Your typical consumer can’t do anything nearly as exhaustive as CU does and is going to rely much more on subjective impressions. Since there is no product so great that you can’t find somebody who hates it and no QA process so perfect that no defective items will get through, there are people who are going to dislike any given product.

People are much more likely to go out of their way to complain about a product they don’t like in a public forum than they are to praise one they love. The net result is that consumer review type sites likely to have a biased sample even assuming that everyone is posting in good faith.

However, I want to encourage you to follow your dream – there will never be an easier, less-encumbered time to do so. I did something similar when I was 25, moving cross-country with *maybe* 3 months’ living expenses to a city I loved – where I knew no one, had no job, and no place to live, aside from a weekly-rent flop hotel. I was able to get a $9/hour job after a week or two, and never looked back.

I did have an escape plan though: I moved in September, and bought a plane ticket to go home for Christmas. I figured if it wasn’t working out after 3 months, I’d go home for Christmas and stay there. However by the time I’d been there three months I was loving it completely!

On the other hand, if you really love everything about the city, and be sure to get involved in things immediately and not be dependent on that one person, AND you have a job lined up that you are confident won’t be suddenly taken away, I’d go for it. Just really check out the company you get the job with BEFORE you move!

I disagree on the grammatical errors– when a person is error free in grammar, spelling, etc., people tend to take them more seriously in terms of content as well. Reminding Trent to be professional and careful or giving him the opportunity to correct a typographical error improves posts.

Or I could just be a grammar Nazi. But we are legion.

It’s OK to spend money for reasons other than saving or making more money. Really, it is.

@Christopher-I say go for it. If you spend so much time obsessing over the BMW that it’s taking over your life and you have $30k in savings on top of your EF, you can definitely afford it. Just go out and test drive a few & try to find a solid 3yr old CPO’d car. Don’t let the salespeople pressure you into buying a car that’s not right for you, either. I personally don’t get the allure of a “driver’s” car, but DH has a high-stress sales job and his BMW makes all his driving around alot more pleasant. He loves his car (purchased in ’08) and never talks about buying a new car anymore.

They actually made me much WORSE. Fortunately, that was only temporary, but I was so sick I thought I was going to die for about 2 months.

I would only spend a lot of money on medical intervention if your Primary Care Physician or a specialist with an MD thinks it has real potential to help you substantially.

Other fibro sufferers have gone to the Mayo clinic and not gotten much by way of answers either.

I don’t know about your particular condition, but a lot of people, even doctors, who promise cures, don’t have nearly as much to offer as they would have you believe.

@Aaron-
I double checked the amount and it is a bit higher than I listed, however it is entry level and a glorified call center position, but I definitely thank you for the heads up.

“Constructive comments of all kinds are welcome. Negativity is not.

If you’re going to criticize the statements of others, supply supporting information that backs up your statement or your comment will be deleted.

Comments that don’t contribute to the growth and thoughtfulness of other readers will be deleted.”

This smells like subcontractor fraud, because there’s no way a security clearance position only pays that much.

Since you are a regular reader you should know that we in the comments have been through this many times before. Seems like every couple of months someone says they are tired of Johanna’s “negativity”, someone else agrees, then a bunch of commenters come back with their feelings that Johanna adds a valuable depth to the conversation, and rationally counters Trent’s arguments.

Johanna has never been unreasonably negative and brings another side to the table. If you find you prefer not to read her well thought out comments, you’ll notice that at the beginning of each comment is the commenter’s name. Trent put this feature in a while back SPECIFICALLY so that people could skip past those commenters they didn’t like. Please utilize this helpful feature rather than ask people to refrain from presenting opinions that disagree with your own or the author’s.

While I sometimes agree with Johanna, at least she makes comments. She adds and contributes to the discussion. And for all you know she really just likes playing devil’s advocate. . . someone should. Otherwise why read a bunch of comments that just agree that everything Trent says is great! I know I would cease to read them very quickly. But that is just me, maybe a bunch of folks would prfer all the comments to be agreeable, uplifting and inspiring (and who says disagreement is not upifting or ispiring?).

People– if you don’t like Johanna’s comments (or mine for that matter) and can’t handle things you disagree with… take your own advice and don’t read them!