CK, Interstate Immigrant

[Grefter]

I will say after meeting CK no he will probably not do well in the Military and is probably too introverted to do Peace Corps.  But I may be wrong.  >_>

I would think the Sea Org might have some merit if it wasn't for the whole money thing.

[Sierra]

Snowfire talking about government stuff.

Idly, CK, if any of that should interest you, this is generally the place to start looking: http://www.usajobs.gov/

[Idun]

The south has a relatively low cost of living, unless you're considering anything around the Miami area in Florida. As far as I know about the economic conditions in Ga, our unemployment rate is bubbling somewhere between 8%-9%. Though, I was able get three different jobs within the 2007-2009 timeframe, working part-time. Full-time jobs I haven't had much success looking for. Anyway, if you're a chef, perhaps you should look into furthering that for the moment since it's something you have the most experience in. My friend's a chef, he's living in the Buckhead area (what I would consider city-living) working two full-time jobs to make due for the moment, and he hasn't been alerted of any uncertainties of keeping his job. Anyway, you wouldn't need to work two jobs, especially since MARTA will get you everywhere within the metro-Atlanta area.

Though I do not suggest Atlanta for you. If anything, I'd recommend you research TN, AL and SC or NC on city-data, then look up in the yellow-pages or through newspaper jobsites what their current employment roll is doing. You can apply for jobs out of state too, rather than moving then seeing how it goes. Perhaps I'm talking more about employment because whether you successfully move or not, I'm pretty sure you don't want to move back to Michigan.

[NotMiki]

Come up to NYC!  I need a roommate starting September.

As for the jobs situation, I dunno.  You're not working the financial sector, so that's a plus, anyway.

[Captain K.]

Austin is a bit expensive actually.  Corpus Christi/San Antonio are fairly cheap cost-of-living wise.  As for jobs, we have billions of restaurants... and the police are hiring!  You could get people to respect your authori-tie!

[SageAcrin]

The area of NC I'm in has basically flatlined for jobs, to the point where people are moving away(The major factory in this town closed, and it's the biggest town within like twenty miles of every direction or something like that.), and I live in the middle of nowhere and have no driving ability of my own to help anyone with. Also, the only town above six digits is around 40 miles instead of 20.

But hey, you know, it'd be tacky to not respond, so. >_>

[OblivionKnight]

Obviously, the areas I know best are in PA and WV.

With regards to central PA...

Job market is actually growing.  There's a lot of development in the area, and in particular, I know a lot of chain restaurants going into business, especially in the small towns (my hometown has an Applebee's, Damon's under construction with plans for opening a lot of other places in the future - there's also a Charlie Brown's, and a bunch of other places 15 minutes away).  Pretty cheap place to live as well - places to live aren't tough to find.  No public transportation system, and it's also boring as sin, which I'm sure Shale can attest to >_>

Philadelphia is hell.  Do not go there.

Pittsburgh actually has loads of chances for jobs, in the food service area too.  Public transportation abounds as well.  Rent varies alot - you can find places that are, to be honest, shitty, for $300 a month, or better places averaging around $600 or so.  I like the city, though your mileage may vary.  Roommates are also easy to find, if you're into that. 

Morgantown in WV is very affordable, and a collegetown with a big job market in all areas.  Cheapish too - $300-$600 or so, like Pittsburgh.  Same issues, mostly.

I'd just suggest you be certain you can do this, and make sure you have a fallback plan. 

[Cmdr_King]

Well, put it off a week or two longer than I meant to, but I feel confident saying that I've decided on Morgantown WV.

Concerns...

1. I'll need to open a new bank account at a national chain, both so I can get at it in WV and so that I can open an account with some sort of debit option for travelling funds purposes (carrying around that much cash being unambiguously insane).  So any annecdotes from DLers on the matter, for example which ones have worked and which to avoid, would be helpful.

2. I've never rented before, and certainly not through craigslist.  What's the usual amount of time needed to get ahold of someone and go from there to being able to move in?  I'll want to know if I should get on this right away or if it's a quick process and going ahead too early would just involve paying for the place weeks before I actually use it.

3. This is more specific to OK, but how's the public transport there?  I've read that there's a fairly unique system in place, but mostly curious how necessary a car is in the area.

[NotMiki]

2. I've never rented before, and certainly not through craigslist.  What's the usual amount of time needed to get ahold of someone and go from there to being able to move in?  I'll want to know if I should get on this right away or if it's a quick process and going ahead too early would just involve paying for the place weeks before I actually use it.

