Hello forum!
As brief as I can be a bit about me ??? :roll: ??? I'm in MS with a wife who's returned to school studying psychology and education. We're both in our 30s, kids. I have a BFA in Graphic Design with 15 years experience, almost 10 as an art director. I'm currently a minister in a main-line denomination. On that note as I know it will put off some I believe the natural order of things is freewill. Humanity has the freewill for self determination in our relationship with God, how can government expect an amicable relationship with individuals (citizens) if the relationship isn't voluntary/freewill based? That's sort of how I come at the politics/religion angle.
Currently my wife and I are weighing our options for our future, but the children weigh heavily into that process. Fact is my spouse needs to get her masters and I also am more than likely returning to school, for what is as yet unknown… weighing my options of Seminary, Siebel Institute, or something else… possibly a return to graphics. My parents were entrepreneurs and I have a very strong entrepreneurial spirit myself, very interested in opening a brewpub among other things. The long and short of our current situation is that in 2008 we lost our jobs, unrelated workplace, on back to back days precipitating the loss of our home, savings, etc. We are currently living a meager lifestyle but happier than ever before. I mention this as it has offered us a chance to reboot our lives, she pursuing her passion and me reevaluating mine.
I have a gazillion questions, concerns, and trepidations about moving. We've lived elsewhere before and it was such a mixed bag we wound up returning to MS. General thoughts etc. at this time are thus:
1-My wife hates the cold… ruhroh!
2-What's the job market in NH like?
3-More specifically and VERY important I'm completely unaware of the area so we don't have a clue as to where/what to look into… where to begin!?
4-How tolerant of my faith are those around me within the movement going to be considering I'm not here to judge but love. To put it into perspective I own one religious t-shirt. I'm not a liberal religiously, but am far from a hard boiled conservative.
5-What professions are in high demand in the area which pay well as I've got the opportunity to return to school and study just about anything? (when I say pay well ideally my wife and I both would make the median income for the state… WAY more than we've made before though I came close as an art director). At our age finances are a real big concern with retirement age looming in 3 decades rather than 5!
In terms of activism I'm not sure where I'd get involved except to be a freedom loving citizen fully living within his rights. The idea of several of us buying/building in an undeveloped area, incorporating, and for US to be the police, govt., etc. is very encouraging. In this way we would be a microcosm of the free state movement itself by being a free town within the movement. The idea of having no town property, volunteer peace officers on a as needed basis, etc. is very appealing as an exercise of libertarian self governance. In a sense the major need/focus for any governance would be to meet statutory guidelines of being a township and to provide the community with defense against those outside who would seek to harm it while addressing possible 'victim creating' crimes in an appropriate manner. Just a thought…
Chiefly I'm looking for a place to be myself, exercise my liberty, and be left alone to do as much or as little as I please so long as it doesn't infringe on someone else's person or property! In this place I seek to prosper professionally, spiritually, financially, and very importantly with liberty!
Welcome aboard.
The job market seems pretty tight here.
I highly doubt that your beliefs and faiths will be a concern to anyone. We all have our own.
It does get cold up here. Sorry Mrs. mvktr2.
Not sure where you should begin or a high demand job market, though.
All in all, it sounds like you aiming towards the right place for some of what you're looking for at least.
The job market is tight everywhere, but NH does have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. I'm not on a job hunt, but I do see help wanted signs, so I know there are jobs available. Whether they will pay enough to support your family is another question. Perhaps start by poking around the links in the stickied thread in the jobs subforum here.
It's cold outside a lot of the year up here. I see it as a price to pay for a chance at liberty in my lifetime. My hands and feet get cold easily, but I deal with it. Thankfully, I don't work outside.
Welcome!
Welcome.
If you go to college, I recommend not doing it in NH. NH hardly funds it's government colleges at all so they are quite expensive compared to other states.
[quote]1-My wife hates the cold… ruhroh![/quote]
Your wife will likely find it to be cold outside for much of the year anywhere in NH. The southern Seacoast area and the Salem and Nashua areas tend to be the warmest parts of NH.
[quote]2-What's the job market in NH like?[/quote]
It's good in the Portsmouth, Salem and Nashua areas. In most of the rest of the state unemployment is also low but the concentration of people is so low that there aren't a lot of good paying jobs available. I second Ian's suggestion of looking at the sticky. To see what kind of good paying jobs are in demand in the NH job market, you may want to join this group and pay attention to the kind of jobs that are posted to it for a couple of months, https://www.facebook.com/groups/fspjobalert/
[quote]4-How tolerant of my faith are those around me within the movement going to be considering I'm not here to judge but love. To put it into perspective I own one religious t-shirt. I'm not a liberal religiously, but am far from a hard boiled conservative.[/quote]
Almost everyone will not care. Some people may like you more if you are a religious. Some people may like you less.
