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From: http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/105190/Best-Cities-to-Live,-Work-and-Play

As mentioned before, sometimes I think about the future, and think of Iowa as a reasonable place to retire to. Then, I saw the list above (content posted below) to confirm what I thought already.

One of the interesting things is that Houston is the cheapest place (among the below) to live. I don’t really like Texas (uh, hot), but it is big city (I’m not really small town) and has a Vietnamese population. I mean, if it’s cheaper than Des Moines (ranked 9th on this list), why wouldn’t I live there? Sacramento is also a possibility but that place is expensive. Not like the Bay Area expensive, but still very expensive. For some reason, I’ve just never been a fan of Sacramento, probably just South Bay bias.

A quick look at my hometown of San Jose:

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
Population: 1,784,826
Cost of Living Index: 154 (100 is national average)
Median Household Income: 80,638

Also, San Jose/San Francisco are ranked #2 and #3 most expensive locations in the United States.

Houston is 44% less in cost of living versus San Jose. Scary, huh?

——-

These ten great places will only get better.

Our approach this year to picking the ten best cities in which to live and work was simple: Look for places with strong economies and abundant jobs, then demand reasonable living costs and plenty of fun things to do. When we ran the numbers, some of the names that popped up made us do a double take at first. So we hit the road to meet movers, shakers and regular folks, experience the ambience and take in the sights.

More from Kiplinger.com:
• Top Ten Best Cities at a Glance
• Which City Is Best for You?
• Take Virtual Tours of Our Top Ten Best Cities

We discovered that our numbers guru, Kevin Stolarick, hadn’t steered us wrong. Stolarick, research director at the Martin Prosperity Institute, a think tank that studies economic prosperity, says: “Our formula highlights cities not just with strong past performance, but also with all the ingredients for future success.” One key to a bright future is a healthy shot of people in the creative class. People in creative fields — scientists, engineers, architects, educators, writers, artists and entertainers — are catalysts of vitality and livability in a city.

The cities that made our list also represent larger surrounding areas. And because we understand that city living isn’t for everyone, we’ve highlighted some great suburbs, too.

Pack a bag and join us on a tour of the Best Cities for 2008 and prepare for some surprises.

1. Houston

Population: 5,542,048

Population Growth Since 2000: 14.9%

Percentage of Workforce in Creative Class: 31.3%

Cost-of-Living Index: 88.1 (100 being national average)

Median Household Income: $50,250

Income Growth Since 2000: 13.1%

2. Raleigh

Population: 995,662

Population Growth Since 2000: 19.9%

Percentage of Workforce in Creative Class: 36.1%

Cost-of-Living Index: 99 (100 being national average)

Median Household Income: $56,150

Income Growth Since 2000: 10.3%

3. Omaha

Population: 821,356

Population Growth Since 2000: 6.6%

Percentage of Workforce in Creative Class: 30%

Cost-of-Living Index: 89.4 (100 being national average)

Median Household Income: $51,627

Income Growth Since 2000: 15.1%

4. Boise

Population: 568,086

Population Growth Since 2000: 18.2%

Percentage of Workforce in Creative Class: 33.2%

Cost-of-Living Index: 95.5 (100 being national average)

Median Household Income: $49,833

Income Growth Since 2000: 16.6%

5. Colorado Springs

Population: 600,444

Population Growth Since 2000: 10.5%

Percentage of Workforce in Creative Class: 34.1%

Cost-of-Living Index: 95.3 (100 being national average)

Median Household Income Since 2000: 53,486

Income Growth Since 2000: 16.1%

6. Austin

Population: 1,506,425

Population Growth Since 2000: 17%

Percentage of Workforce in Creative Class: 36.5%

Cost-of-Living Index: 92.8 (100 being national average)

Median Household Income: $52,882

Income Growth Since 2000: 12.2%

7. Fayetteville

Population: 419,455

Population Growth Since 2000: 17.3%

Percentage of Workforce in Creative Class: 31.4%

Cost-of-Living Index: 90.4 (100 being national average)

Median Household Income: $42,267

Income Growth Since 2000: 17.6%

8. Sacramento

Population: 2,067,117

Population Growth Since 2000: 13.1%

Percentage of Workforce in Creative Class: 34%

Cost-of-Living Index: 121.7 (100 being national average)

Median Household Income: $56,953

Income Growth Since 2000: 19.1%

9. Des Moines

Population: 532,425

Population Growth Since 2000: 9.6%

Percentage of Workforce in Creative Class: 32.1%

Cost-of-Living Index: 90.6 (100 being national average)

Median Household Income: $53,384

Income Growth Since 2000: 16.3%

10. Provo

Population: 474,351

Population Growth Since 2000: 20.6%

Percentage of Workforce in Creative Class: 32%

Cost-of-Living Index: 97.7 (100 being national average)

Median Household Income: $50,583

Income Growth Since 2000: 12.2%

For more places, tools and walking tours, visit Kiplinger.com’s Best Cities Center.

