Goodbye Ft. Lauderdale; Hello Denver!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

That’s actually fairly light snowfall numbers for records going back to 1891. Or is that what you were trying to illustrate? Only 4 years total with more than 2 feet of snow in December is pretty light.

I hate to play the straightdope game of “you think you got it bad?” but according to this site the nearest city to me that I can find good information on has average December snowfalls of 27.4" In 2001 we had 83" and in the 20th century I see lots of Decembers with 50 to high 60’s inches of snowfall.

22

[QUOTE=Duckster]
It will not matter where you live if you continue to live beyond your means. I hope your prospects are better in Denver.
[/QUOTE]

I totally agree. It’s the reason we are selling the house, our biggest financial albatross. In truth, though, we bought the house at a time when we were not living beyond our means, at all. I realize that it is taboo to discuss here, but my wife and I were both making 6 figures (and she with a guaranteed severance); we covered the cost of living plus were able to put thousands in the bank each month. It was that savings - plus a leap of faith - that let us decide to open our own law firm without going into any debt. It was a year and a half later when we finally decided that the venture wasn’t as profitable as we had hoped, and we needed to change.

That is why we are downsizing to an apartment. It is not only smaller, but the utilities will be lower, there is no yard guy or pool guy…as noted upthread, I’m cutting my housing costs about in half.

Undoubtedly, we could have said, when we first opened the business, that we’d stop eating out, or using amenities like the afore mentioned pool and yard guy, but we felt it wasn’t necessary, since we could cover all of our costs with a reasonable volume of business (If I could have consistently completed 10 closings a month, we were fine. When we weren’t hitting the mark, we added estate planning, and figured we’d need 5 of those a month. We never reached our goal).

Did the business fail? Pfft…who cares. I learned a ton, met some great people, am going to recoup my losses when I sell the house, and I get to move to a place I’ve long wanted to go to. I consider it a smashing success!

23

A couple of other things came to mind, mainly having to do with people moving from the South to Colorado. One you just mentioned - pools. It seems that to many in the South and Southern CA, pools are an assumed part of housing, like a garage or a back porch. Not so in Colorado. Pools just aren’t a thing. You fly into a Florida city or LA and even in the poor neighborhoods around the airport, everyone has a pool. For the most part, pools are are only found in very wealthy neighborhoods, and I don’t think they actually get used much at all. They’re mostly decorative.

Also, there seems to be an assumption that white people send their kids to private schools. There are few private schools in CO. Some for the extremely wealthy and some nice Catholic (and other religious) schools. With the exception of Denver Public Schools (which actually serve a pretty small population - most of the area is suburban), the public schools are excellent. Even the wealthiest residents send their kids to public schools. I used to see John Elway cheering his kids at Cherry Hills HS quite often. In all of Boulder County, there is only one sizable non-religious private school that I know of.

Race isn’t much of an issue in everyday life. Except for some radio talkers screaming about illegal aliens, it just doesn’t come up. The Mayor of Denver has been either black or Hispanic for the last 25 years or so, except for one nerdy white guy who is now the Governor. One of our recent Senators was a Cheyenne Indian.

24

And one last thing regarding snow. The official measurements are taken at DIA, which is on the far eastern edge of the Metro area, and gets a lot less snow. If you’re west of I 25 or south of town near what is called the Palmer Divide, you can add 25% to the official snow totals, maybe more.

25

You are correct that pools are ubiquitous down here. It’s sort of a survival thing: it’s so damn hot in the summer that the only relief is being in the water. But, they require maintenance and upkeep. Either you pay somebody to come out and clean it (which was a boon for us; the pool company eventually hired us to represent them when they sold their office!) or you go to the pool company every week or so to get your water tested and buy more chemicals. A crystal clear pool can be beautiful, but it’s an ongoing science experiment.

I actually was raised going to public schools, but I was out in the sprawling suburbs of west Broward County (the county just north of Miami-Dade). When we bought our house, though, we chose to be east, closer to the ocean, because that’s a better location (i.e. the houses, although they tend to be older and smaller than the McMansions, are often on the water, and you get more of the specialty restaurants and shops and less Applebees/Chili’s chain food). The trade-off, though, is that the only really good schools in this area are private. There’s a Catholic school within walking distance to my house, and one of the best private schools (which covers kids from 1st to 12th grade, and has a campus like a small college) is just down the street. But that costs money; in the case of the prime private school, tuition runs about $30K a year!

