Learn me south florida

I don't want it move but am currently looking at all options due to the collapse of the avaiton market.  I have a line on a e commerce company hq'd out of Fort Lauderdale area.  
 

so what's it like to live there? 

Humidity, cocaine, pythons, iguanas, cocaine, hurricanes, exotic cars that have be refinanced 17 times and whose owners are still upside down, cocaine. 

Being a proponent and advocate of caffeine, they'll have an alternative that really gets the job done, it makes it difficult to afford the car not on the exotic car though. 

Hot.  Humid.  Too many damned Yankees.  Traffic can suck.  Not really Florida.  Fishing can be nice.

Read a Carl Hiaasen book or two and you'll get the gist of it

Actually looked up Carl’s books. Gonna listen to one later this week. Does he only do juvenile fiction, or is that just the one I checked out?

my wife is originally from homestead. At least ft laurderale ain’t quite THAT bad. 

When driving in Florida, it’s easy to tell who the Yankees are.... they’re in the cars with Florida tags...

03Panther said:

Actually looked up Carl’s books. Gonna listen to one later this week. Does he only do juvenile fiction, or is that just the one I checked out?

my wife is originally from homestead. At least ft laurderale ain’t quite THAT bad. 

Every one of Carl's books is exactly the same story.  Strip Tease is one of the best, because then you have an excuse to watch Demi Moore in the movie version, to see which is better.

Apparently you guys don't live in S FL.   I moved here 15 years ago and still think it's an awesome place to live.

Fueled by caffeine, if you come down for interview or visit let me know & I'll give ya the 0.50  tour. I could spend a long time typing about why I chose this area and I'd considered anywhere in the south from Southern CA to FL.  Spent years visiting places across the country for extended visits on vacations while researching everything else that mattered to me.  When I narrowed down my search I decided within a couple miles of the coast between Pompano and Boynton Beach would best suit me. I live in Delray Beach 2 miles from the ocean.

Some assumptions about S FL aren't always true. Would you believe I don't even own any mosquito repellent? Would you believe it's often warmer here in the winter than farther South in Miami? Would you believe it's often cooler here in the middle of summer than a lot of the country and very rarely reaches 93F?

03Panther said:

Actually looked up Carl’s books. Gonna listen to one later this week. Does he only do juvenile fiction, or is that just the one I checked out?

my wife is originally from homestead. At least ft laurderale ain’t quite THAT bad. 

The Demi Moore movie Striptease was based on a Hiaasen book, so definitely not only YA books.

What about the alligators? Don't they have alligators?

I always though Key West would be a cool place to live.

captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

Humidity, cocaine, pythons, iguanas, cocaine, hurricanes, exotic cars that have be refinanced 17 times and whose owners are still upside down, cocaine. 

We have all of that in Texas except for pythons. 

We do have armadillos though. 

Hot chicks and humidity 

Snowdoggie said:

captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

Humidity, cocaine, pythons, iguanas, cocaine, hurricanes, exotic cars that have be refinanced 17 times and whose owners are still upside down, cocaine. 

We have all of that in Texas except for pythons. 

We do have armadillos though. 

We have those as well.  They live on the side of the road and don't move ever.

Snowdoggie said:

captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

Humidity, cocaine, pythons, iguanas, cocaine, hurricanes, exotic cars that have be refinanced 17 times and whose owners are still upside down, cocaine. 

We have all of that in Texas except for pythons. 

We do have armadillos though. 

We have armadillos too. Weirded me out when I saw them. Also, definitely alligators. And wild pigs. 

NOT A TA said:

Apparently you guys don't live in S FL.   I moved here 15 years ago and still think it's an awesome place to live.

Wait, who said it wasn't awesome?  This guy just described a veritable paradise!

captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

Humidity, cocaine, pythons, iguanas, cocaine, hurricanes, exotic cars that have be refinanced 17 times and whose owners are still upside down, cocaine. 

