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Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,551 posts, read 81,085,957 times
Reputation: 57744
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SpikeDurden
Maybe it's just maybe having grown up in the PNW, but who gives a **** about good bbq places? That's like one of the easiest things to do yourself at home.
I do a pretty good BBQ myself, but having worked in Oakland, there was a family operation with 4-5 stores called Flint's that is far better than anything I can do myself, and many other similar places. If you ever get to to Kansas City or many places in Texas there are amazing BBQ places, each location with it's own style. Thanks for the tips Ira, I'll give them a try. I pass by Pete's some times when working but haven't hit it at lunch time yet.
It's easy to do BBQ at home, but it's not easy to do real BBQ at home. We're not talking about just slapping some meat on a grill, we're talking about slow smoking over a low temperature, with wood chunks or chips. I could easily become a vegan if it weren't for pork ribs.
I don't want to characterize a population by what goes on in these forums, but it sure does appear as if there are a lot of people who don't know what they have up there. Yesterday I was looking at the Alaska weather thread in the Alaska forums. You'd expect people who really do live in bad weather to complain much more than the people in Seattle. Not even close. You live up there. Do you find people to lean on the cynical side? Do they look at the world through feces stained glasses?
You must admit that it can be downright hilarious how many people emphasize the negatives in the Seattle forums. They sometimes describe some of the areas south of Seattle (or North ala Everett) as if they were on par with the worst parts of Oakland. They talk about traffic as if it were worse than LA. They talk about the weather as if it were darker than an Antarctic winter. They talk about the Seattle Freeze as if they were a Jew living in Tehran. I sense a pattern up there. Of course, not with everyone, but with enough. So no, it doesn't surprise me at all that they gave themselves lower marks than visitors.
I hear what you're saying, but I think it's all a matter of perspective. The weather, traffic, and bad parts of town up here ARE actually bad. Objectively, they are not what you would call "good." But obviously there are places that are worse off in all categories. Maybe Seattleites are perfectionists? Drama queens? Or maybe we're all just depressed from the dark grey weather and see everything as worse than it is. Sometimes, I think complaining about the weather around here is our favorite way of connecting with each other.
I hear what you're saying, but I think it's all a matter of perspective. The weather, traffic, and bad parts of town up here ARE actually bad. Objectively, they are not what you would call "good." But obviously there are places that are worse off in all categories. Maybe Seattleites are perfectionists? Drama queens? Or maybe we're all just depressed from the dark grey weather and see everything as worse than it is. Sometimes, I think complaining about the weather around here is our favorite way of connecting with each other.
No, they're not. The weather in Seattle is purely subjective on what you consider bad. It's mild temperature most of the year and I almost never require more than a hoodie. That right there is much better than a lot of cities like Chicago and New York. The summers are beautiful. The rain doesn't hurt anyone.
The traffic is NOT that bad. Anybody who thinks it is has no idea what bad traffic actually is. Go to LA, New York and Chicago and Seattle will suddenly become the city with the best traffic in the country for you. It's never taken me more than 35 minutes to get from downtown Seattle 17 miles east to Sammamish no matter what time of day. It's taken me 1.5 hours to get 13 miles from Chicago to the O'Hare airport. There is no comparison. The traffic is simply not bad and Seattleites don't know what they're talking about.
The "bad" neighborhoods in Seattle like parts of the international district are a joke. I've never felt unsafe in Seattle. The "gang" problems are pretty isolated. I worked in south Seattle at an alternative high school for troubled kids and never saw anything to make me feel unsafe. Same in west Seattle. There are neighborhoods here in Chicago that if you drove into them, you'd be extremely scared and immediately know you do not belong and are in danger.
So maybe it's "bad" to Seattleites and is subjective, but it does make some Seattleites look like negative complainers. It's not that bad. Stop complaining.
It's never taken me more than 35 minutes to get from downtown Seattle 17 miles east to Sammamish no matter what time of day.
Ridiculous. I was going West on 520 just a couple of weeks ago, it was about 5:30 p.m., just before 405, and the estimated time to Seattle was 64 minutes. Typical day, evening traffic, and that was just before the bridge. A lot shorter than Seattle to Sammamish, even if you're taking the 90 bridge instead. And wait until the 520 tolls go into effect. The 90 bridge traffic will take on a whole new meaning.
I don't know how much time you've spent in Seattle, but I think you are looking at Seattle traffic through rose-colored glasses.
Stop complaining.
We live here, we can complain or at least acknowledge it any time we want. Feel free to complain about Chicago traffic.
It's never taken me more than 35 minutes to get from downtown Seattle 17 miles east to Sammamish no matter what time of day.
Ridiculous. I was going West on 520 just a couple of weeks ago, it was about 5:30 p.m., just before 405, and the estimated time to Seattle was 64 minutes. Typical day, evening traffic, and that was just before the bridge. A lot shorter than Seattle to Sammamish, even if you're taking the 90 bridge instead. And wait until the 520 tolls go into effect. The 90 bridge traffic will take on a whole new meaning.
