Regardless, the whole process really highlighted what I think is important in a place to live and what I want out of the next chapter, whatever that may be. I used to be very oriented towards getting back to the Northwest but I'm starting to think there is so much else out there, I shouldn't limit myself. I've been away so long at this point that going back isn't really important to me, I've adapted elsewhere. What I do want is a bit larger city, with 4 seasons. That would be ideal, and in an office that likes me for the skills I have of course. So I put together the above map to just help me visualize what I'm looking at.
Basically, the red shading is offices that I would definitely apply for, you may notice Flagstaff is red. I don't want to stay in Flag forever, but Im so comfortable and adapted at this point, it would be silly not to apply. And I really love the weather here. I just wish it was a bigger city and people I met didn't always move back to Phoenix.
The Orange shading is offices that there is a 50% chance or greater that I would apply for. So offices that I probably would put in for. The yellow shaded offices are probably not going to be applied for, but I would at least give it some thought if an opening came up. The light gray are "nope, not interested", and the dark gray are, "There is no way in hell I would ever live there", locations. One side note, there is probably a lot of really nice places on the eastern 2/3 of the country, I've just never been there and have no real reason to be there. Nothing against those places, I just don't know much about them. If I had to pick one dream office, it would be Minneapolis. 4 solid seasons, beautiful city, good location, its all great, I'm hoping something pops up there again.
So that's what I'm thinking about, it will be interesting to see where I eventually end up, but I've decided I'm in no real hurry, I mean, who would run away from this?!?!
