Some of my questions are: 1. Do you like Texas better than your former state or why do you think Texas is second to none? 2. Out of the two cities there: Dallas and Houston, which one is the better one to live in?
I've lived in Texas, and Oklahoma and Oregon... so I have some comparisons here. I know you're not talking about anywhere near Oregon, but the Pacific Northwest has super great scenery and great mountains and downhill skiing and cross-country skiing and you've got the ocean (although it's a cold ocean out that way... :-) ...).
I was in Portland for a long while (some suburbs and in the city, too). Portland was a great town for basic quality of life (lots of things to do and see, plus a good location for the outdoors and city stuff both).
In Texas, I've lived in Houston and Dallas. I prefer Dallas (and/or suburbs, depending on what you want). They've got a town just north of Dallas called Frisco, that is right on the Dallas North Tollway and it looks like it was just built yesterday, everything is so new. And the entire town looks like it's built around the concept of "shop until you drop" ... LOL ... But, it looks like a very nice place to live, as long as you don't mind paying the daily tolls on the tollway... (get a NTTA TollTag and just zip along...).
When I would go to Dallas, while living in Oregon and come back to Oregon (visiting the relatives there, doncha know...), I would always tell them that people in Dallas shop by driving down the freeway at 70 MPH until they see the store they want and get off. Then they get back on and shop some more... LOL...
It seems that people in Dallas shop till they drop too... seems like an awful lot of shopping and business goes on -- everyone has a lot of money to throw around there, it seems... :-)
It's been a while since I was living in Houston, though, and I imagine it's changed, but I'm sure the humidity hasn't changed and it's much worse than it is in Dallas (and that was bad enough, in Dallas, coming from Oregon... LOL...). It's way too hot down that way for me, a bit better in Dallas, and just a bit better in Tulsa (where I'm at now). Portland, Oregon had the best climate as far as I was concerned.
It was nice in Houston, being so close to Galveston (or other parts nearby... on the Gulf of Mexico). But, I would rather drive down from Dallas, rather than live right next door in Houston. Besides, I've been through a few hurricanes down that way, and they don't get that far up north to reach Dallas... :-)
All you gotta worry about in Dallas are some tornadoes now and again. Of course, they've been talking about the "Super Tornado" that's supposed to absolutely destroy Dallas (one of these days), but you know how these kinds of predictions are... sometime a lot of hype. But, one did just about destroy downtown Fort Worth a number of years, back so it can happen.
But real tornado country (at least to me) seems to be up in Oklahoma where I've seen more tornadoes in a short period of time than all the time I lived in Texas... :-)
Of course, I do have to say that the only tornado that I've actually been through (exactly in the building where I was), and "lived through" was one in Galveston, that went right over the top of the building I was in. It was technically a waterspout, I guess, and they're typcially less powerful than the ones on land, so maybe it wasn't that big of a deal, except for all the glass breaking out in the building and the doors flying open and everyone screaming inside as it tore up the place... LOL... That happened during Hurrican Katrina, as it was striking New Orleans, I was having a tornado go right over the top of me. That place is no longer there, as it got wiped out during the last Hurricane to hit Galveston, and the pier is gone now... (the 61st Street Pier... I'm sorry to see it gone now...).
To make a long story short... go to Dallas... :-)
But, as for me, I like Oklahoma and especially Tulsa, and that's where I'm at right now. So, you might drop on by Tulsa and see how you like it here, but I'm not sure if the job prospects are as good as they probably are in Dallas.
Are you describing my wife again? :->
Women here take entire weekends to go shopping- it is an event like we have the Super Bowl. Her and her friends will sometimes go to Dallas' Crescent Court on Saturday morning and not come home until Sunday night.
How is the rebuilding of Galveston going anyway? I notice the media never talks about it