Top products from r/Seattle

My favorite one of the 4 I've tried over the years, by far, has been the Day-light Sky light. Pricey, but I like how it can tilt over my head while I'm at my desk at work, it definitely tricks my brain into waking up. I usually flip it on the super bright setting for 30 minutes to an hour, then turn it off for a bit, then I'll use it for the next several hours on the slightly lower setting. Hot tea, good music, and that light makes winter afternoons nice.

My second favorite has been the Verilux HappyLight Liberty 10k, I bought this one at Bartell Drugs. I tried another variant or two of the Verliux, and I liked this one the best of those. For me, having the light shine from above eye level seems to work better for me, so I usually set mine up on a small shelf, though it works fine just sitting on the desk too. I sort of have the same regiment with this one, I'll use it on the super bright setting for a little while, maybe 30 minutes or so, then switch it down to the lower setting for the rest of the evening (though I try to turn it off a couple of hours before bed).

I tried the blue light, but I found that I preferred the more normal feeling lights. Honestly, I don't think its the spectrum that seems to make the biggest difference for me, its just having a really bright light to trick my head into going into awake mode.

In addition to the bright lights, forcing myself to get up and walk around the block can help fight the dreary feelings for me, or if its super nasty out walking around somewhere airy and busy, like Pacific Place (or similar indoor place), helps me feel more awake. Also, try to do some social things regularly if possible, even if you aren't feeling super social. I've found its easy for me to accidentally forego hanging out with people for a couple of weeks if its messy out, then realize I'm feeling more cabin fever than usual. Movies in the theatre can be fun in the winter too, as you are sort of transported by the big screen to some far off place while being warm and dry.

Those are my coping mechanisms. I love winters here in almost every way, the clean, crisp air, even the cool, damp, darkness is calming for me. Its just convincing my brain to feel awake that can be tough for me. If it really gets to me, I try to take a week or two and go somewhere sunny in February or so if possible (though I realize this isn't an easy option for everyone).

I saw elsewhere in the thread that you live in Alma, so I chose Topeka as the nearest large comparison city: Cost of Living Comparison Between Topeka, KS and Seattle, WA.

Rent is indeed going to be a major factor for you. I don't know how things work in Alma, but here the rent usually only covers the structure itself (the "four walls" as it were); it doesn't include utilities: power, heating, water, garbage, internet, phone, etc. A lot of other cost-of-living factors are pretty similar. My girlfriend has lived in Seattle for several years on about $30k/yr (pre-tax) but she makes compromises to do so: lives with a roommate in low-rent housing, doesn't have a car (but uses Car2Go occasionally), walks miles to/from bus stops every day, cooks 90% of her meals at home, does most of her non-food shopping at thrift and second-hand stores, etc. It's definitely do-able.

/u/synthesizedjasmine's response was really quite good and I'd like to piggyback on that comment (and elaborate upon it) a bit, including some non-cost-of-living things:

• Sell one of the cars before moving here. You can get membership to a service like Car2Go or ZipCar for occasional car use.
  
• Violent crime rates are extremely low here, but property crime is very high; even if your rental agreement doesn't require it, renter's insurance would be a good idea. (Seattle crime map)
  
• The wealth inequality thing is pretty stark; there is a community of homeless people living in what is known as The Jungle, which on any given day could be driven past by more than one person whose net worth is more than all of those people will ever make in their lifetimes, combined.
  
• The traffic can be absolutely horrible, there's really no two ways about it. While you're sitting in that traffic, you'll be surrounded by entitled self-righteous dipshits driving $100,000 (or more) cars who haven't used a turn signal in years. Drive defensively if you're going to drive at all.
  
• Some notes about the weather. This is really important and can come as a shock to people.
  
• It doesn't rain here nearly as much (quantity) as people think it does: Comparing Topeka with Seattle again, we average less rainfall in Seattle than in Topeka.
  
