patrick.net

I would prefer PNW weather to BA. There's no need to water for 9 months out of the year and good hiking for the rest of the year. I'm more concerned about slugs and mosquitoes and man eating bears.

There are solutions to the lack of sunlight. Maybe install a high intensity growing light set up and put a lawn chair underneath, that should help combat depression.

As far as people in the West having a fear of newomers, I think the fear is less to do about physical property and more about intelligent property- quote-unquote. Many, many many people in California are from somewhere else, and of those people, many came here to " get away" from situations, conditions, and problems in other places in the country. Ever since the popularity of portraying the state as progressive and forward thinking in the media, people have flocked here thinking that somehow this area will solve all their problems, that they can get away from whatever they felt they were escaping, and heaven forbid allow anyone to come in and take it away from them.
I can't tell you how many people I've met here who speak of the " other states" as if theyr were in Siberia and full of snaggle-tooth hillbillies out to spend their every waking hour figuring out ways to trick and ensnare their kind. So when I see people around here throw up the NIMBY curtain, I see it as more of a defense mechanism these people put on to sort of protect themselves from a non-exsistent enemy.

I'm surprised that Bethesda made it onto the list more expensive nearby areas (Chevy Chase, Great Falls, and Potomac, MD did not).

Greenwich is very nice (at least in the summer when I visited). There's lots of really nice houses, proximity to sailing and fairly decent weather, good schools, and not too far from NYC. Bethesda is close to DC and NIH, so there's lots of doctors, lawyers, lobbyists, and senior civil servants in the neighborhood. It's been upper middle class for a very long time so the housing stock is middle class and not working class. I don't think the housing stock is all that nice though, most of the really big houses are in Great Falls and Potomac, and Chevy Chase, MD almost certainly beats Bethesda on prestige and on a cost by square footage basis.

I do remember when california was golden. Now it is the catalyst for social stratification. It will be remembered as the state that killed the middle class lifestyle. And the state that started illegal immigration migration. I was shocked to see illegals here in the deep south a fair amount at that. Soe things you can't escape even if you move clear across the country.

"It's like Green Acres without the funny one liners"

God I hated that show! Now imagine it's where you live and there's no escape!

astrid,

I keep meaning to get one of those lights that's supposed to help people like me w/SAD but I got so depressed I wound up drunk instead. Then you have TWO problems, your depressed AND you have a hangover!

DinOR Says:

God I hated that show! Now imagine it’s where you live and there’s no escape!

Or imagine being married to Eva Gabor and there's no escape!

Green acres was stupid. Do you remember the opening sequence? The guy bouncing on the tractor seat? When I was a kid, I'd watch all those stupid shows: Gilligan's Island, the Brady Bunch. Hee-Haw, and three's company. But whenever I heard the theme music for Green Acres, it was off with the TV!

Yes, Green Acres was pretty lame. However, I think that's the subconscious dream of a lot of these "equity locusts" who specifically move to more rural locales in search of the bucolic idealized lifestyle and to escape the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds of the BA or LA, or wherever. Aren't Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor a 50's version of exactly this phenomenon? A rich NY lawyer and his wife move to the sticks and have a grand ole' time in Hooterville?

Skibum,
As someone who grew up in the sticks, I think the worst thing that people from NY, CA and other places will find and be sad about is that they'll have to entertain themselves. After moving to the BA, I found that people here seem to always HAVE to be doing something, whether it be drinking, going to some festival, eating out, or whatever. Hardly a spare minute is spent in the home because that's just lame.
Back home, we used to entertain ourselves for days on end. If that meant fixing a lawn mower, digging post holes, or blowing up firecrackers and drinking beer, then so be it. It also meant having grandma over for hamnburgers or swimming at the nearby man made lake.
People from NY would probably find any of the above activities utterly boring.

I miss the winter, and snow, but I like California's endless sunshine.

RTTBA,
Me and my wife are pretty much the same. Most of our weekends are spent at the house. She does things like fix up old furniture and I work on mechanical things, lawn mowers, and stuff. We take bike rides to eat dinner from time to time. That's about it except the occasional trip to Auburn, CA. We're what many of our friends call boring, but we're also not broke either.
On the other hand, we don't have many friends either since most people we meet like to do stuff ALL THE TIME, so in many ways being a homebody has had a negative impact on our social lives. Oh well. One has to choose.

