Skeeps is a terrible, awful, awesome bar.

As to Ann Arbor, I'm super biased here. I grew up one town east (Plymouth), played soccer throughout high school and went to college there. I'd love to go back, but life doesn't seem like it will allow it.

The town is a great mix of suburban, urban and rural life. Downtown you have easy access to an eclectic group of restaurants, night life and housing that are all within walking distance. If you prefer suburban living, parking is still pretty easy downtown and you can have a nice lawn and house for a pretty cheap price 10 minutes away. If you want to get away from it all, it's about a 20 minute drive from downtown to get to some fairly remote areas.

I'm not sure what you're really looking for in a town. I've either spent minimal or no time in all the other towns outside of East Lansing, which is essentially a poor man's ann arbor. If you have any specific questions about Ann Arbor, I can definitely answer them.

Also breaking news: Ithaca, NY now in the mix.

Well, the Phoenix-like one isn't in last anymore.

In news about possibly moving to other cities because your significant other is finishing their doctorate, my wife has two interviews in Miami (Children's Hospital of Miami and daaa U Hospital). We're going to be there for a weekend because she has an interview on Friday and Monday, and I'm tagging along because **** it.

Suggestions on things to do, what it's like to live there, etc?

D104, we will be praying for you and your family as you are forced into an unfortunate move due to your wife's career.

Supermario.jpg

/racistban

Thanks ikes! As I mentioned before, I currently live in Austin, and I'm going to be sad to leave. It's our favorite place we've ever lived and the goal is to make it back here someday. The big pluses for us: Awesome food scene, great town for dogs/outdoor activities, and we have like no commute. We live 10 mins from downtown in a wonderful neighborhood that feels completely safe. This is a huge plus since during a 3 year period in Phoenix, we had our house broken into 3 times.

So for our next place, the more like Austin it is, the better.

LOL.

Thanks, it's been a tough time for us. We have relied on the kindness of friends and family to get us through these trying times.

Madison is probably everything you want except for mild winters

Well, I have two friends who went to school at Michigan who now live in Austin, and they said the two were pretty similar. A lot more snow in Ann Arbor though.

Cocaine?

Based upon my one trip to Miami back in 2003, you should go watch the Orange Bowl.

Sorry, I got nothing.

This was my only thought too.

Maybe rent a boat and call up Nevin Shapiro?

Seriously, Miami is terrible. Unless you're into drugs and clubbing, in which case you are terrible. So basically both the city and the people are terrible.

Grunching since I know individual differences (innately and due to circumstances) exist here, but spending more to live downtown or a nice location is almost always worth it compared to being bored in the burbs and having commute. I grunched because I've had a proclivity for urban life (even when i lived in the burbs) and I know some people with kids will insist that the suburbs are much more optimal for families.

I get it, but that's kind of you doing it wrong. I've lived here my whole life and the longest commute I ever had was to high school (30 mins).

Anyway, I can see the argument for not liking Phoenix, but the moral of this story is don't live in Gilbert and then complain when everything is a half an hour in one direction.

No doubt. If we were to move back, we could afford to live much closer. But at the time, SE Chandler was what we could afford. And before you ask, yes we short sold our house when we left.

Surprised at the Miami hate. Not that I have any sort of experience that suggests otherwise, it just seems like a great city in theory. Beautiful weather and beaches, hot girls in bikinis, etc etc.

You want mild winters and Ithaca is in the running? It practically snows in July there

I'd didn't mention mild winters, other people brought that up. Weather is a factor, but since so many of the options are cold weather cities, we are getting mentally prepared for the cold.

That's something I'm curious about - is there a significant difference between Ann Arbor, Madison and Columbus? Or are the winters about the same?

Cross off Ithaca. It blows

My understanding is that ann arbor and Madison are about the same with columbus being a little better

Yeah, it's certainly not on the top of my list. The only big plus for it is that Cornell apparently backs the truck up when it comes to starting salary. But ****, money isn't any good when the only thing you can spent it on is a snow plow.

Breaking news! Philadelphia, PA now in the mix. Stay tuned for more up-to-the-minute action.

I've heard it's gorges.