My wife just returned from a long weekend touring eastern Oregon with two of her co-workers. They drove from small town to small town, shopping for antiques and visiting museums.
On Saturday — with an early October snow falling outside — Kris and her friends stopped to eat lunch at La Laguna in the small town of Joseph (population 1054). As part of the worst job I ever had, I spent several weeks selling insurance door-to-door in Joseph, so I know the locals are friendly. Such was the case at La Laguna. Kris’s party struck up a conversation with their waiter.
He told them that he was raised in Joseph. When he was a young man, he moved to Portland; the big city seemed exciting. He had a good time, and is glad to have had the experience, but after a few years he moved back to small-town life in Joseph.
“Life is simpler here,” he said. “And it’s less expensive. When I lived in Portland, I couldn’t save anything; there was always something to spend my money on. There just aren’t as many temptations here.”
He also said he loves his restaurant job: He gets to talk to people, to sing and dance and smile. In fact, he was singing along to the mariachi tunes from the sound system while he served lunch to Kris and Celeste and Rhonda.
I love this story.
This waiter seems to be very in tune with his own needs and limits. He recognized that living in Portland was harmful to his financial health, so he did something to change it. This is a valuable skill to have. When I was struggling to get out of debt, I had to force myself to stop going into book stores and comic shops. I intentionally avoided temptation. This didn’t cut all of my spending, but it curbed a lot of it.
The waiter has also recognized that you don’t need a high-powered career to be happy. On Monday’s episode of The Personal Finance Hour, I mentioned that one of the best jobs I ever had was busing tables at a Holiday Inn. It may seem crazy, but I found that job fulfilling. I was good at it, had great co-workers, and never took my job home with me. Neal from Wealth Pilgrim called to share that the best job he ever had was moving irrigation pipe, and for essentially the same reasons.
In order to achieve financial success — or any kind of success, really — it’s vital that you know yourself. You need to look inside to learn who you really are and what you really want. I know this sounds new-agey and touchy-feely, but it’s true. You can never have enough money and you can never be happy until you know precisely what that means for you.
Bonus! Kris knows that I’m passionate about supporting locally-owned businesses. Every time a national chain knocks off another mom-and-pop operation, my blood gets closer to the boiling point. At an antique store in Baker City, she snapped this photo of a great “shop local” flyer:
If you want to read all of the propaganda (propaganda I support, in this case), click the image to view a larger version.
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This article is about Choices, Real-Life
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JD – How about challenging yourself to shop locally for a month? That means if a local option exists, shop there instead of Costco, Safeway, etc. Even a locally owned franchise (Ace Hardware, for example) would edge out a national chain (Home Depot).
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I respect those who can say from experience that a job that let’s you accomplish a basic task and that you don’t have to take home with you can be a great job, even if it is not high-profile or high paying.
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JD,
Clicking on the photo wants me to sign in to Yahoo to view the larger image.
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Thanks, Michael. I changed the code to go directly to the photo itself instead of the Flickr page. I think that should fix it…
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Thanks for the simple message, about what constitutes a great job, and how you really have to get to know yourself. I’ve heard variations on this many times, but somehow this post today has hit home in a huge way. I know my best job was in a coffee shop, many years ago – the hours were good, the co-workers were friendly and the customers were nice. And the money was actually not bad. I’m going to be thinking about this for days. Thank you so much.
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I love this! I try very hard to choose locally owned businesses whenever possible, even when it means spending a little more. This is why whenever I write about a book, I link to Powell’s instead of Amazon.
And my favorite job? The one I currently have (for the last 14 years) is a rare combination of highly satisfying and well paid with the added bonus of fabulous co-workers.
LOVE being a nurse.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
P.S. I also love being a blogger, even though I make $0.00.
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For us, moving from a mid-sized city (1M+ population) to a large town (20k population) meant several things to us:
> My job provides enough income and benefits to allow the Mrs. to stay home (she couldn’t be happier to be home with the kids)
> Cost of living is much lower making it easier to live on one income
> Our money goes further especially in real estate. We could have never afforded a property like we have today in our previous locale.
> We have a better opportunity to keep our sanity – less traffic, less craziness in general.
We were both born in small(er) towns, so raising our family in this area feels much more natural to us.
