5 ms·

Visited Seattle for the first time yesterday (from Australia). I have to say that unless you start paying me off I'm going to start promoting it. The people we

by vertis 11y ago

Visited Seattle for the first time yesterday (from Australia). I have to say that unless you start paying me off I'm going to start promoting it. The people were super friendly. The weather was great (two days of sunny blue skies). The food was great. Even the roads were easy to deal with I do take bitcoin.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
aianus 11y ago
> The weather was great (two days of sunny blue skies). Seattle from October through January is nothing like this. I literally didn't see the sun for over 20 days straight at one point (it's foggy and rainy non-stop during the winter).
- mikestew 11y ago
  20 days, huh? Must have been a mild winter. Smart-assery aside, yeah, Seattle has awesome summers, albeit mighty short some years. November comes, you better head down to the NorthFace outlet and get a GoreTex jacket or two.
- meatysnapper 11y ago
  That's nothing. In 1998 (I'm pretty sure) Seattle had 96 days of light drizzle with nary a ray of sunshine. The suicide rate went up massively, and I decided to move to CA as soon as I had the means.
  - jdp23 11y ago
    I remember that winter well. I was founder-CTO of a Silicon Valley-based startup, and we were working on a big deal with Microsoft. After they hired away the first two people we put on the project, I stepped in, and spent several weeks a month up in the Seattle area. I still remember telling the board, "the only way they'll be able to hire me is to buy the company!" and we all had a good laugh. Which is of course what happened -- they decided they wanted the technology and the engineering team (including me) and after some negotation got to a price that worked for everybody. Moving up to Redmond was part of the deal. At the celebration party, people gave me various presents -- including a scuba mask, flippers, rubbers, several umbrellas... And yeah, everything they say about the winters here is true. So please please please don't move here :)
    - aaronbrethorst 11y ago
      Hey Jon - I don't think I've seen you since you ran those Ad Astra hackathons inside MS. Hope you're doing well! Huh, just noticed this: http://minimsft.blogspot.com/2007/11/low-hanging-late-harvest-fruit.html http://minimsft.blogspot.com/2007/11/low-hanging-late-harves... It looks like you and I left Microsoft in the same week. Funny timing.
      - jdp23 11y ago
        Hi Aaron, hah, I had forgotten all about that link. Thanks Mini! And as for us leaving at the same time, funny how that works :)
retbull 11y ago
NOOOOOOO. Don't tell anyone. It is terrible here and there is lots of sadness from all the rain. I hate Seattle. Seriously though F* 405 traffic. The new "Toll route" is a nightmare and now everyone is using side roads making my drive to work from a quick 10 min jaunt into a 25-30 min parking lot.
- ksenzee 11y ago
  My 167+405 commute is ~75 minutes. I have to admit I'm glad the toll route doesn't extend down my way or I'd be tempted to use it.
  - mjevans 11y ago
    It will, in a few years. The plans are already set and they've held the public meetings on it where the public doesn't get any chance to change the plans.
- mikestew 11y ago
  I ride a motorcycle every day from Redmond to Seattle. The new express lanes have screwed it up even for me, even though I get to use those lanes. Problem now is getting to those lanes. Traffic in the other lanes is now worse, and I can't cross the double white lines until about a mile after I get on 405. Granted, it adds maybe five minutes at most. But it poses the question: who are those lanes supposed to help if it only adds time an inconvenience even for those that have access to them?
  - mjevans 11y ago
    Who do you think is making money on running this system? Surely someone is, that's why (in their view) it's 'successful' everywhere... (Successful being to extort the upper middle class for an unfair share of taxes, and regressively dis-enfranchise everyone under them by making their commutes worse so those 'lucky few' can pay a premium to drive at least 45MPH.) The real solution, as pointed out above, involves incentives for desired behavior from all actors via taxes/tax breaks (stick/carrot). Parties that should be affected include businesses, employees, housing providers, and civic planners on all levels. The true cost of living rural should be felt (you should /pay/ for your share of the infrastructure required to provide /you/ with modern services; but you should /get/ them, including actual /good/ Internet). The true cost of employing should be felt (pay for the infrastructure to get workers to you, and for the education that trained them). Housing should be more consistently priced, in city and out, and should also scale up large enough to have 'raise a family well' sized dwellings. Also while you're at it, discount taxes slightly for better auditory insulation (or make it a side effect of /awesome/ fire codes). This way workers would be more likely to be able to afford to live, and thus move closer to their jobs. With the lack of 'lifetime employment' at a company, responsible living is now an apartment, not a house.

