Things are going well (understatement). Numerous companies have moved corporate HQ to the Duluth Georgia area in the last 10 years. Smart companies can move anywhere they want. My boss is great. He is a farmer originally from Upstate NY. What a huge difference. I am -truly- blessed.
Everything seems to be less expensive in the Northern Atlanta area than what I am used to and the overall quality of living is higher. Gas is a two-fifty-something vs. two-eighty-something, hotels are cheaper, rental cars are cheaper. Groceries are less expensive. Even apples are cheaper. Sales tax is 6% vs 8.25%. It goes on and on. I definitely have a lot more purchasing power here vs. NY.
It is clean, people are more often nice (although an old lady flipped me off in traffic today, totally weird). I have looked at 20+ properties and I am getting service from a Realtor I am unaccustomed to. It is just plain weird. It is like a different country, but it is just a different state. I will be in Finland next month. I suspect it will be more like NY (a lot lot cleaner though) than here. I did notice that there are larger bugs here and although everything I need is very close (much closer than in NY), the traffic is slower. Time-wise, things are still much closer.
I sent a letter to Gov. Paterson just before I left. I will post it here and his response if I get it. I will probably send him another letter soon as a follow-up, just to let him know how things are going.
Here is a quick pic of one of the lakes I am looking at as a place to live.