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We moved from a large city (appx. 1M) to a medium city (about 225k) and we’ve saved a bundle. Housing is way cheaper – maybe as much as 40% cheaper. Our insurance is cheaper (part of that is because its a different state, but part is because we aren’t in a big city). And we spend less – cause the restaurants aren’t nearly as good, the entertainment options are much less and of lesser quality. etc. We pay more in taxes, but we get actual police protection and good schools.
On the flipside we can’t walk anywhere cause nothing is close. They don’t have many sidewalks eventhough I’m only 4 miles from downtown (I’m technically in the suburbs – at least according to urban planners I am) We HAVE to have 2 cars whereas I used to bike and walk a lot for errands. And, as I mentioned above, the restaurants and entertainment options aren’t as good (yes we spend less, but I feel less fulfilled).
My husband and I have talked about this a lot as he feels he’s pulled me out of an environment I really liked. But like I told him, there’s give and take. I REALLY like having more money. I wish I had some better amenities to spend it on though. But that’s life, give and take. We can’t all be filthy rich and living in NYC, but wouldn’t it be nice!
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I did this too, except on a larger scale. I was born in Santa Cruz, CA, population about 50,000. It’s not a tiny town like Joseph, but it’s not a big place. I grew up, moved to the big city — San Francisco. It was big and exciting and I had fun there for a while. I actually excelled there financially. I launched my career and cleaned up after falling deep into debt.
But after a while, I missed my hometown. Santa Cruz is full of natural beauty and a friendly local vibe. I got married and moved back. I now live in a small house in Santa Cruz, one block from the ocean with my wife. I love it here, and I still have the career that I launched in San Francisco, but without the San Francisco rents and parking fees.
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So I am at the cross roads too. I feel that living ‘out there’ means, I get a house with land. There is less to ‘do’ which means less trips to the stores for stuff. On the flip side, the commute is longer, it can be harder to do ‘things’ like visiting friends and walking to places.
Is it worth the trade?
If I leave now, I can get a better job, more house/yard for less & then have the debt paid off. I feel that it is a commitment leaving.
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I think I’ve never had a job like that. I like the job I do now, but I can’t always leave it at work. All the less high-powered jobs I’ve had have involved customer service or data entry, neither of which suit me temperamentally.
I have often wondered if it’s the way that you sell it to yourself though. Maybe if I’d found a fulfilling angle to take on it, I’d have enjoyed the rubbish jobs too.
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Did she stop in my eastern oregon town called Vale? The museum is free here!
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“This waiter seems to be very in tune with his own needs and limits. He recognized that living in Portland was harmful to his financial health, so he did something to change it. ”
I LOVE THIS!! Thanks for sharing. It is stories like this that keep me coming back to GRS and help keep me on track.
Kinda the opposite for me. I find living in a big city cheaper. Mainly because I can live car-free, and I find walking around the city (for free) to be infinitely fascinating.
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Plonkee (#11) wrote: I have often wondered if it’s the way that you sell it to yourself though. Maybe if I’d found a fulfilling angle to take on it, I’d have enjoyed the rubbish jobs too.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
For the book, I’m deep into research about goals. I’m reading all about the psychological impact of goals. And I just finished doing the same for happiness.
Research shows that you can sell yourself on things you don’t like. It’s all in how you frame it. And repetition helps. If you keep telling yourself you like a particular job, or you emphasize the parts you already like, you can change your attitude toward it.
Note that it helps if the job isn’t a shitty job to begin with. That is, this works best with a job about which you are indifferent. If it’s a truly bad job, well, you’re best off leaving…
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Sorry, I don’t think I could stand living in a small(er) town than my current town of 100K (which is already too small for me)!
Small towns lack diversity and their social life seems to revolve around gossiping about neighbors. I like the anonymity of the big city and the opportunity to meet people who are different from me.
A giant house & yard isn’t all that appealing, when you consider what you have in a city that you lack in a small town.
Just my opinion, of course!
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In a lot of ways, Portland is like that for me. I grew up in NYC and have lived in Boston and LA for school. I went to undergrad here in PDX and when my partner and I had the opportunity to move here, I jumped on it. Portland is WAY cheaper than the other big cities in which I’ve lived, and way more accessible in so many ways. At the same time, my partner and I both lived in Ithaca, NY for a while (me 6 mos., her 9 years), a much much smaller town, and I/ we do miss some things about it that Portland doesn’t have. But not much.
