================================================= I might have lived here in the US long enough until I had one opportunity to learn how things would have gone in "my" community.
At the very beginning, my family and I had chances to choose to be in the following universities (cities); University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), University of Kentucky (Lexington), and Mountain State University (MSU; Fort Rockies).
Many thought that we would choose UMich because of its superiority in academic reputation. But, upon our scholarship's conditions, UMich was simply too expensive and we couldn't afford it....
So, we had to decline UMich.... UK? It's located in Lexington which was a very good city at affordable cost of living (and tution&fee). But, when compared to our school, we would have more other activities and more beautiful scenic to enjoy here in the Rocky...rather than living in the plain of the state of Kentucky.
One more important factor that affected our selection was a city ranking. In that time, the city of Fort Rockies was ranked #3 of the best place to live in America.. There were a variety of reasons why it was ranked in that high standard...
Taken together, we chose to be here in this very city.... Thus far, it's almost five and a half years... We had never been sorry of being here in the embrace of the snowy mountains and high plain of the Rocky.
In year 2006, "our" city was ranked as #1 of the Best Place to Live in America by Money Magazine/CNN.
Even though I'm not a native of this city but I'm proud to be one of their "guests" and felt very honored about this....
It's a place where we'd raised our kids.... and had great times altogether. Both of our kids grew up healthy in both physically and mentally... This city had a significant role in these tremendous developments of my children....
My older son had been involved in many activities... Almost all of them were programs offered by the city.... Tennis program was one of those...
He had been playing tennis for 4 years.... believe it or not.... Time actually flew.... He and his classmates played in a tennis school. This tennis school was located in a public park. Tennis players in this club played joyfully in any kinds of weather... no matter what the sun was shinning, the wind was howling, or snow was blowing, they always played.... OUTSIDE!! :) Many of times, classes had been cancelled because our tennis courts were covered with 2 foot of snow and lacking of a public indoor tennis facility. But the spirits of those young tennis players had never been dampened.
Few weeks ago, the manager of the tennis school told us about a meeting organized by the city... This meeting aimed to re-prioritizing and re-managing city parks and recreational activities offered by the city.
In this winter of 2006-2007, we had experienced an unusually "thick" snow.... From Christmas of 2006 up to the current mid-February of 2007, we had hit by 6 snow storms.... Cumulatively, we had around 48 inches of snow.... That's 4 feet!!
Litterally, our tennis courts were buried by this gracier... The school tried and tried to dig it out... But, tenaciously, the snow storms unrelentlessly slammed us one after another... We couldn't keep up with them....
So, this meeting was a fine chance to raise a problem..... We desperately needed an indoor tennis facility for these young, eager tennis players to continually improve their skills... One day, who knows, one of them might have become a tennis pride of this lovely city!!
So, my wife and I (who're obviously not American citizens) would like to participate and voice out our opinions upon the issue in this public hearing....
The meeting was organized by the city, but there were contractors who oversaw the city parks and recreational activities came and managed the meeting.
For this park and recreational issue, there were 3 public hearings for the city's residence... So, if ones could choose which session they could attend... We chose to be in the Friday meeting...
In the meeting, there were around 30 people coming with different needs/objectives. But all of them would like to see positive changes occured in their city. Then, the organizers handed out a questionair of which they would go over one by one.....
Essentially, those questions were what were strength and weakness of the current services and facility available in the parks, what should have done or improved, what were current needs differing from the old plans, and what the residence would like to see the parks changed in a positive fashion.
In the meeting, there were people interested in improving watersports (e.g. cayaking and canoeing) , golf, swimming, tennis and so on.
Everyone had chances to raise their points. The organizers would take note and bring these issues to further considerations when they had to make their decisions in budgetting.
Even in the best place to live in America, budget and its management was the most concerned issue.
There were representative of the local tennis organizations, tennis coaches and tennis parents coming in the same session. Thus, we had more "hands and voices" to voice our needs to serve our interests--- one of them was having an indoor tennis facilty for our youth and other tennis players to be able to enjoy this sport year-round.
I wrote and raised this issue not because would I like our country to be the same as it was here like this wonderful city.... I just would like to point out that listening to the residence was a one of the key factors to "build" a city to be a lovely place for everyone living within it. =================================================
ว๊าว ยินดีด้วยค่ะที่ได้อยู่เมืองที่น่าอยู่ที่สุดในอเมริกา That 's the right choice!!! อยู่ที่ไหน เรียนที่ไหน ไม่สำคัญเท่ากับได้อยู่ที่นั่นอย่างมีความสุข และได้มีคุณภาพชีวิตที่ดีค่ะ
โดย: the Vicky วันที่: 19 กุมภาพันธ์ 2550 เวลา:4:56:10 น.
As I believe that happiness is relative and that ingredients for a happy life are variable form one person to another, I would contend that everyone can be the happiest they wish to be, especially if they know what happiness entails and if they make the pursuit of happiness a mission in life.
That said, Khun A.T., congratulations! I am sure you will be very happy with the kids and wonderful wife you have.
โดย: r k i IP: 68.117.208.237 วันที่: 19 กุมภาพันธ์ 2550 เวลา:7:22:13 น.
Indoor sports facilities are necessary especially in the winter. I love outdoor ice rinks, but I wouldn't want to skate when it's 10 or even 20 outside.
P.S. I've always wanted to visit Colorado. I've dreamed of skiing in Aspen (even though I don't know how to ski .)
โดย: Rive Gauche วันที่: 19 กุมภาพันธ์ 2550 เวลา:7:49:08 น.
