Nora and Tom should consider Charlottesville! For diversity, Southern hospitality, and mild winters, C'ville is pretty good, and we have beer and tech, too! And housing is reasonable.

St. Louis isn't entirely horrible. There's a good tech market, it's affordable, and the craft beer scene is excellent (she said while drinking a glass of Urban Chestnut's Erlkonig). Diversity around here is a mixed bag, but there are some areas that seem to be getting it right.

Public transport sucks, though.

I am also not going to pimp LA, as it's another big pond, and expensive. Very diverse, though.

I had an amusing phone conversation with my Mom. She was telling me that she was over at my aunt (her sister) and uncle's house for dinner. My uncle said something cutting to my aunt and my mom was up in arms. She said "I think Cal should learn not to speak that way to Nancy."

I said, "Well, since he's 93 and she's 89 and they've been married 64 years, I don't think they're going to be learning a LOT of new ways of relating to each other at this point."

Hey, you never know!

I really love that that was my mom's take on it as well.

Thank you for the recipe, -t

Fistbump, aurelia.

And you're welcome, Burrell.

BALTIMORE: I would live there if I could.

Tom thinks the talent pool in Seattle will make it impossible to get a job. I think he has little faith in himself. (He's really good at what he does.) I think he's nervous about being a small fish in a big pond, which is sort of the opposite of New Orleans.

Woes about my niche skill set aside, I am really well networked up here. And, because of recruiting bonuses, my connections have a vested interest in pimping candidates. He should, if he hasn't already, connect with me on LinkedIn. Sure, I can't help myself get a job that doesn't suck, but I can assist people with desirable skills in their hunt.

There's always Houston, but who moves from New Orleans to Houston unless there's an act of God or a job involved?