For the record: I like San Jose (San Francisco, Oakland: to live in, garden)

[Billy Millennium]

Got called out as a "San Jose hater" in another thread. Not true. Not a SJ hater or a hater period.

Will always be strongly connected to the area and possibly return. I was critical about a few things in the past here; but largely overblown and nitpicky on my part looking back. Over dramatizing a bit. Purposely stirring the pot to spice up this section a little and promote an interesting discussion.

I'm also likely younger then most of you (in my 20's) thus may prioritize things differently and not appreciate the reason my family and others choose to live in SJ. Wishing there were more amenities/nightlife and other superficial ****. Unimportant stuff but for some reason it seemed important at the time or sometimes . I know I'll continue to appreciate Santa Clara County more as I get older.

[bobby_guz_man]

And I apologize for overreacting

And I do understand what you said. When I was in my early 20's about several years ago, I used to party and go out everyday after work--every weeknight was just the same as weekend nights to me. And I would go everywhere in the Bay, it was a ton of driving. I would practically split 50/50 my partying between SFO (San Francisco-Oakland) and the South Bay.

I always lamented over the quality/quantity of the nightlife here in the South Bay. But it never bothered me because I had options to the north.

As I got older, I begin to seek out more of what my hometown and the South Bay in general had to offer, both in terms of nightlife, lifestyle, and cultural amenities. And I find some really good ones. They're just harder to discover. I did not appreciate the city when I was younger, but now I love it more than ever.

And I still hold to my criticism that San Jose just does not like to market its other assets besides that Winchester House. I also hold to the criticism that most of San Jose's residents don't know jack **** about their own city. Whenever an out-of-towner comes in, the default response of San Jose residents are to send them to SF.

That's what I would do too. SF is immensely beautiful, and I can't just be a selfish ass and not tell them to head to SF. But I also would suggest that they spend at least a day in San Jose, generally with me as their personal tour guide. All my out-of-towners took the offer and immensely enjoyed the "tour". They did not enjoy my driving though :P

The Egyptian Museum and the Planetarium, and the Rose Garden next door, are infinitely more interesting than the Winchester House, and yet only the Rose Garden folks know. The Lick Observatory is the only one of its kind here in Northern California and is an awe-inspiring structure especially if you can get up there after a snowfall, yet only a few of the locals know.

And that's just sad