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The P&R Plague Thread (Covid-19)


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23 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

I'd be interested in knowing how often people in Denver go skiing, see a professional sporting event...etc.  I go skiing every once in a while.  I go to major sporting events.  We have had three new restaurants open in our little small town in just the last year.  We went with friends to a great new restaurant in North Platte just a couple weeks ago.  That's just a 45 minute drive.  I've been in Denver before going to a restaurant and stuck in traffic for about that long getting there.  Live in a little bigger town than me like Kearney or GI and there are new restaurants every once in a while.  

 

I asked this because we used to live in Des Moines, which we really enjoyed.  When we told our friends we were moving to a small town in Nebraska, their reaction was, "What in the world are you going to do in a small town"?  I'll tell you, I'm busier here than I ever was in Des Moines.  I asked them, what do you normally do.  They said, "hang out with friends, chase kids to kids activities...etc."  Well, I do that here.  Plus, I'm much more involved in the community.

 

I get it, small town life isn't for everyone.  But, I actually told my wife the other day that I would love a weekend where I'm actually bored.

 

I have a cousin that just moved from here to Lincoln and she mentioned that she likes living in Lincoln so much better.  However, she was never one who was involved in anything here.  I would never see her at area events, restaurants...etc.

 

I get the 100k salary.  But, those jobs are in central Nebraska.  There would depend on what you do for a living though.  I just hired a guy that grew up here and wanted to move back. He's not making much less than that and he's only out of college about 5 years.

Years ago I took a job in a small town in "central" NE, with like 3,000 people.  It was a nice town but basically had two bars, two fast food places, two small grocery stores, and I think one sit down restaurant.   The HS kids would either not go to college or go to UNK, then after that it was smaller colleges.  UNL was pretty much an afterthought to them and no one went to UNO.    

 

For me it was boring, it seemed like everyone was either a kid or an older adult.  Hunting, fishing, and ranching was pretty much what everyone did.  

 

I have a good friend that is principal of a school in central Nebraska and he loves it, hell, he might have been your kids principal.  He will stay there forever and could not be happier, it just fits him.  He comes to Omaha every now and then and we golf.

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4 minutes ago, teachercd said:

Years ago I took a job in a small town in "central" NE, with like 3,000 people.  It was a nice town but basically had two bars, two fast food places, two small grocery stores, and I think one sit down restaurant.   The HS kids would either not go to college or go to UNK, then after that it was smaller colleges.  UNL was pretty much an afterthought to them and no one went to UNO.    

 

For me it was boring, it seemed like everyone was either a kid or an older adult.  Hunting, fishing, and ranching was pretty much what everyone did.  

 

I have a good friend that is principal of a school in central Nebraska and he loves it, hell, he might have been your kids principal.  He will stay there forever and could not be happier, it just fits him.  He comes to Omaha every now and then and we golf.

And, there is a difference between various small towns.  I like ours.  I might not stay here after I retire simply because I might want to experience something else.  Not something better, just something new.


There are small towns in central Nebraska I would not like to live in.  Others, are pretty nice.

 

And, I think the discussion started about moving from Denver to maybe even Kearney or Grand Island.  Those are much different than a 3,000 pop town.  But, there are also many of those 3,000 pop towns that are close enough to bigger towns to enjoy them too.  What's the difference between living in a small town 30 minutes away from Kearney or GI to enjoy those....and living in Denver and having to deal with traffic for 30 minutes to get to something you want to do?

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1 hour ago, BigRedBuster said:

Let me ask this.  What do you regularly do in Denver that makes your life enjoyable that you don’t think you can do in Kearney or Grand Island?