I couldn't agree more on your comment in the last paragraph. A society wouldn't be able to be developed if the voice of the people is not heard.
It must have been great to stay in such a wonderful town, but I know that nothing could compare to the feeling of having your loved ones around you everyday, and knowing that they also love being around you!!!!!
Happy Chinese New Year Krub!
BTW, that freak has come to harass me at my blog too so I decided to put her on my banned IP list too krub. Thank you for giving me the inspiration to do so!!!!
In my opinion, The Best (Good) Place to Live in America, would depend on The Person who is/would be living there and Reason to be there (e.g. study, work, housewife waiting for the husband to graduate, grandparents who help babysitting their grandchild while the parents are at work or school). Some people have different criteria and preference than others. If you have a very important friend (boyfriend, girlfriend, etc.) who would be staying at the same city, then he/she might have to agree on the city. As a student, I would look for places with good school (quality/brand/tuition fee, etc.), affordable cost of living and good quality of live: good weather, good food (at least one decent thai/chinese restaurant not too far from the area), less pollution, low crime, great (potential) friends (Thai and International), affordable apt/dorm that you can stay peacefully relax and quiet enough to focus on your study when you need to, convenient transportation to-from school/apt/grocery store/and other frequently visited places year round(freezing heavy rain or snow, unless you own a car), cost of living, etc. you get the idea (for those who consider going to study in US for the first time, review comments regarding quality of living from MBA students in various school from businessweek website //www.businessweek.com/bschools/06/ or magazine). Ask yourself what you do for fun to relax(since study in US can be stressful sometimes especially when you are far away from those loved ones you left behind in Thailand) and rate the school/city/town on that. (tennis, karaoke with thai friends, go to movies, gym, etc.) Not one place would have best of everything so it depends on which areas/aspects you (and your significant other if any) value/treasure more and make some trade off.
Continued If you plan to work in US at some point in time (e.g. internship during summer when you are not studying or get a job after you get your degree), then you should look at the job market in that city and nearby cities. You have a choice of living in one city and commuting to another city to work. In this case the city you live might have different characteristics than the city you work. For example, you might pick the city you live to be one with cheaper living expense or better quality of live than the city you work and you commute by carpooling or taking public transportation. Likely, you might end up in the situation where you have a job in one place and your important friend have a job at another place 100 miles or more away but you want to spend free time together so you and your friend have to jointly pick strategic location for living. (and then you might know who the real boss is) Commuting distance/time spent in traffic would be one of key factors in this case. If you have a girlfriend or parents who would simply be staying at home/apt, then it would depend on if they are comfortable driving around to places on their own and where their (potential) friends live. If you have kids, then good luck! and happy upcoming father's day/ mother's day!
Our house is also in the proximity among the top 10 cities as well but New Jersey always loss because of its higher property tax (one of the highest in the nation) ieieie...
I think people have different priority in life. We chose our hometown (we now called it our hometown!) because of its superior rank of school and diversify. Though we suffer a lot from the super high property tax but we are happy. That's all that matters.
My husband is very active in open space activities. He never missed any town meeting regarding our town ordinance about open space reservation. Though we are not citizen yet but sense of belonging is strong. Thailand is our birth land but US is also our homeland. We will be grateful if we could do anything to pay back.
From my experiences if you want to truly understand US society and their life you have to get involved. With my case having kids gave me this opportunity to explore. If I did not have kids, my life would be limited to my small apartment, campus and travel. Trying to be good parents making me blend in, knowing things that college life couldnt give. I wish you would use what you experienced to improve your community when you got back. I truly believe that quality life starts from the smallest elements such as good family and good community.
================================= Note: My life has been intertwined with works and many others. New responsibility has emerged, resulting less and less time for my ordinary life. Although, a love to write is still intact... But having less time is related to having less imagination.... Therefore, I could not come up with new writings for quite some times.
It might be a good time for me to leave this forum for moment.... Please take it as Mr. A.T. is having a sabbactatical leave or something like that....
As noted above, my love to write is still the same... and will not be changed. Sometimes somehow, I hope I could come back and give some thoughts in this blog once more.
Cheers, Mr. A.T. June 6th, 2008
=================================
Hello,
My pen-name in Pantip is amatuer translator. Actually, I'm a lousy translator with lame translation. My pen-name is somewhat misleading, I have no background in linguistics what-so-ever. Anyway I love to read, write and communicate with people...
Reading is my most favorite hobby. I read everything from shopping bags to articles in theoretical physics. I do research and teaching for my living. So, reading, writing, thinking and doing research works are my everyday routine.
I would like to define myself as a person who is accepting new ideas and adopting those into my way of life.
I believe in power of knowledge/education. I think every society can be a better society with knowledge. Ignorance can be dispelled by it. Humanity can live sustainably and harmoniously with each other along with its biosphere with understandings in the nature surrounding it.
Apart from my philosophical thoughts reflecting who I am, I can tell you something I like or love in particular;
I love dogs.... Particularly, labradore retrievers.... One day, I would like to spend my time and life with them as a big part of my family.
Zhuge Liang is my hero. With his wisdom and faithfulness, he led a tiny army to a mighty and formidable kingdom. He left his humble residence with a hope to come back. But, sadly, he had never returned and died far far away from home in a horse carriage in a battle field. If I could choose where I would, I would say where-ever my lovely wife was nearby.
I value happiness and my family as my first priority. My profession and my philosophy come in the second. Pursuit in wealth has never been in my desire.
I'm glad to be your friend, and look forward to seeing you around krub.
) 
ora-camelia-muniz.qeeuwf.org/ 
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Nice to find someone who write english in the Blog !