Back in Business
I'm back in town from my busy trip northeast east coast tour.
Summary:
- Driving from Connecticut to Virginia, in the rain, will make your back hurt. Hooray, books on tape.
- My friends' kids are ridiculously cute
- DC sucks compared to New York. It's not even close.
- I need to do this shit more often: I have lots of good ideas about everything. Now I remember why I used to do all those 11-hour and 14-hour drives.
More later.
I dunno, dude ... I've now done the NJ-to-NoVA drive twice ... and the 5-6 hours really wears on you. But, yes, it does give you an opportunity to do a lot of thinking, that's for sure.
By the way: now that I'm in NoVA -- want to hang out? Heh.
Oh, you moved to Dulles? Why didn't you blog about that?
And, sure.
Posted by: Joe Grossberg on April 24, 2006 11:24 PM | permalinkWoah. DC what?
Don't get me wrong, New York is better, but also a bit more expensive, no?
Though, who am I kidding, I am a bit elitist myself. I rank US cities somewhat like this:
1. San Francisco Bay Area
2. New York City
3. Washington DC
4. Everywhere else
And mostly because anything that might compete with DC, I've never been to...
Maybe DC does suck. Though it does have 2 things that many places in the US don't have:
1. Tons of ethnic food
2. Jobs
And, of course, so does New York. But New York is also older, more experienced, and quite a bit larger...
(Oh, honorable mention to Austin TX, and (of course) my wife would say that Toronto beats them all...)
Posted by: Kearns on April 25, 2006 7:00 AM | permalinkKearns:
Funny you say that, because all I do here is eat well and work! :)
Seriously, though, "suckiness" is relative. DC is far better than Louisville, Ky. (which is, in turn, much cheaper).
Posted by: Joe Grossberg on April 25, 2006 10:38 AM | permalinkI have come to the conclusion that NYC is the greatest city in the world...but DC is the only place I could ever live. (And this is coming from a Boston girl. We normally have an inferiority complex with the Big Apple but hate to admit it).
NYC is great because you could live there for 100 years and still not see all it has to offer. But DC is just large enough for me, while offering what all great cities should have (great food, a good music scene, some form of culture, and decent sports teams). Plus I'm a political dork so DC is the only place where I really fit in!
Posted by: Elyssa on April 25, 2006 11:06 AM | permalinkI agree with the last commenter. NYC is, theoretically, a better city than DC -- lots more to offer, more excitement. But, it can be a bit overwhelming over long periods of time, so I prefer just to visit. And, despite our crowding & traffic, every day life still seems easier here than it would be in NYC (and in fact I know someone who moved to DC recently from NYC for that very reason -- as he puts it, you have to really WANT to live in Manhattan, to put up with the inconveniences of living in Manhattan).
And I agree with the last comment -- though I would broaden from political dork and just say dork in general. DC is a very smart city, Boston is too. NYC certainly has tons of smart people, but the overall average intelligence seems to be a bit lower. I love with DC how you can just walk into a random happy hour and have a fairly intelligent conversation with (many but not all) people. Not as true in other cities.
Posted by: Jay on April 25, 2006 11:36 AM | permalink"Oh, you moved to Dulles? Why didn't you blog about that?"
I did.
http://dossy.org/archives/000264.html
I dunno about this Joe. A recent study found by DCist shows that New York isn't better at everything.... http://www.dcist.com/archives/2006/04/25/newsflash_new_y.php
Posted by: Abby on April 25, 2006 1:06 PM | permalinkI grew up right near NYC (in Joe's hometown, about 10 minutes, no traffic, from Manhattan). Now I live near Philadelphia (about 20 minutes away, no traffic), and have been here for almost a year. Philadelphia is quite a city itself. There is definitely an air of North Jersey elitism that I was not aware of until I moved down here. Philadelphia is much more manageable and convenient than NYC but has its own share of restaurants, culture, events, etc...
Posted by: Max on April 25, 2006 1:09 PM | permalinkJay:
NYC is stressful; no doubt.
Dossy:
That post is inscrutable. Even knowing it's about your move, I still don't get it. It looks like a rumination on parenting.
Posted by: Joe Grossberg on April 25, 2006 1:29 PM | permalinkJoe: It was my sad attempt to retain whatever memories of the day I could manage after making the long drive, since I know how bad my memory is and how quickly I'll forget the small details.
You're right, I didn't post something like, "Hey, look, I'm in NoVA ... !" but then, nobody seemed to ask where I'd gone, so I guess it really didn't matter where.
How does NYC compare to DC in terms of lunatics and people who are totally oblivious to everything?
I've lived a couple years in San Francisco, a couple in Honolulu, one in Austin, and one in Dallas, and I don't recall seeing anything quite like I did around DC.
Posted by: Od-ll on April 25, 2006 7:41 PM | permalinkOd-ll:
You're a lunatic for even asking that.
Posted by: Joe Grossberg on April 25, 2006 8:44 PM | permalinkIt's a serious question. Or is this just an East Coast vs West Coast kind of thing?
Posted by: Od-ll on April 26, 2006 1:03 AM | permalinkOd-ll:
I haven't spent any significant time in California, but New York city has more crazy people than every other city I've been to, combined.
Posted by: Joe Grossberg on April 26, 2006 7:00 AM | permalinkMuch as I love DC, and much as I'd love to live there because I too am a political dork, there is nothing quite like NY. It's the city all other cities get compared to....there are reasons for that. Joe, seriously, let's go with the moving to NYC. :-)
Posted by: Karol on April 26, 2006 1:05 PM | permalinkNo more comments! Either someone has violated Godwin's Law, I'm tired of the discussion or, most likely, the ten-week window has closed. You can, however, contact me through email.