Sorry for the rant earlier.

I meant no disrespect. Let's see if I can express myself a little better.

Occasionally we get someone posting who has expertise in a particular field who asks "how much different can it be"? There are many examples:

A builder with many years experience is residental buildings in the states (frame construction with basements) plans to relocate to the VI and open a construction business. He's seen the complaints about cost overruns and project delays and KNOWS he can do it better and cheaper. The builder thinks he/she knows what constitutes a house - a floor, walls and a roof. Usually a basement. Not here.

A special ed teacher I know moved from the states. During a class exercise she was showing pictures of various objects and having the students name the object and describe its use. She showed a picture of an umbrella. The girl who answered said (correctly) that the umbrella was used on sunny days. And it is HERE.

An auto shop owner in the states can get merchandise on a "next day" basis routinely and at reasonable cost. Not here.

I always tell everything the same thing. Don't decide before you get here what to expect or how things are going to work. And certainly don't decide how things SHOULD or CAN work if islanders were only smarter, more honest, harder working, etc.

Come with an open mind, bring lots of goodwill and CASH. Join the Humane Society, volunteer for the Red Cross, the St. Croix Environmental Association, the Center for Women. Get around, meet people. Be polite.

And certainly, you can bitch and moan about the government - complaining about the government is practically the official territorial sport. But, until you've been here a while, don't offer specific solutions or tell people "back in (name your home state or city) we ....." People here don't care how you did it at home, They are struggling to put food on their tables and make HERE the best it can be.

After a reasonable amount of time you will decide that the VI is what you're looking for or not. You'll stay or go.

The good thing about airplanes is they fly both ways.

And now this really is my final word.