Subscribed. It's always been on my list of potential snow-bird locations someday. Sorry I can't add much on top of what's already been said. However during a family trip in the Spring  of '87 I got to see a Twins Spring Training game at the old Tinker Field in Orlando. Also went on a guided fishing trip on Lake Okeechobee and got to see fisherman Roland Martin while at the Clewiston Marina. That was a great trip I will always fondly remember.

In reply to NOT A TA :

No awesome?  They had me at hot chicks and cocaine 

If the job affords you to be able to often take advantage of the water for boating, etc.  it can be a nice place.   If you end up spending all your time just surviving inland, then it will be like any other sunbelt city.

Spent the first 17 years of my life down there...before there was an I-95 or an I-75, when Carl was just a reporter for the local paper.  It's become way too crowded for my taste now.

I just moved this summer from west palm beach where I've lived for nearly 20 years- it very much depends on location and finances. We had a nice house East of 95 and close to downtown in an ok neighborhood. We averaged about 150k in income over the last 7 years or so and never really felt like we got ahead. My property taxes were 8500 a year and homeowners insurance was 7500 a year. It just got to be too much. 
There are many things that I will miss- but it was 60* here in north Atlanta this morning and flights back are cheap. 

I never lived there, but spent a lot of time there since my grandparents retired to that area.

I went back a few years ago to be certain how much I hated it.  Ok, hate is a strong word.  Not my style.  I grew up idolizing the Miami Vice series and I had these glamorous ideas of the hot cars, hot women, beach life, etc.  It is pretty much the complete opposite.  First, the crime has cleaned up a ton.  Coastal Dade used to be a bit of a murder hole, but not really anymore.

What I'm about to say is not denigrating anyone, I'm just trying to not be wordy so I'm cutting to the chase.  It's pretty heavily populated with old, upper east side Manhattan rich folks who are the kind of people who think they deserve more than the rest of the world, but they refuse to tip.  There are entire malls down there that have been abandoned that they have turned into antique malls.  They have valet parking in a parking lot that has weeds growing through the pavement, and the malls are full of things that I guess some people call antiques.  I call it old junk.  Of course, I'm from PA where an antique means a hand-hammered copper pot from 1790.  Down there "antique" means bakelite and a brass torchiere lamp from 1984.  I got tired of seeing 80 year old women with more makeup than Tammy Fay Baker in a Jogging suit and a walker argue with a Cuban antique dealer to negotiate $1 off an "antique" chinese clock that looks like a cat waving his paw because "hey, Saul, don't you think Bernice would like this" in a voice that sounds like two packs a day have been in and out of those lungs since 1932.

I won't really comment on large aquatic lizards since I think they're cool.  I will say that (also having lived in New Orleans) the hurricane fever is a bit more pronounced in FL.  In New Orleans, you might stay or leave, but if you go, you have about 15 major highways and 180 degrees of direction you can choose.  In FL, you have the turnpike or I-95, and you have no choice but north.  I'm not panicked about hurricanes.  I almost stayed in New-O for Katrina, but I'm glad I left.  My elevation was 3.  Three feet.  New Orleans has people who have lived through hundreds of hurricanes and they are salty bastards.  "A little breeze and some rain," they'll say.  Florida is pretty heavily populated with older, northern transplants who seem to feel the need to evacuate when a thunderstorm  rolls in.

I really do love what the town tries to be.  It just lacked a certain cohesive community feeling.  Rich old white people who don't seem to mix and mingle with the Cuban and Puerto Rican heritage in the area.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

I never lived there, but spent a lot of time there since my grandparents retired to that area.

I went back a few years ago to be certain how much I hated it.  Ok, hate is a strong word.  Not my style.  I grew up idolizing the Miami Vice series and I had these glamorous ideas of the hot cars, hot women, beach life, etc.  It is pretty much the complete opposite.  First, the crime has cleaned up a ton.  Coastal Dade used to be a bit of a murder hole, but not really anymore.

