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This is exactly one of the primary motivating factors behind my upcoming move to the Steel City. Here's a link to my Pittsburgh dream home in Crafton Heights, in the South Hills.
What does DC offer that Pittsburgh doesn't? Congested traffic? Too many Type-A personalities in a small area? High population of illegal immigrants? Being "ahead of the curve"? (gag me!)
More job opportunities.
A better educated population.
A larger percentage of residents who came from other parts of the country and world.
Better suburban school districts.
Better restaurants (particularly, ethnic restaurants) and shopping.
Fewer artery-clogging regional specialties (better chance of reaching 60 eating pho, injera and kimchi than Primanti's).
Fewer decaying post-industrial towns and suburbs.
More free museums and cultural attractions.
One of the country's largest subway systems.
More airports with better access to international flights.
Greater proximity to beaches.
More opportunities to learn a foreign language.
Better maintained (though surely more crowded) highways and roads.
I'm sure this only scratches the surface. And you could come up with a list of Pittsburgh's advantages as well. Just don't stack the rhetorical deck too heavily in your favor. There are many reasons why the DC area is more expensive than Pittsburgh, and the number of illegal immigrants is far from the top of the list.
With all due respect, if it weren't for most of the people living off the government teat, it would be a ghetto. How many people have jobs with the govt, or a biz that feeds off of it? Fake economy, IMHO.
With all due respect, if it weren't for most of the people living off the government teat, it would be a ghetto. How many people have jobs with the govt, or a biz that feeds off of it? Fake economy, IMHO.
To be fair I'll be working for the Federal government when I relocate to Pittsburgh; however, one thing that has always turned me off about Northern Virginia is that the #1 asset most people harp on and on about are "jobs." Every city has employment opportunities, and the "edge" that NoVA has there will be less prominent once the recession ends (or IF it ever ends at this rate). Pittsburgh's unemployment rate has actually been consistently below the state and national average all during the recession. Once NoVA can no longer brag about being the nation's primary job-producer, then what? Furthermore, it's really saying something when "jobs" is considered a positive for quality-of-life. People here in NoVA are wrapped up entirely too much in their work, and many even converse about it when out socially on the weekends (a HUGE turn-off for me). I'm dedicated to what I do, but too many in NoVA define themselves by their jobs, and that is something I'll never understand. At 5 PM "work" turns off in my mind, and then I get to battle the traffic back to my apartment. That's not the case for many here who are tied to their BlackBerries and are willing to sell ALL of their free time to their jobs in order to make enough money to "keep up with the Jones's." Who are these Jones's, and why do so many in NoVA invest so much of themselves in their jobs in order to impress them? I'm sure there's a contingent of that in Pittsburgh as well, but I get the sense that people in Pittsburgh, overall, do a better job of separating work and pleasure than they do here.
Are NoVA's salaries generally higher than those in Pittsburgh? Yes. However, they aren't high by enough of a factor to justify a higher "bang-for-your-buck" experience. In my own personal case I'll be taking just a $3,000 annual salary cut by moving to Pittsburgh, but I can get a 2-BR apartment in a nice NEIGHBORHOOD like Mt. Washington, proximate to Downtown, for half the price I'm paying now for a 1-BR in a soulless and congested outer suburb of DC. What's the advantage of making $80,000 in DC vs. $60,000 in Pittsburgh if that entire $20,000 disparity (and more often than not THEN some) is devoured by the higher cost-of-living?
JEB77, Denton, and others, I'm still awaiting your reply to show me a house like the one I linked for $94,500 in Northern Virginia. Show me a comparable home in NoVA with charm, character, and within a traditional neighborhood, and then explain to me how a typical young professional could afford a home like that here on one salary. I shouldn't have to work 70 hours per week to afford a home at age 36 that I could afford working 40 hours per week in another city at age 25. That's a HUGE quality-of-life whammy that NoVA hasn't been able to overcome for me.
