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San Francisco Residents!

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As someone who doesn't live in San Francisco, but ends up reading a bunch of stuff about it because he follows people who make video-games, I have a question:

Video-games come from San Francisco; I hear a lot about inflation of property values making life difficult there; who is making the simulation heavy game about the income inequality San Francisco faces? I would think that a embedded sentiment would he oozing out of 2014's games, right? 2015? I'm just curious, I don't know what people should make, it just seems like this would be a thing.

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As someone who doesn't live in San Francisco, but ends up reading a bunch of stuff about it because he follows people who make video-games, I have a question:

Video-games come from San Francisco; I hear a lot about inflation of property values making life difficult there; who is making the simulation heavy game about the income inequality San Francisco faces? I would think that a embedded sentiment would he oozing out of 2014's games, right? 2015? I'm just curious, I don't know what people should make, it just seems like this would be a thing.

 

Ha! It's an idea, but I've no idea if it would show up much as an affect. Personally I'm kinda for it, my grandmothers house will be up for sale soon, and her three story old house will go for $850,000+ unless there's a crash. I also don't live in SF myself, so there's that, though I've known people that have had a lot of trouble moving there.

 

I think that's really the thing I've seen. People that move there having the damnedest time getting a place in their price range more than anything else.

 

Edit- Mington, I live there! Uhhhh. I don't like wine actually, sorry. The wine train is fun enough though, but I'm not sure a wine tour is necessary. There's so many damned wineries in the Napa Valley you can just pick and choose as you go along one of the two roads up and down the valley. It's also spring, so taking like a convertible or just something you can see out of is highly recommended. Not one of those stupid blacked out mini bus things, unless you plan on getting quite drunk that is, which... obviously do the bus thing.

 

Otherwise, besides wine and cringing at the clothing prices for all the shops she may drag you too, go out to a restaurant (or several, there's like 40+ to choose from). Hit up downtown Napa, Yountville, St. Helena, and Calistoga. Don't be fooled by Oakville and Redford being "towns" the Oakville Grocer (used to be good, not now) and the Redford Grill are literally the only things there, you will otherwise pass by these "places" without realizing you'd gone anywhere. Yelp is good enough for recommendations, though I thought Tarla was solid if you like meditteranean, and Gott's is fun for some high end fast food (get both the Garlic and Sweet Potato fries, even if you die of diabetes and a heart attack you'll thank me). If you don't know what you want head to the Oxbow (downtown Napa) and you'll find a single building with a half dozen restaurants inside.

 

Also, Sonoma is kinda fun but is really just a knock off Napa Valley.

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lol at Sonoma burn. Sonoma county still has more farmland in it that hasn't been converted to wineries. I don't know the point of visiting it as a tourist. It is the county that is where Tim Schafer grew up as well as me and most of the giant bomb staff. That's the opposite of a reason to visit it.

And the parkside is not worth visiting unless you work by it! If you want weird/fun bars you can't get in another city go to Smugglers Cove or Bourbon and Branch or something, and not to one of the billion dives-with-okay-kitchens.*

* Dear Mom is a dive with a delicious kitchen but it's still a very odd stop for a vacation.

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Smuggler's Cove is pretty rad. I will vouch for that one. I only went once (two GDC's ago when some of the thumbs meet-up crew were drunkenly chasing... one of the Thumbs who tweeted he was there, I can't even remember who!), but it blew my drunken mind. Also I love rum and they have a lot of delicious rum-based drinks.

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I knew my girlfriend had done some planning, I didn't realise she had already scheduled the whole week :P

This what we've got so far (HH is code for happy hour, that's my girl)

Weds -

Soda Popinskis (HH 5-7)

Amelie - dinner (HH 5.30-7)

Thurs

Macys- rings (we are going to buy our wedding bands for our wedding next summer. We got the engagement ring in Macy's NY)

Palace of fine arts

Lunch

Crissy field

Battery east trail to GG bridge

Smugglers cove (HH 5-6)

Absinthe - dinner

Fri-

Lombard street

Fisherman's wharf, Pier 7 & 39

Bubba Gump - lunch (we are collecting the glasses :))

Rocketboat / boat cruise

Top of the Mark

Tonga- dinner & drinks (HH 5-7)

Sat-

Transamerica pyramid

Chinatown

Yang sing - early lunch

Union square & Westfield's, Nike,bag

Sanraku- dinner 6.30

Pubcrawl 8pm - Bacchus Kirk

Sun-

Nopa brunch

Painted ladies

Coit tower

Comstock saloon (HH 4-7)

Tonys pizzeria - dinner

Vesuvio cafe

Mon-

The Castro & theatre

Lunch

Mission Dolores park

Boulevard - dinner

Rickhouse

Tues-

GG park & Japanese tea garden

Lunch

Chambers - dinner

Bourbon & branch

Weds-LUNCH

Airport (fly 4.40pm)

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I'm might come across on you Saturday. I'm going to be in San Fran for just hanging around and a comic books signing at Mission Comics.

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Just so you know, Coit Tower is closed for renovation through May or June. Presumably you can still go to the base of it, just not inside or to the top.

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I'm planning on getting a job in San Francisco and moving there from England. On a scale of 5 to 7, how difficult is this? On a secondary scale where Q is the worst and Z is the best, how worth my while is following through with this plan?