What I'm about to say is not denigrating anyone, I'm just trying to not be wordy so I'm cutting to the chase.  It's pretty heavily populated with old, upper east side Manhattan rich folks who are the kind of people who think they deserve more than the rest of the world, but they refuse to tip.  There are entire malls down there that have been abandoned that they have turned into antique malls.  They have valet parking in a parking lot that has weeds growing through the pavement, and the malls are full of things that I guess some people call antiques.  I call it old junk.  Of course, I'm from PA where an antique means a hand-hammered copper pot from 1790.  Down there "antique" means bakelite and a brass torchiere lamp from 1984.  I got tired of seeing 80 year old women with more makeup than Tammy Fay Baker in a Jogging suit and a walker argue with a Cuban antique dealer to negotiate $1 off an "antique" chinese clock that looks like a cat waving his paw because "hey, Saul, don't you think Bernice would like this" in a voice that sounds like two packs a day have been in and out of those lungs since 1932.

I won't really comment on large aquatic lizards since I think they're cool.  I will say that (also having lived in New Orleans) the hurricane fever is a bit more pronounced in FL.  In New Orleans, you might stay or leave, but if you go, you have about 15 major highways and 180 degrees of direction you can choose.  In FL, you have the turnpike or I-95, and you have no choice but north.  I'm not panicked about hurricanes.  I almost stayed in New-O for Katrina, but I'm glad I left.  My elevation was 3.  Three feet.  New Orleans has people who have lived through hundreds of hurricanes and they are salty bastards.  "A little breeze and some rain," they'll say.  Florida is pretty heavily populated with older, northern transplants who seem to feel the need to evacuate when a thunderstorm  rolls in.

I really do love what the town tries to be.  It just lacked a certain cohesive community feeling.  Rich old white people who don't seem to mix and mingle with the Cuban and Puerto Rican heritage in the area.

This mirrors pretty much all of my feelings and highlights why I wont go further south than I am except on holiday. 

Damn Yankees and F.O.P.s

I love these threads.

anyways. The taxes don't sound terrible coming from Seattle and Connecticut. The auto/home insurance dosent sound great.  I've heard homes, the ones that the leadership team all live in are expensive and clustered inland around the best schools.  So long commutes. 
 

the salary would be a bump and no income tax would be a bump beyond that.  
 

im worried about schools the most. Say what you want about Minnesota, but it's really had to find a "bad" school in the state compared to other places I've lived. 
 

about boats,  yup. I'd want one. Fish and swim are the recreation fo choice.  Looks like mountain biking and hiking would be out as family hobbies. 
 

no perfect place, but I'll keep looking into it. I used to work with a few of the execs on this team years ago.  Company is public and not in startup mode so that is actually good. Equity is generous. 

I'm a FL native and have spent most of my life on the west coast or Gainesville area.  I love the state and most of what it has to offer, but the SE quadrant/Miami sprawl is very different than the rest of the state.  I enjoy going down there for an occasional vacation activity, but I dread when I have to go there for work.  The traffic is terrible and it doesn't have the relaxed vibe that most of the rest of the state has.

Never heard of this youngster Hiaasen, but I may have to read some of his work.  A more notable author by the name of Hemingway made his residence in Key West.

If I chose to live in Florida, you can bet it would be within a reasonable drive to the Keys, if for no other reason than the barracuda fishing.

My opinion is that this is a poorly run state, politically. 

It's basically one party rule. Whichever one that might be, it's never a good thing.

Florida schools are not considered a priority by the legislature. 

I can't disagree with anything Curtis posted, although my experience with living in South Florida was three winters training trotters at Pompano Park in the early 80s. He described some aspects of the culture well.

I've never been a resident, but I've spent a fair amount of time in South Florida visiting family. It seems to me that there are subtle differences between Atlantic Coast and Gulf Coast. My family on the Atlantic side is comprised of quite a few Yankees/gold chains/ "fuhgedaboutit" types, and that seems to be fairly normal for the area. My family on the Gulf coast is more typical relaxed, Midwestern types, and that's what I've seen a lot more of on the west side of the state.

I like the beaches on the Gulf coast better, and there's a bit less of a rushed, hustle & bustle feeling. YMMV, and if the job is on the Atlantic side, then living on the Gulf coast probably isn't an option anyway. Just hadn't seen where you were looking so thought I'd bring it up.