Why are you living in Pittsburgh? (Bloomfield, Monroe: subdivisions, shop, moving)

[greg42]

Yeah, I thought my move here was temporary as well, 2-3 years, even with continuing to work for the same company. Turned out ultimately my various roles in helping to grow the company (not roles I had originally intended or that even existed when I started) ended up working better being based here vs moving elsewhere.

Where ya gonna go Hopes? I suppose that's roughly off-topic for the thread, but I think that's an interesting outlook you have, that you're certain the next move will also be temporary, and wondering where you're thinking of.

[Hopes]

I sent you a PM because I didn't want Yac to yell at me for derailing the thread. The subject matter truly would have derailed it.

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I looked for a place that was welcoming of the LGBT community (I've seen more rainbow flags here than in NoVA, believe it or not).

You phrase this as if NoVa were some hotbed of gay activity, and that has never been the case. For years, there wasn't a single gay bar in the Virginia suburbs of DC (I understand there's one now, near the King Street Metro). I know you worked out there, and that the area was much more expensive than when I lived there, but even so, when I worked in one of those Tyson's Corner office buildings, I lived in DC. I would no more have lived in NoVa than I would look to Pat Robertson for coming out advice.

IOW, I would expect to see more rainbow flags in Pittsburgh than in the Virginia suburbs. Fairfax City is to Christian as Dupont Circle is (or used to be) to gay. If nothing else, when all is said and done, the state of Virginia is home to two or three of the biggest gayhating organizations in the world.

But then, you can support eating at Chick Filet, which I will never understand.

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I worry about Pittsburgh becoming as overrun with hippies and hipsters as Burlington, Vermont, Portland, Maine (or Portland, Oregon for that matter). I was at a variety show at a bar in Lawrenceville about a month ago, and my friends and I were surrounded by dozens and dozens of hipsters. We don't need a bunch of largely unemployed or underemployed people who spend all day smoking weed, showering irregularly, sitting around on park benches reciting poetry about Darfur, or holding "feel good" folk music rallies that raise little or no money but compensate for the lack of social place many of these individuals have. My family and I recently vacationed in Portland, Maine, and you could barely take two steps without tripping over drifters or hipsters.

Do you really think all hipsters don't work or go to school? Skinny jeans don't come cheap.

While you usually have something good to say, Paul, your snobbishness here reaches previously unattained heights. This treatise on hipsters may just be the most fatheaded thing you've ever put to pen.

And no, I'm not a hipster. I'm a member of one of your other broadbrushed demographic categories, the evil baby boomer.

Saying stuff like this about categories of people makes you seem less intelligent than I think you are, Paul. At the very least, it tells us much more about you than the hipsters you deride. You really need to learn when not to say something.

[mckeesport_alum]

Family is still here. I expected them to have moved South by now. Would love to live in a little shack in Murrell's Inlet, SC.

[BrianTH]

Hipsters are just the latest version of bohemians, and every generation of young people since the invention of cities has had their own version. Kids will be kids, and I have no problem with this particular expression of youth--it can certainly be worse.

[subdivisions]

Came here for grad school, totally loved it, we bought a house and have been very happy. I consider it a second home-town now.

I am about to graduate, and while the employment situation is still undecided, our first choice is to stay here, and buy another, bigger house to fix up. Pittsburgh is great. I hope the secret gets out a little bit, but not TOO much.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

All the WYEP listening, latte drinking, Apple product using hipsters I know have full time jobs. Then again, I work in IT so sometimes tech nerds/hipsters overlap in the eyes of some. I don't think being "hip" and being a bum are interchangeable.

[Reelcheeper]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

This is my biggest social complaint about some Pittsburghers: the derivation of false bogeymen. You know you're dealing with one of these people if they refer to Monroeville Mall as "ghetto." I can only imagine what they have to say about Monroeville itself, now that one person in five who lives there isn't white!

It's kind of the same way in Western NY. I've heard people refer to "gangs" in Jamestown, and I've heard people call it "ghetto". Chances are, these people have never been to Detroit or some of the places in the South where people just walk into your house and steal things.

[soniqV]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

All the WYEP listening, latte drinking, Apple product using hipsters I know have full time jobs. Then again, I work in IT so sometimes tech nerds/hipsters overlap in the eyes of some. I don't think being "hip" and being a bum are interchangeable.

Sounds more like a yuppie to me, who decided to adopt the hipster style/outlook. Just like you wouldn't call a lot of the original Silicon Valley gurus "hippies," though they may reflect elements of the culture. To my knowledge these words are not typically used as positive descriptors.