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.  

Current State of Seattle Sports - March 2010

The Current State of Seattle Sports
March 19, 2010

As we all know, Seattle sports teams have failed to bring us many championships. The Seahawks and Mariners have each brought us none, the Huskies only have a few here and there (mainly in women’s and non major sports) and the Storm have one.

The Huskies

For the sake of this post, I will only talk about sports that involve a ball (baseball, football, basketball, softball). Currently, the Huskies basketball team is still in the NCAA tournament, earning their first tournament win over Marquette. However, they face New Mexico next, a daunting task since New Mexico has the #8 RPI in the country. I don’t see the Huskies getting too far, so this will be another good, but not great year.

As for Huskies baseball and softball, it’s kind of a tale of two stories. The Huskies baseball team has only been average at best since Tim Lincecum entered the MLB draft. I don’t expect any championships from them either anytime soon. The Huskies softball team, however, gave us a national title this year, and with the return of ace Danielle Lawrie, the team could repeat as national champs. However, it always seems like only women in this state can win national championships, which hey, we’ll take, but we’d like it if the most watched of sports (baseball and football) we could get a championship in.

The Huskies Football team is going to be heading into one of their most promising seasons in quite some time. Second year head coach Steve Sarkisian seems to be a great coach and is molding Senior quarterback Jake Locker into a great quarterback. Speaking of Locker, he is not only expected to be the Pac-10 player of the year, but also a contendor for the Heismann Trophy, something a Husky has never had. The Huskies will be an improved team and hopefully will get a decent bowl appearance and win. I don’t expect them to contend for the national title, but I do expect them to crack the top 25 in the BCS ratings more than once.

The Storm

The Storm have been good, but not great these past couple years. They’ve made the playoffs, but have usually been a first-round exit. Plus, with stars Lauren Jackson and Sue Bird aging and a vew years away from retirement each, our window of opportunity for a championship is closing.

The Seahawks

Probably the team in the worst shape in Seattle is the Seahawks. Coming off one of the most disappointing seasons in team history, the team fired Jim Mora and Tim Ruskell and hired Pete Carroll and John Schneider. No one expects them to contend next season, but there still is the draft and free agency is still occurring. The team recently acquired Charlie Whitehurst, much to the dismay of Seahawks fans because of what we had to give up. However, the Seahawks front office and coaching staff predict him to the be the quarterback of the future, so time will tell.

Other questionable moves have been trading Darryl Tapp to the Eagles for Chris Clemons, trading Seneca Wallace to the Browns for only a future 7^th round pick, and letting Nate Burleson go in free agency. This team will look very different come September, but that is to be expected as their last season was a huge disappointment.

I expect the Seahawks to struggle, trying to determine which players are building blocks to the future and which players need to be let go. I don’t expect any better than a 7-9 record. The Seahawks passing attack will be limited with the aging Hasselbeck and loss of Burleson. The Seahawks rushing will not be any better unless they manage to acquire an offensive lineman and a running back in the draft, trade, or via free agency. The defense again will be so-so, but the offense will be one of the worst in the league.

Mariners

The Seattle Mariners have high hopes for their 2010 season. Newly acquired Cliff Lee, Chone Figgins, Casey Kotchman, and Milton Bradley hope to improve this team upon its surprising 2009 season. The Mariners will have one of the best 1-2 punches in the majors with Felix and Lee atop it. Their bullpen also expects to be strong, led by closer David Aardsma.

However, a main concern for this team is their offense. This team will have one of the better team averages in the league, but the main concern is the lack of power. No one on this team is expected to hit 30 home runs or more. In fact, only a few bats (Lopez, Bradley) are expected to even reach 20. And some experts are predicting we will drop off this season from last year, because last year, despite the winning record, the Mariners allowed more runs than they scored, and trends show that teams the following year tend to not have the same amount of luck. It’s like flipping a coin ten times and getting 7 heads. You’re bound to get a few more tails in the next ten, more than likely.

My expectations are that I at least expect this team to compete. I expect the Mariners to be in the playoff hunt at least until late August and more than likely into September. Without a power bat, I do expect this team to struggle at times, and they will be lucky to make the playoffs. I predict we will have a season similar to 2002 and 2003, where we will just miss the playoffs. That does give the front office and general manager Jack Zduriencik something to look for in the offseason, however: a power bat. If the Mariners can do that next offseason, I expect real contention in 2011.

So there you have it. Out of 7 teams, only 2 are expected to not make the playoffs their upcoming season, but only one (Huskies softball) has a legitimate shot at a national championship. Let’s all hope for the best, here in 2010.