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I love small town life. Nothing suits me better than just being at home with family, and having no where to go.
As long as I have the internet.
Now I just have to get my wife on board by the time we’re ready to move…
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Hey JD,
The most effective way to create change in ourselves is to change our environment.
Our self-discipline is unreliable–for some, more than others–and if we remove unwanted temptations around us, it’s easier to accomplish whatever our goal is.
I loved Steve Pavlina’s example of the best way to stop eating a certain type of food is to stock your house full of the lowest quality, least-enjoyable taste kind. Much more effective to wane yourself off of it than try to discipline ourselves not to touch the tasty morsels sitting on that counter… just… one bite, and that’s it… mmmmm….
Nice one,
Oleg
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Great post. We too, moved from a big city (Minneapolis) to a town about 30K. We do miss parts of the city, but we also enjoy parts of the smaller town. One reason was for eventually being able to afford going to one income so my wife can stay with the kids (once we have them).
I too try to shop local. I also try to pay cash locally so they don’t have to pay the credit card fees. That’s one small thing I do to try and give them an advantage over larger stores.
Where I struggle is with investments. I can shop locally, but it’s not going to make a huge difference if I give thousands of dollars to large companies in equity even when I don’t support the business. I’d like to have local equity, or at least small business equity, which just doesn’t seem possible with the current regulatory and business environment.
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Like Karen above, any smaller than where I live would make me crazy (60K). I think small towns can be really a pain if you don’t “fit”. Even though I live in a college town, life and people outside of the university are not diverse. I notice this keenly, as I’m not white, and find myself getting stared at.
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My husband and I shop locally. Sometimes, it means paying more, but that’s our priority. Someone at school complained that a Walmart was going up in her town, because it would demolish the local businesses. I said that people always complain about Walmarts, but they still shop there, so they are contributing to the problem. She said she shops there because they are cheaper. I replied that then it’s a matter of her priorities, and that was fine. As for my husband and I, we only shop local unless none of the local businesses offer the product, even if it is more expensive because it is important to us that we don’t contribute to the destruction of small, locally own businesses. Plus, when you spend locally much more of the money stays in the local economy.
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J.D., I’m glad you wrote a post today. Baker is fine, but so far his topics/approaches don’t speak to me. As you say, whatever works…
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The simpler life is usually the cheaper (and better) life. Too bad so many of us have taken that for granted.
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Love this post!!!
Re: jobs, it’s totally true. I might consider my job mindless and dull – if I wanted to. Instead, I appreciate the awesome location, benefits, co-workers, decent income, and being able to leave it at the office. It’s great! And truly there is enough variety to keep in interesting.
Re: small towns, I am a city girl. I moved here from LA, so Portland feels small, but it’s got the transit, the happy hours, the walk-ability, the arts, the cool free stuff to do like street fairs and First Thursday. I live within the city limits but I’d love to be even closer-in – my ideal would be a townhouse or condo near the max with just a spot of yard for the doggies. I could never do suburbia again, and small town life appeals to me not at all. Even my dad’s fabulous lake house is a nice place to visit, but wouldn’t want to live there; nothing in walking distance, not even a bus stop.
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Yay for local shopping our small city participated in the 3/50 program, spend $50 at three of your favorite local establishments. Almost all of our entertainment and eating out is at local mom/pop places (no chains for us). I buy my dog food at a mom/pop pet supply store.
Plus we walk to all of these establishments.
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Baker City sounds like a great little town…
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Love visiting Baker City. We moved from a college town of 54,000 to a capital city of 175,000. While I loved the college town, it’s much cheaper living in the city–comparable house cost about $100,000 less, property tax is less than 1/2, only a 15 minute drive to the airport instead of 2 hours, easy access to all types of medical care. While I’d like to return to the college town after we retire, it doesn’t appear that’s feasible. I guess it’s “love the town you’re in.”
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I, too, love the thoughts here. So often clients tell me they were happiest when they were doing work that was concrete and tangible, with immediate reward (like your example). But they think they *should* be doing something “bigger.” Usually those expectations come from other people or society as a whole. And fighting it is hard. So this is a great story. I’m also looking forward to the day when I’ll be living in a smaller town.
