What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco • Hacker News Board

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#221

Post by georgeorwell » Thu, Jan 17, 2013, 7:22 PM UTC

JabavuAdams wrote: post #44

I'm living in Toronto, Canada, and the SF crack-head thing is always a shock. If I'm in SF, it's for conferences and it's always strange that literally one block away from our expensive hotel, there are zombies shambling about -- and this is totally normal! For those who know Toronto: it's like you're in Yorkdale, you walk one block and you're in the worst part of Parkdale. The other odd thing is that I seem to pay a…

Calling people crack-heads and shambling zombies is pejorative. You don't casually use words like fag, dyke, tranny, bitch, ho, nigger, Indian (for native / aboriginal), and kyke, right?

If you want a name, say "drug-addicted homeless person". We're talking about the most badly abused people in our society and you and the author are simply abusing them more with these words. Surprise, they aren't there to say anything back, not that they care at this point. Although I hope at least you'd get a couple fuck you's if you tried it in person.

1/3 of homeless people in the US have a serious mental illness like schizophrenia. Do you think that if they aren't able to distinguish between reality and fantasy and are constantly being told to take pills by a health professional that they will miraculously decide not to take other drugs on the advice of a drug dealer?

If I called you a zombie for just blindly going along with the crackhead term that the author used, you would be offended, right? Are the thank-god-for-the-lowest-caste-so-that-I-can-not-belong-to-it opiates treating you well?

Do you think that anybody living on the street addicted to drugs is feeling happy and fulfilled about it? I mean, it just doesn't go down like this: "I've decided that despite the fact that drugs are bad for you, I'm going to totally allow them to fuck up and control my life and be homeless." It's more like: "I'm in a lot of pain, and hey for a couple hours if I do this I feel better. Fuck my life is getting bad now and nothing I do is working, I need some more of those things that make me feel good."

Fuck you and your expensive hotel.

edit: I was mean here, so I apologize. It probably didn't do any good, I think I just felt like getting angry at someone.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#222

Post by donretag » Thu, Jan 17, 2013, 7:23 PM UTC

bluekite2000 wrote: post #133

sakopov wrote: post #98

In my opinion the high cost of living kills everything else on that list. I'd much rather have a comfortable living, travel the world and be optimistic that i will have no problems buying a nice house for me and my spouse/family if i need to/should i want to. I don't really see this possible based on what i hear from a couple of friends living and working there. Both consumed by their tech jobs, some cool things to d…

The same goes w/ NYC. I have been here for a while now and have met so many young girls following Sex in the City dream, which invariably turned out badly.

Someone actually did the math behind Carrie Bradshaw: http://thoughtcatalog.com/2011/carrie-bradshaws-budget-in-re...

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#223

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jan 17, 2013, 7:23 PM UTC

kjackson2012 wrote: post #209

run4yourlives wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aside from the obvious, what exactly doesn't apply?

I have very close friends in Vancouver, and over the last 20 years, I've been to there often, throughout all parts of the season. I'm fairly familiar with it. If I could retire in Vancouver I would because it's a nice, quiet, slow-paced town. Even at the height of work hours, there is very little traffic downtown. It doesn't have the same flair that a city like SF has. SF has major events throughout the year. It has…

[deleted]

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#224

Post by Cl4rity » Thu, Jan 17, 2013, 7:24 PM UTC

Well, of course it's going to come as a big shock coming from Boston, because I don't consider Boston to be a "big city." I was born and raised in Los Angeles, I lived in San Francisco for a while, and now I live in New York City--Brooklyn, specifically. Much of what you said applies to New York, too.

I don't agree with the weather thing. I've been to Boston where it was 60 during the day and in the low 30s at night, and San Francisco will never, ever get as cold as Boston does during the winter. Hell, it doesn't even really snow in SF except for a few weird flukes in the past.

Rent, cost of living, etc. is the same in NYC, too, which is fast becoming a startup city.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#225

Post by run4yourlives » Thu, Jan 17, 2013, 7:24 PM UTC

kjackson2012 wrote: post #209

run4yourlives wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aside from the obvious, what exactly doesn't apply?

I have very close friends in Vancouver, and over the last 20 years, I've been to there often, throughout all parts of the season. I'm fairly familiar with it. If I could retire in Vancouver I would because it's a nice, quiet, slow-paced town. Even at the height of work hours, there is very little traffic downtown. It doesn't have the same flair that a city like SF has. SF has major events throughout the year. It has…

You are essentially saying SF is bigger than Vancouver, which it is. Of course there is more of everything in SF.

Have you ever lived on the East Coast though? The differences between the actually "culture" is dramatic. It seems though that most of the people objecting to my comment only have experience on the west coast, and therefore see the differences in the cities instead of how - in reality - how similar they are, at least when compared to the eastern half of the continent.

