Manufactured Content - Where Have You Lived?

Chronological

• Bancroft, WI -- Until 18
• Green Bay, WI -- for 1 year while at UWGB
• Stevens Point, WI -- until 2000 when I finished up my undergrad and grad work at UWSP
• Wisconsin Rapids, WI -- for about 6 years for work
• Mankato, MN -- for 2 years during my second grad degree
• Grinnell, IA -- for about 1.5 years for my first job in my new profession
• Rochester, MN -- for the past 10 years for my current position

Ranked

• Stevens Point, WI -- Love my time there.  It has everything I need (except jobs), but most close friends are there/nearby, and close to family.  Plus Point Rugby!
• Rochester, MN -- Big city things in a smaller city, plus my job!  Wife loves it here.  Lots of things that we both enjoy, close enough for regular trips back to central WI.
• Mankato, MN -- Only there for 2 years but really loved it.  Made some good friends there, loved the campus.  Decent music scene for being a smaller city.
• Wisconsin Rapids, WI -- One of my best friends lives there, and I was luck to be part of the music scene when I was there.  Met my wife there.  Lots of fun memories.  And you get used to the smell of the paper mill.
• Bancroft, WI -- Always fun to visit family and friends.  Still can fit in, but gets harder the longer I am away.
• Grinnell, IA -- Nice small town Iowa, although a very liberal college in a pretty conservative town made for some interesting times.  Did play for city men's rugby team and won our division at the All-Iowa tournament.  First time I have been on a winning team in my life.
• Green Bay, WI -- Love Green Bay, but did not start school off on a good note so was only there a year.  Can't really rank it fairly.

Continuing the Midwestern roots theme:

Chronological:

1960-66- Milwaukee. Intersection of Van Buren and Brady on Milwaukee's Eastside...Little Italy at the time morphing into Hait Ashbury by the end of the decade. Lived next to my Italian-speaking grandparents who scared the shit out of me because of their limited English.

1966-84- 3400 block of Newhall Street on Milwaukee's Eastside  (on border with Shorewood) Still the most memorable years of my life. Bartlett Avenue Grade School, Milwaukee Riverside and UW-Milwaukee. I am still the only person I ever met who went farther away to kindergarten (6 blocks) than he did to college (2 blocks) 

1985-93- Sold out my city roots and settled into white bread suburbia in Shorewood and Whitefish Bay. 

1994-96- Mrs. Blair Kiel offered transfer with Johnson Controls to Melbourne FL. I hated Milwaukee winters (still do)  . Traded -22 degree late January as we left for sunny and 75 when we arrived in Florida....never looked back and never bitched about the heat, cause it still beats the shit out of winter. Brevard County is an unappreciated part of Florida with tons of natural beauty and still not too crowded.

1996-2018- Mrs. Kiel (I married well) takes job with PGA Tour and we move North to Ponte Vedra Beach (metro Jacksonville). Sunshine, ocean, wild life,  Live Oak trees, Spanish moss, St. Augustine, SEC football, no winter and gated communities to keep people like Fedya out...what was not to love?  

5 months ago.....St.George UT. Why the Hell not? 30 some years in Sconnie, 25 in Florida and hopefully another 25 or 30 in the desert Southwest....Despite it being Utah, it's more like Arizona here (were in the corner with Nevada and Arizona) . I've traded gators for mountain lions. Hiking, biking and watching Sunday Night Football at 6:30 P.M. ...not to mention being able to stay up for Brewer games. 

Ranked:

All #1.

I would not have changed a damn thing about anywhere I've lived and I loved every place I've lived. Special memories, friends and life events in every place. I'll always be a Milwaukee kid though. The only thing I truly don't miss is the shitty Florida drivers...I'm actually back in Florida for a week ( we've kept a house here as Mrs. Kiel works a month in Utah and a month in Florida) and I'd forgotten what a bunch of asshole drivers there are here. It's a goddam NASCAR event. Oh, and I don't miss the humidity.

Blair Kiel posted:

never looked back and never bitched about the heat, cause it still beats the shit out of winter.

Same (well sorta). I will never bitch about rain and 45 degrees in December vs -20 and snow.  OR GODDAMNED BLIZZARDS IN APRIL GO HOME MIDWEST YOU'RE DRUNK

Madison, WI

Wild Rose, WI

Waukesha, WI

Cambridge, MA

Silver Spring, MD

Bethesda, MD

Grand Rapids, MI

Pakrz:

Never thought I'd see Grinnell ranked ahead of Green Bay for, well, literally anything. 

