What activities do you do in Dallas? (Austin, Richardson: sale, hotels)

[CGGirl]

There was no hostility in my post. I was only responding in kind to the poster I quoted. So I guess you can only read hostility in mine if there was hostility in her response

As for crossing over, I rarely ever went to VA for anything while I was living in either DC or MD. I always did have a little bit of fear of the red states

I never shopped at Tysons Corner that much. The 2 or 3 times I did go there, I DID take public transportation I shopped at the malls in Montgomery County or at Friendship Heights or on Connecticut Ave. McLean was a little too upscale for my personal tastes. The Potomac area in Maryland was always more to my liking.

And yup - VA was indeed like a foreign country to many Marylanders...hehe. As for distance, my exBF grew up here and even for him, he thought Fort Worth was way too long of a drive from where we lived here in the city. I had heard of this Sundance Square area and was curious about it but he said it's too long of a drive.

Originally Posted by grindin

Actually, Columbia, MD is quite a lovely town, and known for being one of the better places to live in the country (It usually ranks high on those Quality-Of-Life lists right along with D/FW burbs such as Plano or Southlake). And the DC area economy has held up quite well during these perilous economic times (not great, but it's not in the crapper). However, you have to pay to play, because that is one of the more expensive parts of the DC/Balto area, which is one of the most expensive regions in the nation.

Atlanta, which has a cheap COL like D/FW has an economy that has deteriorated quite a bit. Georgia is #2 in the nation for job losses after Michigan . Mostly in construction and tourism and retail, which are hurting nationwide.




Why all the hostility? You were the one complaining and whining about how you have to drive outside the city to get anywhere. As someone who has family in the DC area and visits quite frequently, crossing over to VA and MD was quite common.

While the public transportation up there is excellent by American standards, we had to drive quite a bit to get to quite a few places. IIRC, for example, if I wanted to go shopping at Tysons Corner, it's out there in McLean, VA, not in DC. More than likely, someone would have to drive to get out there. There are all sorts of points of interest within the District, but we had to travel to MD and VA quite a bit to go to points of interest as well or even going to certain retail destinations.

The DC metro area is the District, and parts of Maryland and Virginia. You can't have one without the other. Same with D/FW. You have to look at it as the whole, not just the parts.

Because many of my relatives live in a county that retail has passed over, we would have to drive long distances to Waldorf, MD or to Alexandria, VA to go to something as simple as a Sam's Club. Obviously, that is not the case in the entire metro area, but the county they live in is substantial in size to have these sort of retail options, but they dont (there are partially demographic reasons for this, but thats neither here nor there on this board).

I know you learned in geography class that Texas is the 2nd largest state in the country. What did you expect? Ever hear of the saying "The sun has ris, the sun has set, and here we is in Texas yet!"? There is a lot of truth to that. Distances are longer, cities are farther apart and much more spread out than the more densely packed cities of the Northeast.

I do notice that Easterners sense of distance is a lot different from people in the south and the west. A 45 minute drive to the other side of town is not a big deal here the way it would be for someone who lives in say, NYC or Philly. Even my DC relatives are always saying stuff like, "That's way over in VA!" as if it is a foreign country, and not a 10 minute drive across the river (okay, during those two hours that the Wilson Bridge isn't filled with traffic )

[grindin]

I think VA went blue this last election. NoVa in particular.

It's obvious D/FW is not the place for you. Hope you find the happiness that you need and deserve in life.

[CGGirl]

Yup, indeed it did. I was proud of VA

Yeah, I definitely don't see myself being here for life but for now it's much cheaper than the DC area for my income right now. Have an apt almost as good as my apt in MD but at more than 50% less than what I was paying and I can walk to 2 different 24 hr drug stores , a grocery store, shops, restaurants, etc. Can't walk to a DART station but I could get to one relatively easily if I ever needed to.

[aceplace]

CGGirl, was your Trader Joe's the one on Colesville Rd, Hwy 29, just off of the Beltway? That happens to be the one where I was searching for beer.

Grindin, yes, Columbia is an upscale area, and the design was good for the time. Its design flaws, or what I believe to be flaws, have become apparent now that the design paradigm has shifted to New Urbanism and the traditional rectangular street pattern.

[CGGirl]

Originally Posted by aceplace

CGGirl, was your Trader Joe's the one on Colesville Rd, Hwy 29, just off of the Beltway? That happens to be the one where I was searching for beer.

Grindin, yes, Columbia is an upscale area, and the design was good for the time. Its design flaws, or what I believe to be flaws, have become apparent now that the design paradigm has shifted to New Urbanism and the traditional rectangular street pattern.

Nope. The one I went to was on Wisconsin Ave aka 355 aka Rockville Pike (when it gets further up). Always confused me when I first lived there why this same street had so many names!

[zatires]

Originally Posted by aceplace

Well, you ultimately get what you pay for. Isn't that a fundamental truth about life?

Actually, no, I don't think Central Market is overpriced.... or Whole Foods... and if I had the misfortune of living in Columbia MD, I'd be glad to have a WF or a CM. If I had to worry about cost, I'd shop at a Wal-mart and eat their rotten produce.

