What would you do? E Coast (fed job, no family) vs. W Coast (no job, family)

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you have your mind made up already. Welcome to the poor house lady. How will your unemployment and poor status affect your children?

[Anonymous]

C'mon now OP, you are being incredibly vague about H's job. What is the deal with his hours? And what is the amazing promotion potential in forestry?

[Anonymous]

Sweetie,
There are jobs in CA. I have one of them. However, please move your sorry ass to DC. We really don't need you on the dole here, when even the illegals work their asses off to survive and you sit back and expect me to feed you.

Second, the gov't isn't hiring. Anywhere...and those spiffy forestry jobs have 3 or 4 dozen people applying for each job. With experience, I might add......

[Anonymous]

Here are the things that we know: DH is going to school for forestry next year. I am finishing my degree.
Here is what we don't know: Next year in W or E


btw, every job he applies to now, hundreds of people apply for. I do think the odds are better for forestry management, based on the number of jobs on usajobs.

[Anonymous]

Ok, now we're getting somewhere. Based on what OP sees on USAjobs.com she has made an educated decision that forestry is a good prospect. Got it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, I don't think he can step into a GS-13, in fact I know he won't, but at least there is that growth potential. He will be a former federal employee, so he will have preference over non-fed employees.

Yes, and unless he's a veteran, every veteran will have preference over him. You should read the thread re: the people applying for fed jobs who are perfectly qualified who are losing out to perfectly qualified veterans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two things: No promotion potential and in DC. Quality of life for kids counts for something, and I don't want my kids growing up with DC quality of life.

But you're posting this on a forum full of parents raising their kids with "DC quality of life." Do you think that's a very smart move? Why don't you ask people in CA what they think of your options? How insulting can you be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two things: No promotion potential and in DC. Quality of life for kids counts for something, and I don't want my kids growing up with DC quality of life.

But you're posting this on a forum full of parents raising their kids with "DC quality of life." Do you think that's a very smart move? Why don't you ask people in CA what they think of your options? How insulting can you be?

And furthermore, I think the quality of your kids' lives will unquestionably be better in DC if they have household income than if they live in nuts and flakes CA with no employed parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, now we're getting somewhere. Based on what OP sees on USAjobs.com she has made an educated decision that forestry is a good prospect. Got it.

The naivete is astounding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two things: No promotion potential and in DC. Quality of life for kids counts for something, and I don't want my kids growing up with DC quality of life.

I'm from Colorado. We are in DC for work. Been here 4 years. 2 kids - 2 and 5. We live in Northern Virginia. Plan on leaving next year - working on getting jobs lined up elsewhere.
I don't love it here. It's not home for me. No family. I don't like the traffic. Or the oppressive heat wave we are in. Or the high cost of living to be within reasonable commute to work.
That said, this area is not bad to raise children. Its actually fun. You have history at your doorstep. The Smithsonian museums are FREE. The national zoo is FREE. There's lots of playgrounds, a sprayground in NoVa that is FREE, great recreation centers with low cost to workout or visit. Great PUBLIC schools. There's a lot of good things here for families. Plus, your hubby telecommutes so you can live wherever you want. Not everyone is uptight, and most of us don't care if you use a Graco stroller or a BugABoo.
Check out Fairfax County. Lots of parks, lakes, playgrounds, running and walking and cycling trails, great public schools. It is not a poor quality of life for the children at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or the oppressive heat wave we are in.

In case you didn't know, the current heat wave is impacting the nation. It is not limited to DC and the surrounding areas.

[Anonymous]

But there are such wonderful nuts and flakes here in CA. Honestly. And there is sunshine. And right now, it's about 68 degrees. In a couple hours, it will maybe be 80. No humidity.

OTOH, the unemployed can go impact someone else's state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or the oppressive heat wave we are in.

In case you didn't know, the current heat wave is impacting the nation. It is not limited to DC and the surrounding areas.

Yes, I do know that its impacting more than DC. But not the entire nation - the midwest & east coast. You still have about 1/3 to 1/2 the nation not in a heat wave. Anyway, a heat wave in the west in much different than a heat wave here. I'll take 100 degrees in Colorado with no humidity over 95 degrees here with 70% humidity.
But that wasn't my point. My point was there are drawbacks to DC, but there are also lots of great things as well. It's not a bad place to raise kids.

[Anonymous]

OP can always move and then return to the West Coast in a couple years. And going on welfare as an outright plan? Something's wrong here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two things: No promotion potential and in DC. Quality of life for kids counts for something, and I don't want my kids growing up with DC quality of life.

But you say that you know DH will go to grad school in a year, right? So this is just for a year, at least that's the plan right now. Given that, I'm unclear why you're concerned about these issues. This would be a temporary move, not a permanent one--or at least, that's what your OP indicated.