A reason why I can't live here.
I don't like the heat.
We have fans all over the house, all of which work at producing perfectly good, cool air currents. Our apartment has an ac, which we used for the first time yesterday. It's 78 degrees in the house and while I'm comfortable now, it's way too hot for me outside. And it's stupid, because I think the hottest it gets, on average, is 90 degrees F. in the summer.
But I need to live in a place that stays cooler then that in the summer, which lasts shorter then it does here. I am all for cold, miserable, long winters if it meant I could wear cold weather clothes and not sweat my hypothetical balls off in misery for 8 months out of the year.
But my family is here.
What am I really talking about, you ask? Chris. He bring it up every once in a while, moving out of state to a place with mild summers and cold winters. And while I love the idea, I also despise it. My parents... my FAMILY... ALL live in California. The only aunt/uncle pair who live out of state will be retiring in a few years (my uncle, anyway) and moving back to San Diego. My cousin lives in Utah, but is planning on moving to Lake Tahoe eventually. I was always close with my family growing up, and I want my kids to have the same experiences. But my husband really has nothing but ill feelings toward the idea of raising our kids here. Which I don't understand, it's not where the children are raised as much as how they are raised.
He wants to move to Oregon or Washington.
Anyway, onto more exciting future planning. I had no idea the iMac had a video card. This means I won't be building myself a custom PC after school, when the need for a laptop isn't as high. I only need the video card to play WoW, nothing else. for a little over 2 grand, I can have an amazing desktop with a 24" monitor and upgraded to a wireless keyboard and mouse - and who knows, 2 years from now, it'll be even better.
I can hear it now. Chris is going to have a fit. But honestly, I prefer OS X so much more over Windows now. Speaking of, I need to upgrade to Leopard. I'm tired of looking at people's screenshots, with their newfangled reflective dock and menubar and my... notsonewfangled ones. I think I'll ask Chris if I can upgrade in a few weeks.
Who's excited? ME!!!
But anyway, time for me to study my bum off while the kittens sleep. Kona has this thing for jumping on the counter and licking from whatever is in the sink. Especially when I'm studying, because I literally have to get up, he doesn't listen to my voice only. Jon & Kate + 8 tonight!!!
Comments
And I so so so so SO want a macbook pro.
I can appreciate Oregon a lot more now that I'm older. The beach scenery is absolutely breathtaking. Portland is amazingly clean for a city too. Plus there's a lot of outdoorsy places you could discover.
Washington, as much as I complain about crazy liberals, is a great place to live. I'm really outdoorsy and I think that's probably why I like it here so much. There's an ENDLESS amount of places to go discovering! The great part is that Washington is not as big as California so getting from north to south doesn't take quite as long! About 4 hours n - s, 6 hours east to west to the Pullman area (not sure why you'd want to go there though. Just a bunch of cows). :P
Yes, it does rain quite a bit, but heck, that's never stopped Dave and I from climbing all over the Olympic Mountains... It's probably one of the downside, but I suppose you can wear your cold weather clothes! Personally, I'm not too crazy about cold weather clothes.. I just don't like wearing pants. If I could get away with wearing a shirt, undies and heels outside, I would totally do it. Haha.
Anyway, there's endless places to go hiking, climbing, biking, etc. Mt Baker, Mt Pilchuck, Mt. St. Helens, Mt Rainier, etc, etc. It's great exercise, sometimes really, really tiring (especially when you're knee deep in snow without snowshoes! --which I definitely wouldn't recommend doing since that's actually dangerous) but boy, when you reach the top, it is SO absolutely beautiful. There were countless times that Dave and I went hiking up a mountain and reaching the peak just made me forget how tired I was and how glad I was I made it! I can't describe the feeling but it is amazing.
http://flickr.com/photos/douglasdietiker/2444362635/in/pool-saywa_group
http://flickr.com/photos/aaronswaterfallworld/2450150771/in/pool-saywa_group
http://flickr.com/photos/maxel/431169932/in/set-72157600097319331/
http://flickr.com/photos/maxel/896068283/in/set-72157600097319331/
http://flickr.com/photos/nwphotoguy/173822853/in/set-72157594174556213/
http://flickr.com/photos/nwphotoguy/1030857513/
http://flickr.com/photos/iversonic/821526229/
http://flickr.com/photos/ceeceedotca/2275197502/
When it snows, there's an endless amount of places to go skiing / snowboarding or you could go to Leavenworth, the Bavarian village on the east side... It's a popular place in the winter (and Oktoberfest, LOL) especially.
http://flickr.com/photos/bratodb/2100316468/
http://flickr.com/photos/pictoscribe/2081791275/
http://flickr.com/photos/darthservo/242154339/
We don't have the sandy, white beaches Cali does... We have the dark sand, the pebbles that hurt your feet and the huge rocks you definitely wouldn't want to get dashed against. LOL It's still fun to visit these places though, especially at night when, when the tide is low and you bring a flash light! :D
http://flickr.com/photos/douglasdietiker/2427029972/in/pool-saywa_group
http://flickr.com/photos/donbriggs/2124774018/
http://flickr.com/photos/preetamrao/206162704/
http://flickr.com/photos/godzirrraaaaa/2299158353
http://flickr.com/photos/21559716@N04/2251803332/
Oh, and I know you ♥ Starbucks a lot... since it DID originate from Seattle, there's like a Starbucks location every.. hmm, 25 ft? LOL Not that you'd move here for Starbucks. :P
I can see where you're coming from, not wanting to move away from your family. I definitely would not want to. At least Washington is on the same coast though!
Anyway, just wanted to highlight a few things around here in case you do move here. I'm sure you could do all of that in Cali too!