I’d much prefer to live somewhere where all of the kids get a good education, and where that education is publicly funded. I don’t mean to sound macabre, but when the Columbine shooting happened, I was impressed with the size of the high school. We don’t get that sort of public school facility out here.

One of my favorite things about South Florida is the diversity. It has plenty of people of varying colors and accents, along with a sizable gay population. The biggest negative I could find in Denver was that it was too homogenous, but I’ve since discovered that this isn’t really true. My mother-in-law tried to dissuade my wife from moving due to “all of the Latins”. I’m happy to piss her off.

26

Yes, there is a big Latino population, but being in the Southwest, they’ve been here longer and have deeper roots than the white folks do.

There is no African-American population to speak of, though. There’s nothing cultural about that, though - it’s just an accident of history. Colorado’s boom years were either pre-emancipation (mining) or after the big migration from the south to the rust belt and northeast. Just a few who got off the train to California and said “This looks like a nice place, I think I’ll just get off here.”

One thing Colorado really lacks is great barbecue and soul food.

27

Although I could not figure out why none of the Indian restaurants had Chana Masala on the menu. It seems so basic.

28

I moved from Florida to Denver back in 1972. I didn’t stay there, but I did enjoy my three years there.

Two things.

The food was very different from what I was used to. I missed a lot of the food you could get in Florida and not in Colorado.

Driving in snow is tricky. Clearing a windshield in winter just sucked.

Good Luck with your move. I hope you love it.

29

Ok, that’s the first bad thing I’ve learned about Colorado. Dammit!

[QUOTE=not what you’d expect]
The food was very different from what I was used to. I missed a lot of the food you could get in Florida and not in Colorado.
[/QUOTE]

I’m intrigued. How so? Besides knowing to avoid Rocky Mountain Oysters, there’s not a lot that I know about Colorado cuisine.

The closest I’ve come to clearing a windshield is scraping ice off of mine in Gainesville, Florida (where the University of Florida is located) during the winter. It would get into the 30’s in the morning. I have no experience driving in snow. One thing is for sure; as soon as my lease is up on my Hyundai, I’m going back to one of those mini-SUV type cars.

30

I didn’t get here until the late 80’s, but the food scene has seen a sea change. Denver/Boulder is a foodies wet dream now, when it used to be a meat-and-potatoes place. The Cuban influence is near zero, but if you like spicy food, you’ll get all you want. Just different spices.

If you get a Subaru 4WD, expect everyone to assume you are a lesbian, even if you’re a dude.

31

Glendale, huh? Well, I live across the street from Glendale and it’s pretty diverse. There are Hispanics/Chicanos, there are Russians, there are African-Americans, and there are African-Africans.* I think there may be one or two single-family detached homes in Glendale, but it’s mostly apartment complexes. Kids in Glendale get the benefit of Cherry Creek schools.

In Denver Public Schools, white kids are a minority, around 40% I think I read most recently. This is across all schools. The grade school my youngest kid attended was pretty white. Got more diverse in middle school, and he went to the high school with the highest percentage of recent immigrants.

As a southern California native who lived in Oklahoma and Texas before moving here, I have a different perspective on whether it gets hot here. It does not.

There are four seasons. Almost winter, winter, still winter, and July.

This is not to say that winters are bad. Last January there was a day when it hit 72F, in a string of nice days. On the other hand it snowed on Mother’s Day (that’s in May, in case you don’t have a mother). It once snowed on Memorial Day.

When it’s cold, it doesn’t feel as cold as cold feels in Texas or Oklahoma. It does feel a lot colder than cold feels in California.

In the mountains, you can get snowed on any month of the year.

But, except for the very hottest days, once the sun goes down, it’s cool. If you like cool, that’s great.

I have no AC in my house. I do have a swamp cooler. I don’t use it because it will chill the air up to 15 degrees cooler than the ambient air and the hottest the house has ever gotten is 82F, which to me is comfortable.

