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Charlotte

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CLT

As a native of the area I have to agree that Charlotte is not yet quite the cosmopolitan city it aspires to be, say, on a par with New York or Miami. But hey, where else can you get a livermush sandwich and a SunDrop cola? Huh?
 
US Airways inflight magazine last month had basically what amounted to a 20+ page ad for Charlotte...it seems there's quite a bit more going on there lately. Both the north and south end are starting to become more lively, and the north Davidson arts district is kind of a cool area. I saw a concert there a couple years ago in a renovated former porn theater, it made for an interesting venue.

As for uptown, according to the magazine it's called that because it's built on a hill (though not much of one). Of course, I lived there for almost ten years and never knew that...

Charlotte has always had tons of Yankees living there, in high school only two of us out of my seven best friends were born in the Carolinas.

Charlotte is a great place to live overall. It's one of two places I enjoy enough to consider commuting just to live there. I may end up there one of these days.

Enjoy your trip and good luck with the job hunt.

T1
ahhhh, Cheerwine....
 
Wow Snakum, what did I say to provoke that response ? I always thought you were a fairly rational poster on this board. Guess I was wrong.

Looks like a lot of people agreed with what I said as well.

Typhoonpilot

P.S. I'm not a yankee, but thanks for the offer of gas money :D
 
I used to live in Matthews, NC (about a minute outside the CLT city limits) there isn't a day that goes by that we don't wish we were back there. No it isn't a big city but to parrot what everyone else has said, it feels like a big small town and there is something to be said for that.
And, once you filter out all of the NASCAR crap (sorry race fans), you see that there is actually a little bit of culture there. (as opposed to central Florida) Fell free to PM with any ?s.
 
Hey flychicaga, where's your Anna avatar?? It still holds the #1 spot for all time best avatar in my book!!:D :D
 
Apologies Typhoon ... I guess I went off on a rant. But a couple of your statements really hit a nerve and maybe I should explain why ...

For almost thirteen years I have worked in Engineering, consultation, and management in various manufacturing industries and as a developer or manager in the IT industry. Most of this time was/is spent in the RTP or Triad area of NC. As early as 1991 (back home, right out of the military, going to school and working nights as a QA tech) I noticed that every third person I met in Raleigh was from Ohio, New York, or West Virginia. As the years wore on and I noticed more and more folks in the endless 'stuffy' offices of RTP were all from north of the Mason-Dixon, or worse still ... from South Florida :D . That, in itself, is a VERY GOOD THING for North Carolina and has gone a long way toward helping eradicate the racist, weed-chewing, dumba$$ hillbilly image most had of this area twenty years ago, an image that all too often IN SOME AREAS, was well-deserved.

However ... if I had a dollar for every time I had to listen to an arrogant, narrow-minded immigree spout off about 'backward red-necked locals' or lack of sophistication, nightlife etc. I could PFT at Gulfstream Academy with the proceeds. I have absolutely no regional accent and no one knows that I was (proudly) born and raised here. So they think they're talking to a fellow carpet-bagger and begin to spew the most narrow-minded, arrogant drivel you've ever heard. I heard it in office breakrooms, at parties, in clubs, in the gym. Everywhere. It wasn't everyone, but it was such a significant number of people doing it that my perception began to form that MOST Yankees probably did it from time-to-time. I put up with it for years until my patience and generally laid-back demeanor were both wearing thin. I began calling them on the BS (even managers and owners) and letting them know, in often quite colorful terms, that indeed "I-77/95 goes both ways ... you need gas money?".

I was proudly born and raised here and have paid state taxes since I was fourteen, even when I was in the military. Though I have lived in Europe, Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania and (god help me) West Virginia ... NC is home and I am proud of my state and my fellow North Carolinians, and I am also proud that we have shed the narrow-minded, bigotted, myopic view of the world that brought out the worst in us many years ago. We have beautiful beaches, gorgeous mountains, four distinct seasons, friendly and courteous people, museums, art galleries, excellent schools (NCSU rated as a top ten Engineering school for over a decade, Duke and WFU in law and medicine), bass fishing, billfishing, ACC ball, aviation, NASCAR (you know you're envious :D ), and just about everything else under the sun. The best part is our people. We're just plain old friendly. My girlfriend (from Miami)was talking just a couple weeks ago about her initial shock that strangers would strike up conversations with her while in line at the grocery store. That's how we are ... we're friendly, warm, and open. We open doors for, and quickly excuse the slip of mild profanity in front of, ladies. We have (most of us) retained the things that made us special and discarded the things that made us rubes.

Sooooooooooo to finish up, we think we're pretty OK and that we have one of the best little states in this great nation of ours. It ain't everyone's cup of tea ... and I can appreciate that. But we vote with our feet don't we? Considering how many people have been piling in here for the last fifteen or twenty years, we must be doing something right, we must have something going for us. So if you want to come here and live and work and raise a family and be part of the community ... come on down! We'd love to have you. But if you have to complain about every perceived slight or lack maybe you need to stay where you are. When I lived in a tiny village near Wurzburg Germany, where no one spoke English, there were no stores, and everything was completely foreign to me ... I didn't go around bad-mouthing every little thing. I learned the lingo, met my neighbors, participated in the community and when I left three years later it was the hardest thing I had ever had to do. Schnepfenbach had become my home and my neighbors had become my family.

But I just missed the smell of pine trees and tobacco fields on a Sunday afternoon ride on the Wide Glide too much. :)

Apologies to all ...

Minh
 
Oh ... and FlyChicaga ... next time you're down gimme a buzz and I'll show you what real BBQ is. There are loads of charter companies, there's freight companies, there's a little of everything aviation related and you never know what you might stir up 'round here. Hell ... you can stay at my place while you're lookin'.

We'd love to have ya'll down fer supper, FlyChicaga! :D

Minh
 

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