Article: Where Americans Do—and Don’t—Want to Work and Live

It’s interesting that New York City is #1 on both the do-want-to and don’t-want-to lists. Seattle came in at #6 on the do-want-to live (wut!wut!).

I’m surprised Chicago and Boston were both so low on the do-want-to list.

{My wife, removing the last remnant of the 2008 Presidential campaign from my back car window.}

Chelsea’s been asking me since the election to remove my ‘McCain - President’ sticker from my back car window. Don’t worry, she’s a McCain supporter, she just wanted to “show respect for our incoming President”… plus she didn’t want my car to get keyed. I saw it as a badge of honor… plus, I just like pissing off liberals.

So now my back windshield (a place I’ve usually reserved solely for stickers pertaining to Mississippi College and political campaigns) is bare… what step should I take moving forward? I’m tempted to become a typical Seattleite and add my KEXP membership decal or Crystal Mountain sticker upon my first run to the mountains. I’m tempted to add a “Thank W for 8 great years!” but I don’t want my car to get keyed.

Any ideas of how I could “represent”?

From an article detailing the end of current trends/events…

Obamamania

Aw, you’re a lefty who LOVES Barack Obama. He’s your savior, you’re a cliché, and that doesn’t bother you a bit.

Well, get ready for a year of Obama heartbreak. The guy is a politician, with 2012 to think about. Starry-eyed idealists, be warned: Rick Warren is just the beginning.

Obama will bring big change in some areas, particularly foreign policy and the war in Iraq. But he’s not going to win the culture wars. Heck, he probably won’t even spend much time fighting them. Abortion, gay rights, separation of church and state—don’t expect a lot of progress on those fronts in 2009, or you’re likely to end the New Year crying into your official Obama handkerchief.

We’ll be celebrating tonight in Seattle… but what are you doing?

I could write up a brief summary about the Mariners 100-loss season, the Seahawks 4-12 season, the death of “Tuba Man”, Oklahoma stealing the Sonics, and the Huskies 0-12 season… I could write up a summary, but this piece by ESPN sums up the most miserable year in the history of Seattle sports.

[thanks Karen and Jody]

The best Seattle snow storm photographs from city residents, as selected by the editors of the PI.

{photo via Seattle PI}

Just in case you’re a reader who doesn’t live in the Puget Sound area… it snowed a lot up here yesterday.

You know that feeling when you were a kid when the meteorologist started talking about the possibility of “snow”? You woke up the next morning, jumped out of bed, ran to the window and…. nothing. Such a let down.

The exact opposite happened to us yesterday. Snow. Everywhere.

My usual 25 minute drive to work took just under 90 minutes, with snow chains. The drive home took a shade under an hour, driving into a Seattle covered in ice.

There’s always something eerily apocalyptic about a major metropolitan city that looks completely abandoned at 3:00 PM on a Thursday afternoon.

I won’t go into my “people in Seattle are just like people in the South when it snows”, but I think you can deduct that from these photos.

Live views from Seattle in our worst snow in 2 years.

Mom and Dad made the trek up from Jasper to Seattle for the second Thanksgiving in a row. We were able to venture a little deeper into the local culture by visiting multiple non-touristy restaurants where us locals fill their bellies.

Beth’s Cafe is one of the Northwest’s more famous greasy spoons, particularly for its 8-egg and 12-egg omlettes. The omlette can come with as many internal fixings as you like (ours had mushrooms, ham, and cheese) served over a bed of all-you-can-eat hash browns.

That last serving you see in photo #2 was finished-off by mom about 4 minutes and 30 seconds after the photo was taken.

…the high this week. The high.

Live views of the chilliness that is Christmas in the Northwest.

After 2 days of snow in the city and a Michael W Smith concert (don’t laugh - he’s one of my favorite singers) with a 65-piece orchestra, 2 hours and 15 minutes of Christmas music, and appearances by not one, but two former American Idol contestants… at this moment I don’t know if I could have more Christmas spirit if were to I travel back through time in Santa’s sleigh to see the birth of Christ in person.

I can’t believe Christmastime is over in 11 days.

From the Seattle PI article:

Starbucks could fire back that not all of its coffee costs four bucks, or that extra cents help pay for health care for baristas. (A 12-ounce cup of brew starts at $1.40 at Starbucks, a penny more than the average McDonald’s brew price. A small McDonald’s latte costs $1.99 compared with $2.45 to $3.15 at Starbucks.)

[...]

“I think the way we deal with that is not to respond to something that’s that frivolous,” he said. “Are you going to say to your friend, ‘Let’s go meet at Dunkin’ Donuts?’ Are you going to say that?”

It’ll be our last weekend in Seattle before heading to Louisiana/Mississippi/Alabama for 9 days.

With my Holiday Party tonight at Newcastle and tomorrow night’s Michael W. Smith concert with a full 65 piece orchestra (crazy face!), and the chance for snow and sleet should make this a holly jolly Christmastime around these parts.

Hope you and yours have a wonderful weekend. Be sure to check out the Christmas favorites on the tube.

My new favorite local blog as of late (Vintage Seattle) pointed me to an interesting Google/LIFE Magazine feature now available:

Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.

People in Seattle react the same way they do in Jasper whenever you say snow.

The National Weather Service forecasts much colder temperatures this weekend in the state with the chance of snow in the Seattle area and single-digit lows in parts of Eastern Washington.

We love snow… but last years experience still scares us.

Unlike Obama’s Office of the President-Elect, the Mariners’ Department of Baseball Research is actually a real (and very cool) thing, and will be a necessity to prevent me from shoving a fork into my eye during the 2009 season.

It’s always kinda freaky when you vote for (which is what we did) a Proposition which will require billions of dollars, whose ultimate goal won’t be accomplished until 2038.

Light rail! Everywhere!

Vampire Hunters are flocking to the small Washington town this weekend.

Chelsea and I are going tonight… yes, we know you’re jealous.

Hope you all have a fun weekend planned. It’s officially my last weekend of bachelorhood, though I’ll be spending it with my lovely bride-to-be, taking her to see The Godfather for her first time at the Cinerama. (Feel free to quote your favorite Godfather line in the comments section below — Godfather III quotes will be mocked.)

It’s 58 degrees in Seattle and our mountains just got their first snow of the season last night. (Ski season is just around the corner.) The Florida weather will suit us well for 8 days.

Have a great weekend.