It happens all too often. A person leaves their home, their family, and their old job to make a change in their lives. They arrive in the new city and get set up with an apartment and maybe even a job, but then they realize that they have no connections. The sinking "lead bricks in the stomach" feeling of being completely alone is what makes a lot of people turn tail and run back to their old lives before the first month is out. To help combat that feeling when you move to El Paso, Texas, you should make an effort to integrate yourself into the community. Step one in that process is to start reading the local paper.

The paper you'll want to pick up when you arrive in El Paso is the El Paso Times. The paper is now owned by a conglomerate that owns many other newspaper franchises in Canada and the United States, but it's been in operation since 1881, back when El Paso was a frontier town. Most of the reporters who work for the paper have lived and worked in El Paso all their lives, and by reading their articles you can begin to get an understanding about what life is like in El Paso and what sort of people live there.

Over 70,000 people in El Paso read the El Paso Times - nearly 90,000 on the weekends - so the simple act of buying and reading the paper is making you more like a local. The news printed in the paper will also help you develop a knowledge base about the town - which company has just developed a new biosolids application, how the college football teams are doing, and what's happening just over the border in Mexico that may affect El Paso or its residents.

Reading the El Paso Times will also help you become familiar with the local businesses that are out there, because they'll be purchasing ad space in the paper. Chances are you'll need to replace your Alberta Botox specialist with an El Paso doctor, find someone to mow your lawn, or buy some used furniture for your apartment from the classifieds while you're here. Make note of the names and companies that appear, and you can begin to rebuild your network of services.

Of course, in this increasingly technological age, no newspaper could survive for long with only a print edition. That's why there's an online version of the El Paso Times at www.elpasotimes.com where most of the content is available free of charge. It's also updated much more frequently, so you can get the latest on heat shrink tubing development or local road construction the minute it happens on your computer or smart phone.