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

Man, I feel ignored. Where has ILX gone?

i don't have any seattle advice, sorry.

i'm sorry that was all stupid and rambling, i had a bit to drink.

in every 'oh shit' scenario i see mentioned as 'likely' - another major stateside al qaeda attack, north korean nuke, peak oil crisis - seattle is usually mentioned as a place that's like to be sol.

Well, given that my other major option is Washington DC, my chances of not getting bombed AGAIN are prob still considerably better out west, right?

This will help me get started to help answer your questions...

I think I can deal with the weather. It's the snow and freezing cold up here that really gets me, but the worst of it is that I can't deal with having few/no friends and no comfy places to hang out once I leave the house. Seattle seemed to have those, I really did love the coffee shops. I have a couple of college friends out there who love it, and they can be kinda grumpy and complain a lot, so if they still love it after five years you know there's something good about the place.

And a good arts and music scene is something I care a lot about. As in, I'd like to go see punk rock bands and noise bands and small gallery shows and for people to be mostly chill and friendly. DC hasn't got much of that. Providence does, but I don't know anybody and never felt like I belonged here anyway so I kind of gave up.

As far as finding a place to live, the cost, etc. if what you're stating above is true about Providence rental prices, you'll be pleasantly surprised with Seattle's rental rates, which are -- and we're talking REALLY uber-hip locations in Capitol Hill which is as expensive as they get -- slightly less than that for a one bedroom. I'm paying just under $700 a month for a one bedroom in this micro-neighborhood just between Queen Anne and Fremont. BUYING here is definitely more expensive than renting.. but then again, I guess that's the case with RI too.

With the skills you have, you may find it frustrating to find a job immediately, but I think that's the case almost anywhere. The economy has certainly picked up here, especially office jobs, since about a year ago. Then again, rental rates have just begun to creep up.

The most important thing -- and you stated this -- is that you know people in town who you can hang out with as a starter for a social life here.. and your friends may talk about Seattle's rather high social insularity, which is true to some degree. On the other hand, Seattlites make a sport about bitching about their own city, too.

SO, given what you told me, if you visited and you like it here, and can deal with the weather, then I think it's a great idea for you to move here! I would save up some money though in the interim... worry less about finding a place, as that's not really that difficult, and worry more about biding your time frugally until you find at least a temporary job somewhere. You do have to live here first before you get a job here.

If you have any more questions.. shoot away!

that said, if you haven't visited Portland before, I'd also recommend visiting there as well -- if you can -- and if you have friends there as well. Some people feel more gravitated towards PDX than SEA, and the converse. Portland is definitely cheaper than Seattle, and it also has a strong arts scene, has plenty of cafes, great places to eat, shows, etc., but it's harder to find a job, too (currently).

Except for two months, I love the weather here. You never know until you try it for a full year, really -- but, I think anyone who's dealt with east coast weather can easily deal with Seattle. If my spoiled L.A. sunshine ass can enjoy it here for four years, I'm sure most can.. it's just the fear that keeps people from moving here -- my theory at least. (Then again, 90% of humanity sucks, so that's generally a good thing. I assume daria is in the 10% :) Not to say people don't get genuinely depressed dealing with the weather here, but I find the fear outweighs the ones who actually try it.)

How about NYC, or Baltimore?

Or San Francisco?

But I am admittedly projecting. And I have no problems with NYC and SF as cities, of course.

Also, while it's fun to get into the coffee/café thing in Seattle, it's totally overpriced and will make a dent into your budget if you indulge in high brow brev´s or lattés everyday. Make your own coffee at home. It's much much cheaper that way, and there's only about, oh, 100 types of coffee beans you can choose from practically any market nearby. Sure, having that leave-pattern latté on the weekend is a great kick, but everyday? nooooo.

Baltimore is fucking cool, but I always get crazy lost driving there and it's still real sketchy. The major problem with Bmore, NYC, and San Fran is that I don't really know anyone there. I'm not feeling at my most socially adept right now and I don't have the resources, uh, on a personal level, to pick up and completely start over - I left school not long ago and have been fairly miserable (deliberate understatement) and need a real serious change of scene. And I don't want to go back to careerist DC and pretend to be a careerist because before you know it I'll be trying to convince myself I should go to law school.

The two old friends I have in Seattle.. we go back about ten years. And I actually have relatives not too far away. I'm thinking Capitol Hill could be nice.

Oh, fuck, the radio station here in Prov is playing "Smells Like Teen Spirit." There should be a law..

If you have friends that go back 10 years, then that's a good sign.

And I'm sure the Seattle Crüe would cheerfully have a FAP in your honor upon your visit. :)

There are some non-career-y people in DC though, right? I don't know, my experiences on the West Coast are a bit weird, except for L.A., I tend to feel like I'm really far away from everything, but could just be I'm tied to the East Coast.