It's a fair question, and things I do regularly are play golf, go to restaurants, go to my kids activities, you can think "Heck, you can do all of that in Kearney and Grand Island."  Yes, but those areas don't have the variety of options that where I live in the Denver area have.  I have at least a half a dozen courses that I can play within 15-20 minutes of my house.  If I double that drive to 30-40 minutes, that grows to 20-30 golf courses, a lot of which are higher quality than what I would find in Grand Island or Kearney (although I love Wild Horse GC in Gothenburg).  My kids' activities are sports for my son and dance for my daughter.  Yes, they could probably be involved in those activities in a mid-size city in Nebraska, but my kids wouldn't have the access to a variety of teaching, training, and competition aspects all within a short drive for me.  I can probably find a restaurant of any type of cuisine within 20 minutes of my home.

 

You ask, how often do you go to a sporting event, concert, skiing, etc.  The honest answer is not often (due to having 2 kids and their busy lives) but we have the OPTION of doing many of those, and we can do it at a moment's notice.  I go to a handful of Rockies games a year, and I can be at Coors Field within 40 minutes of leaving my front door, and taking mass transit to do so.  I can go to a Rockies playoff game (which I did).  I can go to a Nuggets game by looking for tickets that morning.  We can take my daughter to a professional ballet (since she loves dance).  I can go to 1 or 2 major concerts a year.  I can take my kids skiing or hiking.  I can do all of that and it's all accessible in the same day.  I know Nebraska has University of Nebraska athletics and concerts in Omaha and Lincoln, but if you are living in GI or Kearney, you are a 2-3 hour drive from those big events.  The bigger cities just provide more options of doing things on a day to day basis.  That's what I enjoy.  It's up to my available time and disposable income to take advantage of those options.

 

 

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6 minutes ago, ColoradoHusk said:

It's a fair question, and things I do regularly are play golf, go to restaurants, go to my kids activities, you can think "Heck, you can do all of that in Kearney and Grand Island."  Yes, but those areas don't have the variety of options that where I live in the Denver area have.  I have at least a half a dozen courses that I can play within 15-20 minutes of my house.  If I double that drive to 30-40 minutes, that grows to 20-30 golf courses, a lot of which are higher quality than what I would find in Grand Island or Kearney (although I love Wild Horse GC in Gothenburg).  My kids' activities are sports for my son and dance for my daughter.  Yes, they could probably be involved in those activities in a mid-size city in Nebraska, but my kids wouldn't have the access to a variety of teaching, training, and competition aspects all within a short drive for me.  I can probably find a restaurant of any type of cuisine within 20 minutes of my home.

 

You ask, how often do you go to a sporting event, concert, skiing, etc.  The honest answer is not often (due to having 2 kids and their busy lives) but we have the OPTION of doing many of those, and we can do it at a moment's notice.  I go to a handful of Rockies games a year, and I can be at Coors Field within 40 minutes of leaving my front door, and taking mass transit to do so.  I can go to a Rockies playoff game (which I did).  I can go to a Nuggets game by looking for tickets that morning.  We can take my daughter to a professional ballet (since she loves dance).  I can go to 1 or 2 major concerts a year.  I can take my kids skiing or hiking.  I can do all of that and it's all accessible in the same day.  I know Nebraska has University of Nebraska athletics and concerts in Omaha and Lincoln, but if you are living in GI or Kearney, you are a 2-3 hour drive from those big events.  The bigger cities just provide more options of doing things on a day to day basis.  That's what I enjoy.  It's up to my available time and disposable income to take advantage of those options.

 

 

Yeah, it is nice to be able to decide about hitting up a Husker game the morning of the game.  Or getting a text at 5pm asking to go to a Jays game.  Or being able to drive 25 minutes to hit up the bars/tents during the CWS.

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5 minutes ago, ColoradoHusk said:

It's a fair question, and things I do regularly are play golf, go to restaurants, go to my kids activities, you can think "Heck, you can do all of that in Kearney and Grand Island."  Yes, but those areas don't have the variety of options that where I live in the Denver area have.  I have at least a half a dozen courses that I can play within 15-20 minutes of my house.  If I double that drive to 30-40 minutes, that grows to 20-30 golf courses, a lot of which are higher quality than what I would find in Grand Island or Kearney (although I love Wild Horse GC in Gothenburg).  My kids' activities are sports for my son and dance for my daughter.  Yes, they could probably be involved in those activities in a mid-size city in Nebraska, but my kids wouldn't have the access to a variety of teaching, training, and competition aspects all within a short drive for me.  I can probably find a restaurant of any type of cuisine within 20 minutes of my home.

