Summer social. A great time for a good beer!

I heard wine is more expensive for worse quality as well. We are starting to seriously consider Carolina as our next stop and this is a huge concern (as are rednecks and flooding).

Is driving with high beams on on a crowded highway at 9pm a violation? Had two assholes blinding me, one on Dumbarton Br., another one on I-580.

Wine: I came with a large supply of wine and also belong to a club so I haven’t bought any wine here. It seems to be about the same price, or a little less, at restaurants. The selection of big reds is not as good but you can find all the Merlot you want. I don’t drink white wine, so no info there. 

Flooding: No flood insurance needed at my place. The closer you are to the coast, more chance of flooding. Also, the humidity is much worse on the coast than inland. 

Rednecks: First, I’ll take a redneck/white trash over a gang banger or self-absorbed/entitlement millennial any day. That being said, the “redneck” myth is way overblown (as is the “bugs are way worse in the South” myth). I’ve seen two Rebel flags in the eight months I’ve lived here. One at a store in Alabama and one on a house on a remote country road here in South Carolina. However, at least where I live in the country...I very, very, rarely see a Prius with a Bernie sticker but theres a bunch of big trucks with “Support our Troops” stickers. If your looking for the Prius type lifestyle, I assume you can find that in the bigger cities in North Carolina...Charlotte, Raleigh, etc. 

If you ever want to check out the region where I live (I’m about 2/2.5 hours from Atlanta, Charlotte or Charleston. Pretty much half way between the ocean and the Smokey Mountains in Western/Central South Carolina) I will gladly pick you up at the airport, give you one of our guest rooms, a car to borrow while your here and show you around. 

Yes

Most people give zero fucks about anybody else but themselves. I'm considering buying a new 4X4 truck, lifting the SOB about a foot and installing a fuck ton of lightbars with a supporting generator. Buy some welding goggles assholes! And sunscreen! Lots of SPF 1000!!!

I was so pissed off last night I remembered the license plate of one of the guys and registered them in a couple of online asshole drivers' database.

SAN RAMON, CA — Police activity Wednesday in a parking lot at Bishop Drive and Executive Parkway was due to a suicide, police have confirmed. A distraught woman died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound around 11:30 a.m., said San Ramon PD Captain Denton Carlson.



"Officers contacted an individual who expressed suicidal thoughts while conversing with their spouse. It is with great sadness we are informing you that shortly after being contacted by our officers, the person took their life via a self-inflicted gunshot," Carlson reported in a tweet.



There were no other injuries reported.



Portions of the parking lot directly between 4000 Executive Parkway and 2451 Bishop Drive will be closed much of Wednesday as police continue their investigation into this incident.

So much for "active shooters".

Just found out unemployment is going to pay less than half of my refular salary. It’s been a couple decades since I had to use it but i seem to recall it paying more than that percentage before. Hopefully I track down a new position before it gets to that.

We have family in the Raleigh area...they call it the “triangle” or something similar...Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill I think make up that area. Definitely a big city/college/tech area. Many Northeast and West coast transplants there. Its about two hours to the ocean from there. I know that might be farther than you want, like I thought also, but with the reduced humidity and no hurricane weather...its a worthwhile trade off. Its about a five hour drive from where I’m at. 

Another area I’d look at...Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina. One of the hottest job, housing, tech areas in the South. Has that younger, tech, city vibe but not a huge city like Raleigh and way more affordable. 

Thanks man. We will be good. We had put aside about $15 grand for a potential bathroom remodel so there is an emergency fund.

Yeah. It's known as the research triangle given the colleges in the area. North Carolina University, Duke. Durham is a smaller city that I guess used to be pretty run down but it is rapidly gentrifying and they've really built up the downtown into a nice little hangout. Most of my coworkers live in that direction to avoid the cost and city issues of Raleigh itself.

We're looking at that area as I have an office out there and my current project is based there. Need to talk to mmt boss about my general position and long term what the hell he wants our group to be doing (we are going through a acquisition that has been a mess, i got poached to help the mothership on a single program and now have no idea what I go back to when this is done).

In the meantime, my fiance has finally been let go from her job in California she has kept this whole time. And the job market in Raleigh is actually way stronger for our skillset than Arizona. She already found something that would potentially pay her more than she made in California.

So for us the specific area makes sense. Anecdotally I heard from someone that lived in Greensboro and hated it.

2 hours from the beach is better than the 5 or so we are now. But it still largely means a hotel room.

Yeah I could go get a paralegal job that pays $10k less a year but I am trying to obviously avoid that. I got some severance pay as well so that covers the next couple of weeks. Takes a bit of the pressure off.

Are you getting wet over there today