popped up a red flag at my end. The power dynamic is a bit skewed.
Also, no offence intended (and no answer required), but what do you bring to the table for that 33%? Again he's your friend and you know the deal but if the business is really doing well why turn over 33% control outside of the family? Sorry if this sounds harsh, but I've encountered a few situations that were literally too good to be true and just managed to miss out on being a financially responsible party to creditors in one by the skin of my teeth. Just playing devil's advocate. Good luck with your decision.
Charon
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Originally posted by midnight Target
Hmmmm, look innocent enough from here:
Go there before you commit... that picture is taken facing Casper Mountain, obviously on a nice, spring day. If you turned around from the location of that photo, you would get a very different view. It is also about 15 shades more BROWN the other 364 days of the year.
About the only worse place in Wyoming is Rawlins, which, if ever mentioned, should immediately spur you to run away as fast as you can.
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Originally posted by Charon
You obviously know these people far better than I, but this popped up a red flag at my end. The power dynamic is a bit skewed.
Also, no offence intended (and no answer required), but what do you bring to the table for that 33%? Again he's your friend and you know the deal but if the business is really doing well why turn over 33% control outside of the family? Sorry if this sounds harsh, but I've encountered a few situations that were literally too good to be true and just managed to miss out on being a financially responsible party to creditors in one by the skin of my teeth. Just playing devil's advocate. Good luck with your decision.
Charon
All good questions sir. One reason is that I can step in and take over about 50% of the duties allowing there to be a billing engineer in the office almost full time. Now he must travel about 2 weeks a month, and when no one is there, no one is making money.
I will get a copy of the books and have my buddy the CPA look them over very carefully. I will also visit Casper before making any decision.
Brown is relative Mr. Kratzer. I appreciate your warning, but I live in Moreno Valley Ca. Moreno is Spanish for Brown and it is a very good description. MoVal also has more gangs than south central, although the gang thing seems to be dieing down in Ca. I would bet a months salary that we have a much higher crime rate than Casper.
Additionaly the business is not tied to Casper in any way. We have already discussed moving it to Boise in the near future, but we would probably be in Casper for a few years at least.
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How was Casper selected then?
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MT, I've spent a little time in Caspar. Considered moving there when it was possible to commute to SLC on Skywest .
It's a bit "small town" for a "city". That may bother some but I viewed it as a plus. Overall my family and I liked it. Nice houses with some land on Caspar Mountain that overlook the city.. beautiful view at night, not bad during the day.
Trout fishing on the North Platte is pretty outstanding. Lots of places for hiking, bicycling and camping. All sorts of boating opportunities on the resevoirs and rivers. You can do a little snow skiing on Caspar Mountain too, IIRC. Hunting is also pretty good if you like that. Lots of places to just shoot too. In short, lots and lots of "outdoorsey" things to do.
Like I said, had the commute been a "sure thing" in all kinds of weather, I'd probably be there now.
Oh, yeah.. check the tax advantages you get by moving from CA to WY... that's a bit of a plus too!
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They just happened to live there when the business started. I guess what I meant was that the location is not that important to the business. Most of it is done through the mail or phone or travel, and most customers are in the Northwest, West and Canada.
Small town sounds really good to me Toad. Hell, I need to stop and get a "wilderness pass" just to go on a day hike in the local Mts. :mad:
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Yeah, that's another thing. The entire state has 494,423 people.
You'll have some elbow room. ;)
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Originally posted by midnight Target
Hell, I need to stop and get a "wilderness pass" just to go on a day hike in the local Mts. :mad:
WTF?? Are you serious?
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Advice. Don't tell anyone your from California. You'll be blackballed from friendships (Long story, will explain later)
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Thrawn, it's just California. They make everybody play the game THEIR way.. ;)
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People are people wherever you go, Rip - I'd say most people in Wyoming, just like most people anywhere, will treat you with respect if you treat them with respect. There are a few amazinhunks everywhere - they just all are amazinhunks in different ways.
Besides, if someone wouldn't be your friend because of where you lived before, would you really want them to be your friend anyway?
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Originally posted by midnight Target
Small town sounds really good to me Toad. Hell, I need to stop and get a "wilderness pass" just to go on a day hike in the local Mts. :mad:
Hm, I think you would like it in Sweden actually. We actually have something called "The Right of Common Access to move freely in the countryside"
Here, let me pull up a quote for you. In short, you are allowed to do pretty much whatever you want EXCEPT:
You may not trespass on someone else's land! By ”land" is meant the area around a dwelling house, etc, that the owner considers he needs to enjoy his own privacy.
You are not allowed to light a fire if there is a risk of it spreading! It is also forbidden to light a fire on flat rocks and other places that can suffer permanent damage.
