Comments on: Rocket Launches and Orange Trees

By: Erin

Erin — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:32:27 +0000

I think you definitely appreciate the place where you grew up once you leave it. For some reason, I can’t imagine you guys ever living anywhere but Florida, but who knows what the future holds.

In the meantime, a promotion would certainly be nice!

By: Becki

Becki — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:32:19 +0000

I definitely don’t appreciate living in Florida the vast majority of the time. I guess one can only live in a flat land for so long before desiring a more mountainous terrain (I love mountains). That being said, the last time that I lived in another state was Texas, and I didn’t have my own bills at that age, so I guess I can’t really say if I’d enjoy living somewhere else. Florida is convenient. My parents are 30 minutes away; Ein’s parents are practically right down the road… when Ein and I start having babies, if we still live in Titusville, both sets of Grandparents are close by to baby-sit. However, I don’t really like Florida’s terrain or weather. I’m sure it could be worse, though. Our health benefit spokeswoman came down from Anchorage, Alaska to tell us about the changes in our insurance, and she said her husband told her that it was currently 10 below, and they got a foot of snow during the night. I don’t think I’d like to live in Alaska. So, who knows? I don’t know if my appreciation of being so close to rockets/shuttles has increased or decreased since I started working at KSC. Hard to say… I’ve noticed that whenever I miss somewhere other than where I am, it’s because I’m unhappy with something else. That unhappiness just drives my “anywhere but here” mentality. Currently I’m pretty happy where I am…just want a promotion.

By: Erin

Erin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:40:13 +0000

There are definitely parts of Florida I don’t miss, especially the heat, and I’m glad I’ve gotten a chance to live in another state. But I’m also glad I grew up in Florida, and if I could tweak a few things (said weather being one of them), it would certainly be an attractive place to live again. The longer I’m away, the more I appreciate it. Especially since where I live now also has no industry, no jobs, and lots more racism than Florida exhibited.

And yeah, the taxes up here are crazy! State income tax, a tax to own your car, a tax to drive your car, a tax to look at your car…inspections…blech. Our car insurance went down when we moved up here, but everything else seems to have gone up. I’m not sure of the price of drugs, but since we live in a port city we has a huge drug trafficking–and human trafficking–business here, so I hear drugs are pretty easy to come by.

Oh, and one more thing–flying out of Orlando is way cheaper than flying out of Raleigh.

By: Sabrina

Sabrina — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:55:18 +0000

I don’t have central air, so I bought a dehumidifer and just roll it from room to room. It helps…a bit. (It’s also loud, so you can’t really run it and watch TV at the same time or anything.)

On the plus side, sales tax isn’t unreasonable. There’s no state income tax. We’re not required to get our vehicles inspected every six months. (That one might be considered both a plus and a minus.) We’re not landlocked. Orange juice not from concentrate is relatively cheap here. Then again, cocaine is relatively cheap here, if you’re into that sort of thing….

I think I’m really just saying that I can’t afford to leave Florida. Yet. Gotta kick the coke habit first! (kidding, kidding)

By: Yana

Yana — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:20:06 +0000

Fl is unique, I’ll give you that. Seeing the shuttle launches is probably the coolest thing about living here. There are some things I definitely love about living here and might actually miss if I move, but there are plenty of other things that make me want to move away as soon as humanly possible.
1. It is hot and humid here ALL the time. There are no seasons.
2. With everything so spread out, there is no sense of community, no walkable downtowns. (FL has one of the highest pedestrian and cyclist death rates in the country).
3. All the crazies move to FL: child molesters, serial killers, gun lovers, people escaping from the law. I don’t have any statistics to back me up, but just watch the local news and you’ll see.
4. FL is right up there with CA for the highest foreclosure rates in the country. There is no industry here, no jobs, just empty homes and neighborhoods. All the land that was developed during the boom… what a waste.
5. Did I mention it was hot here? Um, it’s the end of November, Thanksgiving week, and it’s going to be 81 degrees today and humid. We had to turn on the AC last night because, even though the lows were in the 60s, the humidity was so high that the sheets on my bed were damp. Ew.