If you're renting a room, a lot of rentals are going to be immediate, and from my recent experience the ones that aren't will want you to move in at the start of the next month.  Apartment, beginning of next month should be standard, and those are gonna be a yearlong lease.  If you care to do things the complicated way, look for someone who rents by the week and use their place as a base to try to get a job/real apartment from.

[Lady Door]

Well, put it off a week or two longer than I meant to, but I feel confident saying that I've decided on Morgantown WV.

Concerns...

1. I'll need to open a new bank account at a national chain, both so I can get at it in WV and so that I can open an account with some sort of debit option for travelling funds purposes (carrying around that much cash being unambiguously insane).  So any annecdotes from DLers on the matter, for example which ones have worked and which to avoid, would be helpful.

2. I've never rented before, and certainly not through craigslist.  What's the usual amount of time needed to get ahold of someone and go from there to being able to move in?  I'll want to know if I should get on this right away or if it's a quick process and going ahead too early would just involve paying for the place weeks before I actually use it.

3. This is more specific to OK, but how's the public transport there?  I've read that there's a fairly unique system in place, but mostly curious how necessary a car is in the area.

1. Banks suck, especially national chains. If you're eligible, I recommend something like USAA. If you don't get USAA, consider an online bank -- I have no personal experience with them, though, so can't help you there. If you must use a brick & mortar national bank: Bank of America has ATMs EVERYWHERE but is ridiculous with fees and bureaucratic nonsense; Chase/WaMu has been good to me, but I've heard people aren't so fond; Wells Fargo charges fees but has great customer service.

2. It took me ~2 weeks every time I rented through a Craigslist ad. It took 2-3 months to get to that point, but I suspect that's mainly a Bay Area/university-town quirk. Feel free to look semi-seriously in advance of actually trying to find a place so that you can get a good idea what the prevailing rates & incentives are. It definitely helps your bargaining position. If you are doing the room thing, NotMiki is right in that most are for immediate or near-immediate occupancy.

[metroid composite]

Bank of America are bureaucratic jerks, but I use them anyway.  They actually don't really charge fees if you keep a good amount of money in the account, though I'm guessing that's not an option in this case.  The big reason to use them is that they are everywhere--and I don't mean have lots of ATMs (they have that too).  More that a lot of American banks are regional to a small area of the country, so if you plan to move from state to state, with many banks you'd have to keep switching, but with BoA you wouldn't.  (My sister has a bank account with the Bank of Santa Barbara...yyyyeaaahh).

[Hunter Sopko]

For people in the tri-state area of NY, NJ and Conn (plus Penn and Mass), TD Banknorth is awesome. I've used them since they were Hudson United. Their checking accounts actually reimburse you for all your ATM fees from non-bank ATMs. It used to be for all accounts, but I think they recently changed it so that it requires 1500 in the account to be eligible. I've since dipped under 1500 and it's still refunding for me though 2 months running.

I honestly have no bad things to say about the bank, other than you can't make international payments with their debit cards (Which Hudson United did). And thats veeeeeeeeeeeeery minor. I've had my CC# attempted to be used by overseas thieves and they refused all those transactions, immediately cancelled the card, called me to inform me what happened that day and sent me a new card within a few days.

[OblivionKnight]

Well, put it off a week or two longer than I meant to, but I feel confident saying that I've decided on Morgantown WV.

Concerns...

1. I'll need to open a new bank account at a national chain, both so I can get at it in WV and so that I can open an account with some sort of debit option for travelling funds purposes (carrying around that much cash being unambiguously insane).  So any annecdotes from DLers on the matter, for example which ones have worked and which to avoid, would be helpful.

2. I've never rented before, and certainly not through craigslist.  What's the usual amount of time needed to get ahold of someone and go from there to being able to move in?  I'll want to know if I should get on this right away or if it's a quick process and going ahead too early would just involve paying for the place weeks before I actually use it.

3. This is more specific to OK, but how's the public transport there?  I've read that there's a fairly unique system in place, but mostly curious how necessary a car is in the area.

Apologies for not responding...ever >_>  I haven't looked at this topic in a while, nor have I been in chat to hear anything <_<

Anyway...

I live by PNC Bank, which I've always like and found to be very reliable and fair.  There is one in Morgantown, but I do not believe they are common at all on anywhere outside of the East Coast. 

Craigslist can be a crapshoot - I've heard good and bad, of various degrees.  There are some very cheap, decent apartments in the area (college town and all).  My advice is get on it as soon as possible, but look in to other areas as well as a back up.

As for the public transportation...let me ask my students tomorrow.  As far as I know, it has been down all summer for work, but is apparently pretty reliable.  Cars aren't necessary, by any means - there is a decent bus system from what I understand, and the unique public transportation (PRET, IIRC) goes all around the city.