In addition, EVERY city has affluent suburbs that have top-notch schools. It often isn't a case of superior educational quality offered. More frequently when you concentrate a lot of college-educated and high-earning parents with high IQs in one suburb, then they tend to take a more active role in the educational performance of their children, demand better of their children and of their schools, etc. In my native Northeastern Pennsylvania the "top-notch" school districts were always in suburbs replete with attorneys, executives, scientists, engineers, CPAs, physicians, professors, and other well-educated people who generally tend to place a higher emphasis upon education and beget more educated children. I'm sure Pittsburgh is the same way. I'll wager you $100 that the "best" schools in the metropolitan area are also in the more upscale parts of the North Hills and towards the Sewickley areas, with perhaps a few outliers in the tonier Pittsburgh neighborhoods like Shadyside, Friendship, and Squirrel Hill. Why are schools in NoVA so "good?" 50% of the parents here have a Bachelor's Degree or higher. I'm a product of a school district near Scranton, PA that was rated very poorly, but those of us who had professional parents and came from stable middle-class background are now mostly successful in our 20s. Those whose parents didn't care as much about their education are now suffering. Educational success/failure is LARGELY tied to socioeconomic status. I've observed the cirriculum in some Fairfax County schools. It's not THAT much "superior" to many other schools in PA. The schools just serve a wealthier and more intelligent citizenry. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to predict that a high school in Camden, NJ will be churning out less success stories per capita than a high school in McLean, VA.
The problem? A large chunk of these job opportunities don't pay the equivalent of jobs in other cities which afford a lower cost-of-living, which results in less spending power. I'll be making $48,500 in Pittsburgh and will be living lavishly in a 2-BR apartment in the CITY compared to crying some nights not being able to balance my checkbook making $51,500 and living on a bare-bones budget in a nearly $1,200/month 1-BR apartment in an undesirable SUBURB in Northern Virginia. Telling me "get roommates" to live in a far-flung suburb here vs. being able to live comfortably alone in the CITY in Pittsburgh just doesn't cut it for me.
Also, I can tell you for a fact that not one of the two dozen or so friends/acquaintances I have who have moved down here from PA in the past two years would have moved here for any other reason BUT for employment concerns. Once the recession abates and job opportunities become ample elsewhere, then this "asset" of having more employment options will become less prominent. Right now many were like me, graduating at the height of the recession and accepting an opportunity in the only place that was cranking out anything. I never would have moved to Reston, VA for "pleasure." EVERYONE moves to a place like Reston for a job and then either learns to love, tolerate, or downright hate living here. This creates a very transient population, which leads to less of a "community" atmosphere, which is also a negative in my book.
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Originally Posted by JEB77
A better educated population.
You know what? I'm learning as a white-collar educated male with a blue-collar persona that being around a bunch of Ivy-Leaguers who talk about how far "ahead of the curve" they are isn't all it's cracked up to be. We're the nation's most highly-educated city, but with that comes the associated burden of a lot of people (not all) who think their name on a paper makes them "more important" than anyone else. Perhaps I got mixed-up within some unsavory crowds that are clouding my judgment, but I've met a lot of people here who are unnecessarily rude towards service-sector employees (many of whom, ironically, are also educated) because they think they are more valued as a member of society.
I get the sense that I'd be happier living in a gritty Pittsburgh neighborhood where half of my neighbors don't even have a Bachelor's Degree vs. living in a transient apartment complex where half of my neighbor's have Master's Degrees, drive luxury cars, and won't return my "Good Morning" greetings.
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Originally Posted by JEB77
A larger percentage of residents who came from other parts of the country and world.
I said already on the NoVA sub-forum that this diversity is something that does make DC unique, and it WILL be missed when I relocate. I grew up in a community that was relatively hostile towards the LGBT community (keeping most in the closet) and was predominantly Caucasian, non-Hispanic, and Christian. I get the sense that Pittsburgh has SOME semblance of diversity, but it seems to be mostly Caucasian or African-American as compared to NoVA where people ARE literally from "everywhere." I'm a minority as a Caucasian male in my neighborhood. It's been a great experience. I've heightened my Spanish-speaking capabilities and have dated outside my own race, religious background, and ethnicity. I'll give you that Pittsburgh being so "vanilla" is a drawback in my eyes, but it's one I can learn to accept and deal with.
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Originally Posted by JEB77
Better suburban school districts.
As I said above we're entirely in disagreement here. One's academic successes in public schools are largely dependent upon their own socioeconomic status and upbringing. In my native community I was upper-middle-class by local standards (lower-middle-class by NoVA standards) and performed well in school because of how strict my parents were and how hard they pushed me. Peers of mine who came from struggling single-parent households had a much more difficult time achieving success, and those who came from broken families continued the tragic downward spiral for another generation as they turned to substance abuse, dropped out, got pregnant, etc.
A child can do just as well in a school in Sewickley, PA as a school in McLean, VA. To blow a major hole in this roughly 50% of the students at my college hailed from NY, NJ, CT, or SEPA, all of which were much more affluent areas than NEPA. When we were asked how many of us were familiar with MLA formatting I was the only one to raise my hand, and I went to a supposedly "horrible" school district. What's the excuse of those who came from the tonier public schools of the NYC 'burbs, which are just as "well-ranked" as those in the DC 'burbs?