RTBA and Joe,
What, you don't like the sunshine? You two are not worthy to put yourselves into indentured servitude in order to "own" a glorified mobile home/crappy stucco s#%tbox, ie, "living the California lifestyle." Why don't you move out of the state and leave that privelege to us "natives?"

RTBA,
Check out Mt. Hood - the skiing's not bad there. Timberline Lodge is beautiful.

The issue that I have with Mrs. DinOR sounds similar. We have so few nice days from start to finish and they are precious to me but she's content milling about at Target or where ever. How much could it have changed in a week? Secondly, I must admit that we have AT LEAST 9 months of "perfect" shopping weather here in Oregon! You'd think she'd have her fill of that with a 3 to 1 ratio advantage wouldn't you? She's pretty sneaky about it too.

"I just have one thing at one store that I need to return" becomes 3 hours of shopping! When it's 40 degrees and raining sideways, well who cares! But when it's 80 and perfect?

On being "self entertained".

Why is it that we now need endless "festivals" all summer long? There isn't ONE solitary weekend where some damn town doesn't have a tulip, strawberry or hop festival! And they're all the damn same! Been to one you've been to them all.

Could we please have ONE weekend out of the whole damn summer where there isn't an "event"? I mean the calendar is SO crowded with everything from "Pet Parades" to "farmer's market" etc. etc. And Portland? The worst! From Cinco De Mayo up to and through damned October. And for every one that you actually attend (and burn through on avg. $60 to $100) there are four that you missed. It's like they're setting us up for dissapointment for crissakes. "You mean you DIDN'T go to the Cheese Curd Festival"? NO! I f'ing didn't! I heard they had a crash at the "Rose Festival" Airshow. Maybe if they didn't have a damn "airshow" that man would still be alive today! Stop the insanity!

Michael Anderson,

Thanks for the Bend update. Bend has so many freaking festivals it's ridiculous. The Source Weekly did a great piece about a year ago about "What is it exactly we're celebrating again". Totally funny, totally on target. I want to drop agent orange on the Dhalia Festival!

They still have homes in Bend for under 500K?

You know Michael I have a good friend that has a modest vacation home out in Joseph and he and always ask "Why Bend"? What makes Bend so attractive? Is it any nicer or better than any of the other dozens of towns scattered throughout central Oregon?

Here's my idea of self entertaining for people aged 30 and above: Fishing. It's a life-long karma training. I don't fish but expect to get into it.

My only concern, from reading washington's fly fishing board, is that one may meet some crazy people (i.e., meth heads) while fishing. There was a debate whether one should carry while fishing. Many actually confirm that they carry. I am for gun ownership. But having to carry while fishing is a little disconcerting.

Until you secede from the US and impose strict immigration standards (turn the PNW into Switzerland, for example), it is difficult to stem the tide of migration.

This observation reminded me of a conversation I had with my wife back in the mid-90s, right after Prop. 187 passed (the initiative to deny most non-emergency social services to illegals). We observed it passing with a 2/3rds popular majority, including hispanic voters (something the "objective" media here rarely mentions, btw). We then watched in disgust as an unholy coalition of liberal extremists, Aztlan/MEChA supporters and big-agriculture/big-construction/big-hotels united to "defeat" it by gutting it in court.

As I recall, I basically said something like this: "You know what? Nothing is ever going to be done about illegal immigration as long as two things are true: (1) non-border states view illegal immigration as a "border-state" issue that does not affect them personally, and (2) the MSM keeps framing it as a purely racial issue and not an economic one. If we ever get to the point where there is a significant out-migration of illegals to the other states, this may change on the national level. When California has an overwhelming hispanic majority that is equally fed up with being overrun and taxed to death for "free" hand-outs to illegals, things may even change here.

I think we're about at that point now.

I bet that wine and art festival is the same stupid one that winds up in Alameda. There are the same people setting up there: Little arts and crafts vendors along with crappy match-your-couch- paintings, big black and white photos, the caramel corn stand, and this guy that drives around in a van making signs for your house writing your name with a router.

DinOr, everything today is so organized and smacks of certain pretension. I don't even like soccer leagues. When I was a kid in Shanghai, even though I was on the school team, I rather enjoyed soccer games with my classmates in the neighborehood (between buildings). All the fun activities were unorganized. And we really had great childhood. These days, freaking everything was organized and scores kept by parents, in both US and China.

