Just some thoughts.....

1. If you like the "yuppie city life" you should not take a job in Valdese.   I'm not sure which is closer, Charlotte or Asheville, but neither of them are close enough for a pleasant commute. This was part of an exchange I came across in some North Carolina forum somewhere.  
2. There is only one main street merchant I know of in Valdese who may possibly be classified as rich.  
3. Lake Rhodhiss is not a lake.  It's a river.  Also Lake Hickory is not a lake.  It is also a river. The same river I believe.  North Carolina either has a strange definition of a lake, or developers just call things whatever they want and make local governments put up signs.
4. If you don't like Hickory, you won't like Gastonia.  (same forum, see thought No. 1).
5. I'm surprised at how many people around here think $10 an hour is good money.
6. I was going to review a movie I hadn't seen, but then realized that I'd have to think too much about things I didn't know.
7. I was thinking about how I've never been to Iowa.  I've been to every state around it, and almost every other state in the union.  But not Iowa, and I feel the lesser for it.
8. There is a little town in Western Kansas called Ellis.  It's on the interstate, I think.  Back a long time ago, we were on our way to Aurora, Colorado where my father was going to be stationed at the AFB that no longer exists.   We stopped in Ellis and spent the night.  For some reason, we drove a little bit around the town.  I didn't want to leave.  It looked so pleasant and peaceful and calm, large houses, nice yards, people walking on the sidewalk.  I remember looking at it and thought, I could live here, let me stay.   I've never been there since.
9. Once when I was in college, I had to write a paper in a literature class.   In the middle of droning on about whatever I was droning on about, I made a John Dunne pun.  The professor caught it and loved it.  For some reason, thinking about Iowa & the fact that I'd never been there made me think about John Dunne, and his clods from the main. 
10. I like to sit on the porch and listen to the birds. 
11. Rhodhiss is a funny name.