[Kracka]

My wife and I moved down in Oct '09 and so far we're really loving it. Feel free to ask any specific questions you want, but I'll throw out a few general observations we've noticed so far.

The infrastructure here is in much better repair than it is up north. The roads are mostly smooth and there doesn't seem to be constant road construction that accomplishes nothing. The biggest thing you'll notice are the tollways and turnpikes; they cost money to drive on ($3 round-trip for me to/from work each day) but they're generally wider and faster moving. Drivers are also much more aggressive down here so expect everyone around you to be driving fast and offensively. I'm not sure how much this will relate to Abilene though since I'm in the DFW area.

Another thing big is their taxes. There is no Texas state income tax which equates to quite a bit of $$$ each paycheck. Sales tax is slightly higher (8.25%) and property taxes are a little higher, but even combined they come no where near close to what MN state income tax equals.

The housing market is also much better down here. It didn't crash as much as the rest of the country, but the prices are far more reasonable. To get a similar house in an equivalent neighborhood in the Minneapolis area my wife and I would have seriously been looking at double the price compared to what we paid here. The apartment we first lived in when we moved down was also about 1/2 the price as we were paying in MN; much nicer development but it was smaller and only 1 bedroom instead of 2.

As far as the job market is concerned my wife was able to transfer down with her company from MN at the same salary, then got a raise a few months after. I moved down before securing employment, but I did find a job within the same industry at a higher salary with equivalent benefits.

The nightlife and restaurants are both very strong here. There are more places to eat than you could ever imagine and a lot of them are BYOB. The Uptown area is also very similar to Minneapolis' but on a larger scale (I found this out the hard way and ended up walking a long ways). I haven't hit the downtown club scene at all though so I really can't comment on that, but from what I hear its pretty strong. Hot women are very plentiful; plenty of eye-candy at the bars, malls, etc. MN had its fair share too though.

If you want to do it, its available here. There are some very large lakes around for boating and I think they all have jet-ski rentals. I know they hold some large fishing tournaments in the area too. Dallas and Fort Worth both have large zoos. There is a very large Six Flags in Arlington with some great coasters and a huge waterpark across the street from it.

The gun laws here are pretty loose. I don't own one, but plenty of the Evo guys do. There don't seem to be any laws regarding the carrying of visible firearms (just the typical banned in government buildings and some malls don't allow them). To get a conceal & carry permit its $99 and a couple hour course; some of the Evo guys did this together last month.

Car registration and tabs are also much cheaper here. I haven't switched my Evo or my license over yet, but Janelle did and it was $220 total for her driver's license, license plate, registration, tabs, and inspection; in comparison her annual tabs in MN alone were $289/year. They also don't enforce front plate or window tint laws here, and speed only seems to be strictly enforced in school zones. Car do need to get annual visual and OBDII scan inspections each year though. They mainly check for CEL codes and the functionality of lights, wipers, brakes, tire tread depth, etc. Janelle's car (tuned catless WRX) passed with no problem and same with all the local Evo's. Worst case scenario is easy to get to know someone doing the inspections that'll pass you for a 6-pack of beer since pretty much every corner shop and gas service station performs them.

Another big thing we noticed immediately is how much friendlier people are here. Doesn't matter if you're at a store, restaurant, etc. people just seem to be friendlier (except while driving).

Anything I missed?