It is sadly true about the lack of good Q. Offset by the easy availability of MJ. (Maybe.)

Winter driving sucks, and don’t let these people tell you the snow melts. We had a snow in November, followed by 6 days when the temps were above 55, and still there was snow and black ice on some of the streets. The main arteries are kept pretty clear but the side streets, forget it. (In Denver. Some of the suburbs may differ.) Be sure you have a dedicated parking place, if not a garage. Covered is better. Parking places diminish as the snow piles up, which doesn’t happen every year, but does happen sometimes. If you park on the street, you’ll have to dig your car out. Then when you leave somebody will take your dug-out spot, and you will have to find and dig out a new one when you get back.

*On preview: It sounds like Lamar Mundane lives in one of the whiter suburbs. There are black-ish neighborhoods, and there is soul food and barbecue, just not a whole lot of it. My favorite was a place called Big Papa’s, which disappeared awhile back and I’ve yet to find another one as good, but there are places to try.

32

I’m in Boulder, which is about 99% white and Asian. Still, Colorado is less than 5% African-American, about 1/3 of the national average. I used to go golfing at Denver’s City Park Golf Course only because of the awesome Soul Food Restaurant there, which I don’t think exists anymore.

33

It’s not so much things to avoid in Colorado, it’s the things I could no longer get.

Cuban Coffee and Cuban Bread and Cuban Sandwichs, Boiled Peanuts, Deviled Crabs, Fresh Oysters. Those foods could not be found in Colorado back then, but it may be different now.

34

Most of the time a front wheel drive car will serve you just as well, if not better.

35

If you aren’t worried about tornadoes in Fort Lauderdale, you shouldn’t be worried about them in Denver. They actually look less common in Denver, although they’re a very low risk in almost all of the US (and just a low risk in places like Oklahoma City).

36

Cuban coffee reminds me of syrup, and I don’t like it. Oysters are good, but something I haven’t had in forever. I’m not sure what deviled crabs are; in my experience, eating crab is too much work (although it’s fun to go into a restaurant, put on a bib, and then hammer the hell out of your meal with a mallet). But I do like Cuban sandwiches and boiled peanuts (or goobers, as the good ole’ boys would call 'em). Just not enough to make me miss Florida.

Speaking of my current home, it’s raining buckets right now. Lots of flash flooding. I figure that there is no “perfect” weather anywhere, so I will happily tolerate the worst of Colorado so that I can enjoy the best of Colorado.

And that reminds me of a few other reasons I’m super excited about my move:

  1. Outdoor activities. Everybody I talk to about Colorado says that there is always something to do outside. Whether it is skiing in the winter or biking/hiking in the summer, it is apparently very conducive to an active lifestyle. I’ve repeatedly read that Colorado has some of the healthiest people in the country, a reflection of the culture. In fact, the apartment we are zeroing in on is right near a bike path, and there appear to be lots of parks.

  2. The time zone. Weird, I know. In actuality, I’d prefer the Pacific time zone, but Mountain is still better than Eastern. Why? Because nationally televised events (I’m mainly thinking of sports, but also political debates) always start too late over here. There’s no way I can watch an entire Monday Night Football broadcast unless I want to stay up past midnight. Forget about a world series game or an NBA finals. Give me two extra hours, and I just might get to enjoy watching TV without sacrificing sleep.

37

My boss, whose family is of Cuban extraction, told me there was a great new Cuban place in town. He described it as very authentic. He’s on vacation now, but I’ll get a name for us when he gets back.

38

Just popped in to reinforce the dryness. It is going to be shockingly dry (both literally and figuratively). I’m from Calgary and the climate is pretty similar. Nose bleeds were common for me.

39

Buchi Cafe in the Highlands for Cuban food - especially sandwiches.

ETA: The Highlands is a neighborhood in north Denver. Often confused with Highlands Ranch, the suburb south of Denver by newcomers.

40

Another moment of silence for “Big Papa’s”. We patronized the one on Evans regularly until the summer of 2014 when we drove over one day and they were closed. Haven’t found any place to measure up since then.