 

You ask, how often do you go to a sporting event, concert, skiing, etc.  The honest answer is not often (due to having 2 kids and their busy lives) but we have the OPTION of doing many of those, and we can do it at a moment's notice.  I go to a handful of Rockies games a year, and I can be at Coors Field within 40 minutes of leaving my front door, and taking mass transit to do so.  I can go to a Rockies playoff game (which I did).  I can go to a Nuggets game by looking for tickets that morning.  We can take my daughter to a professional ballet (since she loves dance).  I can go to 1 or 2 major concerts a year.  I can take my kids skiing or hiking.  I can do all of that and it's all accessible in the same day.  I know Nebraska has University of Nebraska athletics and concerts in Omaha and Lincoln, but if you are living in GI or Kearney, you are a 2-3 hour drive from those big events.  The bigger cities just provide more options of doing things on a day to day basis.  That's what I enjoy.  It's up to my available time and disposable income to take advantage of those options.

 

 

If you do all those things on a regular basis...great.  Like I said, small towns aren't for everyone.  I know people here that would never want to live in a bigger city.  It's great that America offers both.  I bet, however, there are lots of people who live in Denver, that don't do those things.

 

I asked the same question to a customer that lives in Anaheim CA once.  He said...well, we have the ocean.  I asked then, when was the last time he was at the beach?  Heck, I had been to the beach in California since he had been there.  He finally realized....Um....I don't go to the ocean.

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7 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

If you do all those things on a regular basis...great.  Like I said, small towns aren't for everyone.  I know people here that would never want to live in a bigger city.  It's great that America offers both.  I bet, however, there are lots of people who live in Denver, that don't do those things.

 

I asked the same question to a customer that lives in Anaheim CA once.  He said...well, we have the ocean.  I asked then, when was the last time he was at the beach?  Heck, I had been to the beach in California since he had been there.  He finally realized....Um....I don't go to the ocean.

My best friend moved to LA from Chicago.  Literally does NOTHING that LA has to offer.  Ocean, nope, hiking, nope, clubs (maybe every now and then), pro sports, nope, college sports, nope.

 

He really just likes the weather but it is not like he is ever outside.  

 

In the end he really just moved there to escape is crazy ex.

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5 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

If you do all those things on a regular basis...great.  Like I said, small towns aren't for everyone.  I know people here that would never want to live in a bigger city.  It's great that America offers both.  I bet, however, there are lots of people who live in Denver, that don't do those things.

 

I asked the same question to a customer that lives in Anaheim CA once.  He said...well, we have the ocean.  I asked then, when was the last time he was at the beach?  Heck, I had been to the beach in California since he had been there.  He finally realized....Um....I don't go to the ocean.

In the past, the argument for living in a bigger city was there are more job opportunities (more variety, more companies, more opportunity for advancement, etc.)  Now, as the OP pointed out, it will be interesting how things change in the future as "office/service" work options become more flexible with more telecommuting and less need for physical offices.  I work for a large company in the Denver area, and we are figuring out what the future of working in the office will really mean.

 

There are so many jobs which can be done in a smaller town or a bigger city, but I still point that the bigger city offers a larger market opportunity.  If I am a small business owner, I have more potential clientele in a bigger city, but is the cost of being in the larger city may outweigh the revenue opportunities.  If I am a doctor, I can probably have a thriving practice in a small town, but I could have a bigger practice in a bigger city.  If I am a car mechanic, I have more options of auto repair shops I can work for, or I can have my own shop with a larger population of clientele.

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2 hours ago, BigRedBuster said:

Let me ask this.  What do you regularly do in Denver that makes your life enjoyable that you don’t think you can do in Kearney or Grand Island?

I love this question because I have lived in Kearney and the Denver area, multiple times each. Denver wins hands down. 