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I don't live in San Francisco and have never worked there, but I did spend a lot of time helping some friends who go to SF State and UCSF find an apartment and it took a while.  I imagine it would also be a lot harder if you're trying to do it from England. 

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I'm planning on getting a job in San Francisco and moving there from England. On a scale of 5 to 7, how difficult is this? On a secondary scale where Q is the worst and Z is the best, how worth my while is following through with this plan?

As would probably be the case moving to any desirable place, it depends on the field you're in. What do you do for a living?

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Oh yeah, EMP is pretty alright, forgot about that. I've also heard great things about the underground tour, though I've never taken it before.

Anyway. Seattle is not San Francisco. I don't think.

 

But the Space Needle! Pike Place! Piroshki, Piroshki. Golden Gardens beach. I love San Francisco, but Seattle has some good stuff going for it.

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I'm planning on getting a job in San Francisco and moving there from England. On a scale of 5 to 7, how difficult is this? On a secondary scale where Q is the worst and Z is the best, how worth my while is following through with this plan?

 

How okay are you with living with roommates? The average rental is in the $1.5-$2k per bedroom range.If that doesn't sound like something you can afford your only real hope is to move in with someone that lives in a rent controlled apartment, which will be below market rate. Or you could commute from the East Bay, which is easy enough although places near BART (the Bay Area train lines) tend to be quite expensive as well.

 

It's a crappy situation!

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Philz is fantastic coffee, all aboard the philz train.

 

Also, wrt phone coverage, I was on verizon when I moved to SF, and their coverage was perfect. I switched to tmobile a while ago, and, while not as good as verizon, their coverage is adequate. In some buildings I lose signal, and I don't get proper LTE everywhere in the city, often a slower network, but otherwise it works.

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For reasons I don't fully understand, Verizon data coverage is nonexistent on Marina Green and in Fort Mason.

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Philz is fantastic coffee, all aboard the philz train.

 

Also, wrt phone coverage, I was on verizon when I moved to SF, and their coverage was perfect. I switched to tmobile a while ago, and, while not as good as verizon, their coverage is adequate. In some buildings I lose signal, and I don't get proper LTE everywhere in the city, often a slower network, but otherwise it works.

 

Philz is kinda polarizing I find, people either really love or really hate it. I'm more of an espresso guy, so it isn't my thing so much, but when I want a cup of coffee I think it's good. My favorite coffee shop is Grand Coffee which is a hole in the wall on Mission street. They make great coffee drinks without being hopelessly pretentious. It's such a small, cramped space you avoid people that are coming in to work on their laptops and talk about their new startups or whatever. So the culture and conversation there is really great.

 

My experience with coverage with Verizon is mostly good, although at some people's places it is nonexistent so it always seems like a tossup. Doesn't seem so great on BART either.

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Grand Coffee... I'll have to try that. I like Ritual, and know people that work there in SF now (they moved from Napa, promotions). And Blue Bottle, but Blue Bottle is pretentious as fuck. Oh look it's a non descript building downtown on a sidestreet with absolutely no sign or indication of what the place is and a line out the door and when you go in the overcharge you like hell for tiny bags of coffee beans. Still, their espresso is nice and super smooth, and the food there is actually good.

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I use UberX when I use one. It's good and pretty cheap, unless you get stuck with surge pricing (where they add a multiplier onto the price because of demand). Usually you can wait it out after a half hour or so though.

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Cool thanks. UberX is available in London so we can create an account using a British mobile number on that one

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How okay are you with living with roommates? The average rental is in the $1.5-$2k per bedroom range.If that doesn't sound like something you can afford your only real hope is to move in with someone that lives in a rent controlled apartment, which will be below market rate. Or you could commute from the East Bay, which is easy enough although places near BART (the Bay Area train lines) tend to be quite expensive as well.

 

It's a crappy situation!

 

I was hoping to finally live alone, but I'm not sure if I would end up getting too solitary and lose all my money. Since I've never actually not lived with other people, I'd be fine with it. There were a few places I had my eye on, but yeah, majorly expensive; so I guess it'd be cool to live with people who know the town anyway.

 

Is it possible, do you think, to commute from the bottom of Oakland or something? Or maybe the public transport/petrol costs would outweigh the living expenses.

 

As would probably be the case moving to any desirable place, it depends on the field you're in. What do you do for a living?

 

I'm sort of a technical generalist at the moment. Just finishing my BA on Computer Visualisation and Animation, and in my incredibly biased opinion, I feel like I'll be able to create a good enough portfolio to get hired at a minimum of 30 or 40 grand. Of course I have no real experience of finding a job, especially abroad, so I may be in for a smack in the face from what happens.

 

I know about two different types of work visas, and their low amount. Still though, might as well try my hardest.

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£30-40k, or $30-40k?  If the latter, prepare to live out of a cupboard or something.

 

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£30-40k, or $30-40k?  If the latter, prepare to live out of a cupboard or something.

 

 

In other topics, we live in Sonoma county and it's not quite as shitty as Jake implies.  The scenery is nice.

 

In England I think I could probably start on £30k, which is like $50k, but I don't know if I could actually make $50k in San Francisco. I don't really know the deal with inflation or the value of technical artist sort of jobs over there.

 

Something I'm rather curious about all you San Franchinigans, where's the furthest you've all travelled? I hear that it's common to not really travel outside of America due to costs and the fact that America is bloomin' huge.

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