Seattle! How is it now? Are there jobs? Should I move there?

Grad school in the humanities: DONT GO. SERIOUSLY DONT GO. EVERYONE. IS. MISERABLE. & has Stockholm Syndrome.

Hehehe. I have to say when I left in 1996 I was glad never to have looked back.

In any case, Hutcherson said it wasn't the end of his efforts. Even though the bill failed yesterday, he plans to visit two other companies that endorsed it to express his displeasure. Hutcherson would not name the businesses. Companies that endorsed the bill include Boeing, Nike, Washington Mutual, Vulcan and Hewlett-Packard.

Great.

Another mini-sideshow surrounding the bill involved rumors that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle, which has opposed such bills for years, was neutral this year.

Interesting.

Anyway, sorry for polluting Daria's thread with this gar-bahge.

i guess what bugs me is that i feel a church should have more class... a converted retail store doesn't really set the right vibe for eternal salvation. some of these big suburban joints are hard to distinguish from targets or wal-marts, at least from a distance

!!!

I must know who this is

Also, welcome to Seattle!

I wouldn't call anything west of 12th the pit of despair, but you are in highly-overpriced territory. Anything between 13th and 19th is probably a little nicer and cheaper actually.

Also, don't be afraid to go south of Pike St. Some friends of mine are super happy to have found a place around 17th and Union. (They moved from Austin, and apparently they bringing tons of their friends along to move here as well... which isn't surprising, given both are both smallish, centralized, tech-y cities... surely the same is happening with PDX as well.)

If you don't smoke, don't have pets, and don't mind a carpeted pad, your task will be a gazillion times easier to find a one-bedroom rental, speaking from experience.

the advice to walk and look around is the best thing mentioned on this thread. a great apartment next to my house sat open for 6 months because all the (lazy) landlords did was put a sign up on one utility pole.

As for a fap, it'd be fun to have one outside. play ping pong or croquet and drinkdrinkdrink. We must welcome A Lingbert!

http://mlb.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pMLB2-109672reg.jpg

!!!

We have a croquet set in storage over there, and will gladly contribute food, booze, and cleanup labor.

Can you get those hats from Ebbets Field Flannels? I know they still make the Rainers one. But those Pilots caps are amazing!

Matos - so so otm.

I used to live in a big old haunted house in Madrona, but it's been years since I've been back. It'll be nice to be back.

Lots of great suggestions. I was only in Seattle for about 2 days last month, so I obviously didn't get to see everything, and my impressions of the areas are fairly vague. I decided on Captol Hill as my first choice based on some positive things I'd heard/read about it and the little of it that I saw. What sold me (at the time, anyway), I think, was the neighborhood leading down to Washington Park (I'm pretty sure I have my geography straight here, but maybe not). It looked so pleasant and green, but maybe that's a super-expensive area that I won't be able to afford anyway.

I thought Ballard was a nice area, but maybe a little far from things and maybe a little too tranquil. I liked Fremont a lot, but it seemed like a place to visit rather than live in. Upper Queen Anne seemed generally uninteresting and overpriced (though nice views, of course), but I'll definitely have to give Lower Queen Anne a good look. I don't know if I saw much of Belltown or Wallingford at all.

I'm also thinking I might have to finally break down and get a cell phone. If I'm going to be wandering around most of the time when I get there, I don't want to miss any calls from prospective rentals. 28 years I've avoided having one, but I suppose maybe it's time. Where does someone even shop for cell phones? Malls? My friend says he likes Sprint. I guess they have Sprint stores, don't they?

But yeah, I'd totally be down to FAP should one materialize.

I mean, the Funhouse, Seattle Center, Larry's, Easy Street, Pagliacci, Racha, Roti, Blue Water Grill, Mirabeau, Ladro, post office, Bamboo Garden, McMennamins, more thai... all within easy walking distance. I don't think Hollywood allows for this many places to be this walkable from one place -- having grown up in west part of L.A.

Then again, you said you'd rather visit than live there, and that's a very fair assessment of Fremont.. especially now. (I'm just riding out the construction issues)

yeah, a bad example wrt walkability, but it seemed to fit in the sense that it's filled with a fair amount of cool commercial places, but also felt a bit empty. my impression might well be unfair - i only spent a little time in a little stretch of it.

Anyway, I signed the lease on a place in Lower Queen Anne yesterday. I found looking for a place to be extremely frustrating, and so when I came across this place, I just said fuck it and signed. I was able to talk them down to a 9 month lease, and it's fairly cheap (also small. 300 sq ft studio, and it has a gorgeous sidewalk-level view), and the neighborhood does seem cool. I'm only a few blocks NW of the main area. I figure I'll use the 9 months to get a better feel of the city and find a better place then. No big deal (though I'm kinda bummed because I got a call from a place I liked better later that night, but by then it was too late. Alas).

So yeah, thanks for all the tips everyone. I move in next weekend. Tomorrow I start job hunting. I'm looking for something temporary until I finish my EMT stuff in December, so maybe I'll try and hit up one of the neighborhood places. I'm going to talk with a temp agency tomorrow hopefully, too.

Also, Seattle is confusing as hell to drive in.

Also, the downtown library is the coolest library ever.

Very true. When I moved there, I wanted to be sure to live in sight of the Space Needle, so I'd have a landmark to find my way home. Also, lower QA is where the differing grids of the two guys who laid out the city meet up in chaos. (Arthur Denny and Doc somebody - read Sons of the Profits for enlightenment; v. funny esp. the rivalry between Tacoma and Seattle.)

Went to the Japanese Garden today. It's nice, but I really really really really wish it wasn't right next to a busy street (Lake Washington Blvd?). The traffic noise ruins the ambience.

I briefly drove through (and stopped a couple times) the Washington Park Arboretum. It manages to be just far enough away from the busy street that the traffic noise subsides to a dull roar and you can actually hear the animals and the wind. I'm looking forward to going back and spending more time there.

Has anyone been to the Hoh Rain Forest? Once I get settled in, that's at the top of my to do list. Should I be as excited about seeing it as I am?

That book was written by the guy who originally started the Underground Tour, whose name has completely escaped me. Bill something or other.

Yeah, there's no way to avoid that initial "GAWD I HATING DRIVING IN THIS FUCKING CITY!" breaking-in period... but it does go away once you find ways to maneuver around the streets that don't end prematurely, get collided into 5+-way intersections, or get confused with the whole directional suffix. (i.e. Denny Way, Boren Ave, Westlake Ave., Taylor Ave., Hwy 99/Aurora, etc. -- ok Westlake becomes Nickerson St. just south of Fremont, but the street swerved to become east-west so that makes some sense at least).

The worst thing is trying to get to the other side of Aurora Expressway, and the sad truth is.. you just have to know which streets go underneath or over it, and which streets don't -- the hard way.. since that cement center divider knows no exceptions (south of Winona Ave. that is.)

also, psst... Mt. Rainier

The Hoh is awesome! I drove over that way initially to see what a town named Humptulips would be like, but hiking in the rainforest was the best. Once when we were there in November, a herd of elk were munching away right next to the trail. Also, in the spring I've seen families of river otter playing. Another cool thing to do on the peninsula is the ocean beaches - all kinds of tide pools - and the hot springs at Sol Duc.
I'm there, maan.

What is this "Mt. Rainier" you speak of, gabbneb? Is this some obscure local attraction?