The only person I ran into in Quebec City that didn’t speak English was a very nice person at Subway. They did their best in broken English and I did my best in broken French and we had a giggle. Everyone else was super nice and spoke great English.

We’re big fans of Xiao Long Bao. There are a few places in Portland, ME we frequent:

• Sichuan Kitchen
• Empire Kitchen

Both are on Congress, walking distance to each other. Sichuan has some amazing, authentic Sichuan food as well (hot).

Yeah I’ve noticed that the other side hasn’t had much, but this side has been rowdy. Skiing at valley areas was pretty dang good for a bit. Looks like we’re in the 8-12 range for tomorrow, too.

Not the whites proper, but just south of Conway and we’ve been hammered.

The Whites seem like they’ve done great in the last few storms.

We don’t even have ag zoned property. We bought an old farmstead with a barn an acreage. Previous owners had kept horses so there is great fencing. We might do horses one day, but like I said it’s just a hobby for us. We have kids and I’ve a full time, corporate job.

I’m up in the MWV area and I’ve seen a few people nearby come and do the same thing. Tamworth area seems moderately popular for a few of these folks. Check out Zero Mile Farm…I bet they’d be glad to share some insight with you.

Property taxes folks say are high, but they are localized…meaning that each township will decide what to set them at for you, individually, based on your property. Property with a view, for example, is taxed higher. Ag may be lower. Some townships are lower across the board.

We don’t produce for income, just hobby for fun, but I will add that the soil here needs more amending than it might in Vermont from what I’ve read. If you’re planning on livestock that’ll get you there, though.

We sold our wethers to a big farm up North of Littleton. I think there’s a great ag community over there, too. I can’t say anything about the more Southerly parts of the state.

Used to live in Douglas County, Colorado. There it was a white rock on your porch.

Cranmore or Black. Black probably the least of all crowded, Cranmore second. Bretton Woods can be good, too, as it’s just far enough that people either make a destination of it or opt for Attitash/Wildcat. Cannon might be worth the drive as well.

Keep in mind Attitash and Wildcat are part of Vail, so loads of people buy into the Epic pass and they get crowded, especially on this spring break overlap. Loon has a similar problem as it is part of Ikon. What you want are the smaller, independent areas.

If you’re willing to drive then Sunday River could be a great bet as well.

You people have obviously never tried to drive I-70 from Denver on a pow day

Max’s at Snow Village Inn and Thompson House Eatery.

Am a consultant as well and I live where I want to live. Key things to keep in mind if you are a consultant are internet and airport access. My biggest heartburn is that I’m an hour from PWM (Manch is 2).

Data science if you can stay remote then the travel bit probably matters much less, unless you work for Jackson or IDEXX or the like and they make you move near.

So, the question really is, where do you want to live?

I’d argue that they’re billionaires because they’re smart and educated. I’d also argue it’s much easier to obtain education when it’s your job to do so than a hobby in your spare time.

It’s not a direct correlation from college to middle management consulting jobs. I’m illustrating a point and there are a whole lot more of these jobs than you think.

There are also folks like my old boss with the PhD who started a moving company so he could kayak when the rivers were up. Or like the carpenter and ski patroller friend I know in Summit County.

You’re semi-wrong about the asking and getting. They’re not accepting my offers, lower than what they’re asking…and they’re ending up employed. The delta isn’t so great, either, to assume they’re not making stupid amounts of money for early-mid 20 year olds that can live anywhere they want.

Sure, but middle management in large consulting firms also make $500k-$1m. Individual contributors can easily make over $300K and more. Software engineers I interview are asking for $200-300 out of college.

I think college gives you a path to that much easier than that outside of college. The other thing they’ve researched is life outcomes from people of education. Just like thinking isn’t only achieved in college, education can be had outside of college, but how many people pursue education on their own? I applaud those that do, and similarly having it rammed down your throat in college also doesn’t mean you’ll absorb it. At the end of the day, though, educated people make better decisions for themselves about life and have better life outcomes.

I’m all for finding the fit. I love the freedom we have in our culture but it also means that we’re free to run the wrong direction quite easily. As parents we can make it worse by telling our kids to pursue their dreams, even when they’re shit at it.

It’s super hard to find out what we’re good at and then hard work to invest in honing that talent. Many people never figure that out about themselves.

As for exploration, agree wholeheartedly. As someone who did go to college, one of the aspects I valued more than any other was the emphasis on exactly that: exploration. The first two years are all about broadening the individual’s understanding of different areas and giving them a broad base, at least in major universities. They want you to know how to write and communicate clearly, but also to understand how science is performed, and to be able to understand symbolic logic (maths). Then you get to learn about political theory and world cultures, all before pursuing your major. It’s pretty cool. And yes, expensive.

Good trades people is what you’re talking about. Know how many shit ones live in my town? Of course they’re the only ones with free space in their books, too. All the tools, none of the brains.

And yeah, the best plumbers and electricians in town are friggin’ wizards.

Nah man, the point I was 100% intending to make was that you don’t get rich by being a trades person, you get rich by being smart. I never implied college is the only way to get smart. But I did say it’s a much easier path to get smart than trying to do it when you’re tired from working all day at your trade, at least when you’re not already a bright bulb.

Agree, nothing at all wrong with it. I’m just trying to point out that there’s a spectrum out there. One of my most successful trades oriented friends went this route and ended up going back to college to study accounting and finance anyway, because they needed to know that stuff to scale their landscaping business well.

The thread is about how college is a waste and while I get that perspective, I think it’s misrepresented. I might be sensitive as I have a kid about to go on this journey…

What I think IS wasteful is college with no purpose. It’s an incredible opportunity, and many kids benefit from not pursuing it right out of high school because the endeavor is lost on them…or going slower through it. It’s unfortunate that it has become so expensive, though.

Yeah but whether you bill by hour or project there’s still only so much time in the day. To break the bubble you have to figure out how to scale, like by starting a company and hiring. And at that point you’re not a trades person anymore, you’re an entrepreneur.

Since I didn’t say it and you felt I insinuated it then you’re displaying an inability to think critically. If you had read on I said nothing is stopping anyone from learning to think critically.

BTW there’s a difference between needing to and being able to. Plenty of my trades-person friends are the smartest people I know, and boy howdy do I have some dumb friends that made it through college. College is not insurance to greatness by any means. Heck one of the happiest people I know is a guy who has a PhD in biology and started a moving company. He’s fit as hell because he just hauls stuff all day. He’s his own boss so he can take off days whenever he wants. But I will also add that the reason he makes that work for him is the same reason he was capable of achieving a PhD…and just like college cam seem like a scam I think there’s an illusion that everyone skipping it can jump into a 6 figure trade, which also isn’t true.

Right and wrong. I mean, yeah there’s tons of need for tradespeople and a lot of them make really good dough, but they cap out whereas people who know how to think critically end up having much higher total life earnings. They’ve done tons of studies on this.

The catch is that not everyone who goes to college actually learns how to think, and a lot come out no better off for having gone. Similarly, it’s not as though someone who doesn’t go can’t also achieve education. College is just the more straightforward path to ensuring it as a possibility.

The parallel is the tech industry. Lots of coders who just do boot camps and learn coding when young. They jump in and make 6 figures fast, but they cap out. Meanwhile college degree holders in subjects like anthropology or marketing join the same companies and work through the ranks, start off way lower but end up in leadership later in life making more like seven figures as they settle into the C-suite.

Eaton just got power back an hour ago or less.

Max’s Pub in Eaton and Thompson House Eatery are the two best things here. If you like beer Ebenezer’s in Lovell, ME is a close drive.

You couldn’t include the entire state of Colorado then.