What can you tell me about Seattle?

[Argobot]

If you walk a few blocks down to Pike Place Market, you can eat at my favorite downtown place in all of Seattle: http://www.piroshkybakery.com/index.html

 

Or, you can walk a few blocks past Olive Way and get into the Belltown area, which has some nice, trendy restaurants.

[sclpls]

Thanks!

[natellite]

My friends and I hit Japonessa near Pike Place every time I'm in town. It's a little pricey but the lunch and happy hour menus aren't too bad, and the food is soooo goooooood. Get the takoyaki, they're to die for.

 

Oh! Oh! Also Vostok Dumpling House in Capitol Hill, they do... well, they do dumplings! They're amazing.

[Bjorn]

Mind if I ask what area the UPS store is in? Might make it easier to give housing tips.

 

She just called me super excited, she was offered a job at a UPS Store in Tacoma (technically Lakewood).  The woman was ready to hire her over the phone, given her experience, the recommendation from her current boss and her photoshop/design experience and training.  She'll make a decision on it when she gets to see the store and area next week. 

 

I'm floored at how easy this is going for her so far.  I'm used to people really struggling to find jobs when they want to move.  But I've tried to really drill into her over the years that job success is often driven by your network and the respect of your peers, and that's paying off in spades for her. 

[Argobot]

That's exciting! Happy that stuff is working out for your daughter. I have an aunt and uncle who live near Lakewood. It's a nice area, although not super convenient for getting to Seattle (about an hour away with no traffic, and there's usually traffic). On the plus side, that area is definitely a lot cheaper than Seattle and she can probably find a really nice apartment for a reasonable price. The negative of course is that there's a lot less going on, although I keep hearing that Tacoma is becoming more of a vibrant city as people start to leave Seattle and relocate to cheaper areas.

[tberton]

Well, I mean, Tacoma's got that space station right? That's gotta count for something.

[Bjorn]

That's exciting! Happy that stuff is working out for your daughter. I have an aunt and uncle who live near Lakewood. It's a nice area, although not super convenient for getting to Seattle (about an hour away with no traffic, and there's usually traffic). On the plus side, that area is definitely a lot cheaper than Seattle and she can probably find a really nice apartment for a reasonable price. The negative of course is that there's a lot less going on, although I keep hearing that Tacoma is becoming more of a vibrant city as people start to leave Seattle and relocate to cheaper areas.

 

I think she might even prefer to start in a quieter area.  For the last 11 years, she's either lived in Lawrence (college town of ~80K people) or out in the country with us, which we're 25 minutes from Lawrence and about 45 minutes from the interesting parts of Kansas City.  So she's pretty used to having to drive quite a bit just to go do anything. 

[Argobot]

That's cool! She'll also be pretty close to Olympia, which I think has a similar vibe to Lawrence (I've been to both places a few times and generally enjoyed the experience). 

[Moosferatu]

I haven't spent a ton of time in Tacoma, but I like it. Has a terrific contra dance venue on third Saturdays.

[natellite]

She just called me super excited, she was offered a job at a UPS Store in Tacoma (technically Lakewood).  The woman was ready to hire her over the phone, given her experience, the recommendation from her current boss and her photoshop/design experience and training.  She'll make a decision on it when she gets to see the store and area next week. 

 

I'm floored at how easy this is going for her so far.  I'm used to people really struggling to find jobs when they want to move.  But I've tried to really drill into her over the years that job success is often driven by your network and the respect of your peers, and that's paying off in spades for her. 

 

I'm so glad to hear it went well!!! "Struggling to find a job when I want to move to Seattle" is exactly where I am right now, so I know how rough that can be. Congrats to her!

[Dewar]

I'm not super familiar with the Tacoma area my self, despite having worked there for the better part of a year, but a lot of the bad reputation that area has had is 20-30 years old at this point. It's definitely an up and coming area, the theatre district is starting to turn vibrant again, and it's got a college town feel in some areas due to the University of Washington having a Tacoma extension.

 

Olympia... I dunno. I grew up around there so maybe it's improved too, but I'd head north rather than south.

[root]

I know that John Roderick is running for Seattle City Council, so that's a thing!