I don't know how much time you've spent in Seattle, but I think you are looking at Seattle traffic through rose-colored glasses.
Stop complaining.
We live here, we can complain or at least acknowledge it any time we want. Feel free to complain about Chicago traffic.
I got stuck in that very same area on my last trip. That one spot was as bad as anything I've ever experienced in LA. That is the key though. Such areas are very localized. It's not like all routes are congested like that one spot. Many many places have such localized traffic congestion. When I worked on Camp Smith Hawaii it would take me 45-50 minutes to drive 10 miles to my apartment in Waikiki. From my office in Orlando it would take 35 minutes to drive 6 miles in the evening. Driving from my apartment in Laconia NH to the Weirs Beach on a summer weekend would take 40 minutes to drive about 9 miles.
Seattle really isn't that large geographically speaking. I could take a stretch of road with bumper to bumper, stop and go traffic in LA and wrap it around Seattle twice. That is probably why many don't think you can compare Seattle traffic to a place like LA. However, one's perception of traffic depends on how bad of a route they take on their daily commute. You could live in a place with little traffic and be unlucky enough to have to travel the sole congested road daily. To that person, traffic is as bad as LA...
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,551 posts, read 81,085,957 times
Reputation: 57744
Seriously, if I leave home in Sammamish, near Sahalee, middle of the plateau at 6am, I can be at work at my work parking garage at Pier 66 by 6:35 every day of the week. That is going I90, and 520 takes about 5 minutes longer. Leaving after 7 and it takes about 5 minutes longer, by 8 20 minutes longer.
Coming home at 3:45 took about 10 minutes longer until the viaduct detours, now it's about an hour, the viaduct has not affected the early morning. Coming home on 520 has always taken over an hour, usually about 70 minutes.
I take the bus now because it's still an hour but I don't have to use any gas
and can relax and surf with the Android (employer subsidized Orca card).
Compared to my commute in the 1980's in the bay area our traffic here is really not that bad, but has definitely gotten worse every year since I came in 1993.
It's never taken me more than 35 minutes to get from downtown Seattle 17 miles east to Sammamish no matter what time of day.
Ridiculous. I was going West on 520 just a couple of weeks ago, it was about 5:30 p.m., just before 405, and the estimated time to Seattle was 64 minutes. Typical day, evening traffic, and that was just before the bridge. A lot shorter than Seattle to Sammamish, even if you're taking the 90 bridge instead. And wait until the 520 tolls go into effect. The 90 bridge traffic will take on a whole new meaning.
I don't know how much time you've spent in Seattle, but I think you are looking at Seattle traffic through rose-colored glasses.
Stop complaining.
We live here, we can complain or at least acknowledge it any time we want. Feel free to complain about Chicago traffic.
First of all, you know damn well that going from the beginning of the 520 bridge to Seattle and it taking over an hour IS NOT NORMAL. At all. You're bringing in an extreme outlier.
I shouldn't have said stop complaining. Sorry. People have every right to complain about things and get them off their chest. But just know: things in Seattle are not as bad as most people make it out to be and everything is relative. The traffic may be bad to you, but compared to the rest of the country, it's nothing.
Also, since you questioned how much time I've spent in Seattle, I'm pretty sure 15 years qualifies me. I'm not seeing Seattle through rose colored glasses. Yes, I live in Chicago right now (but I still go back to Seattle at least 5 times a year because my girlfriend still lives there), but I do know the area. I was a delivery driver too and did plenty of driving. Don't really think my qualifications on the subject should be questioned.
If you can tell me all that traffic is my imagination, I can wonder where you get your information since I see it every day, but that's okay, I'm sure all those cars aren't really there.
First of all, you know damn well that going from the beginning of the 520 bridge to Seattle and it taking over an hour IS NOT NORMAL. At all. You're bringing in an extreme outlier.
Well... actually, it is normal for that area. Which is why I avoid 520... unless it's the middle of the night.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SpikeDurden
I shouldn't have said stop complaining. Sorry. People have every right to complain about things and get them off their chest. But just know: things in Seattle are not as bad as most people make it out to be and everything is relative. The traffic may be bad to you, but compared to the rest of the country, it's nothing.
Of course everything is all relative. Awhile back, there was a post from a guy from SoCal... who insisted that Seattle's traffic will never be as bad as LA's. I told him that's all fine and dandy, but I'm sure once he's stuck in it here that he's not going to care about the traffic in LA, especially when he's dealing with the S-curves and all the bottlenecks. He then says well, LA freeway has 10 lanes each both ways and its always full-- so therefor the S-curves and bottlenecks couldn't be as bad. I'm like
I like Seattle's traffic better than Las Vegas. Not only can you pretty much plan around it, but I was *scared* in Las Vegas (never saw so many car accidents, reckless and... a$$y driving, drunk driving, et. c before in my entire life). I can remember the situation where a guy in huge SUV made a lane change without looking over... and hit a guy on a motorcycle. The biker dies and the driver was being interviewed by the news. Oh, the driver was upset.... His axle was ruined.
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