Dan said:
Congrats on the move, and your return to the old job!
Do you prefer life in the town used to describe Middle America over Edge City?
Edge City is...well it's suburban.. it's predictable and it's a nice town, but it is not interesting or exciting. There is little culture or local community heart in the edge city. It's just a rambled collection of office buildings, strip malls, and houses laid along transportation corridors. There is no civic and cultural center to the community.
Peoria throughout its history has been used to market test and research firms as "everywhere USA." The old phrase, " Will it play in Peoria?" referred to vaudeville and if the production did well in Peoria, one could expect success elsewhere. Peoria is a microcosm of a major metro area, in that it offers lots of big city benefits (and negatives) but still retains it's small(er) town roots.
I do prefer Peoria, it has character, it has civic and cultural pride, and is the regional business/industrial center through Central Illinois. I just hope they keep their budgeting striaght this time.