The rape rates in Alaska are breathtaking, women are treated about as they are in Strict Muslim territories, no is a yes and them trying to stab you is a loving maybe...
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The rape rates in Alaska are breathtaking, women are treated about as they are in Strict Muslim territories, no is a yes and them trying to stab you is a loving maybe...
Suicide is the other statistic that is through the roof.
Out in the villages, the kids have little hope. They look around and see that this is their life.
Then they go to a local basketball tournament that attracts villagers from far and wide. The tournament is named for some kid that decided to hang himself. The tournament gives that kid pseudo immortality and notoriety, out comes the rope.
I recon the movie Insomnia with Robin Williams was pretty accurate.
Being snowed in with other family members most of the year in some weather-beaten plywood shack in a desolute shanty town would wear on one's mental state. Remember the effects of Covid lockdowns and that was just temporary.
Suicide among teens and young people is high in many small towns, even down in the Lower 48. A little town up in the Texas Panhandle had a high suicide rate. I think it has to do with the nausious monotony of the plains because any person with any wherewithal 'escaped' to the bright lights of Dallas or other big cities. A lot of women who escaped their childhood hicktowns hate the country life.
Now imagine being trapped in an Alaskan villiage where your only escape is alcohol and drugs.
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Add that the family members are going to rape you almost every night...boy or girl.
I think thats an Indian thing that goes back to the cave dwellers and transcends through the Hispanics. A lot of child rape of young girls, whether in the groups crossing the border or groups nested up in an apartment in an 'immigrant' community. Uncles preying on their young nieces is an all too common thing.
I've tried to do this, but you have given me some further ideas to help translate my experience further. Appreciate it!
And I recognize it will be a grind and having to start from the bottom. I don't expect O&G money again unless I go back into O&G, and I'm okay with that. I do feel that $50-60k is pretty low for 2024, but maybe I just need a realignment on my expectations.
Not that I want to litigate this or turn this thread into this conversation, but when I say 'living wage', what I mean is this:
A salary that covers your costs, and hopefully provides a little bit extra to put away for retirement, for unexpected expenses, etc. Post-tax. So a salary that covers mortgage/rent, your bills, groceries, gas, vehicle maintenance, house maintenance, etc.
Obviously there's a lot of different factors here. It depends on where you live. Your tax rates. The general cost of living in your area, etc.
I left the "high life" a long time ago when I left O&G. I'm okay with that. My spending habits have changed dramatically. But I would also like to make enough to afford our pretty modest way of life. It helps that my wife works, but she's getting pretty burnt out and her body is starting to get worn out from it.
I agree that $50-60k is low for 2024, especially in Arizona. I think you would be surprised at how much you can get back and get close to O&G in a few short years.
Same all across the north. The Arctic indigenous folks roll a bit differently.
To answer your question: My retirement is $50K . Before O'Biden that was plenty to live on in Fairbanks BUT!! my house and truck are paid for. Now $50K will make it only if I don't have an OH SHIT, and live frugally. My wife is still working (as a Nurse Practitioner ) and pulls in $100K. With $150 K we have money to burn. Rent in Fairbanks is high because of the military. The Army pays $2K a month housing allowance, so any place you'd park your family starts at $2K a month. Anchorage will be similar.
Get out of town to Eagle River and things get better. FBKS is a different animal as there are no suburbs. Once out of town, your out with the Lions, Tigers and Bears. Things get cheaper out side of Anchorage, if your willing to drive. Just the wife and I, groceries are $500/ month, with out meat. I shoot our meat, or harvest fish. Electricity $250/ month. I heat with wood, and supplement with oil. Anchorage has natural gas, so electricity and heat are cheap by our standards. Gas presently is $3.30. Phone and internet combined are about $150/ month. Ak is different that what you'r used to. Anchorage not so much as FBKS. But a visit is advised before you jump in. Either you love the place or you hate it. There are no luke warm feelings about it. Anchorage has all of the amenities that your wife will require. It is on the coast, so has costal weather. Summers are wet and cold, say 50F and light rain often. Winter seldom gets below zero, but has wet snow and slush, that Anchorage drivers have never learned to drive in, so don't move too far out of town. Eagle River is about as far as you'll wish to commute. If your tired of wadding thru the BS on this post, PM me.