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There are definitely perks to my job now, I’d just like to move on to bigger and better things someday. (That don’t involve being a retail manager, noooooo thanks. I see enough of what they go through, and I want to have weekends again someday!!)
Funny, because I’m just a city girl. I was born in one, moved out of one to a small nearly non-existent town and am slowly working on getting back to a decent city. (Living near a small to mid-sized one now.) While the temptation is here to spend, since the mall is only ten or fifteen minutes away, I’d rather go to just walk around than actually spend money… For me, I have enough self-control to do this… Or at least know my triggers enough to not put myself into a spendy situation if I can’t afford one.
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Almost all of my local stores are chains, either regional or national. I’m ok with that because there was nothing but farmland, a couple of subdivisions and a circle k when I moved here.
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We actually made the move from Eugene to Baker about two years ago when we found out I was pregnant with my son. It has been such a great move for us! Low-no crime..our dream house (or will be soon) and great people. Try Bella’s on Main Street for a great local store.
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I found a flyer for the 3/50 project in one of my local stores recently. Basically it states that if half the employed population spent $50/month in independently owned businesses, it would generate $42.6 billion in revenue. Also, for every $100 spent in an independently owned business, $68 returns to the local economy, whereas only $43 comes back at a national chain.
Their website is the350project.net.
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J.D:
You do your readers a great service when you touch on the important issue of self-knowledge and some of the most powerful virtues such as contentment, patience and humility.
This is not “touchy-feely” or “new-agey.” The greatest thinkers in history guided those who would listen to pursue self-knowledge and virtue.
Success at personal finance has almost nothing to do with money.
“I do nothing but go about persuading you all, old and young alike, not to take thought for your persons or your properties, but and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of the soul. I tell you that virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man, public as well as private. This is my teaching, and if this is the doctrine which corrupts the youth, I am a mischievous person.” ~ Socrates
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There is something to be said for the small town environment. I moved away to Bermuda to work in off-shore finance for a few years, and looking back it seems similar to what you guys are saying about small towns.
The population is about 60,000 or so, and the island is very small. I was earning tax free money, and really didn’t have anything to spend it on (the once a month pay check helped that too). So after paying my rent and groceries, I was left with a huge lump sum and nothing to spend it on. I also got into a fairly routine lifestyle (work, gym, friends, sleep) everyday. Apparently, we are happier without choices than with them, who knew?
Now I life in the heart of downtown Toronto (millions of people), one block from my office tower (2 minute commute by foot). I am still saving lots and going to the gym and happy, even though my “town” couldn’t be more different than Bermuda small town living.
I think it would be difficult to go back to the inconvenience of a small town now that I’m used to 24/7 life though!
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I like to think that my family has the best of both worlds–we live in a small town (35,000) on the outskirts of Dallas.
Our little town is virtually crime-free and has some of the best schools in the area. We’re close enough to the center of town that we can bike or walk to shop or play. Property taxes are higher than in other places I’ve lived but having no state income tax offsets that to a large degree.
Best of all, when we crave big-city entertainment or fine restaurants, Dallas is just a short drive away. Most of the time, though, our little town has everything we need.
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It’s kind of funny how many people make small towns sound so romantic and simplistic. It all depends on which one you choose or lucky to live in. The one I grew up in was as small-minded as they come and when all the coal mines closed down it became one of te poorest ones around with a double-digit unemployment rate even when the economy was at its peak. It also depends on your definition of what a small town is. Mine was around 3000 and we were the 3rd largest town in the county. As a kid I considered the town in the next county of 30,000 as the big city. They all ain’t Mayberry.
But, all that said, I would move to a small city (or big small town – depending on how you look at it)from the larger suburban area I live in now if I got the chance to be able to live in a less congested place.
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I suppose I’ll move back to small town Ohio some day (grew up on the edge of farm country, so yes, small). I don’t want to, though! Yes, I could save far more money on rent/insurance/etc, but I use more in gas. Where I grew up, everything was half an hour away. Grocery store? Mall? Book store? Half an hour! An hour to get to a decent library.
And forget hole-in-the-wall ethnic restaurants. My area believed if you wanted good food, it came from a chain. Olive Garden was considered high class.