 

As an example when I was growing up, in Kearney the high school kids for fundraisers would sell coupon cards, candy door to door, and stuff like that. When I moved to Denver during my high school years, my fundraisers were selling concessions at major rock concerts and sporting events. I got to listen to the Scorpions, Alice Cooper, and Stone Temple Pilots (and steal away during breaks to see parts of the shows). I got to sell frozen lemonade during Rockies games in multiple summers. I was a band nerd in high school and our teacher regularly gave us tickets to jazz clubs in downtown Denver.

 

Later as an adult living in both areas, the sheer variety of activities and restaurants in the Denver area always kept things fresh and interesting. Kearney had some decent places to eat but not a wide variety, and I got tired of seeing people I knew in the grocery stores. I prefer a little anonymity. Kearney actually has a lot of things to do for a town its size for young families. I lived in Kearney with small children, and the opportunities for the kind of family we were at the time were perfect. But as teenagers, I would love it if my kids had the multiple social, educational, and employment opportunities in a city like Denver, not to mention the endless entertainment opportunities that smaller towns just can't offer.

 

Not to mention in Kearney, Lincoln was two hours away for a different "city experience." In Denver, the mountains are one hour away and a whole different world of experiences.

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2 minutes ago, ColoradoHusk said:

In the past, the argument for living in a bigger city was there are more job opportunities (more variety, more companies, more opportunity for advancement, etc.)  Now, as the OP pointed out, it will be interesting how things change in the future as "office/service" work options become more flexible with more telecommuting and less need for physical offices.  I work for a large company in the Denver area, and we are figuring out what the future of working in the office will really mean.

 

There are so many jobs which can be done in a smaller town or a bigger city, but I still point that the bigger city offers a larger market opportunity.  If I am a small business owner, I have more potential clientele in a bigger city, but is the cost of being in the larger city may outweigh the revenue opportunities.  If I am a doctor, I can probably have a thriving practice in a small town, but I could have a bigger practice in a bigger city.  If I am a car mechanic, I have more options of auto repair shops I can work for, or I can have my own shop with a larger population of clientele.

All true.  There have been a number of articles written since the pandemic about people who always thought they needed to live in a bigger city for job opportunities.  Working from home last summer, made many people realize they can do their job anywhere.  There has been some migration of people out of bigger cities to smaller communities.

 

Our own small town has a problem with housing.  We have a lot of people who would want to move here, but there isn't housing in their price range.  We have a small area of nice new duplexes that were built probably 7-10 years ago.  There is a waiting list of around 50 people who want to move into them when they come up for sale.  There is a lot more housing units being built because of the demand.

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3 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

I call BS.  The traffic up I-70 makes it more than an hour away.  :D

Timing is everything! I'm sure it's waaaay worse now than it was 15 years ago when I last lived there. The traffic is one drawback. Living in smaller towns, I have gotten spoiled by shorter commutes.

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5 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

All true.  There have been a number of articles written since the pandemic about people who always thought they needed to live in a bigger city for job opportunities.  Working from home last summer, made many people realize they can do their job anywhere.  There has been some migration of people out of bigger cities to smaller communities.

 

Our own small town has a problem with housing.  We have a lot of people who would want to move here, but there isn't housing in their price range.  We have a small area of nice new duplexes that were built probably 7-10 years ago.  There is a waiting list of around 50 people who want to move into them when they come up for sale.  There is a lot more housing units being built because of the demand.

 

I agree with that to an extent.  That person may be able to do their current role just fine, working from home.  However, that person may be limited to what type of role he or she can have down the road.  My wife had her entire department and office closed during COVID, and they laid off most of the employees.  Her company was able to move her into a new role, and she works from 100% of the time.  However, she may be limited in her opportunities for advancement or even switching to a new role within her company.

