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This is still hecka up in the air, but I might be relocated from my low-wage job to a much better corporate job across the U.S. What should I know about California (and San Diego in particular) before I (hopefully) move?
Example categories would be:
1. Weather (which I hear is nice)
2. Local culture (and how not to look like an idiot)
3. How big the RPG presence is in the city (priorities, gotta have em)
4. Transportation (is the public infrastructure good? Would a personal car be necessary?)
5. Fashion
6. What to bring
7. What to not bring
8. Food. (What's popular? What's to be avoided?)
7. Entertainment (besides RPG's, what's fun?)
8. Healthcare (how are the hospitals?)
7. Potpourri (anything else I missed)
Weather is indeed very nice, but it can get ungodly hot in the summer.
Game Empire in Pasadena is a great game store, with plenty of tables for gaming. It's cleaner than most other game stores that I've been to (all over, not just in San Diego), and it has a very wide selection of new product. I find that it's not a great place if you're looking for older, out-of-print stuff, but nobody's perfect.
1. Weather: is gorgeous. I disagree with it being hot in summer, but that's because I live somewhere a lot hotter. If you're from Maine, days in the 90s may well seem really hot. But you can go to the beach to cool off!
2. Local culture: I'm a native Californian who lived in SD for college, so, I doubt my cultural shift is big enough for me to have noticed a culture change. I wouldn't worry about looking like an idiot though. California is pretty relaxed. Learn to order Mexican food with correct pronunciation, though. :P
3. All of my gaming was conducted through fellow geeks at the UCSD campus, but, I think there's plenty of gamer geeks overall through the city. PFS would likely be a great place to start looking. Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore is an SF/F bookstore that would probably be a great place to meet other geeks.
4. Public transportation is not so great. It depends on where you live in city. I was living at the very northern edge, and the PT there is pretty bad. If you're closer to city hub, it's decent, but on the whole, I would say that yeah, a car is probably a damn good thing to have in any California city except probably San Fran (maybe LA to an extent).
5. Everyone wears flip-flops year round, and often shorts. The end
eta probably not in an office, but, in general, i mean
6. A swimsuit
7. Heavy winter clothing, you will never need it
8. Entertainment: Balboa Park in the center of the city is a great place to go hang out. It has the world famous San Diego Zoo, as well as lots of general activities and museums, some of which are free on certain days of the month, and open-air concerts, that sort of thing. And of course there's that whole 'beach' thing. Plenty of coastline. Mission Bay is a popular spot for family picnics, etc, swimming, blah blah, but can also be crowded (it also includes Sea World). However, there's LOTS OF BEACH, so if you find one area crowded, go try a different spot, like the La Jolla cliffs for walking/exploring/tide-pooling. I'm guessing you may not surf, but it's a common activity in SD.
Also lots of hiking and so forth around the area. If you like outdoor activities at all, SD is a great city. There's a section of the beach with a roller coaster and other 'boardwalk' style activities.
It's also not too far to Legoland and other attractions.
Oh, and if you're into history, Old Town San Diego has a lot of neat preserved buildings from the Spanish mission era of the town, as well as the settlement by Americans. It's a tourist trap but a fun one. And there's ships down at the waterfront you can tour, like a replica of a sailing ship and a Russian submarine.
Professional sports are big in the city, with the Padres for baseball and the Chargers for football, if that's your thing.
9. Couldn't say, never visited a hospital the 3 years I lived in SD
10. Lots of really good food! Some of the restaurants I miss include Hodad'sp (enormous burgers and milkshakes, go to the Pacific Beach location), Kansas City BBQ, Extraordinary Desserts, the Mexican food in Old Town (overpriced but tasty, it's aimed at tourists), the Mexican food everywhere else in the city, and probably a dozen other places I can't recall right now.
eta One other thing: rent is pretty high compared to where I live in California now. I don't know what rent runs you back in Maine, so it may or may not be a shock, but definitely price out apatments/homes/whatever you're looking at, because it can be super-expensive.
I don't know how much if at all you're into firearms, but be aware that the laws covering same are going to be different in California than they are in Maine. If this is a potential concern for you then you need to do some research ahead of time. Otherwise you could become an instant felon just by bringing one or more of your guns and or possibly magazines with you.
There are no moose walking the streets in SD. At least, I assume so.
I was in San Diego a couple weeks ago very briefly. It had snowed in the mountains that day and people were selling bags of snow collected from the mountains for like $100.
I used to visit SD a lot, but since I was young and in the Navy, my knowledge mostly concerned bars centered around the gas lamp district, and is 10+ years old anyways.
There are no moose walking the streets in SD. At least, I assume so.
