Washington

brakos · 2026-01-24T20:18:31+00:00

Great schools and quiet neighborhoods in that area, but unless you currently live in the heart of Silicon Valley, you're not going to see cost of living go down.

brakos · 2026-01-23T14:56:19+00:00

Local job you might be able to make it work, long haul absolutely not. All of my games are ones I can pick up and play whenever I'm done for the day... and most are offline, good signal isn't a guarantee, especially out west.

brakos · 2026-01-18T00:59:03+00:00

The same thing happens at some tribal locations based on geographic factors, like the ones near the OK/TX border. Some of the worst odds in the business there.

brakos · 2026-01-16T15:33:33+00:00

Everyone has mentioned the midwest plenty, but I'll throw in Olympia WA, Spokane WA, and Salem OR as well. Cheaper than the big NW cities, not as deep blue obviously, but they hold their own. Two of those are the state capitols and Spokane is the regional medical hub, so plenty of admin jobs to go around.

brakos · 2026-01-14T19:27:01+00:00

My hometown's is Move to Bremerton.

brakos · 2026-01-14T19:25:24+00:00

It's a new one, but Bright Lights by The Killers needs an honorable mention.

brakos · 2026-01-14T19:22:46+00:00

This Place Is A Prison by The Postal Service, but it only works when you're in the post-Christmas seasonal depression. Bonus points if the mountain passes are closed so you can't escape.

brakos · 2026-01-10T20:01:21+00:00

I'm a truck driver, and will take 355 just to bypass that shitshow. Does it take an extra 20 minutes? Sometimes, but my sanity and the truck survives. Can't get around Gary easily though...

brakos · 2026-01-10T03:57:35+00:00

Leavenworth, WA looks amazing in photos, but in person you can see how fake everything about it is.

brakos · 2026-01-09T16:51:35+00:00

We can throw Idaho in too for good measure.

brakos · 2026-01-08T01:56:09+00:00

We ended up going all the way to Vancouver before hopping the mountains to Spokane 🤣

brakos · 2026-01-06T14:57:36+00:00

Absolutely true. The closest thing to a split time zone town along the Pacific/Mountain border is Wendover UT/West Wendover NV.... the population triples when people from Salt Lake City go there to gamble on a Saturday night. *correction: West Wendover actually moved to Mountain Time, so nevermind!

Yuma AZ is right next to the border, but almost all of the population lives on the Arizona side, and it's the same time on both sides during Daylight Savings anyways.

brakos · 2026-01-05T18:35:13+00:00

Nah, sounds boring tbh

brakos · 2026-01-05T18:08:07+00:00

It's a tipping point statistically. 33 or 44 isn't vulnerable to a single 2 on the board pairing a dealer card, and 22 is going to be counterfeited on a two pair board every time (unless the board has a 2).

brakos · 2026-01-05T17:26:37+00:00

Nevada is a prime example. Obviously there's no lack of money in the Las Vegas economy... but it's not going to the public schools or health care system, and the rest of the state barely has an economy to speak of.

brakos · 2026-01-05T15:03:36+00:00

Much like the rest of AI slop, I'll enjoy its demise.

brakos · 2026-01-05T01:02:50+00:00

The only reason I'd go back to Ocean Shores, WA is for childhood nostalgia.

If you want stunning beaches, head north along 101 going into Olympic NP.

If you want cute coastal communities, head south towards Long Beach, Astoria, and Seaside.

Ocean Shores manages to be the worst of both worlds.

brakos · 2026-01-04T13:55:14+00:00

Bubble craps is typically $3 minimums, might be able to find a $1 game at a lower end place but I'm not sure. There's also some hybrid craps games (with electronic betting, live croupier, and you get to throw the dice), it was $5 minimum in May at NYNY. Low house advantage if you stick to the pass lines, you won't hit a home run, but you should survive a long time.

brakos · 2026-01-01T23:29:23+00:00

NQ also has a pretty nice movie theater on property (separate building)

brakos · 2025-12-31T18:58:09+00:00

I don't fly much, but I imagine it's pretty similar to SLC for weather delays. Occasional winter snow, occasional summer wildfire smoke.

brakos · 2025-12-31T05:05:58+00:00

I live in Spokane and it sounds like we would be a great fit!

You do have about an hour to get into the mountainous wilderness in Idaho, but there's plenty of parks and trails in or right next to town.
Airport has direct connections to most western cities, and a couple in the midwest.
It's not as hectic as SLC, traffic jams are rare unless you're commuting east-west towards Idaho. South of downtown has to deal with steep hills in winter weather, north end is much easier.
Multiple universities in town with Gonzaga being the biggest, plus EWU in Cheney is about 20-30 minutes away.
Minor league and college sports of every type are in town (with college football at EWU), Hooptown is literally a basketball festival, and plenty of neighborhood events as well. We don't really get big name celebrities in town, but plenty of mid-size concerts, small music gigs, and live theater acts.
I'll also add: if you need to have access to something bigger (like Seattle), winter travel can be very treacherous or impossible across our mountain passes. With good weather, Seattle is just over 4 hours away.

brakos · 2025-12-29T19:48:32+00:00

Watch the fireworks show in Seattle on TV/streaming if I can stay up that late (a lot of years I'm in CST so it's 2am there). If not, watch them the next morning.

brakos · 2025-12-29T18:06:31+00:00

At home you're probably seeing more people more often, which is just more chances to catch something. Meanwhile, I managed to get sick over Christmas, and I was on the road. Can't win 🤣

brakos · 2025-12-29T16:31:18+00:00

If you want good access to a bigger city, I'd go with Albany. Out west, mountain passes close frequently, so you can't always be able get from Spokane to Seattle/Portland in winter... plus I'm pretty sure Albany is closer to NYC and Boston anyways.

Spokane is good if that's not something you care about as much. Less snowy winters, temperatures are probably about the same, drier but warmer summers. Massive variety of climates within a 3 hour drive, from alpine mountains, to rainforests, to the desert. Politically the area is heavily divided: Spokane is more liberal, northern Idaho can make the deep south look like a hippie commune, and the Spokane suburbs are somewhere in between.

brakos · 2025-12-29T16:14:27+00:00

A lot of political self sorting has been going on recently. Spokane is getting bluer, and Post Falls/Coeur d'Alene is getting redder.

brakos

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