[link|http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/|Charlotte], a city of about half a million people, is a place you could consider. In the paper today it was mentioned that 8 companies in the Fortune 500 are headquartered here. They are Duke Energy, Bank of America, Wachovia Corp (merger of First Union and Wachovia banks), Sonic Automotive, Goodrich Corp. Nucor Corp. SPX Corp. Family Dollar. Only the first four and Family Dollar have over 1000 employees here. And, of course, we have Microsoft's number 2 location. IBM is here as well.

Job prospects are mediocre, but better than they were last year. Bank consolidations have put a lot of professionals on the street. And, banks are cheap SoBs, anyway. Use the link above to get some flavor for the place as well as job possibilities.

The climate is OK. You get the 4 seasons, with a mild winter (i.e. 1 or 2 snows a year, which melts in a day or two). No one fights the snow. July and August are on the hot side and best spent indoors, at the coastal beaches (3 to 4 hrs away), or in the mountains (2 to 3 hrs away).

The city is about 1/3 black with most blacks living on the West side of the city. It's more of an income-based separation than anything else. Charlotte, being a US South East regional center for many companies (other choice being Atlanta) has many internationals as well. Many German, British, Japanese companies have operations here. There are immigrants from all over. There is an International House here to help newcomers connect and locals to expand their world and practice a foreign language. There are sizeable Jewish, Greek, Vietnamese and Mexican communities here. Having a unique non-WASP East European last name, I can tell you being a minority is not a problem here.

Over all, the schools are average, but much better than the surrounding areas. I have not been keeping track because my kids have grown up some time ago. At the time they were in the local public schools, there was an "advanced" set of classes in the major classes (i.e. English, Math, Science) for the top 5-10% of the students and that program was excellent.

Unfortunately, I cannot offer to put you up. My adult son, who after 11+ years in Germany, has come back to the US and is in the process of finding suitable work, occupies the usually spare bedroom. I cannot say job hunting been the highest priority for him. He is an experienced Electrical Engineer and has been here since the end of November.

However, I would be glad to help with any questions and meet you at the airport and chauffeur you around, or anything of that nature.