BTW, here in Vancouver everyone I know has an iPhone, including me.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#226

Post by absconditus » Thu, Jan 17, 2013, 7:25 PM UTC

run4yourlives wrote: post #66

JabavuAdams wrote: post #44

I'm living in Toronto, Canada, and the SF crack-head thing is always a shock. If I'm in SF, it's for conferences and it's always strange that literally one block away from our expensive hotel, there are zombies shambling about -- and this is totally normal! For those who know Toronto: it's like you're in Yorkdale, you walk one block and you're in the worst part of Parkdale. The other odd thing is that I seem to pay a…

It's more a west coast thing. I grew up in Toronto and I can tell you the same thing shocked me about moving to Vancouver. Crackheads/street people don't like to freeze, so they move to the warmth is. I'd imagine this is as true in the US as it is in Canada.

Chicago has a huge homeless problem.

http://www.chicagohomeless.org/faq-studies/

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#227

Post by yesimahuman » Thu, Jan 17, 2013, 7:26 PM UTC

jasonshen wrote: post #91

driverdan wrote: post #83

I considered moving to SF but chose Austin instead. I refuse to live in a state with such a dysfunctional government and ridiculously high taxes. Some of the same reasons I left NY. You can do tech anywhere. You do not need to live in the bay area. If you really like the city pick a place (like Austin) with inexpensive direct flights and go a few times a month. You'll still save money.

You CAN do tech anywhere, just as you CAN be a banker outside of NYC or an actor outside of LA. Doesn't mean it's the most efficient or effective way. I have lots of respect for people who choose to live in other parts of the world but to suggest that there's not much difference between living in SF or Austin for someone interested in starting or working for a successful technology firm is inaccurate. I don't count f…

Those analogies aren't made equal.

There is nothing more equalizing than your ability to sell software to random strangers over the internet. It truly can be done from anywhere and potentially in a more efficient way than in SF.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#228

Post by potatolicious » Thu, Jan 17, 2013, 7:27 PM UTC

sswezey wrote: post #169

michaelhoffman wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, I just don't think these points are true for the other cities you mention. As a Seattle inhabitant, the descriptions of San Francisco-specific weather, rent, cost of living, costumes, events, transients, canine-friendliness, fog, commuting, and other things just do not apply here. Of the first few things mentioned, only the strong neighborhood identity is something we share.

Actually, a lot of it is pretty similar, especially if coming from the east coast. * Weather - replace fog with overcast/drizzle. * Rent & Cost of living - Seattle is not cheap by any means, and rent and house prices are really steep until you get quite far from the city. * Canine-friendliness - Definitely a west coast thing, there are tons of dogs in Seattle, dog parks, and companies that allow dogs at work. * Commu…

I've lived in both Seattle and SF - the situations are quite different.

SF weather is nothing like Seattle weather. Sure, they lean towards the chilly side, but Seattle doesn't have the curious microclimates that SF has, which is actually a substantial deal in daily life.

Ditto rent and cost of living. Seattle isn't cheap cheap, but the cost of living as a proportion of the average software engineer's salary is night and day. Seattle is downright cheap compared to SF - I went from paying $2200 for a brand spanking new 2BR (doorman, gym, elevators, the works) to $2200 for a tiny studio built in the 20s. It's really night and day. Even as a well-paid engineer (say, $120K+) you constantly feel at least a little bit poor, whereas in Seattle a software engineer (say, $90K+) feels like they're swimming in a pool made of pure money. I've been in both situations personally.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#229

Post by muzzamike » Thu, Jan 17, 2013, 7:27 PM UTC

Cl4rity wrote: post #224

Well, of course it's going to come as a big shock coming from Boston, because I don't consider Boston to be a "big city." I was born and raised in Los Angeles, I lived in San Francisco for a while, and now I live in New York City--Brooklyn, specifically. Much of what you said applies to New York, too. I don't agree with the weather thing. I've been to Boston where it was 60 during the day and in the low 30s at night,…

I find it interesting that Boston often gets the rub of being a "small city". It certainly is when compared to New York or LA, but when looking at the metro area it's on par with San Francisco: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_Statistica...

Not that there's anything wrong with being a small city!

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#230

Post by mcherm » Thu, Jan 17, 2013, 7:27 PM UTC

baddox wrote: post #198

mcherm wrote: post #144

I have absolutely no interest in moving to San Francisco, and I only happened to glance at this article because it was so highly voted on Hacker News. Boy am I glad I did. I still don't care about living in San Francisco, but I am in awe of your amazing blog-writing skills. This is not a book or newspaper article: it falls solidly within the typical boundaries of a blog article, talking about own experiences and opin…

On the contrary, I noticed a lot of distracting grammatical mistakes.

I'm sure they were there, but I managed not to be distracted by them, perhaps because the breadth and depth of the content caused me to skim somewhat (read quickly).