• If you follow those links to the rainfall data, you'll notice that when it rains here is almost the exact opposite of when it rains in Topeka; high rainfall in the winter and low rainfall in the summer.
  
• It doesn't rain hard here and we seldom get storms (you can literally go years without hearing thunder) but it can drizzle for weeks on end, especially during the winter.
  
• Although the rain may not always fall, the sky can often look like it; cloudy days are more common in Seattle than in Kansas, about 22% more frequent.
  
• Predicting the weather here is hard. Really hard. Two mountain ranges and an unusual weather convergence zone can cause wild variations in weather in locations only a mile apart. Cliff Mass, a professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Washington has a blog where he will often go into much greater detail about the weather forecast than you see on the news; he's also written a book about the weather here.
  
• Snow has become less frequent over the years. If it does snow, everything will shut down, even if it's only a couple inches of snow. Seattle is woefully unprepared for dealing with snow; there are a lot of hills, we don't use salt, and nobody knows how to drive in the snow. If it snows at all and you have the option of staying home, do so, you'll be safer there. Here are some videos if you would like more convincing.
  
• The Seattle Freeze has nothing to do with weather and can be a real thing. Forming new friendships here, especially for people who move from out of state, can be really hard. It doesn't happen to everyone, but it can and does happen to some.
  
  Edit to add:
  
  
• Seattle is a highly educated city. The person who makes your coffee is likely to have at least a bachelor's degree of some sort or be working towards it. The Seattle metro area is the sixth most well-educated in the country.

Rail-Trails Washington and Oregon Rails-to-Trails-Conservancy

75 Classic Rides Washington Mike McQuaide


Biking Puget Sound: 50 Rides from Olympia to the San Juans Bill Thorness


Bicycling the Backroads of Northwest Washington Bill Woods, Erin Woods


Bicycling the Backroads Around Puget Sound Erin & Bill Woods


Bicycling the backroads of southwest Washington (OOP) Erin Woods


Bicycling The Pacific Coast Vicky Spring, Tom Kirkendall


Bakeries by bicycle: A guide to Puget Sound's Best Bakeries (OOP) Fred Wert


Biking the Great Northwest: 20 Tours in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana (OOP) Jean Henderson


Cycling Sojourner: A Guide to the Best Multi-Day Tours in WashingtonEllee Thalheimer

Best Bike Rides Seattle: Great Recreational Rides in the Metro Area Gene Bisbee

Ok, no-one has given the right answer yet, which is clearly, unequivocally, the Aeropress. I've been through many different machines for making coffee, and this one is better than every single other previous device by a factor of at least 10. French press was the previous best alternative, and even it's not even close.

It's fast and simple to use, simple to clean, and produces the best tasting coffee you can possibly imagine. And it's only $25! You can't go wrong. Trust me.

* Edit: Fixed link

I have one of these in my car, works great:
https://www.amazon.com/Black-Box-Original-Dashboard-Dash/dp/B00FONBG1A

Records at a nice clear 1080p and I can identify plates for sure during the day and mostly at night. Really easy to install, I just leave mine plugged into the cig lighter and it includes a tool to help tuck the cable out of the way along the headliner and a-pilar.

Not specifically about the waterfront, but anyone who is interested in Seattle history should read Skid Road. Actually, I kind of wish reading it was a condition for anyone moving here because it would prevent a lot of culture clash if newcomers understood Seattle's roots better.

Some slightly dubious, but entertaining and probably generally accurate, history is in Bill Spiedel's books Sons of the Profits and Doc Maynard. Spiedel was the guy who came up with the Underground Tour and his books have a bit of that showman's tendency to choose the good story over the documented event. But his argument that Doc Maynard was the pivotal figure in Seattle's early development and not just the town drunk that the Dennys made him out to be after he died is pretty convincing.

Somewhat related: After having witnessed many buses in Seattle running red lights (which doesn't seem to be the case with this story) I started a (admittedly super boring) YouTube channel "Cars Running Reds" with dashcam footage from my car. My second video shows a bus blatantly running a red light, downtown followed by a taxi. A completely common occurrence here.