That may be one advantage of living in a wealthy consumer society like Texas, as opposed to a deteriorating economy on the East or West Coast... you can afford the better things of life on a middle class pay grade.

This literally was the most pretentious and arrogant post I have read in this forum since becoming a member. Great example of why Dallas has the crappy name among the outsiders.

Meanwhile, Whole Foods has stores in MD. Just like Columbia wholefoods does not have a store in Arlington as well, or McKinney, or Denton, Desoto, Garland, Mesquite, and many other cities that make up the DFW metroplex.

So with your unintelligent argument we can conclude most of the people who live in DFW metro are unfortunate because they don't have a Whole Foods Market.

I just can not come up to the something else to say to your unbelievably ignorant and in denial attitude.

And if you do think that Whole Foods is the best thing around, that their produce is worth the money etc etc, your in denial mentality will not get you anywhere except being one of the 30K millionaires that Dallas has a bunch of. And with truth I do think you are one of them. Most likely living completely in debt, maxed out credit cards, and complaining about not making enough money with 0 savings, but still will think the Whole Foods is the best grocer around.

I can shop in Sprouts or H-Market or Farmer's Market, or most of the Wal-Marts, Target, Kroger etc around, and get the exact same produce that Whole Foods sells and save a huge load of money.

The mentality like yours made the good ol USA of the past to in crises financially depleted debted to the neck new USA.

[zatires]

Originally Posted by aceplace

We'll have to agree to disagree about overprice. $30 per week is probably what I spend at Starbucks.

Yes, Columbia is a planned community... badly planned, in my opinion. Pre-New Urbanism. Their "downtown" is an enclosed indoor mall.

Of course the economy in the Washington area is stable. The capital of a third world country usually is the one place that has even a modicum of wealth. The US isn't quite Third World... yet. But there are some hard economic times ahead, and Texas will bypass most of it.

Texas is not recession proof, and there is no guarantee we will bypass anything in Texas.

Have you seen the number of homes sold in the major metro areas in Texas lately? They have been going down, following the rest of the country. Have you even looked around and seen bunch of companies that are laying off employees here in Dallas?

Texas is not recession proof at all. And if you think such, let's bring the reality of economics to you (maybe Econ101 would be a good start); when the USD goes towards zero, the USD will go towards zero anywhere. Texas does not have its own currency to print. If inflation goes through the roof, it will be going through the roof in Texas as well. With the oil down so much do you think that Houston is not losing jobs? The foreclosure rates in Dallas have been going up just like many other cities in the country.

You should take your head out of the blindless and actually try to see the reality of the crappy situation that we are in right now.

And let's not forget, if there is an oil crises, Dallas would be one of the worst cities to live in.

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by zatires

This literally was the most pretentious and arrogant post I have read in this forum since becoming a member. Great example of why Dallas has the crappy name among the outsiders.

Meanwhile, Whole Foods has stores in MD. Just like Columbia wholefoods does not have a store in Arlington as well, or McKinney, or Denton, Desoto, Garland, Mesquite, and many other cities that make up the DFW metroplex.

So with your unintelligent argument we can conclude most of the people who live in DFW metro are unfortunate because they don't have a Whole Foods Market.

I just can not come up to the something else to say to your unbelievably ignorant and in denial attitude.

And if you do think that Whole Foods is the best thing around, that their produce is worth the money etc etc, your in denial mentality will not get you anywhere except being one of the 30K millionaires that Dallas has a bunch of. And with truth I do think you are one of them. Most likely living completely in debt, maxed out credit cards, and complaining about not making enough money with 0 savings, but still will think the Whole Foods is the best grocer around.

I can shop in Sprouts or H-Market or Farmer's Market, or most of the Wal-Marts, Target, Kroger etc around, and get the exact same produce that Whole Foods sells and save a huge load of money.

The mentality like yours made the good ol USA of the past to in crises financially depleted debted to the neck new USA.

Oh boy... now that the discussion is getting mellow and friendly, now that we have settled our differences and are starting to play nice... along comes zatires to spit into the soup.

Boo.....

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by CGGirl

Nope. The one I went to was on Wisconsin Ave aka 355 aka Rockville Pike (when it gets further up). Always confused me when I first lived there why this same street had so many names!

Aha... Chevy Chase/Bethesda... good neighborhood.

[CGGirl]

Originally Posted by aceplace

Aha... Chevy Chase/Bethesda... good neighborhood.

Yup. Loved it. When I first moved there, I was walking distance from my job, walking distance from the metro, had a ton of bars to pick from, many of them with pool tables, had a CVS and 7/11 down the street - both 24 hours. Had tons of restaurants - many ethnic restaurants. Short metro ride to the courthouse. Short metro ride to shopping. Walking distance from a flea market on the weekends. There really wasn't anything I was missing at all. Great neighbors. Not too young. Not too old. Pretty diverse (at least in my building).

I probably got spoiled having lived there!! I absolutely love the apt building I live in here in Dallas but still find myself missing things like a business center, a concierge, and those little valet carts to bring your packages up to your apartment. Yes, I was a bit spoiled