Well.

Grinnell actually recruited me for soccer and UW-Green Bay didn't, so I rank Grinnell higher too. 

Wait. I just looked and saw that Grinnell only started playing soccer in 1980....maybe it was Greenville College.....it's hard to remember as all the big programs were after me. 

Oh no you dint...

Sheboygan WI

Tucson, AZ

Phoenix, AZ

Memphis, TN

Nashville, TN

Panama City, FL

Atlanta, GA

Wilmington, NC

Myrtle Beach, SC

Last but not least St. Augustine Beach,  FL

Born, raised, grew up on the Southwest side of Tulsa, OK. Since the Arkansas River separates the West and Southwest parts of town from the rest of the city, it's like its' own community.
I mention this because even after I had moved out, myself, my parents, and both sets of Grandparents  all lived within a 2-3 mile radius.
Next stop was a shit hole in far West Texas called LaMesa. Training for a job promotion, and thankfully was a short stay; maybe 8 months or so.
Next was Ardmore, OK. First management assignment, loved the area, but lived in a duplex with a sticky-handed neighbor. Had to jump on him within the first 2 weeks we lived there...and that wasn't the only time.
From there back to Tulsa. Approximately 1986-87.
From Tulsa to Roswell, GA ('98). Met Mrs. Timmy in late '99.
Moved to a neighboring town, Alpharetta, GA a couple or so years later.
Moved to Lawrenceville, GA in '94 or '95, and have been here since.
For those of you old enough to remember Larry Flynt, Lawrenceville was the city where he was shot...

Ranking them is a mixed bag.
Tulsa is home, still have family and friends there, but would NEVER move back with current political policies and crime. 
West TX was the worst, by far. Unless you like sand...in your car A/C vents, in your house, and everywhere else it can be blown into.
Ardmore was a beautiful area, I was 5 minutes from Lake Texoma, but nothing that makes me want to move back.
All the places in GA that I have lived are Northern/Northeastern suburbs of Atlanta. Nice areas, but traffic and crime creep are the worst I have ever seen.

I'll probably die here, but if I had my 'druthers, I'd love to move to the mountains of East Tennessee or Western North Carolina.

Juneau, WIsconsin

Cape May,  New Jersey

Groton Conn

Cape May, New Jersey

Madison

Stoughton

CEdarburg, Wisconsin 

Friess Lake, Wisconsin 

Blaine, Minn

Woodland Park, Colorado

RANKING

Woodland Park, Co.....retired in the mountains, very little winter and 300+ days of sun.

Cape May, NJ....seashore, salt air, hoagies, fresh seafood, met my wife and got married, 50 years ago

Madison, spent my  early twenties in a great college town, nuff said.

Fries Lake, Wi,  met some life long friends and had a lot of fun.

The rest blend in, some good , some bad.  

Thats Life!

Your mom's basement.  

Henry posted:

Your mom's basement.  

She said to say hi. 

Eastman, WI

River Falls, WI

Eastman, Wi

When you grew up on a farm, went to college, came home to farm, you don't move very much.  I have friends who have never left the farm they grew up on. 

Leicester  NY

New Wilmington Pa

Alfred NY

Greensboro NC

Lexington NC

Honeoye Falls NY

Clifton Springs NY 

FLPACKER posted:

Leicester  NY

New Wilmington Pa

Alfred NY

Greensboro NC

Lexington NC

Honeoye Falls NY

Clifton Springs NY 

So no real places?

Pakrz posted:

Chronological

• Springfield, MA
• Finchingfield, England
• Alamogordo, NM
• Ft. Walton Beach, FL
• Grand Forks, ND
• Tucson, AZ
• Columbus, GA
• Clarksville, TN
• Pan Mun Jom, South Korea
• Colorado Springs, CO
• Grand Forks, ND
• Holmen, WI
• Tomah, WI
• Holmen, WI

Ranked

• Tucson, AZ
• Alamogordo, NM
• Colorado Springs, CO
• Ft. Walton Beach, FL
• Holmen, WI
• Grand Forks, ND
• Tomah, WI
• Springfield, MA
• Clarksville, TN
• Columbus, GA
• Pan Mun Jom, South Korea
• Finchingfield, England

I've been in Wisconsin since 1995 and it's killing me.  Winters suck and I can't get back down to the desert southwest fast enough.  Colorado Springs is beautiful. South Korea stinks (Literally) but there was plenty of good times in Itaewon. 

