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-   -   Southwest Coffee Talk (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=173766)

Phxguy Jul 6, 2012 5:39 AM

http://youtu.be/YGTrpehA3ZE
Cool video that covers the scope of two downtown housing projects from the eyes of a suspended camera.

Leo the Dog Jul 17, 2012 4:33 AM

Did combusean leave Phoenix? I noticed his location says Burlingame, CA now.

combusean Jul 17, 2012 5:57 AM

Yup. I'm not fully moved out, but I'm couchsurfing in the bay area while I look for work. I got sick of scrounging in the dirt and floundering in Phoenix looking for good jobs that fit my relatively specialized web development skillz. I've had far, far, FAR more traction here in the bay area (and its only Monday) than I would have otherwise had and there's easily 50 times more jobs that I can actually apply to than in Phoenix.

Having had a whirlwind tour of the area down El Camino Real and the east bay, I'm fairly certain this is RIGHT where I want to be.

Leo the Dog Jul 17, 2012 6:24 PM

I wish you good luck in the Bay Area. Seems like a smart career move (with higher pay compared to AZ). Hope you continue to contribute to the Phoenix - Southwest forum with your well informed, thought out posts.

vertex Jul 17, 2012 6:48 PM

What took you so long to decide? Seems like a no-brainer.

Vicelord John Jul 17, 2012 6:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leo the Dog (Post 5768153)
Seems like a smart career move (with higher pay compared to AZ).

Literally the stupidest argument one can make about living in Northern California as opposed to Arizona, and I hear it lots.

Any increase in pay is completely negated by the asinine cost of living.

Don B. Jul 17, 2012 7:32 PM

^ There's ways of living less expensively in bigger cities like SF. You can have less space, give up your car, and in general live more frugally. Lots of poor people live in SF's metro area of about 7 million, I can assure you, and many of them get by just fine despite the higher cost of living. :)

--don

Leo the Dog Jul 17, 2012 8:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vicelord John (Post 5768182)
Literally the stupidest argument one can make about living in Northern California as opposed to Arizona, and I hear it lots.

Any increase in pay is completely negated by the asinine cost of living.

I disagree.


Don is correct: Since I moved to CA from AZ, I've been able to save more money/month despite paying more in rent. I drive much less, car insurance is half what it was in Phoenix, car maintenance is much less bc the climate isnt as brutal, utility bills are almost non-existent year round ($20 for electric), my car has never been vandalized or broken into in SD, 4 times in Phx, I live in a smaller place, but 1 mile from work and walk or ride my bike to almost evrything.

westbev93 Jul 17, 2012 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leo the Dog (Post 5768265)
I disagree.


Don is correct: Since I moved to CA from AZ, I've been able to save more money/month despite paying more in rent. I drive much less, car insurance is half what it was in Phoenix, car maintenance is much less bc the climate isnt as brutal, utility bills are almost non-existent year round ($20 for electric), my car has never been vandalized or broken into in SD, 4 times in Phx, I live in a smaller place, but 1 mile from work and walk or ride my bike to almost evrything.

Couldn't you have lived closer to work in Phoenix, thereby arriving at the same travel cost savings? I never understand people who say they save money in SF, NY, Chicago, etc. because they don't need to drive to work like they did in Phoenix. If the transportation costs were the difference maker, why wouldn't you first try to change those costs before moving to another state and incurring the costs of moving and the costs associated with an interruption in work for any period of time?

Vicelord John Jul 17, 2012 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leo the Dog (Post 5768265)
I disagree.


Don is correct: Since I moved to CA from AZ, I've been able to save more money/month despite paying more in rent. I drive much less, car insurance is half what it was in Phoenix, car maintenance is much less bc the climate isnt as brutal, utility bills are almost non-existent year round ($20 for electric), my car has never been vandalized or broken into in SD, 4 times in Phx, I live in a smaller place, but 1 mile from work and walk or ride my bike to almost evrything.

wtf?

could have lived in a smaller place in phoenix, could have lived closer to work in phoenix.

as for car insurance, I don't pay more than $100 a month for full coverage with $250 deductible and I live in 85034 which isn't statistically the lowest crime zip.

Seems you are comparing apples and oranges.

Leo the Dog Jul 17, 2012 11:54 PM

Westbev, vicelordjohn,

The last year I lived in phoenix, I walked to work. With that said, I still spent much more on gas because I had to drive much farther distances for just about everything else. The distances are much greater in metro Phoenix. My insurance was well over $100, now it's $55 with the same vehicle, coverage and insurance company.

I didn't move to CA to save money, I've unexpectedly found that one can live quite comfortably in a city where the cost of living seems steep, as Don was saying.

I find it strange that you guys are attacking me for wishing combusean good luck in his career move in a region that is known for much higher wages. Why wouldn't he move there to pursue a high paying job?

