SF Bay & WVO

[mankypro]

No FF is in the City the price I quoted is in the Burbs.

Deep in the Burb's it's $4.29 this morning.

So DB, schadenfreude seems to be a theme with you. Why do you think that is?

Originally Posted by DieselBurps

There's a 3 day difference there - did the price go up by that much that fast?


If it makes you happier to think that this is true, just keep telling yourself that.

[DieselBurps]

Originally Posted by mankypro

No FF is in the City the price I quoted is in the Burbs.

Deep in the Burb's it's $4.29 this morning.

The difference in price didn't include the little detail about the location being different. There have been headlines about the fuel costs in CA going up by $0.50 in the last month... I was curious if this was one of those cases.

Originally Posted by mankypro

So DB, schadenfreude seems to be a theme with you. Why do you think that is?

Do you consider it bad luck that you are moving to SF?

Rates of pay aren't that significantly better when the cost of living is high. Fed + state taxes tend to soak up the excess quickly, and then the higher costs eat into the remaining funds. I find it works better to be able to choose where you live and get paid from an area that has a high cost of living.

[mankypro]

Originally Posted by DieselBurps

Do you consider it bad luck that you are moving to SF?

Rates of pay aren't that significantly better when the cost of living is high. Fed + state taxes tend to soak up the excess quickly, and then the higher costs eat into the remaining funds. I find it works better to be able to choose where you live and get paid from an area that has a high cost of living.

it's a mixed bag for me, I've just spent 3 years building a company from thin air based on an idea, which has doubled in size year over year and is operating in the black - I will be selling this company to relocate to my previous home of 20 years. A place with a great symphony, ballet and museums - a place with great music, unbelievably good food at the sketchiest looking dive, fresh beautiful produce, beaches, lakes, scenery, Yosemite, Kings-Canyon Sequoia among other things. A short drive to Santa Barbara's 4 Season's for a weekend on the beach with cute waitresses bringing me $12.00 hot dogs and fries with a pitcher of perfectly mixed margaritas made with Don Julio Platinum.

A place where you can walk down the street in Palo Alto and have VC money fall out of the tree you just bumped your head into.

A place where a UNIX Sysadmin (or anyone that has any ****ing idea what flames > /dev/null means) can make 150k/year with 3-4 weeks of PTO, 1 to 1 401k matching, and 20-30k shares with a $.35 strike price. If you're in management and can critically think yourself out of a paper bag you can make 35k more to start.

I dunno. Yeah a "nice" home in Emerald Hills or Woodside starts at 1 million for an OK place is a PITA, but they appreciate at better than the rate of inflation and have for a long time. And I don't need to spend 40k/year on tuition for my two little ones, because the PS's are rated among the best in the nation.

It's a beautiful part of the planet, if you can get around driving 45 minutes to get anywhere (even if it's 5 miles away).

And did I mention Lake Tahoe? Ahh yes snowboarding every weekend during the winter, and good food and spirits apre-shred on a deck in the sun at Squaw or Alpine? All a mere 3 hour drive away?

I love Colorado, and the powder stashes that stay that way for weeks, Breck, Copper, Keystone - all awesome, but I miss the beach. Mountains here are actually mountains - I'm looking out my living room window at a 14'er. Property taxes and income taxes are much lower, by orders of magnitude - but working for the man you can't do better than the salaries in the Bay Area.

This is fact, anyone who has lived there and moved away knows the truth.

Of course if you're not a geek or riding on the backs of geeks (biz dev, product managers, sales people) you don't see much difference in your paychecks.

[DieselBurps]

Originally Posted by mankypro

it's a mixed bag for me...

I'm quite familiar with the area - I've driven all around it and had multiple job opportunities there over the course of my career. Back in my college days I drove from Sacramento to Santa Rosa, then up the coast to Oregon in my early convertible Mustang... It was quite a spectacular trip. It is a pretty area. Pretty crowded as well.

Originally Posted by mankypro

... - but working for the man you can't do better than the salaries in the Bay Area.

Unless you can collect that paycheck and live somewhere else. Somewhere without the taxes and higher cost of living. Preferably someplace where everyone isn't a dumbass liberal!!! That's the biggest drawback to that area.