You are not allowed to pick flowers, berries or mushrooms on someone's private land. Neither are you allowed to pick protected flowers.
You are not allowed to damage or cut down living trees or bushes
You are not allowed to walk over fields that are newly sown or have crops growing on them.
You must make sure that you close all gates and climb over fences in such a way that no damage is done or cattle let loose.
Normaly you cannot camp for more than one night in the same place without the permision of the landowner. Groups must always have permission except at the offical camp-sites.
You are not allowed to park or drive a motorvehicle on the side of the road if there is a risk of damaging the roadside.
You may not bathe, land or tie up your boat or canoe on someone else's land or pier if by doing so you interfere with the owner's use of them.
You must particularly respect areas of special access prohibitions, such as bird sanctuaries and places where it is forbidden to go ashore.
You are not allowed to pollute the countryside or leave garbage, litter etc.
You are not allowed to fish in someone else's water without his permission.
You are not allowed to hunt without the permission of the landowner or the owner of the shooting rights
I think this is why I'll never travel to Texas, I would be used to these rules, and I would be shot for tresspassing on day 1 :D
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Sounds like Wyoming, Hortlund.
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yeah.. Ted Bundy looked innocent too...
don't judge a book...
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Originally posted by Kratzer
Sounds like Wyoming, Hortlund.
Sounds like I would like Wyoming then :)
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Originally posted by Hortlund
I think this is why I'll never travel to Texas, I would be used to these rules, and I would be shot for tresspassing on day 1 :D
Most of the US has freer access to wilderness areas than California does Hortlund.
CA is chock full of natural wonders and wonderful wild areas. Trouble is, there are 35 million people surrounding them. I actually understand the need to limit the impact on these areas.
I did a google search on Casper, and found a Wyoming DOT highway cam on Interstate 25 in town. Now this is (IIRC) the second largest city in Wyoming. At 4:20pm on a Wednesday I counted 4 cars and 1 truck on the freeway! I get more traffic than that in my driveway!
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Move here:
http://www.landerchamber.org/
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MT since you're still thinking about this I've got a couple words of advice for you- Get a cowboy belt that has your name etched in the back. Get rid of all your slacks and shoes and buy 20 pairs of Wrangler jeans and 2 pair of cowboy boots- one pair for working in and a fancy snakeskin pair for going to the saloon on Saturday night in. Buy a 4x4 F-250 and a few rifles. Gun ownership is mandatory if you wish to join any service organizations in Caspar. Remove ALL bumper stickers from your wife's car.
LOL It just dawned on me- MT won't last the first winter out there. MT, rent a copy of "The Shining" to get an idea of what the winters are like. Dude, you will be snowshoeing it outta there by February. Think about it man- you living in a city inhabitated by Mavericks, Ripsnorts and Hortlunds- think about all the plastic flamingos in the summertime on everyone's lawn- the gunshots of the people shooting at animals- the spontaneous patriotic parades and rallys that might last for days- think about it MT...
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Now stop that! Wyoming just put a third strand of wire on that fence they built to stop those canadian northers. ;)
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Yeah, Bill... Montana isn't really even trying on the Canadian issue, I guess. ;)
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small addition to what Elf had to say:
Gun rack in the back window of the pickup to show off the gun(s),
NRA sticker on the pickup.
Cow Catcher (front end of a steam locomotive) on the front of the pickup to diflect all the antelope on the highways...
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or some just use a 'brush' guard made of 6" tubular steel hand-held-can spray painted flat black like the rest of the truck.
Old-style, big-ass radar dish and make sure you have some kind of satellite connect if you expect to get on the Internet.
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picture a huge gravel parking lot that nobody has pulled the weeds in in years, then add some pick-up trucks, cowboy hats and the ocasional horse or cow. oh ya and VERY cold in the winter. thats pretty much wyoming
btw to be fair, there is some awsome scenery in the north wester corner.
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Now, now, apathy - you did make a perfect description of Casper - but there are places other than the Park that are amazingly beautiful.
In a week I'll be driving home for a week of fly fishing and hiking... all this Casper bashin' is making me misty. ;)
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Lots of traveling
Think about this part of the job seriously and consider if it would really make you happy, or unhappy. Some people love traveling, even for work. Alot of people who tell you they love travel rarely have done much of it.
Traveling on vacation is fun, or at least it can be, traveling for work rarely is fun. You rarely get to see the sights, you eat alone alot, you miss many events with your family and the hassles of airports etc take a toll.
I had a position in my company that required a fair amount of travel and I finally changed positions to reduce the road time. In a couple years I was in 45 differant cities and 8 differant countries. It got old.
So, make sure you like to travel, wont mind being away from your daughter and are not offended by lukeward restaurant breakfast buffets when you consider this decision.
good luck,
dago