Reasons I love living in the Seattle Area/The PNW

     I have lived in the Seattle area and the Pacific Northwest my entire life.  I'd love to live here for the rest of my life as well.  Besides the familiarity, there are a lot of reasons why I hope that will be the case, and I'm going to share them with you.  
    First, we have (I think) the best weather in the country.  Sure, there's southern California and Florida and Arizona, but they can have unbearably hot summers and not enough cool days in the year.  We have one or two unbearably hot days all year.  Our winters can be cold for those who aren't used to it, but once you've lived here a while, they become extremely mild and tolerable.  It's why winter is my favorite season.  Oddly, we get a lot of precipitation in the winter months but not that much snow.  But on the rare times that we do get snow, it's beautiful.  I don't know if I'd change a single thing about our climate.  I wouldn't even change the rain, which helps make our area so green.  And you can't beat our springs and falls, both beautiful in different ways.
    Another thing I love is our sports teams.  The Mariners ended their playoff drought and are and have been a very likable team for years.  The Seahawks are among the Top 10 NFL franchises regarding ownership, success, stadium, and fans.  We also have a few other teams that I enjoy following, including the Sounders, Kraken, Storm, and Huskies, all of whom have had at least a modicum of recent success in various sports.  Not one of our franchises is unlikable.  The only negative thing is we are still without an NBA team, something that hopefully changes soon.  Once we have the Sonics back, our sports scene will be one of the best in the country.  Our stadiums are consistently ranked in the top half of stadiums in their league, and there's no bad place to catch a sports game in the Seattle area.
    As I've gotten older, I've realized that I'd much prefer to live in a blue state and a Democratic market.  Fortunately, that's the case now.  That's the reason I wouldn't be happy in Florida or Texas.  Washington is one of the bluest states in the country.  Unfortunately, we have that weird cousin we call Eastern Washington that leans more right, but hopefully, over time, that'll at least become purple-ish (mix red and blue).  I enjoy being on the left, where women have control over their bodies and everyone has equal rights.  Imagine living in a red state where they try to restrict what kids learn because they think they will be "indoctrinated".  
    One thing I love about our area is how many people and companies have ties to the Pacific Northwest.  We're home to Starbucks, Microsoft, and Amazon, and Nintendo of America.  We have been the home to Chris Pratt, Rainn Wilson, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Kenny G.  Outside of perhaps Silicon Valley, the Seattle area is arguably the largest tech center in the world.  So many video game companies (outside of Microsoft and Nintendo) have been located around here, including Bungie and Humongous Entertainment.  I love hearing about ties to our area, knowing virtually every other city pales in comparison.
    We have great food options as well, with most national chains having plenty of locations here to choose from.  In the past decade or so, we got Chick-Fil-A.  Perhaps someday we will get In-N-Out, but we have our own version, "Dicks Drive-In".  Not to mention there are tons of locally owned and operated restaurants that are among some of the best in the nation.  A lot of southern chains have not made their way up here, which is a bit of a shame.  The thing the Seattle food scene is lacking is good southern options.  But we're one of the best in the country in selections for steak, seafood, Asian cuisines, and in my opinion, Hispanic foods.  
    The biggest downside to living around here is the housing market and how costly it is.  We have one of the highest costs of living in the country and about the fewest amount of on-the-market homes available.  A lot of people, myself and my family included, keep moving further and further away from Seattle/Bellevue.  But I still can't imagine living in another state.  I could maybe see myself in Oregon, but that would be only if a job or opportunity presented itself there.  
    If anyone was thinking of moving here, I would highly recommend it.  Granted, I am biased, but I think we have one of the "homiest" places in the country.  You'll want to live here, start a family, and enjoy everything Washington has to offer.  I know I want to.  

We're Moving!

After two and a half years at Scout (formerly Hunter's Run), Amanda and I are moving!  The main reason for the move is the massive renovations the complex is undergoing.  They rebranded (from Hunter's Run to Scout) and they've already replaced the roofs and windows of apartments.  Our lease we signed late last summer only went until the beginning of April, because Scout has to have construction guys remodel the inside of our apartment.  I've seen what they've done to other apartments; they completely gut them and replace everything.  It would not be possible to stay in the apartment during that.

They have not reached out to us yet (but I expect they will soon), but Scout will probably offer us a comparable apartment that's already been renovated.  Unfortunately with the remodel, they are raising rent in the remodeled units, a rent we cannot afford.  We've checked online and while the apartments are nice, we just can't afford it.