That's probably a safe assumption. However, California is a big state and somebody who lived in SD might want to go hunting in other areas. Then there is the likelihood that there are more gang bangers within the SD city limits than in the entire state of Maine. But you will never have to worry about such things unless and until you experience an unfortunate incident that requires you to rethink some of your basic assumptions. Hopefully you will survive it.
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I'll (provided all goes well) definitely check them out once I'm set up. Thanks for the lead.
Thanks for the awesome comprehensiveness of your answer! This was really helpful.
1. This is honestly one of the biggest things I've been looking forward to. You may or may not have heard that this Winter was pretty tough on New England, so living in a place where this does not happen? Awesome.
2. I took four years of Spanish (all through high school) so I should be all set on that one. I used to work at a mexican food restaurant and any time someone said "case-a-dill-a" or "quay-so" I died a little inside.
3. I'll definitely check it out. I totally dig the name.
4. I figured I'd need a car anyway. California's a big state. (Seriously, the drive from SD to SF is almost as long as the flight from Boston to SD!)
5. That sounds wonderful. As much as this might sound like a horror story to someone born and raised in California.
6. I've got that, though using it in an ocean that doesn't try to give me hypothermia all year round.
7. That sounds more like a blessing than a sacrifice. I'll get my fair share of winter just when I return to Maine for family Christmas.
8. I don't surf now, but moving to SD is the perfect motivation to learn. Everything else you listed sounds awesome, especially the SD Zoo. With all of that, plus the local theaters and clubs I bet I'll have no shortage of fun stuff.
9. That's either impressive or foolhardy. Either way, congratulations, hospitals are generally better to avoid anyway.
10. I'm drooling already.
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Okay... Moving right along...
Fear not O Imperious Sladd, I have no firearms. I was never into hunting.
Now I just have to hope none follow me across the country.
Funnily enough until recently I had two Navy roommates who extolled the wonders of SD. Seems like its a popular stop for sailors.
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There's a big marine/naval base there in SD, hence the tons and tons of sailors. :)
The last time I visited SD, I checked the weather forecast before I went. I don't know why I bothered. For 5 days in a row, it was 70-70-70-70-70...
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Okay... Moving right along...
My apologies, youngster, if my previous post was too cryptic for you. Sometimes I forget who is and isn't a Noob on the boards.
I shall endeavor to explain more clearly.
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Honestly it sounds like the transition to CA will go pretty easily for you.
I'm going to second the zoo. The SD zoo is so many levels beyond your typical city zoo that it's kind of unbelievable.
I cannot emphasize the food enough. CA is where a lot of food culture happens, and you should absolutely be regularly trying new and weird things just to see what they're like.
A passport.
A passport.
I'll second that. Back in the day (several decades ago) all you needed was a driver's license to go back and forth between the U.S. and Mexico. But times have changed. The best way to avoid hassles (especially getting back into the U.S.) is to have your passport with you when you leave the U.S. to visit Mexico.
Tied up to the pier. :-) While there are some older nuclear powered cruisers, by and large all the large fleet carriers (as opposed to the gator freighters) are nuclear powered. As well as all the submarines. When in doubt look for obvious exhaust stacks of some kind. If there are none ... ;-)
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Tied up to the pier. :-) While there are some older nuclear powered cruisers, by and large all the large fleet carriers (as opposed to the gator freighters) are nuclear powered. As well as all the submarines. When in doubt look for obvious exhaust stacks of some kind. If there are none ... ;-)
Indeed. Most surface ships have gas turbines, but there's also a handful remaining with boilers.
Tied up to the pier. :-) While there are some older nuclear powered cruisers, by and large all the large fleet carriers (as opposed to the gator freighters) are nuclear powered. As well as all the submarines. When in doubt look for obvious exhaust stacks of some kind. If there are none ... ;-)Indeed. Most surface ships have gas turbines, but there's also a handful remaining with boilers.
Actually it depends on the class and purpose of the ships in question. Almost all modern surface combat ships are gas turbine powered. Large amphibious and or replenishment ships normally have conventional steam plants. Some of the smaller amphibious ships are diesel powered.
The reason for the nuclear powered cruisers was that back in the day the Navy was experimenting with having entire carrier battle groups that were nuclear powered and thus didn't need to be refueled. Some of the cruisers were designed from the keel up so they could tow the carriers for extended periods of time should that be necessary.
Eventually it was decided that nuclear plants in general were so costly to operate that they should be restricted to only those classes which "needed" them (aircraft carriers and submarines). The other surface combat ships went to gas turbine engines so that they could be refueled with the same fuel the carriers were using for their aircraft. The fact that a gas turbine ship can go from being tied up/shut down pierside to underway in only slightly more time than it takes you to start your car is just icing on the cake.
