[r] some reference materials for employer selection

Two important factors for selecting an employer are its overall rating and the cost of living at the employer's location. Luckily both information could be found comprehensively online. Here is how:

For employer rating, Fortune 100 is a good index. The survey has exhaustive company profiles and relative comparisons. CNN has the annual ranking data online at: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2007/

Also online from CNN is the "best places to live" list, good for town research:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2007/

For comparison chart of cost of living, there are many resources online. Just Google "compare cost of living". You will find how amazing a lower offer makes sense than its higher counterpart in a different region. A sample website is:
http://www.bestplaces.net/col/

Based on calculations at the above website, $90k/yr in Chicago, IL is equivalent to $138,522/yr in San Diego, CA and $93,913/yr in Seattle, WA. Different cost of living sites give different conversion factors and taking average of several of them will be a good idea.

There are also great books on negotiation, one of my favorites is "Negotiating Your Salary: How To Make $1,000 A Minute" by Jack Chapman. The book is available through Amazon (link).