So we began our apartment search.  We found a place in Bothell called "Griffis North Creek" just off the Bothell-Everett Highway.  It's got the nicest amenities I have ever seen in an apartment complex.  To start, it's got:

- A pool table
- Swimming pool, large enough to do laps in
- Jacuzzi
- Full size gym
- Yoga studio (with hot yoga capabilities)
- Shuffleboard
- Full-size coffee and tea bar
- Brand new Apple computers for use
- Two gas grills anyone can use

And more.

But our apartment, where we'll be spending most of our time, is very nice as well.  It's got a kitchen with all new stainless steel appliances, a small pantry, a coat closet, walk-in closet, washer/dryer, and my favorite part: Garbage valet service.  Because it's such a huge complex, it's quite a walk to the nearest garbage dumpster, so they offer a garbage valet service.  Five nights a week, a trash person collects garbage people leave out in front of their door.  It's awesome.  Oh, also each apartment is fitted with sprinklers, so in case of a massive fire, our belongings will not get burnt and lost forever.

But for the first time, I will not call Kirkland home.  I have lived in Kirkland my entire life, but unfortunately it's just become too expensive to live in.  My sister moved out of Kirkland a few years ago.  My parents moved out just last year.  Now in just a few weeks, I will move out of Kirkland myself.  I love the city, and it will always have a special place in my heart, but it was time to move on and move out.  At least I will stay on the east side and within driving distance.

Our apartment is on the small-ish size at 659 square feet, but that's okay to me.  It will encourage Amanda and I to get rid of stuff we no longer need.  My plan in these next few weeks is to put all-non essentials in our storage unit we rent, and then as time goes on, make trips to the storage unit and decide whether to keep things and put them in our new apartment, or get rid of them.

My least favorite part will be our commute.  I did some research and when traffic is bad, it could take an hour to get to work, which I am not looking forward to.  Depending on how it goes (or if I can find an alternative route to 405), I might get a Good-To-Go pass so I can drive in the toll lanes.  We also might carpool on occasion, even though we work an hour apart (she starts and gets off an hour after me).  Unfortunately, the carpool requirements during peak hours is 3 occupants, so we wouldn't be able to use the toll lanes as an HOV lane for free.

I'm excited for this move.  We're going to get our keys and set up everything Saturday the 28th, and move our furniture the following day.  We then will use the following week up until our lease expires to move the remaining things and clean the old apartment.  I'm hoping that our current residence does not make us deep clean all the appliances and counters they're just going to replace anyway. 

I will probably post an update after move, sometime in April, about how the transition to Griffis North Creek has gone.  I am looking forward to taking advantage of the amenities when possible.  Wish me luck with the move, it's definitely a change for me!

COVID-19 AKA The Coronavirus

There is a disease going around that is bordering on being a pandemic.  Ok, it is a pandemic.  The Coronavirus is prevalant news around the globe, and it's disrupting everyday life everywhere.  Businesses are getting people to work from home, if possible.  Events are being cancelled or postponed.  Some businesses that rely on regular customers are hurting because those customers are staying home. 

I'm not scared.  The symptoms are something we've all dealt with in life: coughing, a fever, and most of us have experienced a shortness in breath.  But what makes myself feel safe is that the only people to have lost their lives after contracting COVID-19 are people middle-aged or older.  People my age have gotten it, but they're making it through.  Instead, I worry about my loved ones that are more susceptible to the disease, such as my grandparents, my parents, my aunts and uncles. 

The crazy thing about this is that what it being deemed the "epicenter" of the virus is about a mile from where I live.  The Life Care Center in Kirkland is basically in the same neighborhood as my home.  It's not where the virus originated, but it's where it's caused the most damage and where most of the people who have lost their lives got it.  Crazy, out of all the places in the world, it's a place a mile away from me. 

I am doing all the precautionary measures: washing my hands often, using hand sanitizer gel and wipes, and wiping down commonly touched surfaces.  We're being sent home to work from home later today and for all day tomorrow.  The main reason for that is probably because one of my coworkers was recently in close proximity to someone that potentially had the virus.  Fortunately, she has not displayed any symptoms as of yet, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Everyone, especially the elderly, should be taking every precaution they can.  It's not like we should all try and find a doomsday bunker or completely seclude ourselves from the world, but we should be extra careful at this time.  If you touch something commonly touched by others, do not touch anywhere on your face until you can wash/sanitize your hands.  I am someone whose face itches constantly, whether it be my nose, eyes, or cheek.  I am taking care of those itches by using my arm or by making sure my hands are absolutely clean first.  Obviously, you aren't going to magically give yourself the virus, but you can contract it from others.