Well, if the winter's suck, maybe head back to Grand Forks!!!

Waukesha

Sullivan, WI (OOT—outside of town 5 miles or so in each case))

Jefferson, WI—OOT

DOusman, WI—OOT

River Falls, WI

Chanhassen, MN

St. Paul

Crystal, MN

St. Paul suburbs. Been here for 15 years and the best I can say is that having a nature reserve in my backyard helps keep me sane. You can take the kid out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the kid.  😁

Blair Kiel posted:

FLPACKER posted:

Leicester  NY

New Wilmington Pa

Alfred NY

Greensboro NC

Lexington NC

Honeoye Falls NY

Clifton Springs NY 

So no real places?

I've really managed to fly under the radar. 5 of the 7 are villages of no more than 3,000 people. Heck I didn't know what a fork was until my second year in college  

1. Born in Manitowoc lived near Green Street, famous for a great Friday fish fry tavern. 1956-1960.

2. Dad, grocery store manager for A&P, transferred to Milwaukee. Live in West Allis, flunk Kindergarten.

3.) Dad transferred to Delavan, Wi A&P, went to St. Andrews. Pass Kindergarten. Move in 1966 to...

4.) South 13th Street in Manitowoc when Dad is transferred yet again. Stay there, going to Roncalli until 1974...

5.) Eau Claire for the great UW-Eau Claire, working one summer in La Crosse, then graduating early in 1977 (take that, Kindergarten!) and moving to...

6.) South Beloit, Illinois while working in Beloit so I can pay less income taxes in Illinois. This supposedly actually was true.... in 1980 moved to ....

7.) Bakersfield, CA, home of Merle Haggard, Buck Owens and a lot of Okies and Basque shepherds. Still there. Bad air, hot summers but no snow except in the mountains around us. Early football and sporting events is, as Blair Kiel discovered, quite fun.

Next move San Clemente, CA, where I'll grab my metal detector on the beach and search for Richard Nixon's soul....

Lake Charles, La -S La food is best in the world

Sulphur La-same as Lake Charles, just across the bridge

Lakeland, FL-Kiel is right. Drivers around here are horrible. They all think they drive for Nascar. Quality of life in Lakeland is better by far than La but the food can not compare. I have learned that grits wtih fried fish is a great combination since I moved to Florida. Kids and grandkids are within an hours drive. We will be staying for the duration. 

Hayward, WI: Born and raised. Lived there full time through High School.  Loved the fishing and the big name bands that would come through town in the summers. A hatred for sports teams wearing purple took root here.

Eau Claire, WI: Attended UW Eau Claire and graduated from there with a Social Work degree. I lived in EC for 21 years. Wasted my life and time until I met my wife. Lack of decent jobs made me expand my search through a broader area. 

River Falls, WI 1988- 1991 worked at UW-RF for 7 1/2 years. UW-RF was the first place I actually used my college degree. Lots of crisis intervention at UW-RF with alcohol, drug abuse and suicide attempts occurring frequently. I was living here when the cable exclusivity laws went into effect. 

North Hudson, WI 1991- Present . We bought our first and only house here. My son was born while we lived here and my wife died while we lived here in 2009. Cancer sucks. I left UW-RF in 1996 and worked for USPS in St. Paul, MN as a Mail Processor.  Retired from USPS in 2016. 

Rankings:

Hayward 

Eau Claire

North Hudson

River Falls

Green Bay

Chicago

Redondo Beach, CA

Pattaya Beach, Thailand

Redondo Beach

Bangkok, Thailand

Tempe, AZ

MrTundra,

Heck, I am really sorry about the loss of your wife.

Can't believe how peripatetic many of you all have been!

Born in Waukegan Illinois 

Zion 

Spencer wi

Steven's point- went to uwsp

Woodbury mn. Grad school- met my wife here

Burnsville 

St Cloud MN to present-- raised family

Ranking is futile since central wi and central mn are very similar. I don't like large cities but loved my days at point and am settled in st cloud. I do prefer being rooted next to friends and family. So even though winters suck and let's face it mn and wi are not attractive places to live regardless of what the glossy"discover wisconsin" and "explore mn" brochures say, its home. I do hope when retirement comes the wife and I can escape for a couple months  

Augusta Wi, grand daddy`s dairy farm, Grand mother still lives on the farm.