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Ah, coming to San Diego eh? Aside from the zoo, there are multitudes of museums at Balboa Park. Also, it's one of the few counties in the U.S. that has beach/desert/forest/mountains all within a 90 minute drive at most. Depending on where you move to, driving will be a necessity, so gas mileage will be key, since we may have the highest costs in the continental portion of the country...... Must have the California Burrito, as it is also one of our creations! (drool)
Oh, and if you are into Society Play, search warhorn for At Ease Games and Warlords. Game days tend to be pretty full, and warhorn helps keep some of the larger events organized.
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Actually it depends on the class and purpose of the ships in question. Almost all modern surface combat ships are gas turbine powered. Large amphibious and or replenishment ships normally have conventional steam plants. Some of the smaller amphibious ships are diesel powered.
As I recall, the DDG's (Arleigh Burke Class) and remaining Ticonderoga Class cruisers have the gas turbines. I think the Zumwalt destroyers have them as well, although I had stopped working on destroyers by the time those came around. The Perry Class had them, but I think those are finally all gone, or sold to other countries.
Of the steamers, I know LHA-5 is still around. Same with LHD's 1-7 (some of my favorites, and I'm still pissed they made the 8 a gas turbine). The had Denver, but she's gone the way of the dodo (can't say I'm sorry, I f+@*ing hated that ship). I think LCC-19 is still around in Japan, and LCC-20 is over in Italy (and I'm still pissed I never got to go see her over there, Stoopid MSC). The T-AKR's are still around, but MARAD has them (them's some big ass boilers). It makes me sad, that there are so few.
Edit: the less said about LPD-19 and its fellow class ships, the better. G+++@*ned pieces of s+@+!!!
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I'm leaving for work so this will be quick.
I LOVE San Diego.
I lived in San Diego for about 28 years.
I still visit at least once a year.
I have lived in London, Brussels, Manila and New York.
It's slower paced than London or New York but if your not a type A you will not even notice.
You will need a car. You need to drive everywhere. EVERYWHERE.
Learn to surf. You will thank me later.
If you like the beach, the year long sunshine, good Mexican food, and love blondes there are few places on this Earth that can match San Diego.
Finally as the pièce de résistance, this is what my friends in Southern California look like, get ye West young man.
I LOVE San Diego.
Actually it depends on the class and purpose of the ships in question. Almost all modern surface combat ships are gas turbine powered. Large amphibious and or replenishment ships normally have conventional steam plants. Some of the smaller amphibious ships are diesel powered.
As I recall, the DDG's (Arleigh Burke Class) and remaining Ticonderoga Class cruisers have the gas turbines. I think the Zumwalt destroyers have them as well, although I had stopped working on destroyers by the time those came around. The Perry Class had them, but I think those are finally all gone, or sold to other countries.
Of the steamers, I know LHA-5 is still around. Same with LHD's 1-7 (some of my favorites, and I'm still pissed they made the 8 a gas turbine). The had Denver, but she's gone the way of the dodo (can't say I'm sorry, I f$+&ing hated that ship). I think LCC-19 is still around in Japan, and LCC-20 is over in Italy (and I'm still pissed I never got to go see her over there, Stoopid MSC). The T-AKR's are still around, but MARAD has them (them's some big ass boilers). It makes me sad, that there are so few.
Edit: the less said about LPD-19 and its fellow class ships, the better. G~~~%@ned pieces of s!$*!!!
Last I knew LCC-19 was homeported out of Yokosuka. I think she will likely stay there until they decommission her. After decades of getting work done on her by Japanese shipyard workers who have a habit of leaving notes written on bulkheads and piping runs in out of the way places the joke is that they wouldn't be able to work on her Stateside because all the instructions are in Japanese.
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I'm leaving for work so this will be quick.
I LOVE San Diego.
I lived in San Diego for about 28 years.
I still visit at least once a year.
I have lived in London, Brussels, Manila and New York.
It's slower paced than London or New York but if your not a type A you will not even notice.
You will need a car. You need to drive everywhere. EVERYWHERE.
Learn to surf. You will thank me later.
If you like the beach, the year long sunshine, good Mexican food, and love blondes there are few places on this Earth that can match San Diego.
Finally as the pièce de résistance, this is what my friends in Southern California look like, get ye West young man.
I LOVE San Diego.
I was planning on learning to surf. Nobody should live in a place like San Diego without knowing hot to surf. It should be a civil requirement.
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Last I knew LCC-19 was homeported out of Yokosuka. I think she will likely stay there until they decommission her. After decades of getting work done on her by Japanese shipyard workers who have a habit of leaving notes written on bulkheads and piping runs in out of the way places the joke is that they wouldn't be able to work on her Stateside because all the instructions are in Japanese.
Yup. She's still In Yoko. Love that town.