[mankypro]

Originally Posted by DieselBurps

Preferably someplace where everyone isn't a dumbass liberal!!! That's the biggest drawback to that area.

I guess this can be a hurdle if you're on the wrong side of the false left vs right paradigm. Pepsi or Coke, I don't drink the poison.

For me? Not an issue, the corrupt two party system means nothing to me, and while I identify more what what this country would call the "right" I find both liberals and what passes today for a conservative equally repugnant.

p.s. and one last note - Santa Rosa and Sacramento aren't the Bay Area as much as Realtors and those living there might want to make you believe it is. Bezerkly/Jokeland/San Leandro/Milpenis/Fleamont are the East Bay - affectionately called the Least Bay by those in the area. Anything beyond is simply Northern California.

[DieselBurps]

Originally Posted by mankypro

I guess this can be a hurdle if you're on the wrong side of the false left vs right paradigm. Pepsi or Coke, I don't drink the poison.

I guess that works if you don't think that Republicans can be liberal too, but that's not the case. I'm far more Libertarian than Republican, but at this point in time Democrat=corrupt Communist and that's about as far from what we should be as possible.

Originally Posted by mankypro

For me? Not an issue, the corrupt two party system means nothing to me, and while I identify more what what this country would call the "right" I find both liberals and what passes today for a conservative equally repugnant.

Than we are probably not that far apart politically. My issue is mainly with those that have an idea of a "social contract" that requires wealth redistribution from those that work to those that won't.

Originally Posted by mankypro

p.s. and one last note - Santa Rosa and Sacramento aren't the Bay Area as much as Realtors and those living there might want to make you believe it is. Bezerkly/Jokeland/San Leandro/Milpenis/Fleamont are the East Bay - affectionately called the Least Bay by those in the area. Anything beyond is simply Northern California.

Yes, and Lake Tahoe isn't the Bay area either, but it's an interesting place that you can drive to and from in a day. The coastal trip was on a nice summer evening/morning, it was absolutely beautiful out there - and a very short ride from San Francisco! I did see what you mean about taking 45 minutes to get anywhere - even if it was just 5 miles away. San Jose was an excellent example of that type of congestion.

That area was probably wonderful back in the 60's when the population density was less.

[Dane Bramage]

Originally Posted by mankypro

A place where you can walk down the street in Palo Alto and have VC money fall out of the tree you just bumped your head into.

I miss my clients on Sand Hill Rd. Well, I miss their money.

[mankypro]

Originally Posted by Dane Bramage

I miss my clients on Sand Hill Rd. Well, I miss their money.

All of the .0 people I know in the Bay are saying it's back. I have friends in IT/OPS that are getting unsolicited pings from headhunters on a regular basis now.

[Dane Bramage]

Originally Posted by mankypro

All of the .0 people I know in the Bay are saying it's back. I have friends in IT/OPS that are getting unsolicited pings from headhunters on a regular basis now.

I would not be surprised if there could be a "dead cat bounce", as it were. I chose my profession due to the ubiquitous nature of technology. As long as there is some sort of commerce in our age, there will be a demand most everywhere. Still, it would never be the same as it were in the dotcom heyday. "You can never go home"... I'm a bit melancholic when I see Google in the offices I once called my own.



I do hope it turns around in earnest there, and everywhere in the uSA. But I'm thankful to have left (& not to have to move back) as I believe the national economic situation is tenuous, at best. I don't suspect we've seen the worst of it by a long-shot.

I do sincerely wish you the best! Keep that retreat, if you can. You may want a hasty exit option (hope not, but... ).

California Imploding Just Like Greece

The U.S. Economy: Soul Crushing Total System Failure

[mankypro]

As someone once sang:

I've been to the edge
And then I stood and looked down
You know I lost a lot of friends there, baby
I've got no time to mess around

Need to build a nest egg - got 10 years to start paying for college for the first one.

The Idaho place - you should buy it! Just think of the safety for your family now that you've left the Silly Con Valley! C'mon you know you wanna play Batman in the Boondocks!