Fall creek Wi

Sparta Wi, started high school there

Coldspring Tx, finished high school, met my wife, still live here today.

I traveled through 47 states, but Dells mill will always be my home.

Chippewa Falls, WI.

Lapeer, MI.

Denver, CO.

Lexington/Cynthiana KY.

Grand Blanc, MI.

Sufferinginmn posted:

Can't believe how peripatetic many of you all have been!

Born in Waukegan Illinois 

Zion 

Spencer wi

Steven's point- went to uwsp

Woodbury mn. Grad school- met my wife here

Burnsville 

St Cloud MN to present-- raised family

Ranking is futile since central wi and central mn are very similar. I don't like large cities but loved my days at point and am settled in st cloud. I do prefer being rooted next to friends and family. So even though winters suck and let's face it mn and wi are not attractive places to live regardless of what the glossy"discover wisconsin" and "explore mn" brochures say, its home. I do hope when retirement comes the wife and I can escape for a couple months  

 

 

I agree, about the winters suck in Wisconsin, but so does june, july and august in south east Texas

I will take 100 degrees in the southwest over -20 degrees up in the midwest without question.  One hurts, the other doesn't. 

Agreed.  I actually didn't mind the humidity in Floriderp.

Sheboygan 

Madison 

Sheboygan 

Naples

South Bend

Austin

Tough to rank. Sheboygan was great growing up and I still love to vacation there, but my life is in Austin since '82. Met my wife in Austin and raised my 3 sons here.

South Bend sucked.

FLPACKER posted:

Leicester  NY

New Wilmington Pa

Alfred NY

Greensboro NC

Lexington NC

Honeoye Falls NY

Clifton Springs NY 

Hey, I'm in Pittsford/Victor area.

Wausau - borned through age 10. 

Austin - 10 through mid forties. 

I have fond memories of youth hockey and building snow forts out of snow banks when I was young, but I was back in Wausau for my grandfather’s funeral a few years back and had to gas up the rental car in windy negative degree temps...nope!

On the other hand, I remember sleeping on the front yard of my cousin’s dairy farm in Marathon City several nights one summer....No tent, no A/C, no worries. You don’t do that in Texas...fire ants, scorpions and rattlesnakes. 

I have family in Wisconsin but I don’t get back often, and although I’ve spent less than a quarter of my life up there, Wisconsin will always be home. 

I miss squeaky cheese curds too. 

Clyde N.Y 18 yrs. Best fireworks around.

Newark N.Y. 9 years  (college years S.U.N.Y. Morrisville)

Seneca Falls N.Y. 2 years ( Birthplace of Women's Rights and one of NY's largest landfills) 

Waterloo N.Y. 32 years (Birthplace of Memorial Day)

Blair Kiel posted:

FLPACKER posted:

Leicester  NY

New Wilmington Pa

Alfred NY

Greensboro NC

Lexington NC

Honeoye Falls NY

Clifton Springs NY 

So no real places?

Hey now!!! Don't pick on us little villiage people! 

Farthest west I've traveled is Iowa. What a desolate place. Kinda like Minnesota. 

phaedrus posted:

MrTundra,

Heck, I am really sorry about the loss of your wife.

So am I , Phaedrus. It will be ten years this July. Thanks for your post.

Chronological 

Concord CA. 1965-1972

Martinez CA. 1972 - 1983

Pleasant Hill CA. 1983 - 1985

Pacifica CA. 1985 - 1986

Redondo Beach CA. 1986 - 1988

Benicia CA 1988 - 2002

Sacramento CA 2002 - 2004

Grafton WI. 2004 - 2013

Benicia CA. 2013 - Present

Ranked:

Grafton WI  

Benicia CA 

Life is funny.

Born in Columbia MD

Grew up in Sewell NJ

Bressaone Italy. Greatest secret on Earth

Babenhausen Germany

Fort Lewis wa

Stuttgart Germany 

Afghanistan Saudia Arabia and a few other s  T hole

Ft Bragg NC

Lakewood Wa

Tampa Fl