Not too far north (i.e., not too cold). Not too expensive. Not too big, not too small. Traffic not too bad. Actual diversity and culture.

Porridge not to hot or cold.

Powell's alone is nearly temptation enough.

Aside from what you've already noted in N.C., sounds like college towns would be best for your criteria. Not too big, bikable, good cultural offerings.

Timelies,

Ugh. I purchased way too much food for my party and I'm so sick of eating hamburgers already. Not to mention the leftover chips, cake and ice cream. Next year, if I do this again, I'm going to worry less about having enough varieties of stuff. I'm going to take the chocolate ice cream over to a friend's for movie night tomorrow and at least get it out of my house. I was going to take the left over chips (all open, so I can't save them for the next gathering) to gaming but that ended up being cancelled. I think I've eaten more junk in the last 4 days than the last 4 months combined.

Party went really well, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, I just really over-estimated how much food everyone would eat. The drink estimate seemed to be pretty spot-on, though.

I was also proud of myself being able to, after a quick trip to Radio Shack, have the music playing both inside on the stereo and outside on my boombox, all running off my Xbox (I don't have an Ipod, as I rarely need my music to be portable) so I never even had to get up to change a CD.

SUE! I hope you are feeling better soon. Can I bring you anything?

Thanks! I'm feeling like I'm on the raod to recovery now. I'm about to attempt some actual food.

ION - The Mrs. Dr. Shepperd from GA was Drew Carey's GF who had a weight problem on the Drew Carey Show. WHO KNEW?!

I did! I did!

I just discovered that one of our local channels is playing GA at 1 in the afternoon.

Dana, Durham sounds ideal for you. Townhouses are more likely to be new development, i.e. a bit outside the city proper, though there are also repurposed tobacco warehouse lofts for those who don't like a yard that are smack dab in the urban bit. Chapel Hill would be good, too, I think (I know it much less well). As far as jobs go, there's a lot of University employment in the area (Duke, NCState and UNC) as well as tech/RTP jobs. Southwest flies out of RDU = cheap tix. People here complain about the traffic sometimes, especially the Raleigh to RTP commute; those of us from places where they actually have traffic laugh at them. Beach at Wilmington is 2.5 hours; Outer Banks is 4-5. Mountains are 4-5 also. So is Washington DC.

I think you need to plan an exploratory trip - we'll show you. It's a great place to live; if I didn't hate the weather at least 1/3 of the year (it's 99 degrees right now) I'd love it here.

PLUS - the F2F next year might be in Durham!

if I didn't hate the weather at least 1/3 of the year (it's 99 degrees right now) I'd love it here.

Yeah, I noticed that Dana's list included not too cold, while yours is not to hot: I wish it were otherwise (in your case, that is), but for her, I figured the weather wasn't going to be as much of a factor.

Also, they finally fixed the AC in my building. I'm far happier with the climate today than I was yesterday!

I think I passed up the opportunity to taste the famed fernet on Sunday. But my hosts had already fed me wine, sake, and tequila.

Hrrm.

Beach at Wilmington is 2.5 hours; Outer Banks is 4-5. Mountains are 4-5 also.

In high school, I met a guy from North Carolina who took great pains to tell me he was from the beach, not the mountains -- he didn't want Yankee me to think he was too country. Made me laugh, since I clearly had no idea what he was talking about. And he was wearing a suede jacket with fringe on the arms.