Quote:
Originally Posted by JEB77
Better restaurants (particularly, ethnic restaurants) and shopping.
This is all a matter of opinion I suppose. No, Pittsburgh can't compete with Tyson's Corner. It also doesn't have the ethnic variety of restaurants DC has. I'll throw you the bone here, but I'm not willing to accept a higher cost-of-living to live in an area that has good Ethiopian restaurants (DC) vs. a better variety of mom-and-pop Italian places (Pittsburgh) or to live in an area that has more convenient access to an Armani Exchange (DC) vs. an Abercrombie & Fitch (Pittsburgh). Yeah, some of these comparisons may be a bit off, but you get the general idea.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JEB77
Fewer artery-clogging regional specialties (better chance of reaching 60 eating pho, injera and kimchi than Primanti's).
Nobody is forcing me to lead an unhealthy lifestyle. Yes, DC is the nation's "fittest" city, and many I've seen in Pittsburgh look like they'd crush me under their weight if I ended up in the bedroom with them! I can still eat a balanced diet, run, bike, and kayak in Pittsburgh, just as I do now here in NoVA. I've dated overweight guys before, so the fact that I'll likely be dating overweight ones again in Pittsburgh doesn't bother me all that much. I've dated a few "hot" guys here in NoVA who had been so encouraged and enabled their entire lives due to their physical countenances that they were very shallow, materialistic, and cutthroat. I'd rather have a "fluffy" guy in Pittsburgh who would want to take the time to get to know me vs. someone with a six-pack in Reston who would judge me before even learning my name.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JEB77
Fewer decaying post-industrial towns and suburbs.
To each his own. I LOVE urban decay because I walk around and think to myself "someday I can and will help to make this place better." The reason why these places are decaying are because of the selfish people who built newer homes in the North Hills, Cranberry Twp., and other newer suburban areas, just like the reason why Wards 7 and 8 in DC are ghetto war-zones is because the whites all fled west of the Anacostia while middle-class blacks all left for Prince George's County, leaving mostly thugs and those unable to leave left. People once loved these places. Now they're abandoned and unloved. People like me, alleghenyangel, and other 20-somethings want to rise to the call to love them again and give them a new lease on life after the Baby Boomers helped to destroy them with their selfishness with urban sprawl (see the "Gainesville" thread on the NoVA sub-forum for a great picture of Baby Boomers with the "I'll do whatever the hell I want no matter how it affects anyone else" mentality).
Quote:
Originally Posted by JEB77
More free museums and cultural attractions.
No argument here. I'm sad I never got to see more than a few museums here. The Warhol Museum, the aviary, the zoo, Kennywood, the theater district, and the few other cultural attractions Pittsburgh has just can't compare.
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Originally Posted by JEB77
One of the country's largest subway systems.
Agreed. I always laugh at the suckers who sit in traffic congestion in Pittsburgh because it's a very transit-friendly and walkable city where you could easily afford to live near your workplace. The answer in Pittsburgh isn't "widen the roads", because as we've seen in L.A., NoVA, and other areas that's only a "band-aid" fix. A permanent solution is to continue to build better transit options between concentrated employment centers and concentrated population centers. From what I've gathered Downtown, Oakland, the RIDC Park in O'Hara Twp., and Cranberry Twp. seem to be the top four employment "nodes" in the immediate Pittsbugh Area (albeit someone can correct me if I'm mistaken). Pittsburgh can (and should) expand its subway system, and why it hasn't done so is shocking to me.
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Originally Posted by JEB77
More airports with better access to international flights.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JEB77
Greater proximity to beaches.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JEB77
More opportunities to learn a foreign language.
These are three more instances of personal preferences that wouldn't necessarily justify a higher cost-of-living for most people. DC is about 2.5 hours from Ocean City, MD, give or take. Pittsburgh is roughly the same (or less) to the Lake Erie shoreline, and, believe it or not, Lake Erie has some amazing beaches. I've never left the country (save for a trip to Toronto once in which I drove). I've never been west of the Mississippi River. I don't have the financial means to travel abroad (how so many 20-somethings here can do so on a frequent basis is something I'll never understand), and if and when I ever do someday it wouldn't bother me to drive to BWI, Dulles, Reagan National, or Philly to fly because in reality how many people can afford to fly internationally for "pleasure" more than once or twice per year? For those who live in Pittsburgh and are required to travel abroad for work, I'm sure their employers cover the cost and hassle of them getting to a larger airport OR would cover the connecting flight from Pittsburgh to DC or Philly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JEB77
Better maintained (though surely more crowded) highways and roads.