Get out of town to Eagle River and things get better. FBKS is a different animal as there are no suburbs. Once out of town, your out with the Lions, Tigers and Bears. Things get cheaper out side of Anchorage, if your willing to drive. Just the wife and I, groceries are $500/ month, with out meat. I shoot our meat, or harvest fish. Electricity $250/ month. I heat with wood, and supplement with oil. Anchorage has natural gas, so electricity and heat are cheap by our standards. Gas presently is $3.30. Phone and internet combined are about $150/ month. Ak is different that what you'r used to. Anchorage not so much as FBKS. But a visit is advised before you jump in. Either you love the place or you hate it. There are no luke warm feelings about it. Anchorage has all of the amenities that your wife will require. It is on the coast, so has costal weather. Summers are wet and cold, say 50F and light rain often. Winter seldom gets below zero, but has wet snow and slush, that Anchorage drivers have never learned to drive in, so don't move too far out of town. Eagle River is about as far as you'll wish to commute. If your tired of wadding thru the BS on this post, PM me.
That may end up happening in the future depending on where things go.
I don't want to live in Houston, nor do I really want to rotate the rest of my life, which is why I haven't gone back. But I wouldn't be opposed to rotating again for the short term, at least until I can sort out a different professional path and pad the bank account a bit.
I have inquired with a few of my friends in O&G about prospective opportunities, but there doesn't seem to be a lot out there in drilling right now. My former employer (one of the "super majors") is actually about to go through some layoffs. Other companies that I have contacts at don't seem to be hiring right now either. I've floated my resume out to some of my close contacts to test the water, but I keep hiring the same thing - no one is currently hiring.
I'm actually about to accept a job with a private company for $56k/year here in Tucson. I do love it here in Tucson, but $56k/year is not going to be very sustainable for long, so hopefully compensation changes fairly quickly in the relative short term.
So my point to all of this was, what if I could plant you in an architecture job making over $100k, within a city that is driven by healthcare for your wife to work in, who could easily bring in $100k or more, in a state that has some of the lowest living costs in the country? You game or not? Is $160k-$200k in a low cost of living area, what you’d consider a livable wage? I love Alaska but I don’t think I’d want to live there all the time.
I guess I should clarify.
For us, it isn't all about the money. If it was, I would've never have left O&G. I don't ever expect to make O&G money again - and I'm completely okay with that.
However this past year has been a real grind for us, financially. We had no idea it would be this hard for me to get a job in the area we live in, I've been out of work for a couple of years. She recently started her own company where she gets contracts to work at different hospitals around the US, but it is contract work. Work ebbs and flows, and its incredibly expensive when you account for all the expenses (travel, lodging, healthcare, etc). All said and done, her work is not very lucrative.
I finally got a job offer which I accepted the other day. The work will be interesting, but the pay is incredibly modest. Post tax I'll be able to float the mortgage, but not much else. But its a start, and at least my savings won't be depleted to $0 (where its been rapidly heading towards). Hopefully its a launching point into something better.
My wife has a zoom "meeting" with the AK hospital today. It's not completely out of the question, but its a decision we are not taking lightly. AK is a completely different world, one in which neither of us are sure we would love. To visit? Absolutely. But to live is a completely different situation.
I have fought winter arctic cold, snow accumulation, and shitty road conditions for decades now, including my childhood. I’m still good at it, but I’m fucking tired of it. Staying in a warmer place has real value. Old fighters get tired of being beaten up too.
Yeah, I'm not sure how much I would enjoy being flung back into the brunt of winters. I'm pretty spoiled here.
After reading Outdoor Life and Field & Stream as a kid, I sometimes fantasized about living in great white north.
But the Big Freeze of 2021 here in Texas of two weeks of brownouts, no running water and dead batteries satisfied any desire to be a sourdough.
But the Big Freeze of 2021 here in Texas of two weeks of brownouts, no running water and dead batteries satisfied any desire to be a sourdough.
My wife was in TX visiting her parents during that - no electricity or gas. She was miserable.
I should remind her of that
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