Here in the big city, I can walk to the anything I need, many delicious ethnic restaurants, and spend my weekends somewhere other than a hick country linedancing bar.
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I’d like to be able to support local businesses more but sometimes, once you get to know the business owner, you just can’t anymore. I used to like going into our local Ace Hardware until I discovered that we’re got radically different values on some issues than the family that owns it to the point where I’m not comfortable spending money in there anymore. (And I’ll leave it at that without going into detail to avoid it getting political)
I’m in a small metro area (about 200K people) and one thing I do miss about big city life is that there always seemed to be so many cheap or free entertainment options if you were willing to dig for them- an annual pass to the big zoo or museum that was about $20 more than the cost of going just for a day, more interesting places to spend an afternoon people-watching, lots of free and cheap concerts every weekend.
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“The waiter has also recognized that you don’t need a high-powered career to be happy. ”
This is a ridiculous generalization. I have a very high powered career. I always wanted one. I need one in fact, having a great deal of energy and ambition. I am happy. Small town life would bore me to death-I’ve been there. I also manage my money carefully and despite living in LA rarely shop.
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WOW! I never thought I’d read about my hometown on this site! I was born and raised in Wallowa County – and spent the first 18 years of my life in Joseph and Enterprise (the neighboring town) – population 1000 and 2000 respectively.
It is truly one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been (and lived), and my parents and one of my brothers (and his family) still live there.
Indeed – it is a joy to return home for a visit, because I know that financially there isn’t much we have to worry about there. The less we focus on spending there, the easier it is to focus on how beautiful it is, and how wonderful the small community is – despite the continued financial hardships they’ve gone through as the economy shifted over the years.
One of the best kept secrets in the lower 48, in my opinion. Fortunately, it is far enough out of the way that it will never become another Jackson Hole.
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Love this discussion. Perhaps someone can offer some insight to me!
I moved from a town of about 150,000 where I had lived all my life but the residents were very transient and therefore, it was difficult to have close relationships because they would move (military mostly). The traffic, crime and number of students per class rose as the population steadily increased.
I currently live in a town with a population of 45,000 and was hoping that my children and I could forge strong relationships with others. It’s quite the opposite. It seems that if you weren’t born and raised here that you don’t belong. Of course, I have met a few wonderful people, but overall, small(er) town living is not what I thought it would be. Traffic, crime and schools are much better but it’s at a price. Also, I could drive 40 minutes to the next biggest town to try to enjoy clubs, volunteering, etc. (an hour and 20 minutes away from my kids simply driving…)
In addition, a previous poster mentioned that small town people gossip as a hobby and I have found this to be so true. I prefer not to divulge all *personal* details of my life nor do I wish to discuss other people’s and this has helped to ensure that I don’t fit in at my job. Unfortunately, small towns don’t have a lot of options when it comes to a decent paying job with benefits…therefore, I feel it necessary to stay until my children have graduated from school but have seriously been thinking about what would be a better location for me.
I’m looking for the best of both worlds…where is it?
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I want the greenery of small-town life without the “yap your ear off” attitude of the locals. So much of my small-town experience is time-suck and (unintentional) sabotage because people are just TOO social. A quick errand turns into an hour conversation with Joe Talker at the hardware store.
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I grew up in a small town, and the appeal of small town life escapes me. In my adult life I tried cities on either coast and in the Midwest until I found one that fit. I like having many good restaurants, many cultural events, and NOT having people in the grocery store bend my ear for an hour.
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I switched from high-powered Industry job to retail, but stayed in LA. My co-workers are the nicest people I’ve ever worked with. Our customers are the artists and other creatives who make LA great. My paycheck is a third of what it was but I’m having the time of my life. I live in “the Valley” and shop the neighborhood stores- small chains and Mom and Pops. Sometimes I’m the only native English speaker as Russian, Hebrew and Spanish flow around me, but people “adopt” me and show me tricks about buying produce and where to find bargains. I love that the whole world seems to live here in LA!
I tried PDX for a year thinking it would be a quality of life move, but it’s expensive, way too small and closed off to newcomers. LA has world-class entertainments and museums that can all be had for free if you learn the schedules. I’m so much happier now.
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