Unless you like the idea of being a poor student for another seven years plus, and can be incredibly disciplined and hard-working and unfazed in pursuit of your CLEARLY DEFINED professional goals by the indifference, pettiness, and/or hostility of others, all of whom have a lot more power than you. And by the way, there are almost no jobs. At all. They won't tell you that, because it's not in their interests to cut the pool of cheap graduate labor - who else is going to handle the workload for all those intro level undergrad courses? And did I mention everyone is miserable? And that if you're the one out of every, what, fifteen/twenty or so who actually finishes the PhD and lands the tenure-track job, you get to start all over at the bottom of the barrel and keep your mouth shut and jump through more hoops and tread carefully through vicious departmental politics over the most trivial of matters? Oh, and good luck leaving if you decide you want to, it's kind of like the Mafia that way and will be a lot more painful than you think.

Read this guy's columns in the Chron of Higher Ed. if you're thinking about it, particularly "Is graduate school a cult" and "So you want to go to graduate school."

The trouble is, you go in with this mentality of "yeah, I know it sucks and it's rough, but I CAN BEAT IT, I AM that one person who can come out ahead and land on the tenure track." I don't advise trying, I really don't. There's more to life than this! As for what happened with me personally, I hate writing papers, and I don't deal well with trying to manage a massive and intense workload with few/no guidelines, boundaries, or schedules anywhere. You start to feel like you don't exist after a while. Then I really started to get depressed. To which condition the institution says, meh.

a) where do you score your weed?
b) you work at Tully's, Laddro, or Vivace?
c) how many records have you pressed this week?
d) what web programming languages do you use?

I'm not sure what support from Microsoft could have done to change the opinion of some fucking Aberdeen-area Democrat fuckhead. (forgive me for being angry right now.)

However, the passing of this bill would have effectively forced more homophobe-run businesses in rural Washington to abide by the same standards... so this basically means that if you're gay and you live in a small crazily homophobic Washington state town, you'll still be denied a job or lease or house purchase by homophobic owners or employers, if they happen to care about that type of thing. Aside from maybe Hoquiam or Chehalis, I can't think of any town in western Washington that would discriminate against non-straights. Eastern Washington is a whole different bag, but I don't know too many gay friends of mine who would want to move to eastern Washington anyway.
And then again, loonies exist in their own creepy oases in the most liberal strongholds, too.

Ah shit, oh well, at least we didn't pass a law that bans gay couples from being able to be foster parents like Texas just did.

I'm seriously thinking of the move. Talked to the family tonight and couldn't quite bring myself to tell them! Perhaps the next step is to snag a cheap ticket from Southwest and scope it out. I also am kind of interested to hear that Cantwell's Senate race looks to be highly competitive in 06, and there's a big Seattle contingent with some fairly shrewd activists over at the Daily Kos (the dKos play by play on the battle over the governor's race was extraordinary - and I read about the Micro$oft thing over there too). So I could volunteer on some political campaigns when I'm not busy obsessing about music.

Til then, uh, stuck inside of RI with the DC blues again..

But Seattle has tons of lefty organizations, if that's what you feel comfortable doing. It's a potpourri of "commie" groups here. \

FEEL TEH LENIN!

(You can feel the statue, literally, if you visit Fremont)

..so perhaps you could come in and kick some ass in a similar group.. maybe in relation to the Cantwell reelection effort in '06. Washington state Democratic politicians really need to wake the fuck up and realize that they can't assume they'll get elected because "Seattle is big enough to elect me, so I don't need to try that hard."

haha i'm in DC and haven't had a job for six months

superdope

i got obsessed with manintree at 1:30 am and saw on periscope a drone, drunk people yelling at him, and a dude show up with a bb gun and get arrested

Light rail has been around for, like, 6 years! We just got another 5 miles and 2 stops added. Another 100 miles of track and we'll be on par with...every other major city, half a century ago.

how about this weather

Pretty common to have strong storms like these in November and December. October is a bit early, but not unheard of. It's just nasty when you lose power and there are fallen trees all over, but it's not like these are hurricanes or anything.

hellof leaves on trees still gives this another dimension
came into seatac today. buumpy! 3/4 of outgoing flights were delayed, never see that.
and yeah not hurricane but 50+ winds is no minor thing. love a storm prep when it's not too cold and the weekend get flashlights get blazed get hunkered

Lakes everywhere

Cafe Racer is up for sale. This city can be real depressing sometimes.

not sure why i started thinking about this last night but
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRqteDXb3Yk

bonus: giant Marlboro ad

Welp

right?

ugh

https://thecisforcrank.com/2017/04/07/morning-crank-i-have-four-kids-and-a-wife/

ok then

http://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/04/11/25069906/doctors-report-shows-mayor-ed-murray-does-not-have-a-mole-on-his-genitalia-as-accuser-claims

Every time I see a picture of Ed Murray I think of the meme of the dog who was terrified of cupcakes:
https://media1.fdncms.com/stranger/imager/u/original/25069910/1491952854-1491517862-1465827512-o-3825.jpg
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4-6Gb4AzgUk/hqdefault.jpg

Why are there always 20,000 people who are willing to vote for Goodspaceguy?