Copyrighted, Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc.

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I could not be in any sense of the word, described as cool. As much I wish I could, I’m not someone who could ever use “Yay Area” the way it’s supposed to be meant, I’m more of a “Bay Area” in terms of coolness.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I do like stuff from the Yay, and well, I bought Yay Area’s Finest Volume 2 mainly because it was…from the Yay.

Buying this DVD was a lot harder than it should have been. Coming from an e-commerce background in the US, I’m just amazed at how difficult it was. I ended up getting the DVD over this past Christmas when I was in the US, but I had been trying to get it since summer 2006, before I had even left for Vietnam. Their official MySpace account said to go to Rasputin to get it. Not only did Rasputin (Los Gatos one) not have it, however, they didn’t even know what I was talking about. Impossible to find on EBay or through Google search.

I eventually had to log in my MySpace account (I rarely do this on my own) late last year and send them a personal message, to which I actually got a quick reply directing me to Rapbay.com, which seems to be dead at the moment, but worked for me in October. Sigh.

Anyway, on to the actual DVD.

Official Trailer:

There’s a lot of footage on this DVD. And I mean a ton. The DVD focuses on local Bay Area streetball (to their credit, they have a lot of footage from all over the Bay, not just 3-4 locations) and high school basketball. Here’s a quick description taken from the official site:

“But last but not least I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t ask for more shine. Some of the YAY AREA’S FINEST still need some love in the mag: My dude Devon Hardin from Cal is finna be a lottery pick in a year after he wrecks the PAC-10, the guy Terrence Jennings outta Sac destroyed the summer circuit and has climbed into the top 20 of the high school class of ‘08, another dude to watch for is my boy Wendell Mckines out of Richmond on his way to New Mexico State (if u never heard of him, watch the DVD, he’s the guy who clears dude’s head on the tip dunk at the end of a chapter and the reverse tip-dunk on the end of the “Bang It” chapter), couple other names of note: HS players: Frank Otis, DJ Seely, Reeves Nelson, Matt Simpkins, Ramon Eaton (some say he’s the 1 freshman in the country outta Sacramento), Chris Brew, Jared Cunningham, Collin Chiverton, Kelly Kaigler, Tyree McCrary, and the list goes on. College: Demarcus Nelson (Duke), Rogdrick Craig (Son of 49ers legend, coming back from a heart condition to play for Texas Tech), Kyle Spain (San Diego State), Dior Lowhorn (USF), Eli Holman (Indiana incoming freshman), too many more to name; Other dudes: Ballaholic, Moses “Ghost” Keys (killed in the and1 game), Exile, Sante aka 757, Drew Gooden, Drew Gordon (I see yall hatin on him online in the HS rankings, watch the DVD, he’s got about 75 clips on there, all freshman and sophomore year), can you tell I could go on and on all day? I just got so much pride in my region, and I’m trying to see my guys shine like they should. But anyways, yall ain’t gotta print this, or listen to any of my suggestions, just enjoy that DVD and know we doin it in the Bay. Thanks for the years of good work by the way. Gone.”

There are a bit too many segment introductions by famous and semi-famous (you probably need to be from the Bay Area to know at least a few of the names) rappers and basketball players. The footage itself is of decent quality, but this DVD just doesn’t resonate with quality in terms of production and editing.

My sister watched a little bit of the DVD with me, and while she’s not really a big basketball fan, she said, “this seems like something you might want to watch just because we’re from the Bay Area, but even then, there isn’t really a reason to watch this again.”

I agree perfectly.

A ton of footage (1.5 hrs), but a bit too much because it’s not edited and mixed well. Most of the footage isn’t that great and a lot of the DVD is just boring. I think that’s more of an issue of pacing than anything. Another issue is that I know a lot of hot players are in this, but the editors never highlight who you’re looking at, so you can’t get excited, “Oh, so that’s Drew Gordon” and so on. I remember reading a big list of who’s in this, but I don’t know when they actually get shown. I want to know who’s doing what! Since the chapters are named by song, I wasn’t sure if there were any themes in footage attached to a specific song. It’s extremely difficult to distinguish among them, which creates another problem for replayability- who is in and what happens in each section.

In the end, I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone unless you’re a die hard Bay Area basketball fan, maybe not even then. They do some good things here, but it’s hard to watch. I hope they have some major changes for the next round, Volume 3, which has been “coming soon” for a long time (6+ months).

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A mall in the suburbs east of San Francisco has reopened after a large group of teens and young adults stormed the shopping center following a parking lot basketball exhibition, police said. About 200 young people streamed out of makeshift bleachers and into the Southland Mall on Saturday afternoon, yanking clothes off hangers, kicking merchandise and overturning displays, police Lt. Mark Koller said.Thousands of shoppers were forced to leave after more than 60 officers shut down the entrances to the mall. No injuries or arrests were reported.

