Florence

Naturally, a lot of the news over the last few days here has centered on Hurricane Florence bearing down on the East Coast.  In this day and age, it is still sad that they can't definitively and accurately predict the path it will take - so they are just telling everyone to evacuate.  And unsurprisingly, despite an ordered mandatory evacuation, a load of people will stay behind and try to ride it out.  So expect fatalities in addition to a lot of damage and flooding.  I could so easily have been living in North Carolina - I've been there quite a few times for work, I've interviewed with different companies there, and I've been offered jobs there.  Indeed, for the job I took in Texas I actually interviewed in Wilmington - which is the coastal town in North Carolina which looks as though it might be right in the crosshairs of the hurricane - since that is where the company is headquartered, and where they wanted me to actually work.  I have thought about, and still think about, moving to North Carolina for work - the cost of living is good, the food is great, and the people are nice.  My industry has quite a strong presence there, and in fact most of the remote contractors that I work with are based there.  It's only a shame that there doesn't seem to be much to do in North Carolina - you're not really near any big attractions, and to me it doesn't have the appeal that the West Coast does.  At least you know that hopefully the Trump administration will have learnt from the mistakes in Puerto Rico and handle this disaster in a much better way - you'd expect so, cynically, as much of this is Trump supporter country.