Friday, June 9, 2006 through Sunday, June 11

On Friday Jennifer and I loaded the kids into the van for a weekend trip to the Central Valley (Fresno). A college reunion was the main event for the weekend, but at the time we planned the trip we also intended to use the opportunity to look around northeastern Fresno and Clovis to see if we could make a life there. We are not strangers to the valley - Jennifer grew up there, and we met while students at Fresno State University - so the though of moving down there didn't come from out of the blue.

As the months passed, we changed our minds and decided to stay in the Bay Area because of the demographic advantages present in Antioch/Brentwood for the types of law I am considering, coupled with the lower saturation of attorneys per capita. The valley's crime rate for both violent crime and property crimes also factored into our decision, which was affirmed when we turned on the local Fresno news report on Friday night to find not one but two police standoffs involving hostage situations in the downtown area.

Even though our minds were all but made up we decided to take our sightseeing trip anyway. Like any major metropolitan area Fresno has its good and bad sections, and the good (particularly the newer development in the northeastern part of the city) presents very nicely. When we drove around at around 7 PM, we found quiet neighborhoods and very well-kept homes. There appeared to be a larger number of office parks within a short drive suitable for a small law office. We found the same to be true in Clovis, which has a nicely preserved "old-town" area and great parks and schools.

The rest of the weekend was a whirlwind, including a rushed trip back home to finish some last minute painting before the house hit MLS on Monday, so Jennifer and I didn't get a chance to talk about whether our feelings toward Fresno had changed. I'm almost afraid to get into that conversation because I was feeling good that we had a settled decision, and I don't want to steer us back toward indecision. Right now I feel like I could make a good career and give my family a good life in either place, so the decision should come down to where we would rather live. The pluses and minuses of both areas weigh out so evenly that even that decision is a draw at this point. We're back to looking for signs that point us to one place or another, a closed door here or an open one there.