This is actually a toss-up. I've driven the Interstate systems in both cities, and DC's are only MARGINALLY better. I hit a pothole in Virginia that nearly flattened my tire (in Tyson's Corner, the armpit of NoVA of all places).
Quote:
Originally Posted by JEB77
I'm sure this only scratches the surface. And you could come up with a list of Pittsburgh's advantages as well. Just don't stack the rhetorical deck too heavily in your favor. There are many reasons why the DC area is more expensive than Pittsburgh, and the number of illegal immigrants is far from the top of the list.
To me DC's cost-of-living vs. salary ratio makes it only a slight "bargain" now compared to NYC, but NYC has always seemed to offer a lot more in my eyes to justify its higher cost-of-living. NYC, as recently as 2000, used to be light years ahead of DC in terms of expense, but only a decade later that gap has STRONGLY narrowed. For example, my colleague just transfered to Northern NJ, and she is renting a two-story two-bedroom, two-bathroom loft in a historic mill in an upscale part of Newark, NJ for just under $1,200/month. I pay the same for a poorly-maintained 1-BR unit in an undesirable part of Reston, VA. She's getting a much better "bang-for-your-buck" factor living in Newark than I am in Reston. That's sad.
With all due respect, if it weren't for most of the people living off the government teat, it would be a ghetto. How many people have jobs with the govt, or a biz that feeds off of it? Fake economy, IMHO.
There can always be a legitimate debate as to whether the federal Government should be smaller or larger. Most federal Government jobs are located outside the DC region, and people in many other parts of the country typically have been very happy for their own representatives in Congress to bring home the bacon.
But part of the reason this area is expensive is that people believe it will continue to attract and retain high-paying jobs. They get paid in the same currency as those in other parts of the country with lower wages.
Most federal Government jobs are located outside the DC region, and people in many other parts of the country typically have been very happy for their own representatives in Congress to bring home the bacon.
.
MOST, but the best are located in the DC circle. My favorite line, DC is Hollywood for ugly people. They just take our money and screw us. Has anyone ever been fired from a govt job? Not Brownie, who screwed up big time?
Sorry, govt jobs are for hacks and non-performers.
The problem? A large chunk of these job opportunities don't pay the equivalent of jobs in other cities which afford a lower cost-of-living, which results in less spending power. I'll be making $48,500 in Pittsburgh and will be living lavishly in a 2-BR apartment in the CITY compared to crying some nights not being able to balance my checkbook making $51,500 and living on a bare-bones budget in a nearly $1,200/month 1-BR apartment in an undesirable SUBURB in Northern Virginia. Telling me "get roommates" to live in a far-flung suburb here vs. being able to live comfortably alone in the CITY in Pittsburgh just doesn't cut it for me.
Also, I can tell you for a fact that not one of the two dozen or so friends/acquaintances I have who have moved down here from PA in the past two years would have moved here for any other reason BUT for employment concerns. Once the recession abates and job opportunities become ample elsewhere, then this "asset" of having more employment options will become less prominent. Right now many were like me, graduating at the height of the recession and accepting an opportunity in the only place that was cranking out anything. I never would have moved to Reston, VA for "pleasure." EVERYONE moves to a place like Reston for a job and then either learns to love, tolerate, or downright hate living here. This creates a very transient population, which leads to less of a "community" atmosphere, which is also a negative in my book.
You know what? I'm learning as a white-collar educated male with a blue-collar persona that being around a bunch of Ivy-Leaguers who talk about how far "ahead of the curve" they are isn't all it's cracked up to be. We're the nation's most highly-educated city, but with that comes the associated burden of a lot of people (not all) who think their name on a paper makes them "more important" than anyone else. Perhaps I got mixed-up within some unsavory crowds that are clouding my judgment, but I've met a lot of people here who are unnecessarily rude towards service-sector employees (many of whom, ironically, are also educated) because they think they are more valued as a member of society.
I get the sense that I'd be happier living in a gritty Pittsburgh neighborhood where half of my neighbors don't even have a Bachelor's Degree vs. living in a transient apartment complex where half of my neighbor's have Master's Degrees, drive luxury cars, and won't return my "Good Morning" greetings.
