7 ms·
I moved from Farmington Hills, MI (across the street from Novi) to San Jose, no way I'd go back there. 70% because of the winter.
by andrewjf 10y ago
I moved from Farmington Hills, MI (across the street from Novi) to San Jose, no way I'd go back there. 70% because of the winter.
- sparky_ 10y agoI'm an Austrian living in SJ; the weather different is life and lifestyle altering.
- geogra4 10y agoOh that's silly. You drive to work you drive home. Maybe you go out to dinner then you go to bed. What lifestyle are you talking about? Sf would be one thing but sj and mv are really not so different from novi or farmington. Just suburbs
- webkike 10y agoUh, some people just don't like the cold? It does get very cold. And it's pretty insulting to just assume someone's like follows a pattern of "You drive to work you drive home. Maybe you go out to dinner then you go to bed". Some people like to take a hike or run every week, for a example. Or have the ability to bike to work year round.
- nine_k 10y agoNYC has winter, but people hike, run, and bike year round. What's funnier, Stockholm has winter, longer than NYC, but people do the same year round.
- Reason077 10y agoNeither Stockholm nor NYC have a winter anything like what parts of Michigan get - both are relatively temperate, coastal cities. Michigan is pretty much Canada!
- pyre 10y ago"Parts of Michigan" is disingenuous because we are specifically talking about Novi, MI which is in SE Michigan rather than places like (e.g.) Houghton, MI.
- serge2k 10y agoDetroit is literally north of Canada.
- ZoeZoeBee 10y agoFYI not a single month is Stockholm warmer than Detroit...
- Reason077 10y agoNot true - December, January, and February are colder, on average, in Detroit. In January, for example, Stockholm's average daily temp is -2.8C(27F) while Detroit's is -5.1C(23F). Outside of the winter months, the rest of the year is warmer in Detroit.
- ZoeZoeBee 10y agoAnd the average daily highs for Detroit in December, January, February are still higher than Stockholm
- echelon 10y agoI will never live where it snows. Ever. You couldn't pay me enough. I grew up with 90 degree summers, and frankly, I find the heat to be amazing. Anything under 50 is downright unpleasant. I curse every moment of being outside when it's near or below freezing. I realize this is only a personal anecdote, but I bet there are people out there just like me (and on all parts of the spectrum).
- brianwawok 10y agoIf it's cold I put on more clothes. Once it gets past like 80 I'm naked so how do I make more clothes off? Plus I can run way faster when it is 20 out vs 100. Snow running rocks. Sun running is awful.
- shiven 10y agoPart of the problem with winter is the availability of sunlight. "Seasonal Affective Disorder" is real and some people feel it more than others. For me, living in the Northeast US, this is a sore point. Even more important than the cold temps or snow on the ground. There are some alleviating actions one can take, like full spectrum lights, vitamins D etc., but they can never come close to the real deal. If sunnier places with dry, comfortable year around weather were a real and practical option, I'd move overnight, but am unable to move just yet due to family + affordability reasons.
- dhimes 10y agoI'm with you here. However, the summers are fantastic! Summer in the Boston area is as good as it gets anywhere I've been. It's just awfully short, and then it gets dark, and then I get dark.... :(
- gruturo 10y agoDifferent strokes, I guess. I absolutely hate every minute the sky isn't a clear blue with that lovely unshielded fusion reactor in the sky bathing us in its mostly benign radiation :-) I accept other people like it different - anything not resembling California (or central Italy) summer plain sucks in my view, while others would like 9 months of rain and winter.
- cylinder 10y agoI see this mentality so much, and it's really sad. Usually it's from workaholic types. Or maybe some people just really don't get affected by weather.
- raarts 10y agoSounds like a very shallow life to me.
- iagooar 10y ago> Oh that's silly. You drive to work you drive home. Maybe you go out to dinner then you go to bed. What lifestyle are you talking about? Sf would be one thing but sj and mv are really not so different from novi or farmington. Just suburbs Oh really? That sounds like a very sad life you have. After work, when it's warm outside, I take some colleagues and we go for a cold beer next to the river. Sometimes I'd go home and take my dog out for a long, nice walk. On weekends, my wife and I love going to the woods, enjoy ourselves. When not, I take my motorbike or bicycle and go find a quiet place to read an interesting book. Often times, I'll take my wife and we will go to a nice café and sit outside, drinking the best latte in town while sitting in the sun. Oh and I forgot going to watch the kids play with their local team - it's so much more pleasant when weather is warm. I could go on, but I guess you get the idea. There IS life outside and reducing it to working and commuting seems the saddest thing ever.
- rjsw 10y agoI like the winter. I have stayed in Novi when working in Detroit and being able to go skiing after work was great.
- glass_of_water 10y agoYou have to drive hours north to go skiing though and even then the hills are pretty tiny.
- rjsw 10y agoNope. It was a while ago so I checked Google maps for an idea of how long it took, 21 min from Novi to Mount Brighton. It is a small hill but was fine for something to do in the evening.
- ghaff 10y agoMount Brighton is really tiny :-) As I recall, when my parents lived near there, You had snowmaking guns on towers at the base that could blow snow onto the "summit." But really the Ann Arbor area isn't bad. I'm always a bit amused by discussions like this one in which so many voices seemingly argue that for reasons of weather, culture, and software engineering concentration, life really isn't worth living outside the Bay area even if you need to spend 4 hours a day commuting while sharing a 500 sq. ft. apartment with 2 roommates. The idea that it's questionable for Google to establish a location in Michigan for automobile research rather than keeping it in the great Silicon Valley is beyond funny.
- curiouscat321 10y agoThe groupthink at HN can be very severe at times. SE Michigan (especially Ann Arbor) is a lovely place! Lots of similarities to SV - smart people, culture, great schools. Plus, insanely cheap. The area is going to be a hotbed for tech companies with all the automotive talent around. It's ridiculously cheaper to open up offices in SE Michigan instead of constantly moving engineers elsewhere.
- seanp2k2 10y agoI also moved from metro Detroit to the Bay Area, and no way I'd move back. The people there don't believe they can make any changes in their lives or the world, so they don't. I have a ton of friends with sad stories out there now. I've helped a few of them get out to California and they'd never go back either. It's a place that crushes all of your dreams. Everyone there tries to tell you that you're stupid, that your idea is stupid, and that you should just give up. On the plus side, Ann Arbor is tolerable, but small. There are no real cities in Michigan. The closest is Chicago, and while I'd love to live there, the terrible winters (sub-zero temps with 40mph winds in the city corridors due to the Great Lakes and walls of skyscrapers), lack of mountains, and lack of sunshine would make it hard. Rent and food are cheap, but you're in the middle of nowhere with not many interesting + motivated people to talk with, and there's not much actual good food (people there can't afford $50pp meals). The young people are mostly leaving (or they want to). There are a lot of crazy / malicious business people out there as well (I experienced many of them doing basically computer consulting). Mountain biking out there is great (look up MMBA if you're interested) but the mosquitos will eat you alive if you stop, even for 30 seconds. The lakes are nice and cottages (usually smaller homes on lakes, usually "up north") there are well within reach of the middle-class. I'm done with nasty people with nasty attitudes. They can keep their murder mitten.
- therobot24 10y ago>> I'm done with nasty people with nasty attitudes. They can keep their murder mitten. Sounds like you're the one with the nasty attitude. Currently live in metro detroit. Have had the opposite experience as you.