[quote]
The idea of several of us buying/building in an undeveloped area, incorporating, and for US to be the police, govt., etc. is very encouraging. In this way we would be a microcosm of the free state movement itself by being a free town within the movement. [/quote]
NH isn't organized like MS. NH has been controlled by white people since the 1600s. Most of NH and all of southern NH (where the good jobs are) has been incorporate for a long time. The only places that aren't incorporated are isolated areas that aren't near job markets. You can read about them here, http://www.nh.gov/safety/divisions/hsem/HazardMitigation/documents/hmp-appendix-e.pdf
[quote author=mvktr2 link=topic=5617.msg55717#msg55717 date=1320276391]
1-My wife hates the cold… ruhroh![/quote]
New Hampshire can be pretty cold.
I moved from the Houston area, in November, and had a bit of a rough time. Had to buy a winter wardrobe (thermals? what are those?), get used to shoveling snow off my car, etc. But winter hasn't bothered me since that first year.
There are 1.3 million people living in NH. It can be done. You just have to adapt a bit.
(Though I'm still a little confused by the whole "snow-blowing" concept.)
[quote]2-What's the job market in NH like?[/quote]
Not bad at all. And you can always look for jobs in surrounding states, too. Boston, Brattleboro…
[quote]3-More specifically and VERY important I'm completely unaware of the area so we don't have a clue as to where/what to look into… where to begin!?[/quote]
What are you looking for? Do you like cities? Do you want to live close to the state house?
[quote]4-How tolerant of my faith are those around me within the movement going to be considering I'm not here to judge but love. To put it into perspective I own one religious t-shirt. I'm not a liberal religiously, but am far from a hard boiled conservative.[/quote]
I doubt it will be a problem, as long as you aren't constantly pushing your views on other people. They might be in the minority, but there are Christians here, and mostly it seems that the issue just doesn't come up.
[quote]5-What professions are in high demand in the area which pay well as I've got the opportunity to return to school and study just about anything? (when I say pay well ideally my wife and I both would make the median income for the state… WAY more than we've made before though I came close as an art director). At our age finances are a real big concern with retirement age looming in 3 decades rather than 5![/quote]
There are a lot of computer jobs in NH. Otherwise, it's probably similar to anywhere else- engineers, doctors, lawyers make good money, a degree in English literature won't go far.
[quote]In terms of activism I'm not sure where I'd get involved except to be a freedom loving citizen fully living within his rights. The idea of several of us buying/building in an undeveloped area, incorporating, and for US to be the police, govt., etc. is very encouraging. In this way we would be a microcosm of the free state movement itself by being a free town within the movement. The idea of having no town property, volunteer peace officers on a as needed basis, etc. is very appealing as an exercise of libertarian self governance. In a sense the major need/focus for any governance would be to meet statutory guidelines of being a township and to provide the community with defense against those outside who would seek to harm it while addressing possible 'victim creating' crimes in an appropriate manner. Just a thought…
Chiefly I'm looking for a place to be myself, exercise my liberty, and be left alone to do as much or as little as I please so long as it doesn't infringe on someone else's person or property! In this place I seek to prosper professionally, spiritually, financially, and very importantly with liberty![/quote]
I would wait until getting up here before trying to organize something like that. In Keene, there have been a few small starts along those lines (that is, lots of libertarians living together), with mixed outcomes.
You might really like Grafton, too. It might be the closest to what you're looking for in New Hampshire.
[quote author=mvktr2 link=topic=5617.msg55717#msg55717 date=1320276391]
…1-My wife hates the cold… ruhroh!
2-What's the job market in NH like?
3-More specifically and VERY important I'm completely unaware of the area so we don't have a clue as to where/what to look into… where to begin!?
4-How tolerant of my faith are those around me within the movement going to be considering I'm not here to judge but love. To put it into perspective I own one religious t-shirt. I'm not a liberal religiously, but am far from a hard boiled conservative.
5-What professions are in high demand in the area which pay well as I've got the opportunity to return to school and study just about anything? (when I say pay well ideally my wife and I both would make the median income for the state… WAY more than we've made before though I came close as an art director). At our age finances are a real big concern with retirement age looming in 3 decades rather than 5![/quote]
The cold is an issue, but seems to be a bigger issue when one just imagines it and doesn't go through the day to day. Has she ever lived somewhere that had a winter, or always been in MS? Perception changes over time, and some winters aren't as bad as others.
Re religion…basically you'll be fine. No one will be concerned about your faith, mostly as long as it's not pushed on others. I myself will probably be interested. Which mainline denomination is it?
Sorry it's taken me so long to reply and thanks a bunch for the kind replies.
Gotta say, the more I look into NH and the FSP the more encouraged I am by the prospects of a move to NH. For the record it will be at least 4 years, most likely 5.5-6 years before we make a permanent move as my high school aged daughter is in line for acceptance into a high end learning school which would all but eliminate our having to pay for her college education! Plus the wife and I both have higher education concerns to address in the interim. So we've got lots of time to visit, assess, and plan.
