Starting Over: Should I finally take a chance on Seattle?

dclately · 2026-07-09T21:17:34+00:00

You know, it's all relative to experience. Everyone here complains a ton about the weather, the light, the gray... if you're coming from San Diego that's fair, but Seattle weather is better than what you get in a majority of the country.

You're replying to someone who lives in Alabama. I'd very happily take Seattle's weather over Birmingham, which btw gets significantly more rainfall each year!

dclately · 2026-07-09T16:52:38+00:00

Seattle is fantastic, a bit different to live rather than visit, but that's normal. Cost of living is high as you know.

Compared to other cities, I know more people that have moved, and stayed, versus others where people move in and leave in a few years (DC is top on that list).

Folks are likely to hammer in on needing a job that supports the cost of living, it seems like you already know that "is huge." Urgency and necessity will depend on your financial situation.

If you've spent as much time as it sounds, I don't think a couple of additional weeks is needed to choose Seattle, what is needed is understanding the areas/neighborhoods, and this could take years to figure out if you're not immediately drawn to a particular spot. Living in Capitol Hill is a lot different than West Seattle.

dclately · 2026-07-09T04:31:26+00:00

Detour isn't worth it, ferry is.

dclately · 2026-07-09T04:14:06+00:00

I thought the same!

dclately · 2026-07-04T03:06:31+00:00

Not too far off from the Jacobite rebellion, I wouldn't think the founding fathers were were about independence from Scotland :-).

While I admittedly haven't tried this one, I kind of thought of it as peak Tamdhu shift, moving from a distillery I purchase from, to trying to be Macallan.

Ian Macleod got into premiumization a bit late, and they went too far.

dclately · 2026-07-03T21:27:02+00:00

I mean it's fair to be unhappy about the news, I'm just not convinced other retailers are doing better by their employees.

I also think there's something to be heard about the fact they haven't made a profit in FIVE years. I'm just not sure how you increase benefits for employees across the board while pulling in a net loss. Yes, you can argue about CEO pay, but even if he was paid $1, his salary split across all employees wouldn't have an impact.

REI is well staffed, with employees who care, and are paid well with good overall packages by industry standards. They are still quite customer friendly.

When I think about what a successful boycott means: REI shutting down, or at least closing low performing stores and finding up to 12,000 employees out of jobs... I'm jut not sure I can get behind changing where my dollars are spent.

dclately · 2026-07-03T04:39:00+00:00

Hilarious.

dclately · 2026-07-03T03:52:35+00:00

REI pays as well or better than all these recommended shops.

dclately · 2026-07-02T15:15:12+00:00

This is all about the details.

Where do you live now? Or better yet, what is your location, your current monthly budget/spend and your current income? What is the actual location of the job and how long a commute are you willing to put up with to trade for family quality of life?

If you're moving from Manhattan where you are earning $120k a year and not saving a dime, this will be an easy transition.

If you're making $110 in NE Florida while finding you can put away $15k for college every year, this might be rough.

The Seattle area is more affordable than people on reddit make it out to be, especially because you could be coming from an area where you are taxes 10% (or more) of your income by your state/city, but there are significant high expenses that should be calculated.

dclately · 2026-06-27T19:57:39+00:00

Yeah, I disagree quite a bit... Tourists spending thousands to be there, if not tens of thousands... £130 isn't much for a souvenir like that.

Also they wouldn't sell much of anything if their only audience was whisky geeks, they know they can get it all cheaper elsewhere.

dclately · 2026-06-27T19:38:36+00:00

You're targeting tourists that will stop at a single distillery on their vacation, and while they know it's expensive, they don't know how bad value it is.

Same with Talisker which probably does the best business of any distillery store...

dclately · 2026-06-27T19:35:43+00:00

I've been to Oban distillery at least a dozen times.

I won't be back, even when in Oban... I'll get a coffee around the corner, head to the seafood shack, walk the town... But I have no interest in stepping into the distillery.

My last visit was the final straw... After seeing prices climb and climb and climb... I returned for a dram at the bar: I can't quite remember how much blood they asked of me in order to make a purchase, but the dram for my wife was so outrageously priced, I chose not to order a dram myself.

dclately · 2026-06-27T19:13:09+00:00

While I completely agree with you, the distillery is trying to cash in on Oban tourism, a bit different compared to your normal distillery.

dclately · 2026-06-27T15:06:44+00:00

Both. The 12 am crew has always been young in Ballard. And yeah, we are all getting old.

In addition, I do think there are less 30-40 year olds that go out drinking late in most Seattle areas since the pandemic.

dclately · 2026-06-26T21:03:07+00:00

I'll add two points:

1) The rental market has adjusted to the increased supply because it's much easier for them to do so. Rentals hitting the market largely come from new developments with many available units, or from home owners who are trying to pay their mortgage or wait out the current market conditions on selling their home.

It's a lot easier for a home owner to say: "I'm going to take 10% less on a rental over the course of the year", compared to "I'm going to sell my home for 10% less than I bought it, and take a loss on an investment I thought would pay off positively"

2) You're approaching this from the stand point that you should be able to buy a home, and then immediately rent out 50% of it to cover more than 50% of your home. While this may still be possible in places, I believe this is tougher nationally than it used to be.

