Azfiddle and Badgercat, it was wonderful to meet you in real life! (We should do it again some time, if I get in!)
I think I fell ever-so-slightly in love with Tucson and the program.

I'm not sure how well one would manage without a car, especially in the summer, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I'm going to have to ask about residency laws as well. The graduate students I talked to about it were from California, and switched for tax purposes.