Hell Freezes Over. Pigs Fly. Moving to the PRC.

[Leland Pate]

Well, the unthinkable is happening.

Short short version.

Two years ago, I was hired as a corporate investigator at a large pharma company on a temp to perm basis. There was a hiring freeze that I was told would last no more than 6 months.

Also, at the same time, my wife recently graduated from school as a RN and got a good job in an ICU ward in her home town of Manteca, CA. We argue. We fight. We compromise. We agree that it's not worth quitting her job to move to PA to take a 30% pay reduction for what amounted to a flaky contractor job for me. So, wife stays in CA, I stay in PA waiting to be hired internally.

6 months pass. 12 months pass. 18 months pass. I continue to buy time, make arguments. The carrot continues to dangle. This is all compounded by a deeply seated hatred for California. I cannot imagine living there. The politics and generalized social philosophy are incompatable with what I want out of life. So I keep at it. "I'll be hired by Christmas", "They're offering me Senior Manager", etc.

Well, last Friday the shoe finally dropped. The NA Security Director met with me and in no uncertain terms told me all hiring for support people has been suspended indefinitely. Dream crushed. Door closed. Aspirations kaput.

So, following the bargain I made with my wife, I am throwing in the towel and am leaving PA for the PRC as soon as I can organize my retreat.

You people will see ****ing CLAW MARKS across the United States. Evidence of my passage, kicking and screaming. I've got a current passport. Hopefully I escape the anal probes as the border checkpoint.

I have to sell or store most of my firearms as they are illegal there. I have to figure out how to move my possessions to the desolate wastelands of the central valley. I have to learn how to play ****ing tennis with my father in law. And I have to figure out what the hell I am going to do for work in the occupied zone.

I am not happy but love my wife too much to separate based only on my loathing for her home state.

Alas, I am the sum of the choices I've made in life.

I'll be in the bathroom sobbing if anyone needs me.

[Leland Pate]

Long live the party!

[Oh Haha]

Sorry to hear that.

Bear with me for a moment--

Have either of you considered Michigan?

1-We need nurses here. As I understand it, we will have s shortage inthe coming years. (No, I don't have the article or remember if it was in print or on the radio.)

2-The pharm business here is growing. I don't know what your skills are but do a search for JHP Pharmaceuticals in Rochester, Michigan. They are a customer of ours.

[Noah930]

You will be assimilated.

[DonDavis]

Ouch.

I feel for you! However, AZ is way closer than PA! I'm sure you can find reasons (spoon shows, like minded Pelicans, etc...) to visit our fine state.

And I could be coerced into storing some spoons if needed! HA!

[stomachmonkey]

Stop at Tabs on the way. Ask him to store your spoons.

[Rick Lee]

Leland, I've be sort of close to your position before. But I would have moved to Irvine and didn't hate KA as much back then. Nowadays, I'd probably end up divorced over the issue and certainly if forced to move to the central valley. My boss wants me to move to KA, but I told him I'd flip burgers here before moving there. And I'd totally refuse to abide by any of their gun laws. Look into how CCW-friendly the local sheriff is.

[jyl]

My God, that area of CA is a pit. Hot as hell, nothing there, foreclosure capital of the world. There is supposed to be a nursing shortage. She can't get a job anywhere better than Manteca? She wants to live near her parents that much?

Post your list of guns for sale here, please. You should sell every last piece. Otherwise you'll eventually off yourself, during a suffocating summer
in the armpit of California.

Seriously, in your shoes I would be having a very deep talk with my wife, if she insisted on living in the Central Valley. If it were going to be permanent, I'm not sure I'd stay married.

It's not even the guns. That is just not a place I'd be willing to spend my short time on earth.

[Leland Pate]

Thanks for the moral support guys. I want to say, I know my post is pretty mujch a selfish, overly generalized and somewhat exaggerated sob story. I'm just really really bummed out that it has come to this.

Rick, I travel to Oro Valley for business from time to time and would LOVE to live in AZ. The wife and I have a tentitive agreement that I will move to CA and find gainful employment until she is finished with her BNS ~ hopefully this winter or next spring at the latest. We will then find a neutral zone. But, I'm also a realist and know that once I make the move to CA, it's going to be increasingly hard to just pick up and move. I will stick by my guns though... no buying a house... no children... not until we leave the state.

My problem is basically that my wife can find work almost anywhere.. her job hunt revolves around looking for hospitals in Google Maps. They are almost always hiring RN's for at least one shift. I, on the other hand, am so highly specialized I have very little hope of finding work in my field.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

A few thoughts:

1. I can understand your reluctance to move to CA - especially that part. If you want you can always make the most of a bad situation and there's always SOMETHING to find about anywhere to like/enjoy, but CA in general has gotten really, really bad - almost to the point of being unlivable. I left about 9 months ago and while there's a lot I miss, there's more I don't.