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/09/opinion/smoke-heat-seattle-climate.html

This shit will leave tomorrow maybe? Walked out of the library this evening and felt my eyes burning. Really don't enjoy the sense that I'm endangering my health by biking to work.

My partner who is from San Diego assures me it could be much worse

It does suck majorly though, and I assume it will only get worse in years to come.

Lived in eastern WA for a decade until this summer, didn't know "fire season" was a thing and absolutely don't miss it.

a couple of years ago the smoke in vancouver was so bad for a few days in the summer that you could look directly at the sun in the sky at noon and the entire town smelled like a (gross) campfire. there also was a silty film all over the ground from where the ashes were lightly falling.

with climate change i really think that it will cease to be pleasant to live here soon enough

It's just ugly, it hasn't affected me physically. I bike 16-25 miles commuting to and from work every day and it hasn't been an issue. It's just ruining the joy I get from seeing those perfect blue skies and the mountains in the disatance.

Cafe Racer closing for good on Wednesday.

Racer was the place I told visitors and recent transplants to go to in Seattle, because it would unfailingly give you good vibes about the city. Whether or not the Seattle Freeze exists, people would talk to you there. And the people there endured one of the more horrifying events in recent local history, and had the strength to come back and reopen the place, and it's a real punch in the gut that it won't be around anymore.

fuuuuuuck Tim Eyman.

Washington State voters are like Sideshow Bob stepping on Tim's cunningly laid rakes.

hope this one goes down in the courts as well.

Kshama's gonna pull it out with late ballots though I feel it in my guts

Washington State voters are why I want the USA to reorganize into city-states

Wife and I got in one last Washington absentee vote before moving to AZ this month where our blue votes will count for so much more.

Given the deteriorating streets/roads around here, sad that people would be short-sighted on this one. Not to mention the dozen repeal/maintain advisory votes on the ballot that are also Eyman-related.

Seattle died last night.

shitty election

the local stuff gets a bit lost in the shuffle of the virus threads, but Tom Douglas just closed all his restaurants for the next couple months and laid off 800 employees with no severance pay.

Inslee has reached the Not Fucking Around stage, reportedly public schools in King, Pierce, and Snoho will be ordered closed until at least April 24

Closing the libraries for a month.

Now that there’s less ambiguity than there was a week ago on what the response here would be like, I’m fairly sanguine about how this will all go here in the next few months, at least healthwise. Wrenching for performance groups, will be fatal for an unknown number of restaurants.

Anyway to check in on the questions in the thread title, Seattle is fine tho anyone who has lived here even a little bit longer than I have could justifiably say it sucks now; there’s jobs of certain kinds and low unemployment but as a loathsome computer person my perspective on jobs is irrelevant; and you should move here bc the weather is perfect 400 days a year.

Your weather is crap

The whole west coast needs to grow a couple of seasons like a real biome

We have two seasons! Wet and dry.

Both are good.

The Stranger just laid off a bunch of staff, pausing print distribution.

literally every good reporter who worked there in my 7 years here is long gone at this point and transphobic asswipe K***e H****g is among the laid off and T*m K**k is a big ol piece of shit in general and I shed no tears for this institution

genuinely pleased K H is unemployed

JoeStork and I have a good friend who just got laid off by the Stranger today (not KH, obvs), so maybe cool it with the schadenfreude?

:/ I’m of course sorry for your friend’s circumstances in this troubled time.

Very hard not to take pleasure in KH’s tbh, I’m p vindictive on this score. Though of course she’ll probably end up coming out ahead on the terf lecture circuit. Assuming that’s a thing.

I’m sure she’ll score a gig at Quillette or the Atlantic or something. The Stranger still had some good arts writers and if it goes completely under a big source of promotion for local music/film/art disappears.

anyway sorry, really, for being so blasé about people who are not KH losing their jobs, obviously justice would've been better served by her being fired for being bad

not sure if there’s a more active all-purpose thread about Seattle (there’s about 20,000 user-specific FAP threads in the archives and i didn’t want to create another one) so sorry if this isn’t the best place to ask this BUT:

i will be coming up to Seattle in a couple weeks (the 20th through the 24th). it is my second time visiting, but my first time was for a conference and i didn’t get to do much exploring then. anything fun/cool going on around that time? shows, events, exhibitions, etc? any particular restaurants/food that i absolutely must try? good record stores? ftr i am staying downtown and will not have access to a car.