The ruckus followed a so-called streetball exhibition in the mall parking lot, where the popular And1 team, often featured on ESPN, took on local players in a form of basketball that emphasizes tricks and dunks.

The mall reopened around 7 p.m.

abclocal.go.com

Streetballin.net Forum Link

—–

Yay Area! I’ve been to two And1 events in the Bay, the tour stops in 2004 and 2005. In 2005, Khoi’s friend “accidentally” brought in a knife. This was at the Oakland Arena (where one would expect good security), incidentally, not the outside mall parking lot like this year’s show. During the second half of the game, my sister and I noticed the TV crew leaving early, as if something was going on. When we left the game, ambulances were arriving, police where everywhere.

Later, I learned someone had gotten shot/stabbed right outside the arena. Oakland police made things better by only allowing people to exit the parking lot through 1 lane (normally, 5+), so it took over an hr just to get out the parking lot. Then, they wouldn’t let people go South, so I had to drive 10 miles up before I could finally turn back.

Stay classy, Oakland.

Southland Mall is actually in Hayward, but still a vital member of the Yay.

Regarding the product itself, I love And1, or at least the DVD’s. I am definitely in love with Streetball, the ESPN series. Of course, it’s very hard for me to watch episodes in Vietnam, and I can’t buy Seasons 3+ (currently on 6) on DVD, so I don’t know what to do but download and pirate the episodes when I can. Incidentally, I’ve even sent a letter to And1 trying to get an internship in the past. (no response, even after a follow-up call) I’ll go post my “awesome” letter in another post.

The tour, unfortunately, is disappointing. It almost feels like the game is meant only to support the mixtape DVDs. The MC, Duke Tango, will call out a player and tell everyone to get away for an isolation. Sure, I guess this what the fans want in a sense, to see what they see on the DVDs, but it just feels weak when things feel unnatural. When you’re watching the DVD, you believe that things are in game, people are really facing-up each other, and that’s what makes the moves so great. The games instead feel like a mix of highlights combined with slop. Half-trash, half-amazing (pun-master). In both games, I never feel the steady excitement of good play, just extremes of whoa! and sheesh…

A lot of the guys have mentioned that they have different responsibilities on tour, that they have to win and impress with tricks and crazy dunks. They’re right, I understand, and I don’t necessarily blame things on the players.

In 2004, I had a bad angle to see the Hot Sauce match-up. I was in the 2nd or 3rd row behind one of the baskets. 2 women two rows behind me and Khoi went after each other and security had to pull them away. The white people next to us left right after that. Security let people walk freely in front of us, so we kept having people just interrupt our view.

After that, I had sworn I wouldn’t go in 2005 because it just wasn’t that fun in 2004. A year goes bye, I watch my DVDs again, and I get excited to go. I notice the Professor isn’t that good, can be beat up physically- I still love him though. He actually got man-handled by Bad Santa, who ended up making the team (and is still on And1). Main Event went hacking like crazy because Oakland was up for a long time throughout the first half. I’m not even sure if And1 won that game in the end.

So 2005 was just as bad or worse versus 2004. I still resent the tour because in 2005, Frontline was supposed to be there for halftime (I predicted and hoped for it!) and they didn’t show. I’m pretty sure because of the security issues detailed above.

In 2006, I couldn’t go when I saw that all the cheaper tickets were gone. Better off anyway, though I was excited to see the tour back with a new focus this year because of all the defections to Ball4Real. I’m glad I wasn’t in the US for this one now though. And I do like my Spyda jersey (bought in 2005)…

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From the New York Times:

MENLO PARK, Calif. — By almost any definition — except his own and perhaps those of his neighbors here in Silicon Valley — Hal Steger has made it.

Mr. Steger, 51, a self-described geek, has banked more than $2 million. The $1.3 million house he and his wife own on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean is paid off. The couple’s net worth of roughly $3.5 million places them in the top 2 percent of families in the United States.

Yet each day Mr. Steger continues to toil in what a colleague calls “the Silicon Valley salt mines,” working as a marketing executive for a technology start-up company, still striving for his big strike. Most mornings, he can be found at his desk by 7. He typically works 12 hours a day and logs an extra 10 hours over the weekend.

(continues)

—–

This article describes the mindset you have (or at least that I have) when you’re from the Bay Area, or specifically, from Silicon Valley. This is why my own dream is to have 1 Million USD. I just want a house, and that’s what it costs in the Bay Area. To have fully paid off a house means you’re more “free” to pursue your real interests- maybe I want to go back to school, or work as a counselor (like Dean), or be a professor. You can even work at Wal-Mart- ok, maybe that’s a stretch, but essentially you don’t have to go back to the hardcore grind if you don’t want to. Basically, it’s like living like you’re in Vietnam when you’re in the Bay Area, and that’s what a house means to me.

This is why I am in Vietnam now, pursuing that dream.

(Yes, I realize a lot of the above is due to me and my own mindset, but this is my goal)

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