Rodeos, high school football, and Monster Truck rallies
I guess if I wanted my life to revolve around rodeos, high school football, and Monster Truck rallies I would move to Arlington.
Having been a Piggington’s reader for a while, I know the emphasis is on presenting data to back up your assertions. So I’ll point out that while I’m personally not interested in Monster Truck rallies, if I was, it would be easier to see one if I lived in San Diego than in Arlington, Texas. A check of the Monster Jam truck rally schedule shows four upcoming dates in California, including one at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. According to the schedule, Monster Jam isn’t coming anywhere near to the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, much less Arlington.
Are there rodeos here — yes there are (well actually, none here in Arlington itself, but in Fort Worth and Mesquite, yes). Again it’s not something I’m particularly interested in, and so far nobody has forced me to attend any against my will. And in 16 years, rodeo is certainly nothing that’s come up in conversation with my colleagues at work or with friends or acquaintances. Maybe I’m just hanging out with the wrong crowd.
I’ll go out on a limb here, but I’ll hazard a guess that high school football is also played in San Diego. Same as nobody forces you to go to the games if you aren’t interested, it’s the same here. This is not Odessa, the small west Texas town of “Friday Night Lights” fame. The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metroplex has a population of 5.1 million and is the fifth largest metropolitan area in the U.S. Arlington itself has a population of over 330,000. Maybe you were thinking of Major League baseball, since the Texas Rangers play in Arlington. I do usually go to a couple of Texas Rangers games every year. Again, in 16 years here, I can’t recall any colleague or friend that has brought up the topic of high school football. Lots of talk about the Dallas Cowboys and the Dallas Mavericks though, but I’m guessing they probably talk about the Padres and the Chargers occasionally there in San Diego.
And how can you stand those Texas summers?
Texas summers are hot — I conceded that in the original post. I also pointed out that summers wouldn’t be any cooler in the Palmdale/Lancaster area, which is where I could find a comparable home at a comparable price to the one I have in Arlington — except that then I’d have a two hour commute each way to a job in LA. I’ll add, having also lived in Florida, that I’d rather spend the summer in Texas than in Florida (a lot less humidity here). Are the summers cool and refreshing if you live in La Jolla or Coronado and catch the Pacific breezes — you betcha. However, I couldn’t afford to buy a house in either place, so that’s a moot point.
There is a reason people live in Arlington and a reason people live in San Diego: People live in Arlington because they have to; people live in San Diego because they can.
Actually, with marketable IT job skills, I could pretty much live wherever I wanted. Per the original post, I turned down a job offer in LA — I live in Arlington because when I weighed all the factors that mattered to me, it clearly offered the best quality of life.
I was in no way bashing San Diego — I’ve caught rays out at Pacific Beach, body surfed at Mission Beach, jumped off the cliffs by La Jolla Cove and swum into the caves — I had some great times. Something tells me though, that if I’m working overtime (or more likely two jobs) to afford a $3000+ a month mortgage nut and/or spending 15-25 hours a week commuting, I’m not going to have too much time to hang at the beach.