I said already on the NoVA sub-forum that this diversity is something that does make DC unique, and it WILL be missed when I relocate. I grew up in a community that was relatively hostile towards the LGBT community (keeping most in the closet) and was predominantly Caucasian, non-Hispanic, and Christian. I get the sense that Pittsburgh has SOME semblance of diversity, but it seems to be mostly Caucasian or African-American as compared to NoVA where people ARE literally from "everywhere." I'm a minority as a Caucasian male in my neighborhood. It's been a great experience. I've heightened my Spanish-speaking capabilities and have dated outside my own race, religious background, and ethnicity. I'll give you that Pittsburgh being so "vanilla" is a drawback in my eyes, but it's one I can learn to accept and deal with.
As I said above we're entirely in disagreement here. One's academic successes in public schools are largely dependent upon their own socioeconomic status and upbringing. In my native community I was upper-middle-class by local standards (lower-middle-class by NoVA standards) and performed well in school because of how strict my parents were and how hard they pushed me. Peers of mine who came from struggling single-parent households had a much more difficult time achieving success, and those who came from broken families continued the tragic downward spiral for another generation as they turned to substance abuse, dropped out, got pregnant, etc.
A child can do just as well in a school in Sewickley, PA as a school in McLean, VA. To blow a major hole in this roughly 50% of the students at my college hailed from NY, NJ, CT, or SEPA, all of which were much more affluent areas than NEPA. When we were asked how many of us were familiar with MLA formatting I was the only one to raise my hand, and I went to a supposedly "horrible" school district. What's the excuse of those who came from the tonier public schools of the NYC 'burbs, which are just as "well-ranked" as those in the DC 'burbs?
This is all a matter of opinion I suppose. No, Pittsburgh can't compete with Tyson's Corner. It also doesn't have the ethnic variety of restaurants DC has. I'll throw you the bone here, but I'm not willing to accept a higher cost-of-living to live in an area that has good Ethiopian restaurants (DC) vs. a better variety of mom-and-pop Italian places (Pittsburgh) or to live in an area that has more convenient access to an Armani Exchange (DC) vs. an Abercrombie & Fitch (Pittsburgh). Yeah, some of these comparisons may be a bit off, but you get the general idea.
Nobody is forcing me to lead an unhealthy lifestyle. Yes, DC is the nation's "fittest" city, and many I've seen in Pittsburgh look like they'd crush me under their weight if I ended up in the bedroom with them! I can still eat a balanced diet, run, bike, and kayak in Pittsburgh, just as I do now here in NoVA. I've dated overweight guys before, so the fact that I'll likely be dating overweight ones again in Pittsburgh doesn't bother me all that much. I've dated a few "hot" guys here in NoVA who had been so encouraged and enabled their entire lives due to their physical countenances that they were very shallow, materialistic, and cutthroat. I'd rather have a "fluffy" guy in Pittsburgh who would want to take the time to get to know me vs. someone with a six-pack in Reston who would judge me before even learning my name.
To each his own. I LOVE urban decay because I walk around and think to myself "someday I can and will help to make this place better." The reason why these places are decaying are because of the selfish people who built newer homes in the North Hills, Cranberry Twp., and other newer suburban areas, just like the reason why Wards 7 and 8 in DC are ghetto war-zones is because the whites all fled west of the Anacostia while middle-class blacks all left for Prince George's County, leaving mostly thugs and those unable to leave left. People once loved these places. Now they're abandoned and unloved. People like me, alleghenyangel, and other 20-somethings want to rise to the call to love them again and give them a new lease on life after the Baby Boomers helped to destroy them with their selfishness with urban sprawl (see the "Gainesville" thread on the NoVA sub-forum for a great picture of Baby Boomers with the "I'll do whatever the hell I want no matter how it affects anyone else" mentality).
No argument here. I'm sad I never got to see more than a few museums here. The Warhol Museum, the aviary, the zoo, Kennywood, the theater district, and the few other cultural attractions Pittsburgh has just can't compare.
Agreed. I always laugh at the suckers who sit in traffic congestion in Pittsburgh because it's a very transit-friendly and walkable city where you could easily afford to live near your workplace. The answer in Pittsburgh isn't "widen the roads", because as we've seen in L.A., NoVA, and other areas that's only a "band-aid" fix. A permanent solution is to continue to build better transit options between concentrated employment centers and concentrated population centers. From what I've gathered Downtown, Oakland, the RIDC Park in O'Hara Twp., and Cranberry Twp. seem to be the top four employment "nodes" in the immediate Pittsbugh Area (albeit someone can correct me if I'm mistaken). Pittsburgh can (and should) expand its subway system, and why it hasn't done so is shocking to me.