 

My company has identified different groups and people in 3 areas:  1) need to be in office environment 100%, 2) hybrid office/work from home, and 3) work from home.  Those who work from home have the option of living anywhere they want to.  However, if I was in in group 3 and I chose to move from the Denver area to small/medium-town Nebraska, my salary would be reduced, and my opportunities for advancement or new roles would be limited.  Of course, some employers may like that in terms of reduced salary and real estate costs, so there are trade-offs there, too.

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33 minutes ago, Ulty said:

I love this question because I have lived in Kearney and the Denver area, multiple times each. Denver wins hands down. 

 

As an example when I was growing up, in Kearney the high school kids for fundraisers would sell coupon cards, candy door to door, and stuff like that. When I moved to Denver during my high school years, my fundraisers were selling concessions at major rock concerts and sporting events. I got to listen to the Scorpions, Alice Cooper, and Stone Temple Pilots (and steal away during breaks to see parts of the shows). I got to sell frozen lemonade during Rockies games in multiple summers. I was a band nerd in high school and our teacher regularly gave us tickets to jazz clubs in downtown Denver.

 

Later as an adult living in both areas, the sheer variety of activities and restaurants in the Denver area always kept things fresh and interesting. Kearney had some decent places to eat but not a wide variety, and I got tired of seeing people I knew in the grocery stores. I prefer a little anonymity. Kearney actually has a lot of things to do for a town its size for young families. I lived in Kearney with small children, and the opportunities for the kind of family we were at the time were perfect. But as teenagers, I would love it if my kids had the multiple social, educational, and employment opportunities in a city like Denver, not to mention the endless entertainment opportunities that smaller towns just can't offer.

 

Not to mention in Kearney, Lincoln was two hours away for a different "city experience." In Denver, the mountains are one hour away and a whole different world of experiences.

First bolded part:  Would love to see all those bands!!!!

Second bolded part:  Your teacher was grooming you!  Ha

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3 hours ago, BigRedBuster said:

I'd be interested in knowing how often people in Denver go skiing, see a professional sporting event...etc.  I go skiing every once in a while.  I go to major sporting events.  We have had three new restaurants open in our little small town in just the last year.  We went with friends to a great new restaurant in North Platte just a couple weeks ago.  That's just a 45 minute drive.  I've been in Denver before going to a restaurant and stuck in traffic for about that long getting there.  Live in a little bigger town than me like Kearney or GI and there are new restaurants every once in a while.  

 

I asked this because we used to live in Des Moines, which we really enjoyed.  When we told our friends we were moving to a small town in Nebraska, their reaction was, "What in the world are you going to do in a small town"?  I'll tell you, I'm busier here than I ever was in Des Moines.  I asked them, what do you normally do.  They said, "hang out with friends, chase kids to kids activities...etc."  Well, I do that here.  Plus, I'm much more involved in the community.

 

I get it, small town life isn't for everyone.  But, I actually told my wife the other day that I would love a weekend where I'm actually bored.

 

I have a cousin that just moved from here to Lincoln and she mentioned that she likes living in Lincoln so much better.  However, she was never one who was involved in anything here.  I would never see her at area events, restaurants...etc.

 

I get the 100k salary.  But, those jobs are in central Nebraska.  There would depend on what you do for a living though.  I just hired a guy that grew up here and wanted to move back. He's not making much less than that and he's only out of college about 5 years.

I think all of that is fair, but it depends on the individual. I go to shows at the Lied Center 3 or 4 times a year, and I make it to the Orpheum in Omaha once or twice too. Lincoln's restaurant scene isn't that great for its size, but I can see how people in larger cities really look forward to trying new places. 

 

As far as jobs, they can be found but it's much more difficult. The slow death of rural areas isn't a coincidence and isn't limited to just the United States. The migration to urban areas is a worldwide phenomenon, it's a positive feedback loop that seems unstoppable. 

 

A tech company moves to a city to hire recent college grads, suppliers to that company also move there to lower costs, the university in that city expands to help supply talent to the new companies moving in, new restaurants and service industries start up, housing construction starts to boom, this all attracts more tech firms to move to that city...  this has been going on for awhile, but it's accelerating. It's quite fascinating in my opinion. 

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