I use a pretty cheap Blackbox G1W purchased from Amazon. Really easy to install. When the memory card gets full, it overwrites the oldest files. I bought it for peace of mind having purchased a new car last year and also been the victim of a hit and run here in Seattle.

• Build a 5-gallon bucket air conditioner
  
• turn on your bathroom and kitchen fans to draw hot air out
  
• Pick up a blower fan (this one is a beast) and a big box fan. In the evening, when its a bit cooler outside than inside, place the box fan in the windows to pull in cool air and the blower fan on a chair a few feet away to turbo-boost the flow. You can also point the box fan out to push out hot air during the hot afternoon. The blower fan pushes a lot of air with a good 15-20' range, so you can experiment with the best placement.
  
• Keep your windows closed with black-out shades (or, even better, thermal shades that reflect light) drawn during the day, keep the lights off, don't use the oven or stovetop, don't turn on your audio receiver, etc.--anything that generates heat adds to the net rise in temperature
  
• wrap ice packs in a towel and, when you go to bed, place them on your neck, in the small of your back, etc. Really helps drop your core body temperature
  
• Drink hot tea and eat spicy food, like curry. Both stimulate the blood vessels in your skin to dilate and release body heat into the surrounding air faster. Sounds crazy, but it works.
  
• Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Castile Soap. The peppermint has a cooling effect.
  

I've been using the OXO Good Grips Compost Bin for the last two years. It's super easy to clean and just the right size.

I've been to three of them in California, and they were just bizarrely awful. Ripped-open packages, outright rude staff members, nothing on the right shelf, dirty stores. Conversely, the one in Renton is actually pretty decent. Things are pretty organized and well maintained, and one time I saw a pair of Buddhist monks shopping for motherboards, so that was pretty neat.

I'm not going to lie, though; the main reason I love the Renton Fry's is because of this book.

Skid Row is a great non-fiction choice, compelling read as well. You can pick it at the underground tour gift shop or probably any tourist hot spot.

Here are the suggestions:

Motorola SB5101u if you just want to keep service and essentially tread water. This modem is old, but still supported. It won't take advantage of the newer DOCSIS 3.0/3.1 technologies, but neither will your Comcast service.

Motorola SB6121 or SB6141 will allow you to keep service, be supported for a longer time than the older SB5101, and take advantage of DOCSIS 3.0/3.1 technologies

I have something like this, but not quite so fancy:

http://www.amazon.com/Bionaire-BW2300-Window-Remote-Control/dp/B000065DKJ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367432894&sr=8-1&keywords=window+fan

The key that really helps is that you can have the blades run for both inbound, or one each direction. Really helps circulate the air with the outside.

Because merging early wastes roadway capacity. There are books on this sort of thing if you are interested (I know, super nerdy topic).

Traffic is a good one

I have an Oxo Compost Bin that I line with Bio Bags. It has a handle for easy carrying plus the lid pops off and it can all be washed easily (by hand or in the dishwasher).

Get a couple window fans. Put them at opposite ends of your apartment and set one to blow air in(shade side of the building) and the other to blow air out. That will get air flowing though the apt/condo.

Hopefully that helps :)

The best beans in the world will only go so far if you grind them at the store weeks in advance then run them through a Mr. Coffee. If you want to up your coffee game at home, I'd highly recommend an Aeropress plus a cheap burr grinder (automatic or manual).

If you like to read, check out Sons of the Profits. It gives a nice narrative of the beginnings of the city, with details on the political and social intrigues of the time.

Bears have much more sensitive noses and are typically fended-off from a longer distance. It's a much bigger can and it makes a big cloud. Pepper gel comes in a much smaller canister and is supposed to be safer to use and more effective on humans.

