Should I stay or should I go?

[Kuciwalker]

Star in the reboot of Crocodile Hunter.

[Jon Miller]

A friend of mine who is a particle theorist is on a postdoc in Australia right now. He is making good money for a post doc too.

Nick Setzer if you met him.

JM
(I would have probably graduated by now if I had stayed with particle theory.)

[Jon Miller]

My suggestion:

Go into finance/etc like you plan to for 5 -10 years, going to UK at some point. Make large amounts of money.

Regain interest in physics of some type, or go academic route in finance/economics. Apply to positions in Australia.

Spend next 10-20 years relaxing and lecturing in Australia. Retire.

JM

[Dinner]

Anaheim is a ****ty place. It's basically just a bunch of old suburban sprawl from the 50's-70's with no urban planning, no identifiable city core, and no sense at all really. Northern Orange County is just an extension of the endless sprawl which characterizes greater L.A.. South Orange County at least had a little (stress little) planning put into (mostly in that they made giant 14-16 lane freeways then built the unorganized sprawl) plus it is newer and almost exclusively upper class so it is nicer looking unorganized sprawl. It's still a lame place though.

[Mon River Monarch]

Anaheim is a ****ty place. It's basically just a bunch of old suburban sprawl from the 50's-70's with no urban planning, no identifiable city core, and no sense at all really. Northern Orange County is just an extension of the endless sprawl which characterizes greater L.A.. South Orange County at least had a little (stress little) planning put into (mostly in that they made giant 14-16 lane freeways then built the unorganized sprawl) plus it is newer and almost exclusively upper class so it is nicer looking unorganized sprawl. It's still a lame place though.

This description is totally accurate, and what I remember from my days as a kid

[Docfeelgood]

For comparison purposes, it would be worth it to me to visit (assuming I'd never been, which is true for some of these):

NYC, Boston, DC, Miami, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, New Orleans, Las Vegas, Nashville, Philly, Kansas City, Detroit, Honolulu, a number of smaller cities with interesting histories/native culture.

If I didn't know anybody in the following cities then it probably wouldn't be worth it:

Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, anything in Ohio, Seattle, Atlanta, Phoenix, Omaha, Pittsburg

Too damn hot here in Houston!

[Dinner]

Surfing was better in Cali than here on the east coast, but the water is about 20 - 30 degrees colder on the west coast (it seems)

It depends on the time of year. In the late summer it isn't unusual for the water to get into the high 70's and on el nino years I've seen it in the low 80's. In the winter or spring though you don't want to go in unless you have a wet suit.

This description is totally accurate, and what I remember from my days as a kid

On the upside is when it comes to night clubs and excellent food in huge verities L.A. is damn near one of the best cities in the world. In the US only NYC can give L.A. a run for its money in those fields as the sheer number of immigrants from just about every country means you can get really great & authentic ethnic food if you look for it plus there is a metric ****ton of expensive fine dinning restaurants to keep all those Hollywood people and banking execs happy.

Hollywood & sunset strip are great for clubbing with even downtown LA (in certain parts) having come a long way in just 10-12 years or so. LA is much more fortunate then OC in that at least there were historic areas to revive while OC really has nothing going for it in the historic sense; thus LA has actually done a fair bit of urban redevelopment and has helped revive its long neglected downtown area. For ethnic food my two favorites are Koreatown (K-town as the locals call it) and, oddly, Little Armenia as they seem to have the largest communities full of great authentic restuarants. Monterrey Park is the center of all things Chinese in LA while Little Japan tends to be mostly an old community as few Japanese immigrant these days. All the South Asians live in Van Nuys while the Vietnamese live in central OC.

Try checking out the area around the Disney Concert Center in downtown where you can have a nice upscale dinner and then catch a concert or show. The town is literally awash in live bands and actors hoping to make it big so the arts scene is very well developed if that interests you at all. Failing that a day trip to Santa Catalina Island or to the Channel Islands National Park (camping gear required) is always fun or you could head over to Malibu or Beverley Hills to check out how the rich and famous live. Tell me what type of activities you're into and I'll see what I can come up with (though someone who lives in LA might know better than I).

[Dinner]

Also it is good to remember that Los Angeles /= to all of Southern California. Don't judge the whole place based on LA as once you get out of LA it is an entirely different world.

[self biased]

I like Oerdin well enough.

ain't that the truth.

[Blaupanzer]

Go. The downside is small, upside can be great. If nothing else, go to the beach and drive around a little as described previously. Knowing someone local always helps a lot, but the search engines will turn up tons of ideas. You have but to ask.

Note that Seattle/Tacoma/Victoria is a nice part of the country to visit. If you are into deserts, then Southern Arizona has a nice one. This would be south of Tucson; I didn't see much with any real meaning in Phoenix.

[Dinner]

ain't that the truth.

You weren't so happy about my snoring though.

[Flubber]

The real problem with listing Canadian cities was that, in my mind, it might skew the perspective of Americans (my assumption is that they would add some small amount to interesting/different/novelty of any city not in the US, as I would for any city in Europe, though to a smaller extent).

I had Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax, Ottawa and Calgary listed prior to deletion, by the way. And not all of them in the "would visit" category.

While I can accept YOUR explanation, I think the better reason not to do Canadian cities is that if you did this could easily become a Canuck thread and get thoroughly jacked away from your purpose.

I have been in all of the cities in your Canadian list. Hell I was in three of them yesterday

[Flubber]

To the meat of the issue

It really comes dowm whether spending x dollars to be in so Cal with your wife is more fun than being elsewere.

I would tend to go on the theory that you are faithful to said wife and therefore not going results in abstinence for a few days

I would also go just to have the chance to walk the beaches and enjoy warm weather.

The only way I wouldn't go is if money is super tight, work is impossible to get away from or you don't want to hang with the wife. Otherwise I would go in a second

[KrazyHorse]

While I can accept YOUR explanation, I think the better reason not to do Canadian cities is that if you did this could easily become a Canuck thread and get thoroughly jacked away from your purpose.

I have been in all of the cities in your Canadian list. Hell I was in three of them yesterday

I've been in all but two.

[Kontiki]

Having been in Detroit (along with many of the other cities you listed), I can assure you there is nothing worth going there for unless it's just to look at and wonder how a city in a first world country can be so utterly broken.