I handle the cold rather well, actually prefer a bit of chill in the air and generally dislike our oppressive summers. We're into the 2nd week of Nov. here and my main attire is still flip-flops, shorts, and t-shirts when outside around the house. :) The wife and I both however will just have to 'cope' with a NH winter.
As for my asking about religion, I don't go out of my way to make myself a problem for anyone in any way, including my faith. I simply ask out of curiosity of what the general consensus was concerning those within the movement. I've got a fair feel for libertarianism as a whole as it relates to faith, and it's generally positive. Obviously I'm not a neocon trying to force my brand of the bible onto everyone else or I wouldn't be identifying with the liberty movement.
Praetgeist asked which denomination I was involved in, the United Methodist. One of the strengths of our denomination is it's allowance of a fairly broad range of theological beliefs within it's clergy and members. As John Wesley said, 'agreement on the big things and tolerance in the small things'.
As for where to live, I'm not sure. Cities are fine, burbs are fine so long as they're not sprawling cookie cutter no-character areas. Rural living is what I'm most used to, but have lived in urban settings and suburbs. Being close to the state house wouldn't matter a flip to me :). Ideally I'd probably like to live close to major metropolitan areas, but not in them, perhaps within an hours drive. I would prefer to live in or on the edge of a town of 20-60 thousand people with access to hospitals, shopping, etc. A big interest here is property value as I wouldn't want to live in a neighborhood/area of too high of rent. Of concern here is my growing yearning to open a pub, lower rent would of course make that more feasable. A town with a bar culture would be nice, but a place in need of a well run, good food/good beer establishment would also be nice. Also a town with a downtown/market area under revitalization would be a plus/place to locate a business. THOUGHTS???
As for the jobs question I thought someone might be able to point me toward something, but it's okay if no one does. For instance I've discussed online moving to a couple of other nations, Chile most prominently. The word on Chile is that 'mine engineering' and 'forestry engineering' are high paying high demand fields there which generally look outside of the nation for employees due to a lack of Chilean nationals with the skills. Anyhoo, thanks. BTW does anyone know of any wallcovering manufacturers in NH? I ask as that's where most of my professional career in graphic design was spent.
Schlante & thanks,
Phillip
[quote author=mvktr2 link=topic=5617.msg55833#msg55833 date=1320924906]
Sorry it's taken me so long to reply and thanks a bunch for the kind replies.
… we've got lots of time to visit, assess, and plan.[/quote]
That's probably good.
[quote]As for where to live, I'm not sure. Cities are fine, burbs are fine so long as they're not sprawling cookie cutter no-character areas. Rural living is what I'm most used to, but have lived in urban settings and suburbs. Being close to the state house wouldn't matter a flip to me :). Ideally I'd probably like to live close to major metropolitan areas, but not in them, perhaps within an hours drive.[/quote]
Depending on what counts as major, Manchester and Boston might be the only ones around. But a good portion of NH is within an hour's drive of Manchester, and much of southern NH is less than an hour from Boston. It's about an hour and fifteen minutes to Manch from Keene, and 2 hours to Boston.
[quote]I would prefer to live in or on the edge of a town of 20-60 thousand people with access to hospitals, shopping, etc.[/quote]
Keene, Manchester, Concord, Nashua, and Portsmouth come to mind. I might be missing a few. Whatever city Dartmouth is in.
There's a big libertarian presence in Keene and the Manchester/Concord area, a quieter presence around Portsmouth, and not much to my knowledge in Nashua.
[quote]A big interest here is property value as I wouldn't want to live in a neighborhood/area of too high of rent.[/quote]
As far as I understand, NH in general isn't problematic in that respect. (But you should doublecheck this.) There are high property taxes, though.
[quote]Of concern here is my growing yearning to open a pub, lower rent would of course make that more feasable. A town with a bar culture would be nice, but a place in need of a well run, good food/good beer establishment would also be nice. Also a town with a downtown/market area under revitalization would be a plus/place to locate a business. THOUGHTS???[/quote]
Keene has plenty of bars. I don't know the bar situation in other areas. You'll probably have to get a hold of people from other areas to help out with this, or do some investigating yourself.
[quote]As for the jobs question I thought someone might be able to point me toward something, but it's okay if no one does. For instance I've discussed online moving to a couple of other nations, Chile most prominently. The word on Chile is that 'mine engineering' and 'forestry engineering' are high paying high demand fields there which generally look outside of the nation for employees due to a lack of Chilean nationals with the skills. Anyhoo, thanks. BTW does anyone know of any wallcovering manufacturers in NH? I ask as that's where most of my professional career in graphic design was spent.[/quote]
Outside of computer tech jobs, I'm not aware of anything like that.
I don't know of any wallcovering manufacturers in the Keene area.
[quote]Schlante & thanks,
Phillip[/quote]
Good luck.