This book is a must have for fans of the Seattle music scene: https://www.amazon.com/Everybody-Loves-Our-Town-History/dp/030746444X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478741641&sr=8-1&keywords=everybody+loves+our+town

This one as well: https://www.amazon.com/Screaming-Life-Chronicle-Seattle-Music/dp/0062586408/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478741750&sr=8-1&keywords=screaming+life

A shirt from Easy Street Records: http://easystreetonline.com/Genre/694652

And maybe some regular old Seattle goodies: http://www.simplyseattle.com and also https://www.madeinwashington.com

I read a history of Seattle called "Sons of the Profits". It explained early Seattle was built on Alki but after a couple of winters they moved it to it's current location.

Sons of the Profits: There's No Business Like Grow Business. The Seattle Story, 1851-1901 https://amazon.com/dp/0914890069/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_ybJEub185NSTG

If you're curious about psychological factors contributing to why we drive the way we do I highly recommend reading "Traffic" by Tom Vanderbuilt:

http://www.amazon.com/Traffic-Drive-What-Says-About/dp/B002N2XHGW

Here is a list of approved devices: http://mydeviceinfo.comcast.net/stage/

I got the Motorola SB6121 because it had all the little checkboxes and stars next to it. Amazon sells it for $67.99 here: http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-SB6121-SURFboard-DOCSIS-Cable/dp/B004XC6GJ0

Yeah, if you're looking for pepper spray I recommend this pepper spray gun: Kimber PepperBlaster II. You can get them at Cabela's as well.

Just a heads up for any other city riders - this bike horn has saved my ass several times when traffic suddenly starts to come into the bike lane. It's very loud, so don't use it on pedestrians, but it'll definitely get the attention of motorists.

Sons of the Profits

http://www.amazon.com/Sons-Profits-Business-Business-1851-1901/dp/0914890069

Black Box G1W Original Dashboard Dash Cam https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FONBG1A

Cliff Mass's blog and book are worth reading too.

Try something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Lasko-Pro-Performance-Blower-4900/dp/B001DNGSCM/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1519649761&sr=8-17&keywords=lasko+fan

It's about as loud on the low setting as a normal box fan on medium, but the air flow is next level.

How recent do you want to go? Most books are about the Grunge scene.

Grunge:
http://www.amazon.com/Loser-Seattle-Updated-Second-Edition/dp/1929069243

http://www.amazon.com/Grunge-Is-Dead-History-Seattle/dp/1550228773

Pre-Grunge:
http://www.amazon.com/Before-Seattle-Rocked-City-Music/dp/0295991135

Motorola/Arris Surfboard SB6121 for $60 right now on Amazon

Skid Road: An Informal Portrait of Seattle.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0295958464

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FONBG1A

Got a suggestion? I have been using this one for three years and it has been rock-solid reliable for only $40.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002M3SHXA

http://www.amazon.com/Smoke-Buddy-Personal-Filter-Purifier/dp/B00478UIB2

Explain your situation to him and bring him one of these.

115 dB air horn anyone?

https://deltacycle.com/airzound-horn

https://www.amazon.com/Delta-Cycle-Airzound-Bike-colors/dp/B000ACAMJC

OXO's + biodegradable bags works for me.

https://www.amazon.com/SABRE-Red-Pepper-Gel-Strength/dp/B004NKSPR8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1511719520&sr=8-3&keywords=pepper+gel+sabre

It's been this way since the first outsiders arrived. Read about how this all got going... https://www.amazon.com/Sons-Profits-Business-Business-1851-1901/dp/0914890069

Link for the lazy.