Vicelord John Jul 18, 2012 12:28 AM

because gains in wage are negated by the increase in cost of living if one sustains the same lifestyle as what they left. You're arguing this point yet saying you downsized to a smaller place. If you got a similar sized place in a comparable area of town in terms of prestige, where would you then be? If I'm not mistaken, you moved from willo, right?

combusean Jul 18, 2012 1:09 AM

I moved up there because the job market in Phoenix just sucks for what I do, and the salaries have been pushing downward lately anyways. I get a lead about once every six months for one language I know and really want to do and had one lead for another this month. I had been getting job offers over the last few months I've been looking, but I would have had to be utterly desperate to take them because the environments sucked, and they were all 20 miles out from my place downtown.

I'm going from paying $600 month in a studio downtown to $975 for a share in a 2-bedroom apartment in Hillsdale, right off the Caltrain and equidistant from Mountain View and the City which covers like 85% of the potential job market in the bay area. If I wanted to live in the City it'd be about $1200 for a share in a place. The salaries *start* 25% more than I'd make in Phoenix (i'm not at all entry level) and that alone covers my budget with plenty of wiggle room. I don't really consider the cost of living to be expensive when I consider how much it's worth to me living here already.

As for sticking around on the forum--you bet, every day just like I have.

Leo the Dog Jul 18, 2012 1:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vicelord John (Post 5768599)
You're arguing this point yet saying you downsized to a smaller place. If you got a similar sized place in a comparable area of town in terms of prestige, where would you then be? If I'm not mistaken, you moved from willo, right?

I'm not arguing about anything. Just supporting combuseans move to pursue his specialized career choice. He will make more money up there, it will cost more money to live there. I agree with don that one can live quite comfortably in an expensive region. Your cant do attitude is a drag.

The size of my place should have nothing to do with this. But considering I lived in 85006, a nice place, but surrounded by rough neighborhoods and urban blight, a comparable area in SD would be the ghetto, perhaps National City. My reasons for downsizing have more to do with living in a nice, safe neighborhood, close to work and entertainment in a good micro-climate zone.

I could get a comparable place in SD as to what I had in Phx, but I choose not to. Get over it already.

HooverDam Jul 18, 2012 4:02 AM

The particulars aside, its sad to see Sean go. I wish you the best in your future endeavors.

Phoenix has got to find a way to stop the bleeding out of young, talented, passionate, hard working people. I've lost too many friends to Seattle, LA, SD, Portland, Chicago, etc. Our leadership at all levels needs to be bending over backwards to retain and attract these sorts of people.

Buckeye Native 001 Jul 20, 2012 6:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HooverDam (Post 5768825)
The particulars aside, its sad to see Sean go. I wish you the best in your future endeavors.

Phoenix has got to find a way to stop the bleeding out of young, talented, passionate, hard working people. I've lost too many friends to Seattle, LA, SD, Portland, Chicago, etc. Our leadership at all levels needs to be bending over backwards to retain and attract these sorts of people.

That's hard to do when the state government (certain politicians in particular) bend over backwards pandering to retired old fucks* who move here from somewhere else, have no ties to the communities in which they live and don't care about the future of this state so long as their taxes are practically non-existent and the brown people are under constant threat of deportation.

*And I'm really not trying to be ageist, but from personal observation, the only people that seem to vote with any consistency in this state are people from the numerous retirement communities whose approach to everything is "I got mine, the rest of you all can fuck off"

I really don't consider myself liberal, but compared to the typical voting trends in Arizona, I might as well be a Marxist... :(

dtnphx Jul 20, 2012 11:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buckeye Native 001 (Post 5772037)
That's hard to do when the state government (certain politicians in particular) bend over backwards pandering to retired old fucks* who move here from somewhere else, have no ties to the communities in which they live and don't care about the future of this state so long as their taxes are practically non-existent and the brown people are under constant threat of deportation.

*And I'm really not trying to be ageist, but from personal observation, the only people that seem to vote with any consistency in this state are people from the numerous retirement communities whose approach to everything is "I got mine, the rest of you all can fuck off"

I really don't consider myself liberal, but compared to the typical voting trends in Arizona, I might as well be a Marxist... :(

Amen! My brother.

Leo the Dog Jul 30, 2012 5:15 PM

Anyone of you guys have recent pics of the storms hitting Phx? I just saw the sideshow on azcentral.

Looks like a decent monsoon season over there.

nickw252 Jul 30, 2012 5:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leo the Dog (Post 5782276)
Anyone of you guys have recent pics of the storms hitting Phx? I just saw the sideshow on azcentral.

Looks like a decent monsoon season over there.

I was out of town over the weekend so i didn't see anything. There doesn't seem to be any damage in my neighborhood though.

HX_Guy Jul 30, 2012 9:53 PM

This monsoon seasons isn't as violent/damaging as some past ones have been but there definitely seems to be a lot more rain than in the last couple of years which is great. Temps in


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