I hope this dies down soon so our lives can get back to normal.  I hate having to worry about my family when they are the ones who are susceptible to the virus being fatal for them.  The worst thing would be if everyone knew someone, friend or family, that got the virus, and worse, knowing someone who died from it.  That would just be catastrophic.  If the infected people are quarantined and stay away from others, we should be fine.  This disease has not been proven fatal to people who are young and/or fit, and let's hope it stays that way.

Companies I Refuse to Do Business With (And past experiences with them)

As you go through life, you're bound to do business with many companies.  And unfortunately, not every single one will give you great service.  I'm going to talk about a few companies I've bought things from or done business with, but now I refuse to anymore because of a bad experience I had.  Of course, a recent one is what inspired me to do this post.

Best Buy
I've been in a Best Buy since my bad experience, but I haven't bought much since.  Maybe something like a CD that was on sale.  But I mostly try to avoid the place. 

I had gotten a PC game from my parents for either my birthday or Christmas (they're close together, so it's hard to distinguish sometimes).   That PC game was Star Wars: The Old Republic.  I tried to load it on my PC, and it technically worked, but it was so slow and there was just no way I could enjoy it.  Therefore, I went to Best Buy with my dad to try to return it.

Now here's where it gets interesting.  They would not let us return it (because it was "open"), not even for store credit.  I know we were in the right, as their return policy stated so long as it was within the time period, which it was.  They explained how we very easily could have made a copy of it or something, and my dad just exploded.  I had never seen him yell at strangers like that before.  I think the part where they borderline accused us of trying to scam them was what made my dad mad.  In the end, my dad said he wouldn't do business with them anymore, although I think he's been back to a Best Buy since then (although not as much, like me).

I ended up selling the game online for a bit of a loss and shipping it away.  It was better than holding onto it for no reason, because I was never going to play it.

Car Toys
The unfortunate thing with Car Toys is that there's not really any other business around the area that does what they do.  They install car stereos, speakers, alarm systems, any car accessories.  I originally had a pretty decent experience with them when they installed the car alarm on my car.

However, in recent years, their service has greatly lacked.  I can't remember what exactly happened with my sister's car, but she had her stereo taken out of her old car (because her car was basically totaled), and they I think ended up damaging a part of the speakers and claiming they didn't do anything to damage them.

But more recently, I bought the stereo and speaker system from my dad, who then said I could take it to Car Toys to get it installed.  They were pretty darn unprofessional about it.  It's hard to remember exactly what they did wrong, but they first said they'd be able to install a type of speaker called tweakers, but then afterward they said they couldn't.

I do remember that my stereo was having major trouble connecting to the speakers and kept displaying an error message and I wouldn't be able to listen to music.  I had to go back and get them to fix it.  I think I ended up approaching them four separate times to get them to fix something.

Fortunately, they finally got it to work.  I have a cable that's sticking out inside my glove box that wasn't before, which is oddly a USB plug-in.  I just know that every time either me or my dad has gone to Car Toys for service recently, it's been a huge headache.  HUGE.

The Bradford Exchange
This was the most recent one.  I saw a Mickey Mouse limited edition coin in a catalog I wanted to get my grandma for Christmas, but on the catalog's website they were sold out.  So I looked online for another place to purchase it and found The Bradford Exchange.

I purchased it for about 40 bucks and got it in the mail a few weeks later.  Over a month after that, I received a giant display case and another coin in the mail from them.  I went to check my bank statement and saw two charges of 25 bucks on there.  Apparently, I had enrolled in a subscription with them, even though at no point in the checkout process did they say I was doing that.

I then got shipped a third coin just a week ago or so, and another charge on my card appeared.  I have emailed them many, many times.  The time I was trying to return this third coin, I was told a barcode that came with it would work as a return label.  It did not.  I had to ask three or four times for them to send me a return label until they did.

They also say on their website that the return and refund won't be processed until close to a month after they receive it.  For an item I purchased for Christmas, I won't be able to receive a refund until April at best.  And right now, I'm constantly checking the status of the shipment back to them, and the first display case hasn't been updated in over a week.

I left them a 2/5 star review on ConsumerAffairs.com, only to see everyone else has rated them a ONE star.  They may have high quality gifts, but they suck at business.

Honda of Kirkland
I have to point out the location because I doubt every Honda dealership is like this.  I purchased my Civic from them years ago.  I've taken it in to them twice for a service since then.  The first time, they supposedly found something like a hole or that my fan belt needed to be replaced; I can't remember.  But I ended up paying much more than I thought. 

