Soo I moved to Birmingham, Alabama to work at KnownHost! :)

[ChrisM]

So.. Long story short I moved to Birmingham, Alabama from my house Eastlake, Michigan nearly 2 months ago now. You might wonder why, like omg why would you move away from the lovely state of Michigan with all their cold weather and snow./s @KnownHost-Jonathan offered a position at KnownHost to me several times and I suddenly I decided.. Sure why not?


Before I moved down here I looked at several places. Then I found an apartment complex that was new construction and still being built for the most part was alot nicer then any of the others I looked at soo why not I signed a lease and moved right in. 


Some pics: 











On the drive down here there was nothing but construction, construction and more construction.. 


812 miles later and some posing at the Welcome to Alabama sign I arrived at my new apartment. 





First thing I think of when I hear Alabama is when Top Gear drove though Alabama


https://youtu.be/pKcJ-0bAHB4


But its actually not that bad people are nice except for the drivers they well suck... 


Everything is coke apparently and everyone hates this sign:





This sign is outside of our old office which we recently moved out of:











Don't have really any pics of the new office @ 1625 Richard Arrington Junior Boulevard South, Birmingham, AL.. Not sure if I am allowed to take them. 


As for Birmingham there is really..nothing interesting to do there..at all...no joke..the closest casino is like an hour + away. 


But there is a Giant statue called the Vulcan near our new office which I visited for the first time finally after driving by it a couple dozen times which is pretty neat. 











Tried to get a decent pic of the skyline from above but it was quite foggy. 





Got a nice on on the drive back though:





If you have 20 minutes of your life to spare I have a couple videos of driving to and from work:


https://youtu.be/WCD1rNKem1U & https://youtu.be/nMlPvZxQPTA


...


In conclusion Birmingham it self is not bad its a decent place to live if as long as you don't chose a spot in the ghetto to settle down in. Birmingham just not entertaining in anyway.. I herd there is a pretty large night life and live music downtown, just haven't had a chance to check it out yet so that might be a thing. 


The work at KnownHost has been great though, I love my co-workers, I love the work. I also love the customers. @KnownHost-Jonathan is an awesome boss and I can't believe I get paid what I do for what I love to do. 


*shhh I think I we are still hiring: http://careers.knownhost.com/

 

[Jonathan]

We're glad to have ya in the KH family

 

[drmike]

Birmingham sadly comes up bad side on a lot of stats.  Crime, poverty, related.  Old town, lots of history.  Probably decent music you should seek out  Looks like growing food scene too (from one of your lunches).


Photos I see and your tale though, looks a lot better than expected. Definitely better winters there


How is the cost of living?  Or is the low cost of living negated by living in new apartment assuming far outside the city proper?

 

[Licensecart]

Nice mate but lol I'll skip going on holiday to Alabama lol if they did that to Top Gear in a garage because of three cars, I will pass haha.

 

[HalfEatenPie]

Sounds like you're really enjoying it out there Chris!  Glad to see you're loving it!  

 

[HBAndrei]

The place looks awesome, and KH is surely a great place to work at.


Good luck with the job

 

[MannDude]

Glad you're enjoying it man! KH sounds awesome to work for!

 

[Hxxx]

Congratulations Sir. Such privilege of working in KH. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Jonathan]

Birmingham sadly comes up bad side on a lot of stats.  Crime, poverty, related.  Old town, lots of history.  Probably decent music you should seek out  Looks like growing food scene too (from one of your lunches).


Photos I see and your tale though, looks a lot better than expected. Definitely better winters there


How is the cost of living?  Or is the low cost of living negated by living in new apartment assuming far outside the city proper?

That's because in those stats, "Birmingham" includes far more than Birmingham proper.  It includes some nasty suburbs/ghettos that you simply never go, never have a reason to go to, and they skew the stats bad.  Areas like Ensley, Gate City, etc. really shouldn't be counted in these stats but they're considered part of Birmingham statistically.


The things Bham really has going for it - history, live music, craft beer, food.  It's not an Atlanta or New York when it comes to things to do, but it's not that bad either.


Cost of living is one of the lowest in the country - though tons of expensive condos and apartments keep going up.  The suburbs are in fine shape.  Very few of our employees live in down town actually, most commute in from a suburb - myself included.

 

[ChrisM]

How is the cost of living?  Or is the low cost of living negated by living in new apartment assuming far outside the city proper?

Its not bad I live in Fultondale, AL about 10-15 minutes from the city depending on Traffic. The only thing so far that I have found cheaper then Michigan is Fuel. Here its like a $1.80ish/Gallon and up where I was living in Michigan its about $3.20/Gallon for Fuel. The rent here isn't bad either, I am paying a bit more since this is a new development but everything included is new and top of the line so its worth it. 


I looked on Trip Advisor for some things to do and decided to checkout Barber Motor sports museum. I took some good pics of some cool cars and bikes below and it was pretty neat. 

 

[HostHoney]

Alabama is a nice place Jonathan is correct for the most part the crime and such in the city itelf is not bad but when you include the suburbs and ghetto areas the crime rate goes up. But isn't that true for most cities?

 

[Hxxx]

Yeah, well there are always areas where one shouldn't go. This applies to every state and country as well. 

 

[drmike]

Yeah, well there are always areas where one shouldn't go. This applies to every state and country as well. 

That's why I wrote cities off

 

[QuadraNet_Adam]

Congratulations @KnownHost-ChrisM!


Best of luck with the new chapter in your life

 

[ChrisM]

As per a recommendation from @KnownHost-Jonathan I decided to checkout the Southern Museum Of Flight today.


I like planes and flying but I think I like the Barber Motorsports museum better.

 

[tonyg]

Good to see another aviation and car buff!


Take a trip to Huntsville, specifically the U.S. Space & Rocket Center and marvel at a real Saturn V rocket and an SR71 Blackbird.


Seeing those two monsters was an incredible experience for me.


Huntsville was where the US government took Wernher Von Braun and other German rocket scientists after WWII for rocket research and development.


A lot of history there.

 

[ChrisM]

Good to see another aviation and car buff!


Take a trip to Huntsville, specifically the U.S. Space & Rocket Center and marvel at a real Saturn V rocket and an SR71 Blackbird.


Seeing those two monsters was an incredible experience for me.


Huntsville was where the US government took Wernher Von Braun and other German rocket scientists after WWII for rocket research and development.


A lot of history there.

Nice! Yeah  I will have to check that out. 


There is also one at the Alabama welcome center which is pretty neat. 

 

[Sonwebhost]

Glad your working keep it up.

 

[Nick_A]

Everything is coke apparently

lol yes. Including Sprite, Root Beer, Fanta, Pepsi, etc. All "Coke" down here.


Welcome to the South.

 

[Geek]

but when you include the suburbs and ghetto areas...

This reminded me of My Cousin Vinny.  It was set in one of those slow-moving suburbs out there... I think the fictional location was "Beechum County" and was actually filmed in Georgia but... still fun to watch.