I like St. Louis for it's weather (all four seasons). We get really cold in winter and we get really hot in summer. I hate the heat though because of the humidity. Disgusting. I think it was a year or two ago that I was wearing shorts cutting the grass and the very next day it snowed. Gotta love it. I also remember going to the "Warped Tour" (outside concert in middle of summer) and one of the bands coming out of their "trailer" saying, "Damn mang, it's hotter than California here." :mrgreen: As for the tornadoes, well, history doesn't show it but I've never had to worry about them. We've had the sirens go off and all that, but I've never had one too close to me. Plus, they follow a path so *knock on wood* the odds of getting hit are fairly low. Not to say we haven't had some within driving distance of us. Yes, St. Louis gets looked at for it's crime. However, like any city/metropolitan area, there are some areas that are bad, and others that are OK. I used to work 'downtown' in several places and would have to walk around alone a lot. I was very aware of my surroundings, but never was worried. True, it was mostly in the 'developed' areas of the city, but that's what I mean about some areas being much safer than others. Not trying to argue by any means, just saying as with any city, there are good points and bad points. I know with Jon, his family is here as well and for a lot of people, that's the biggest selling point of anywhere :wink:
I was just joking about STL. I think where I live here in Indiana, is actually worse for tornadoes. I've only been to St. Louis a few times, never have had any problems. I've always heard bad things about east St. Louis but other then that, never really have heard anything bad about the city or had any probmes, except the Blues and Cardinals of course. :mrgreen:
I knew you were joking, but I do think the city takes a bad rap for it's crime when I don't think it's any different than anywhere else. I guess living here, you tend to know where to go and where NOT to go. East St. Louis is scary, to me. It's actually in Illinois though (just across the river from St. Louis). East St. Louis has been mentioned a couple of times in The Simpsons' series. It's also supposed to be where the Griswold's car got vanadalized in "National Lampoon's Vacation" (even though they already crossed into St. Louis. There was a place near, or in, Fort Wayne, Ind. that worried me. It was odd too because it was fairly nice until you hit that area. My sister used to live in Fort Wayne and she gave us a "tour". I don't know if you're close to there or not.
I'm about 3 1/2 hours from Fort Wayne. I'm about 1 1/2 hours from Cincy, Louisville & Indy. I'm around Seymour Indiana, if there was a interstate from where I live to Cincy, that would be the closest city. However only problem is you have to take Highway 50 all the way to Lawrenceburgh.
That was pretty much the primary reason for moving back. My wife was homesick, and I kinda was too a little. We wanted our kids to group up near their cousins, grandparents, aunts/uncles, etc. I liked playing golf year round and not paying state income tax (probably the #1 reason to move to FLA, even more than the weather). As for the crime in St. Louis, I've never lived in "St. Louis" the city. Even though the metro area is ~3 million people or so, I think the actual city limits have just ~400k residents. The large majority live and work in the surrounding counties and suburbs and only go downtown to watch sports. I've never experienced a tornado before, but the 2yrs I was away from St. Louis (Tampa in '04, then Houston in '05), I experienced 5 freaking hurricanes. Each one interupted my business for quite some time as everything pretty much shuts down because people prepare for it. With a tornado, appointments/meetings/seminars are cancelled 2 weeks prior to the event like they are with hurricanes. Granted, that was a freak thing and will probably never happen again in my lifetime, but for now I'll just go back down for vacation purposes.
Wow Jon, I hadn't realized that after you moved to Tampa you moved to Houston. Is your business being tracked by the FBI or something Thats neat that you are back home. I know I sure miss Illinois more than anything. I can't wait until next year when get to move back. As for this thread, this coming June will mark my 5 year mark here at LG. It feels like just yesterday I saw a post at planetmgp.com and came over here. It is hard to believe I was only 17 when I joined here. Boy does time fly!
Jeez, its been a long time since I've seen you around man. How've you been? You still in Milton? I think thats where you were from... I still remember games on NHL 2k4 and 2k5 with you, and that one playoff series we had. For some reason I think you started blaming the refs or something, but I've got nothing but find memories from playing NHL with you.
Yep. We got hit with 4 that year. 2 went through Tampa, I spent weeks putting all of my newly planted trees up after both of them. All all 4 of them had an effect on my business as everyone just packs up and leaves since they don't know exactly where the storm will hit landfall. What made matters worse, is that they chased me up the gulf coast around the horn to Houston. Moved there in May '05 and Katrina and Rita hit. Rita was the first hurricane threat to Houston in many many years.
I've been lucky in the 21 years I've lived in FL. I've only lost power for 22 hours and 2 fallen trees. One of the businesses I own is an insurance adjusting firm. Insurance claims = $. Hurricanes and storms = $$$$ in a short period of time. So, I have mixed feelings about storms. For business its great. But, I hate seeing homeowners lose everything they've worked for.