The next time I took it there because I had no other choice.  My girlfriend borrowed my car from my work's parking lot (which is across the street from this Honda), and when she got back the steering started acting up.  I asked my parents for advice, and my dad took it to the closest repair place, which was this Honda dealership.  I don't remember exactly what they said was wrong with it, but my parents suggested taking it elsewhere for a second opinion.  I had it towed to a Midas, and they gave me a different answer and told me it would cost much less.  So I ended up having Midas fix it and not Honda.

In other words, I think this dealership does whatever they can to earn more money, at least in their service department.  I refuse to go there, even when they mail me coupons for services like oil changes.

Why the Plastic Bag Ban Doesn't Work

Starting March 1 of this year, the city of Kirkland implemented a city-wide plastic bag ban, preventing any retailer from giving plastic bags to customers.  Instead, they can give out paper for a 5 cent per bag charge.  They do this to try to encourage people to bring their bags so that very few bags have to be made and used.  THIS DOESN'T WORK.  And I'm going to explain why.

1) Paper bags cost more to make and are harder on the environment to make
Paper bags cost more to make than plastic (if you look at the cost per bag to retailers).  I'm not sure of the amount for either, but it's something like this.  Each plastic bag costs about 1/100th of a cent, while each paper bag costs 1/2 a cent.  It's a significant difference.  Those aren't exact, so don't quote me on that, but it's similar to what I remember seeing.  Point is, paper costs significantly more PER BAG.  Sure, they can hold more, but 50 times more?  Yeah right.  Also, paper bags come from trees while plastic comes from the ground.

2) People never remember to bring their bags--and are too lazy to go get them!
I find it simply astounding that the residents of Kirkland were given a year's notice about the plastic bag ban, told to remember to start bringing their bags a year in advance, and two and a half months into the ban people are still forgetting them.  We, the city of Kirkland, had a year to prepare, and we totally freaking failed.  That's like given an entire semester's notice of a test in a class and told exactly what to study for, and choosing not to study.

Anyway, the most common thing I hear is "I forgot/left them in the car."  Really?!  Great, they're less than  1,000 feet away!  Oh, you're too freaking lazy to go get them?  Are you s****ing me?!  First off, if you're shopping with someone else make the passenger hold the bags on the way to the store.  If you're shopping alone, leave them on top of the passenger seat... and put your cell phone on top of the bags there.  You won't forget that, will you?  Which means you won't forget that bags.  THERE IS NO EXCUSE.  Secondly, if the bags made it to the car, and you realize it before you've done much shopping, GO GET THEM!  No excuse.

3) People are content with paying for bags in Kirkland
This isn't true of everyone of course, but a majority of Kirkland residents are all right with paying 5 cents for every bag.  I'd say the average order only requires 2 or 3 bags, which comes to 11 or 16 cents (if you count tax--yes, they are taxed... lol... gotta love America).  Most people are ok with paying the bag fee, because Kirkland is already an expensive city to live in, what's 20 or so cents every time you shop?  It's nothing.

People being ok with paying for bags means a lot of paper bags headed out the door, which means retailers have to increase production on paper bags, which can't be good for the environment.

4) Reusable bags cause cross contamination!!!
When we had plastic bags, I would always put meat that wasn't that tightly wrapped in a plastic bag before I put it in a reusable bag, if they brought them.  Now, with no plastic, if someone comes to the front with reusable bags and no produce plastic bag around their meat, I am forced to put their leaking meat in a reusable bag.  Guess what?  There's a decent chance that bag doesn't get washed before it's next use.  People are lazy.  If they're too lazy/forgetful to bring their bags sometimes then they're too lazy to wash their bags, too.  Reusing bags, especially cloth bags, can cause cross-contamination which can result in sickness and in some cases even death.

5) People can just shop in neighboring city for plastic bags and dispose of them here
Currently, neighboring cities Redmond and Bellevue do not have a ban on plastic bags, so I'm sure many shoppers have flocked to those cities for free and convenient plastic bags.  And I bet they're still doing the same things with the plastic bags that they did before.  Myself included, many Kirkland residents have brought plastic bags from other cities into Kirkland and used them as trash cans, pet waste bags, etc.  They're still ending up in Kirkland garbage cans.


So what do we do?  I'd say bring plastic back, and if people really want it they'll pay for it, too.  All the money that plastic bags make could go towards environmental efforts to keep them out of landfills.  Bring plastic back, but make people twice before they stuff them in the garbage.  Also, couldn't they make the plastic bag bio-degradable, like you see with the food compost bags?  Why can't those be made into shopping bags?  Oh well.  In the meantime, I will continue getting plastic in Woodinville, Bellevue, and Redmond and bringing it here, because people in government do not know how to THINK THINGS THROUGH.