Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american

In soc.culture.asian.american, clare@nynexst.com (Clare Chu) writes:

>     People have told me that Sacramento is a cow-town.  What
>     exactly is a cow-town?  My husband says there is a WalMart,
>     a Price club, and a couple of malls, so it can't be that
>     boonie!  

I lived in Davis (20 minutes from Sacramento) for 4 years while I was in
college and used to visit Sacramento on occasion, so I'll venture
an opinion.  :-)

I think people are referring to the fact that Sacramento is surrounded
by agricultural areas.  However, Sacramento is a major city (not to mention
the state capital), and you would be hard-pressed to find a cow anywhere
within city limits, except when the state fair is running at Cal Expo.
Sacramento itself is big; it takes 20-30 minutes to get from one end to the
other using the interstate freeway.  I think it's a pretty decent place,
but I can't stand the heat there in the summertime.  It gets up to 90+ degrees
on a regular basis, and I don't like hot weather.  However, it's a dry heat,
not a humid one, and with air conditioning (which I didn't have) it's bearable.

>     Also, which place has the better public schools?  The
>     recruiter said that Los Gatos has really good public schools.

The recruiter might be right about Los Gatos, but did he also mention that
the cost of living in Los Gatos is outrageously high?  And if you're not
living there, your children won't be going to the public schools there.

[Comments about ethnic mix deleted]

If I were you, I wouldn't worry too much about the ethnic mixes.  Both
Sacramento and Santa Clara have a significant Asian population, although
the Hispanic population is probably higher in Sac.  Populations change,
and by the time your 22-month-old son is ready to date, the ethnic mixes
may well be different.  Regardless of the statistics (which differ depending
on the source anyway), what will matter is the group of friends and
acquaintances that your son encounters, not what's happening with the rest
of the population.

Also, there will be lots of opportunities for your son to learn Spanish
in either Sac or Santa Clara.

>     What's UC Davis like?  I love college campuses in general, like
>     Cornell...  Would it be too hard to find a teaching job, even
>     part-time in Mathematics?  I have a PhD in Applied Math.

UC Davis is a great place; I loved my 4 years there.  I graduated in
1987, so it's been a few years, but they had a lot of lecturers and
non-tenure track teachers for the undergrad classes when I was there.
However, with California's mess of a budget, you may have problems finding
a job; I really don't know.

>     What other companies are in the area?  I heard there was an Intel
>     and an HP, but that the Intel only makes chips.  I'm more of
>     a software developer, applied mathematician type.  Of course
>     now that I'm at NYNEX, I'm also a networking type.

HP has several divisions in Roseville, which is a little north of Sacramento.
I think they do deal with networking, but I don't know if they're hiring.
NEC is also in Roseville.  I hadn't heard about Intel.  Avantek has a
division in Folsom.

Good luck!

Mirin Lew
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american