Margaret Camp:  

I live in Santa Cruz, CA where I have resided for the last 20 years or so. Santa Cruz is located at the top of the Monterey Bay Sanctuary and is probably one of the more liberal place in the United States of America. The Beach is maybe a mile from my front door but don't get any ideas about "the endless summer" and "beach bunny bing". Yeah, we have surf-sometimes really big swell and we fight with Hunting Beach (in Southern California) for the title of "surf city", but the water is cold and so it the temperature. 80 is considered really hot here. Winters are mild and the summer is often foggy, but not like the fog that you get in Chattown. We get fog that is not on the ground but "high" fog. The marine layer coming in of the ocean and it does a good job of keeping us warm in the winter and cool in the summer. We also have wonderful mountains with large redwoods just 4 miles form here. A short trip (1 or so) will get you to San Francisco with all its pleasures. Santa Cruz is small and easy to get around. Gas is a sucking $4.50 a gallon at the cheapest right now. We have legalized medical marijuana and our local city council has been know to distribute it on the steps of the court house. Pot is a ticket for anything less than an oz. We have gay pride parades and sometimes even nudity in downtown Santa Cruz. So you get the picture~Liberal and pretty tolerant. If you ain't hurtin' no one, then we try to leave you be. I graduated from UTK with a degree in Home Ec. which is still gets a laugh out of my family when we talk about it. I majored in Arts and Crafts which just happened to be under the Home Ec department at the time. It was actually in the process of being moved to the Art Department as I graduated. Getting this degree is one of the things that I would change in my life if I could have a "do over". Maybe next life time. Anyway, this was a pretty useless degree when it came to making a living. So, consequentially, I've had a rather varied employment history. Retail sales, factory work, small manufacturing, exhibitionist (in an art museum~ I hung the exhibits which made me an exhibitionist~ caught your attention thou). Finally learned something useful after getting laid off from a job. Learned computers and have never looked back. Pretty proficient at the computer and thankful for the opportunity to go to school (6 months/part-time) and have the government pay for it. Best investment they ever made. I now pay WAY more in taxes. I worked in the mortgage industry for 6 years doing database work and marketing. Well, we all know where that ended up. Went to hell in a hand basket! I got out just in time. The company, and it was the largest local lender in the bay area, went belly up after 26 years in business. Can you say melt down. i am now the office manager for a financial planning company. Lots of detail work and organizing of papers and I pretend to be the bookkeeper as well. Oh, also as office manager I have to ride heard on the rest of the employees. I've never made a lot of money but I've always been able to find and keep a job that allowed me to pay my rent, usually in a roommate situation since rent here is probably more than your house payment, and feed myself. The last decade has actually provide me with enough income to save a little for my retirement and to have some disposable income. Nice. I love to garden, mostly flowers but sometimes veggies. I eat pretty healthy but do like my coffee...Expand for more