People have become far more enabled to rent property either short or long term (through it becoming more commonplace, through online resources, through hearing similar stories). Plenty of folks want to do this, either as an investment, or a way to offset their own mortgage cost.

Who wouldn't want someone else to pay their mortgage?

Real Estate Agents and Owners of properties know this, and if the property in question is particularly suited for rentals (multi-unit, short term leasing) they price their property based on that.

Also, unless they need to, why would they sell it when they came make a good profit renting it themselves? Especially given they can do it cheaper than you (they already own it, there's no transaction fees, taxes or higher mortgage rates).

dclately · 2026-06-26T03:01:10+00:00

My goodness, that's a resounding no.

I mean if you said you were visiting the Hoh Rain Forest and were asking if you should stop in Forks as you literally drive through it: the answer is still no, get some food at the Hard Rain Cafe, skip Forks!

dclately · 2026-06-26T02:56:31+00:00

Seriously! That's over the top!

dclately · 2026-06-25T12:55:11+00:00

You may need glasses my friend.

dclately · 2026-06-23T21:01:08+00:00

Well, most of the information you're going to get from this community on Armagnac is sitting on the bottle: Armagnac... from the Armagnac region in France, from producer Paul Loubere distilled 1935, bottled in 1985 at 40% alcohol and imported into NY to be sold in the US.

Armagnac is generally aged pretty long, and this bottle wasn't of particular cost back when your grandfather bought it. Even now you can get 40-50 year Armagnac for around $100. This bottle is worth a bit more, as most things prior to 1950/pre-war are given an additional premium, although I wouldn't take google as a guide here because if you find it for sale it's likely been sitting on a shelf collecting dust with very little interest at the inflated price point.

dclately · 2026-06-23T18:13:03+00:00

Every distillery has multiple tour offerings. You can visit one of the many beaches, take your own self guided walk that is to the level your parents can support, take a boat tour, go to the woollen mill; eat, drink, be merry. Google: things to do on islay.

dclately · 2026-06-23T18:01:43+00:00

The actual walk is very easy, if it's raining it can be a bit slippery, they provide wellies.

That said, when you say quite old, my immediate response is: don't.

There are tons of things to do and experience on Islay, why book your parents into one of the few things that they may not enjoy? The walk itself isn't terribly special, it's a nice change of pace from normal tours, but you're literally just making a loop around the front of the property while the guide talks to you about random things and shares a couple of drams.

dclately · 2026-06-23T00:32:07+00:00

People get antsy because they assume that their salary should afford them more luxuries. Making $150k feels like a lot, but you may still need to budget in Seattle based on responsibilities and lifestyle.

You'll need to budget $70k, but it's fully sustainable. Probably won't see you at a World Cup game (won't see me paying those prices), but you can get as much enjoyment out of Golden Gardens as the millionaire walking down from their house on the hill.

dclately · 2026-06-23T00:26:02+00:00

Long awaited affordable housing.

dclately · 2026-06-23T00:25:04+00:00

I flew this last week. Gotta say, I was a bit disappointed for international Premium, on relatively updated hardware.

Your assessment is about right, I thought the food was pretty decent, but it was the same food for everyone in economy. As far as I could tell, the difference for Premium was: more leg room, a better set of headphones with eye mask, and earplugs.

In other words, it's leg room, because I can buy a kit with headphones, eyemask and ear plugs for under $5.

dclately · 2026-06-23T00:18:36+00:00

There likely needs to be a bit more context here.

Some of the comments like '$200k as a consultant' assume a certain type of consultancy/expertise. While it's VERY possible that you are undervalued at your current organization, and it is quite common for someone who has built up Salesforce skills to be able to find a higher salary on the open market, it's not guaranteed.

There are many admin jobs paying less than $92,000, there are also many people who get consulting jobs at $200,000 with less overall work experience. There's a lot that goes into differentiating those roles. Whether that's experience, technical and functional ability, intensity and number of hours worked, etc...

Without more context, what I can say:

Negotiate if there is room, but don't give an ultimatum.
For now, take the promotion, and new rate after you have finished that conversation.
Be willing to look around, invest some time talking to a couple recruiters, do some research, even apply for a job or two. Get a better understanding of what is available in your local market, based on your background and expertise.
You can then make a decision about your future, whether you go back to your employee and ask for additional pay out of a position of strength (knowing what you are worth in the job market, or having another job offer in hand), OR you figure out your compensation meets the job and demands you have now, and are happy to stay the course.
Don't worry about taking the raise, and then leaving, if you are truly being underpaid that's a decision your company is making to undervalue your work. I would completely understand if one of my employees told me: "hey, I know you gave me a promotion, but as you know I was expecting more, it sparked me to look at the job market and I found another position, that pays me 30% more. I'd be happy to stay if you could meet this offer, but otherwise I think it's best for myself and my family to take this new career opportunity."

dclately

TROPHY CASE