These are three more instances of personal preferences that wouldn't necessarily justify a higher cost-of-living for most people. DC is about 2.5 hours from Ocean City, MD, give or take. Pittsburgh is roughly the same (or less) to the Lake Erie shoreline, and, believe it or not, Lake Erie has some amazing beaches. I've never left the country (save for a trip to Toronto once in which I drove). I've never been west of the Mississippi River. I don't have the financial means to travel abroad (how so many 20-somethings here can do so on a frequent basis is something I'll never understand), and if and when I ever do someday it wouldn't bother me to drive to BWI, Dulles, Reagan National, or Philly to fly because in reality how many people can afford to fly internationally for "pleasure" more than once or twice per year? For those who live in Pittsburgh and are required to travel abroad for work, I'm sure their employers cover the cost and hassle of them getting to a larger airport OR would cover the connecting flight from Pittsburgh to DC or Philly.
This is actually a toss-up. I've driven the Interstate systems in both cities, and DC's are only MARGINALLY better. I hit a pothole in Virginia that nearly flattened my tire (in Tyson's Corner, the armpit of NoVA of all places).
To me DC's cost-of-living vs. salary ratio makes it only a slight "bargain" now compared to NYC, but NYC has always seemed to offer a lot more in my eyes to justify its higher cost-of-living. NYC, as recently as 2000, used to be light years ahead of DC in terms of expense, but only a decade later that gap has STRONGLY narrowed. For example, my colleague just transfered to Northern NJ, and she is renting a two-story two-bedroom, two-bathroom loft in a historic mill in an upscale part of Newark, NJ for just under $1,200/month. I pay the same for a poorly-maintained 1-BR unit in an undesirable part of Reston, VA. She's getting a much better "bang-for-your-buck" factor living in Newark than I am in Reston. That's sad.
RR - It's all good. You're a bred (if not also born) Pennsylvanian and you're now able to return to your home state and live in a less expensive area that needs to attract more young residents to continue on its current, positive trajectory. I hope it's everything you anticipate and more.
It won't change the fact that the DC area will likely remain more attractive to more people for the foreseeable future than the Pittsburgh area. That's actually a good thing for you, now that your job transfer came through, because it keeps the prices down. The less money you have to spend on housing, the more money you can save for other things or donate to charitable causes if you wish. But we could both publicize the cute little $94,500 house in the greater Pittsburgh area that you located on the NoVa sub-forum for weeks, and still probably not find anyone else who'd relocate to take advantage of the cheaper prices, because they'd still prefer to be in the DC area for some of the reasons that I mentioned, and others.
Sorry, govt jobs are for hacks and non-performers.
This is only partially true. My particular Federal employer has a blend of "dead weight" and "star performers." I work closely with privately-held and publicly-traded Federal contractors alike (think SAIC, Booz Allen Hamilton, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, HP, CSC, etc., etc.) and I see a similar ratio there, as well, of people who seem to be always hard at work for an honest day's pay and people who seem to always be looking at Facebook, YouTube, texting, shooting the breeze, drinking coffee, etc. as I pass by their workstations (and this goes across generations, too). You'll get this ANYWHERE. I worked for years at Lowe's Home Improvement, and there was both dead weight and dedicated employees. Ditto the grocery store I worked at.
In the case of my own particular agency I don't feel as if the opportunities for ample hands-on training are available, and I've even recommended that a mentorship program should be available for new hires. I was thrown my first assignment cold turkey and left alone in my office, and then I was yelled at for asking for help from and bothering my supervisor or not asking for help and then wasting time trying to implement things on my own that didn't always work out. It was like a lose-lose situation, since the position I hold is dynamic and challenging. I'm much more proficient now, but I still see many (and I do mean many) who are drowning without life preservers. It shouldn't be that way.
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I can still eat a balanced diet, run, bike, and kayak in Pittsburgh, just as I do now here in NoVA. I've dated overweight guys before, so the fact that I'll likely be dating overweight ones again in Pittsburgh doesn't bother me all that much. I've dated a few "hot" guys here in NoVA who had been so encouraged and enabled their entire lives due to their physical countenances that they were very shallow, materialistic, and cutthroat. I'd rather have a "fluffy" guy in Pittsburgh who would want to take the time to get to know me vs. someone with a six-pack in Reston who would judge me before even learning my name. 