[Bjorn]

So that New Yorker doomsday article about Seattle being destroyed pretty much sent me into parent panic mode for a couple of hours today, even though I know better. 

 

Also, update, the kiddo finishes packing her car and will take off for the drive up there to stay on Friday. 

[Dewar]

Yeah, I've been taught that stuff since I was about 10, that and the fact that Mount Rainier could turn into an active volcano at any moment. I would expect that most areas have some sort of disaster pending. On the plus side, we're pretty good for every day threats. Not likely to get frostbite or heat stroke, no poisonous snakes and few poisonous spiders. The only disaster that we have semi-often is flooding, but no flash floods so you at least know it's coming with enough time to get out (also, that's mostly south west Washington, not the Seattle/Tacoma area.)

[Bjorn]

Yeah, I've been taught that stuff since I was about 10, that and the fact that Mount Rainier could turn into an active volcano at any moment. I would expect that most areas have some sort of disaster pending. On the plus side, we're pretty good for every day threats. Not likely to get frostbite or heat stroke, no poisonous snakes and few poisonous spiders. The only disaster that we have semi-often is flooding, but no flash floods so you at least know it's coming with enough time to get out (also, that's mostly south west Washington, not the Seattle/Tacoma area.)

 

Yeah, I mean, we live in tornado alley, we get micro bursts (sudden, unpredictable downdrafts that produce 80+ mph straight winds), up to baseball sized hail, 120 degree heat index summers, sub-zero degree winters, floods, wildfires.  We had to go to our cellar a couple of weeks ago because a tornado touched down a couple of miles from our house (thankfully it was a small one that just knocked over some trees and roadsigns).  Kansas really can feel like a hell scape that's been designed to kill you some days.  The only thing we don't get are volcanoes and earthquakes, which make them seem exotic and dangerous. 

[Zeusthecat]

Yeah, I mean, we live in tornado alley, we get micro bursts (sudden, unpredictable downdrafts that produce 80+ mph straight winds), up to baseball sized hail, 120 degree heat index summers, sub-zero degree winters, floods, wildfires.  We had to go to our cellar a couple of weeks ago because a tornado touched down a couple of miles from our house (thankfully it was a small one that just knocked over some trees and roadsigns).  Kansas really can feel like a hell scape that's been designed to kill you some days.  The only thing we don't get are volcanoes and earthquakes, which make them seem exotic and dangerous. 

 

I'm cracking up at the thought of a place somewhere that gets volcanoes. Like tornado season, but with volcanoes. Volcanadoes.

[Bjorn]

I'm cracking up at the thought of a place somewhere that gets volcanoes. Like tornado season, but with volcanoes. Volcanadoes.

 

Next on SyFy!

[Twig]

That article was pretty good at making me believe the northwest is wholly unprepared for whenever this event occurs.

[coaxmetal]

I've been thinking about moving to seattle at some point (from San Francisco). I have some friends there and really enjoyed when I went and visited, and its much cheaper than SF, and i like the weather better (i like it to be cold and rainy). Also... I kind of hate sf. I mean i also like it, but it's awful sometimes.

[Argobot]

So I lived in Seattle for two years and was only ever vaguely aware of the earthquake threat because I'm from the East Coast and earthquake preparedness is not something I'm familiar with. That New Yorker article came out two weeks before I moved down to San Francisco and really freaked me out. It sounds like it gave over PNWers a bit of a scare as well because the author released a follow up FAQ that goes into more detail about what areas will be most damaged by such an earthquake and what you can do to prepare. If you're still feeling some fatherly concern, this might help. It certainly helped me pull back and get some perspective. http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/how-to-stay-safe-when-the-big-one-comes?intcid=mod-most-popular

[Dewar]

Hmm, we have earthquake drills all the time in my office building, and we went over it for about a week a year in science class growing up. Maybe it's one of those things that everyone who grew up here knew and they don't do a good job of explaining to people moving here. Seattle is working on being prepared, part of the big expensive effort to replace the viaduct is for earthquake safety, and all new buildings have to meet some pretty stringent controls, but we do have a lot of old stuff around here and there isn't any money to upgrade most of it. I'm sure it's the same everywhere, but I feel like I'm paying an awful lot of local taxes and not seeing much from it. Transportation especially is always getting squeezed to give up more budget.