Before Seattle Rocked: A City and Its Music

http://www.amazon.com/Before-Seattle-Rocked-City-Music/dp/0295991135

My only advice is don't move with friends - look back after a year or two and realize you should have bought a condo of your own.

edit: also read Microserfs

http://www.amazon.com/Microserfs-Novel-P-S-Douglas-Coupland/dp/0061624268

I think you cut too much from the URL.

http://www.amazon.com/Aerobie-AeroPress-Coffee-Espresso-Maker/dp/B0047BIWSK

I didn't want to go with anything cheap because I wasn't sure they'd be effective at all. If you're willing to rethink your price, I bought this and I really like it. One symptom of the effect lack of light has on me is the way my eyes get tired -- it's not "being sleepy", it's my eyes not wanting to do anything and me feeling lethargic. The light helps a lot with that. I don't use it a ton because I'm not on any kind of consistent sleep cycle, but whenever I do use it, it's very helpful.

Can't help with anything of a lower price, though, unfortunately.

I use this, and keep it in the fridge. When it gets full, I dump its contents into a compostable bag.

http://amzn.com/B003ZFW0YQ

Too bad more smoke shops don't sell smoke buddies. But they are available off Amazon and do the trick for smoking in hotel rooms or balconies.

> What? Pepper pellets are fired from paintball style guns. They're larger than the typical concealed carry pistol.

Not necessarily. Some look like this, others like this.

I admit there's nothing visible in the videos that looks like either of those. I'm relying on police and witnesses quoted in the recent Times article for the info about pepper pellets.

> I can't actually make out anything in his hands except for an (admittedly really ugly) scarf.

About that scarf: http://static.seattletimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/trumpsupporterattack-1020x746.jpg

> From that video I'm not even sure it was yellow hat guy that fired the shot.

I have to admit I share your puzzlement at the apparent incompatibility between yellow hat guy's posture and the direction of fire. But I know for a 100% solid fact that YHG and his wife (the petite woman you see by his side most of the time) are the ones who turned themselves in to UWPD.

And I think it's possible you might be onto something. At the moment the shot is fired, YHG's wife is looking directly at the victim, and YHG is not. It seems reasonably plausible to me that YHG would claim to have fired in self-defense as a cover for her if, for example, she didn't have a CPL.

You should read the book "Sons of Profits". Seattle actually has a pretty fucked up history - including hookers, lumberjacks, killing Indians and construction policies just as fucked up as the 520 bridge :D

You ran that test to comcast. That's not even across the internet. You have a serious problem that is not directly related to comcast sucking. Shitty speeds like that have Three sources: Bad wifi or ethernet connection to your PC, bad modem, bad wiring in your house (almost always splitters).

Assuming you have a laptop, and your cable isn't fished through the wall, but mostly runs along baseboards (as comcast does), you can take yourself, your laptop, and your modem trace the cable down to the first splitter that you have in the house after the cable comes inside, detach the cable from the input side of the splitter, attach the modem, plug your PC DIRECTLY into the modem via ethernet (be sure to turn off wifi) and run the test again.

(note: if you have one of those wifi modems shitbags that comcast rents, you shouldn't.)

If your speed improves dramatically and your ping times become reasonable, it is the wiring. Remove your splitters and either buy your own from amazon (make sure to match the specs. you want a splitter that can handle the frequencies the docsis 3 require), or take them down to the comcast store and ask for replacements (best if you not explain, they usually don't care and will throw them right at you no matter what). If after you apply those splitters back into the system, your speeds at your preferred modem location do not improve, repeat again at each splitter and replace the faulty length of coaxial cable.
Chance this will fix the problem: 80-90%

If your speeds do not improve, try a different ethernet cable. If that doesn't fix it, take your Modem (Assuming you lease) back to comcast (the store. do not bother calling support) and either ask for a replacement, or ask that they stop charging you a rental fee of $6 a month and go buy your own for the cost of 6-10 months of rental fees.
Chance that this or the previous steps will resolve your issue: 99.99%

Should your speeds be shit even after all of this, you need to call Comcast. At this point you are either in a really old apartment building with shit wiring throughout the building (Cocmast / your landlord's problem), there's something wrong in your neighborhood infrastructure (comcast's problem) or you live in a formerly segregated neighborhood that has irreparably bad infrastructure (society's problem)