2. Good on your company for (finally) coming clean and not dicking you around anymore.

3. I'd seriously consider staying on a temporary assignment with this company (even separated if necessary) than to try and find work in CA right now. The economy there is almost indescribably bad. I looked actively for an entire year - that's networking, banging on doors, you name it. I can count the number of interviews I got on one hand. No offers. Out here on the east coast it's faring much better and I've been happily employed since last October. I don't want to jinx you, but I'd bet dollars to donuts you will NOT find work in CA.

4. Is it really fair of your wife to demand you accommodate her when she can't do the same? There's more to life than simply staying somewhere where you can get a fat paycheck. And honestly, it doesn't go all that far in CA - the costs of living adjust to it, so I question whether you really end up all that further ahead in the long run... You may need to re-evaluate your relationship (sorry if that crosses any lines, but just sayin' something doesn't really smell right about this...)

5. Have you considered a compromise? There are a lot of places that have many of the same characteristics as CA without all the stupidity - and that have fared a lot better insofar as job markets. Texas is one, AZ is another (depending on your industry). A new adventure for both of you might be better than "same old" for her and "I hate this" for you.

Best of luck whatever happens. Sorry to hear. I feel your pain.

[Joeaksa]

What are you going to do with your spoons? They are not legal in Kalifornia. Bring them to AZ and we can find a place to store them but taking them West will find them confiscated.

Hope you make it here eventually... sooner than later!

[Seahawk]

I grew up in California, currently working the retirement matrix, what I want to do, contribute, in the chapters next.

Unfortunately, it won't include the Golden State. And did I love it as a kid. No better place on the planet.

I'll get back to my western roots, just not there. Pity, really.

[nostatic]

Still suffering miserably here in CA. Yesterday we played two outdoor gigs in the afternoon. The sun and fresh ocean breeze was almost unbearable.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by nostatic

Still suffering miserably here in CA. Yesterday we played two outdoor gigs in the afternoon. The sun and fresh ocean breeze was almost unbearable.

Where you live is a world away from the central valley.

[nostatic]

True. But looks like Manteca is close to a ton of beautiful land to the east (Sierras). And central CA also isn't the liberal bastion like SF or parts of LA (specifically the PRSM).

[BeyGon]

I don't understand the problem with the spoons, if you don't advertise you have them, don't show them to police, don't take them to the range with big magazines, you should be ok. If you have to use one in defense of the house or wife, at least you have it. There are lots of illegal things in California. Just don't show them off.

[speeder]

Politically, California has always had a split-personality. It has a huge conservative population, (which may be shrinking, I'll acknowledge), and of course a huge liberal population. It just has a huge population, period. California elected Ronald Reagan and Pete Wilson for governor, plus a lot of other Republicans including Arnold. (Who seemed a lot more conservative when he was elected).

I'm not going to disrespect you and tell you how you should think but I think that an open mind may be of benefit here. Have you ever lived in CA. and been affected by the supposed "The politics and generalized social philosophy" or have you just heard about it as nauseum on the interwebs? (Including here)? Many of the guys on this board in other states that have either A) never set foot in this state, or B) came here once on vacation in 1966, or C) lived in some asswipe subdivision for a year in 1986, have an intimate knowledge of a place I don't recognise. But then I've only lived here for the last 28 years. I also own some very high-quality firearms. But that's just me.

I agree that the central valley sucks hard. Try to get her to live somewhere better. Like I said before, I respect you and know that you are not me. You're you. Conversely, I'd go crazy in Idaho or some barren (to me) place in about a week. Maybe you'll find things to like here. You may be surprised at the number of conservatives in this state, especially in particular areas. Good luck.

[nostatic]

Denis, you like in K-town, which is essentially the hood. You should be long dead by now. Please quit posting...

Burnin' lives in central CA, but closer to the Sierra foothills I think. There is some beautiful country up there. And truth be told if I had money I'd buy some land on the central coast range (Nipomo, Pismo, etc). I love it up there.

CA is about 5 different states - generalizations really don't hold water here. Even "LA" is a huge and diverse landscape. My place in Santa Monica is completely different than my g/f's place in Highland Park which is different than my place in Pasadena was, etc.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by BeyGon

I don't understand the problem with the spoons, if you don't advertise you have them, don't show them to police, don't take them to the range with big magazines, you should be ok. If you have to use one in defense of the house or wife, at least you have it. There are lots of illegal things in California. Just don't show them off.

This my bedside arsenal. If i live to be 110, the odds of ever using it for home defense are about 1 in 10 million. Anyone who cannot defend their home with these two, 100% legal CA. guns should really, really not be allowed to own a gun. That person is incompetent with firearms to the point of extreme danger.

Picture taken 2 minutes ago:

[pwd72s]

Lee, My total sympathy...but there has to be more to the story than we're hearing. My daughter is an RN, now working in a supervisor role. RN's have zero problems finding jobs anywhere.

My dad was born & raised in Modesto...yeah, the central valley is hot summer country. I vaguely remember Manteca having a sugar beet factory that smelled to high heaven! That was decades ago...probably cleaned up by now.

I feel for ya, man...

Knowing you love your spoons... Do take up one of the offers to store the california unfriendly ones in another state...The reno area would be closer than Vegas to Manteca. Any Reno pelicans willing to give up gun safe sized floor space in a garage????