Day Forty-Two: Year 35
It’s my birthday. I am half way to 70. And I’m waiting on the celebration until we land in Colorado.
Today marks the day that we start turning our sights back westward. Having explored the great Northeast for the past couple of weeks (minus the four-day hiccup return flight to Seattle) we all feel it’s time to start making decisions by process of elimination.
We have no real ideas about where we might land in all of this but we have exhausted contacts and resources in this area and neither of us see a ton of possibilities opening up here. It’s a crowded market in a down economy. Feels in many ways like Seattle.
It got me thinking if the same kind of early-century “coastal recession” syndrome was at play.
Back then, the economy began tanking on the coasts – in the high-tech pockets of the country – and then worked their way to the middle.
But then how do you account for Detroit?
This is one of those crazy “triple threat” recessions where major cities across the country are facing hits in all major general tax sources: property, income and sales.
So we are all getting a bit more creative about how we do business and how, quite honestly, we make ends meet. Cities are selling off land and art. Craigslist is filled with new items for sale and is likely going to break $100M as more folks hawk their possessions for quick cash. We have a cop car for sale there. Any takers?
And while we are all starting to get hopeful, while there does seem to be a light at the end of this tunnel, we’re not out of it yet.
I just got word that two friends lost their jobs last week. One in PR and one in government.
I’ve heard phrases like: “We’re not in a hiring freeze. We’re in a hiring frost.”
I see job postings and then learn the job was filled internally…or not at all.
And I wonder what the real unemployment figures are. Not just the folks who have signed up at the unemployment office but the small business owners and other entrepreneurs who make up the bulk of business in this country. What do those numbers look like?
I have this sense that “fly-over country” fares a bit better through all of this. Not because I’m deluded to think they are immune to the effects of declining business, but because there is a completely unscientific sense I have that people there are more accustomed to less traditional means of employment. Coupled with the fact that overall cost of living isn’t as high in many central US areas, it seems not too far-fetched a hypothesis.
I’m certainly not giving up on the coasts, but having overlooked the “square states” much of my life it seems about time for me to open up my eyes and my mind and test out the creative muscle of the gooey center of this nation.
Our current destination is Colorado (again). I have a good list of folks in and out of PR to meet there. Plus, it’s amazingly beautiful and Johannes is itching to go fly fishing again.
I remain full of hope and am confident that we will find an answer to whether we relocate, partner or go corporate before first grade starts.
For now, I’m just looking forward to celebrating 35 in Colorado. I know there’s a slice of chocolate cake with my name on it somewhere in Denver.
