Whats it like in New Orleans right now?
It’s 85 degrees here. It’s really warm all the time, the food is delicious and the people are really nice. My wife just brought me a cup of iced tea. This is the life. How does New Orleans compare to Portland, cost-of-living-wise? New Orleans is much cheaper. We’re paying $825 a month for a 1,000-square-foot apartment with a yard. In Portland, it would probably be $1,300. And Hurricane Katrina actually drove up rents — it has pretty much tripled rents in the city, because there’s so much less inventory available. This place we’re in right now took eight feet of water during Katrina. It’s a lovely house, wood floors, but was flooded during the storm. What about your salaries in each city? The quality of life is better [in New Orleans] for the salaries on offer. You can earn more here, and it will go farther than it did in Portland. I think mainly it’s because there isn’t this creative class illusion. You know: “Work in this coffee shop as an unpaid intern, because we all have such great