by vertis 11y ago

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

aianus 11y ago

> The weather was great (two days of sunny blue skies). Seattle from October through January is nothing like this. I literally didn't see the sun for over 20 days straight at one point (it's foggy and rainy non-stop during the winter).

mikestew 11y ago
20 days, huh? Must have been a mild winter. Smart-assery aside, yeah, Seattle has awesome summers, albeit mighty short some years. November comes, you better head down to the NorthFace outlet and get a GoreTex jacket or two.
meatysnapper 11y ago
That's nothing. In 1998 (I'm pretty sure) Seattle had 96 days of light drizzle with nary a ray of sunshine. The suicide rate went up massively, and I decided to move to CA as soon as I had the means.
- jdp23 11y ago
  I remember that winter well. I was founder-CTO of a Silicon Valley-based startup, and we were working on a big deal with Microsoft. After they hired away the first two people we put on the project, I stepped in, and spent several weeks a month up in the Seattle area. I still remember telling the board, "the only way they'll be able to hire me is to buy the company!" and we all had a good laugh. Which is of course what happened -- they decided they wanted the technology and the engineering team (including me) and after some negotation got to a price that worked for everybody. Moving up to Redmond was part of the deal. At the celebration party, people gave me various presents -- including a scuba mask, flippers, rubbers, several umbrellas... And yeah, everything they say about the winters here is true. So please please please don't move here :)
  - aaronbrethorst 11y ago
    Hey Jon - I don't think I've seen you since you ran those Ad Astra hackathons inside MS. Hope you're doing well! Huh, just noticed this: http://minimsft.blogspot.com/2007/11/low-hanging-late-harvest-fruit.html http://minimsft.blogspot.com/2007/11/low-hanging-late-harves... It looks like you and I left Microsoft in the same week. Funny timing.
    - jdp23 11y ago
      Hi Aaron, hah, I had forgotten all about that link. Thanks Mini! And as for us leaving at the same time, funny how that works :)

retbull 11y ago

NOOOOOOO. Don't tell anyone. It is terrible here and there is lots of sadness from all the rain. I hate Seattle. Seriously though F* 405 traffic. The new "Toll route" is a nightmare and now everyone is using side roads making my drive to work from a quick 10 min jaunt into a 25-30 min parking lot.

ksenzee 11y ago
My 167+405 commute is ~75 minutes. I have to admit I'm glad the toll route doesn't extend down my way or I'd be tempted to use it.
- mjevans 11y ago
  It will, in a few years. The plans are already set and they've held the public meetings on it where the public doesn't get any chance to change the plans.
mikestew 11y ago
I ride a motorcycle every day from Redmond to Seattle. The new express lanes have screwed it up even for me, even though I get to use those lanes. Problem now is getting to those lanes. Traffic in the other lanes is now worse, and I can't cross the double white lines until about a mile after I get on 405. Granted, it adds maybe five minutes at most. But it poses the question: who are those lanes supposed to help if it only adds time an inconvenience even for those that have access to them?
- mjevans 11y ago
  Who do you think is making money on running this system? Surely someone is, that's why (in their view) it's 'successful' everywhere... (Successful being to extort the upper middle class for an unfair share of taxes, and regressively dis-enfranchise everyone under them by making their commutes worse so those 'lucky few' can pay a premium to drive at least 45MPH.) The real solution, as pointed out above, involves incentives for desired behavior from all actors via taxes/tax breaks (stick/carrot). Parties that should be affected include businesses, employees, housing providers, and civic planners on all levels. The true cost of living rural should be felt (you should /pay/ for your share of the infrastructure required to provide /you/ with modern services; but you should /get/ them, including actual /good/ Internet). The true cost of employing should be felt (pay for the infrastructure to get workers to you, and for the education that trained them). Housing should be more consistently priced, in city and out, and should also scale up large enough to have 'raise a family well' sized dwellings. Also while you're at it, discount taxes slightly for better auditory insulation (or make it a side effect of /awesome/ fire codes). This way workers would be more likely to be able to afford to live, and thus move closer to their jobs. With the lack of 'lifetime employment' at a company, responsible living is now an apartment, not a house.