I remember seeing a satirical (spelling) essay on line a few years ago. It was about how the older generation survived without any organized fairs, sports, and parental protection. One line read (vaguely), "We rode bikes without helmets, but we survived." Has anybody seen this one?

RTBA, I'll probably opt for catch&release, too. But I wouldn't mind catching a fat salmon n Lake Washington from time to time, slice it and bake it! It's not easy to do. I've been having a lot of Yukon River salmon last couple of weeks. Great stuff.

Nothing is ever going to be done about illegal immigration as long as two things are true: (1) non-border states view illegal immigration as a “border-state” issue that does not affect them personally, and (2) the MSM keeps framing it as a purely racial issue and not an economic one.

These will help too:

1) Guest worker program is implemented
2) Minimum wage is pegged to $0.00 by a constitutional amendment
3) Welfare system is replaced by a pay-as-you-go system with tax credit

Could we please have ONE weekend out of the whole damn summer where there isn’t an “event”?

LOL --great rant. DinOR, I nominate you to be the official blog curmudgeon!

@Peter P, I'm not 100% convinced about the guest worker program, but your other 2 proposals are fine by me. Personally, I'd rather we just raise the regular immigration quotas than go that route. "Guest worker" to me basically means "legal slave", or "documented transient". I'd rather have people who wish to stay here permanently, and therefore have a stake in THIS country than more people with divided loyalties who could give a rat's ass about the U.S.

I’d rather have people who wish to stay here permanently, and therefore have a stake in THIS country than more people with divided loyalties who could give a rat’s ass about the U.S.

True.

I’m not 100% convinced about the guest worker program

It is a just lesser evil.

It is better than silently tolerating illegal immigration. If there must be an "underground" economy we should open it up to everyone. Businesses should not be denied cheap labor simply because they choose to obey the law.

Also, if (2) and (3) are implemented (1) will no longer be needed over time.

I say we throw DinOR a parade. Are there any days open for it?

I'm envisioning an anti-festival float in DinOR's honor, featuring him in a rolling barcalounger, with a beer in one hand and an extended middle finger on the other --pointed right at the adoring crowd.

BTW, pegging minimum wage to inflation is the best recipe for stagflation. IF we must have a minimum wage it should be INVERSELY pegged to the CPI.

Also, if (2) and (3) are implemented (1) will no longer be needed over time.

True. When economic incentives are aligned with the law, the problem should take care of itself.

RTBA, not at all. Well understood. I am eyeing the Orvis fly-fishing school in Coeur D'Alene. But I have to wait to see how much bonus and raise I am getting this year. It also depends on the gold & silver market. If the market sours, I'll be in really bad mood to do anything. Please buy MSFT stock. Thank you.

True. When economic incentives are aligned with the law, the problem should take care of itself.

Exactly.

We cannot fight human nature. We can only use greed and fear to fight other undesirable human emotions.

Hey, OT, but I just used a nice piece of information to my advantage at my local credit union. I came in "armed" with my TreasuryDirect & Bankrate.com rate quotes in hand and was able to negotiate my CD up .84%. Until someone here (or perhaps it was Ben's blog?) mentioned this technique, I had always assumed that CD rates were pretty much non-negotiable.

Correction: My stock pumping plea was not aimed RTBA. I just re-read it. The line could be mis-read. The message was intended for every one here. Thank you all.

skibum, thanks for the link. Very interesting place. Never been to SC. Heard from a men's clothing forum that Charlston is very, very nice.

We cannot fight human nature. We can only use greed and fear to fight other undesirable human emotions.

Don't we fight it all the time? It's called sociali sation, and it starts from birth...

Don’t we fight it all the time? It’s called sociali sation, and it starts from birth…

Huh? Fighting human nature is futile.

I actually had a realtor tell me “creative financing” is a great match becuase I create music. You know, I appreciate “creativity.”

Huh? So if I trade options I must get an Option ARM?

ptiemann,

I did a comment search and these two seem most promising

http://patrick.net/wp/?p=133

http://patrick.net/wp/?p=202

More generally, has that person tried to done test commutes between those two points?

I don't have anything bad to say about the Tri-Valley area, it's pretty safe and convenient. But it's also pretty dead after dark and rather generic/pricy.

The other thing is buying any new construction. Boom times tend to have many rush jobs and poor quality construction. We also had an extremely wet spring, so that might also affect the quality of construction started this spring.