Reasons I am Excited to Move to Iowa

I am excited to move to Iowa, for a number of reasons. I thought that I would share those with all of you.

1. The job! I will be an Engineer II, doing finite element simulations, which I really enjoy. Of the people that I have met so far and the layout of the offices and manufacturing floor, it looks like an enjoyable place to work. Additionally, I will have the occasional opportunity to opperate the equipment that I am engineering! Yep, that means I will probably get to drive a backhoe, feller buncher, and knuckleboom loader. Basically, really big equipment and I'll get paid for it.
2. Iowa is three hours closer to Colorado. Now I will only be about 13 hours away, which is a much more bearable drive than 16+ hours. 
3. It seems that culturally Dubuque is ahead of the curve because it has won a whole bunch of awards for everything from a great small city for young people and best place to raise a family to shortest commute in the country and having a whole bunch of parks.
4. Dubuque is full of colleges. Not that I'm looking to go back so soon, but with college students comes coffee shops, entertainment, runners, and other young people. All of those are positives.
5. Both my probable apartment as well as where I will work have strong 3G AT&T service. That's better than the one to three out of five bars of 2G that I get now.
6. I will be in a stable job, out on my own. I have greatly enjoyed living at home with my parents the last six months, but I am ready to move on. I would like to get into a rhythm of my own, similar to college but more structured and far better funded.
7. The weather seems a little bit warmer during most of the year than here in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, which means more running in shorts or bicycle commuting!
8. I will still be somewhat close to a number of my family members. Everyone only gets one family and some people have theirs taken away at a young age. I try not to take my family for granted.
9. With all due respect to a social life that I desire, at least in the beginning I will get a lot of running and writing/editing done which is a good thing.