(Ask about) California

Masquerouge said:
As a French living in California, I can say that the wines here kick ass. They're just crazy expensive. But they're really good. I particularly love Zinfandel because it's local and thus has its own flavors.

BTW:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_of_Paris_(wine)

Curiously enough, no one in France has heard of that ;)
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Dont like cooking, likes yankie wine. Man if the old country every get their hands on you...
 
Hey! Great thread about my favorite state and home :)

I'm a life long Orange County inhabitant, but at heart I'm an Angeleno...
This suburban air isn't any good for me. The roads are too wide, the drivers aren't crazy enough, and the food around a planned community...

But it is nice to be within 10 minutes of no less THREE In n Outs :thumbsup:

So anyways, my questions to you are:
Having lived in SoCal my whole life and only having been up North in the waning days of winter (great place, by the way), I must ask, how cold does it get up there? Down here, I'm always sad because I only get to wear my winter clothes about 3 weeks out of the year. Do you face the same problem? And does it snow?

Everyone knows that SoCal is absolutely in love with its cars. And the problem is especially bad on both sides of the "Orange Curtain" (odd, never heard of that before): LA traffic is famous, and you can't go more than 20 minutes in any direction without running into a large car shopping center in Orange County. Is it the same up North?

Any good places to get ramen up there? :)

Thanks for your time and input into educating the rest of the country about our state!
 
California or as the Terminator says Ca he fon aya
is totally w00t d1ng 1337 im from Vallejo California (north and a little east o' Frisco)
 
Commodore Nate said:
But it is nice to be within 10 minutes of no less THREE In n Outs :thumbsup:
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We have 1 here in town, thank God! :)
Having lived in SoCal my whole life and only having been up North in the waning days of winter (great place, by the way), I must ask, how cold does it get up there? Down here, I'm always sad because I only get to wear my winter clothes about 3 weeks out of the year. Do you face the same problem? And does it snow?
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Well, we have a pretty broad range of climates here.

On the Coast it seems to be 50-90 year round (cooler than your SoCal beaches, considerably). It never gets too cold, hence why so many areas on the Central/Northern coast are great for growing grapes.

The Central Valley (where I live) may hit freezing a couple nights a year. Other than that the days generally don't get lower than the mid 50s, with exception.

Go up into the Sierras and you get the full winter experience. Freezing, snow, etc... :)
Everyone knows that SoCal is absolutely in love with its cars. And the problem is especially bad on both sides of the "Orange Curtain" (odd, never heard of that before): LA traffic is famous, and you can't go more than 20 minutes in any direction without running into a large car shopping center in Orange County. Is it the same up North?
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Bay Area traffic can be very bad. Worse in same ways in that at key points you have limited flow/choices, because there's a damn bay on one or two sides of you. :)

Sacramento has very light, relatively speaking, traffic issues. Fresno is a giant dragstrip masquerading as a city.
Any good places to get ramen up there? :)
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In the college town I live in, no fewer than a half-dozen. ;)
Thanks for your time and input into educating the rest of the country about our state!
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/curtsies

By all means, I'm open to fellow Californios chiming in. :)
 
Commodore Nate said:
But it is nice to be within 10 minutes of no less THREE In n Outs :thumbsup:
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Same here bud :)

Commodore Nate said:
So anyways, my questions to you are:
Having lived in SoCal my whole life and only having been up North in the waning days of winter (great place, by the way), I must ask, how cold does it get up there? Down here, I'm always sad because I only get to wear my winter clothes about 3 weeks out of the year. Do you face the same problem? And does it snow?
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In the Bay Area it does not snow nor freeze. You might have some snow upper in the hills, but that's it. It also does not get cold during the day, but when there is no sun (dawn/evening), it can get in the 40s in winter. San Francisco and the coast have its own micro-climate, mostly made of fog, and July and August in San Francisco have TERRIBLE weather: fog, rain, and cold.

But basically you will need a light jacket in the bay area, probably not a parka.

Commodore Nate said:
Everyone knows that SoCal is absolutely in love with its cars. And the problem is especially bad on both sides of the "Orange Curtain" (odd, never heard of that before): LA traffic is famous, and you can't go more than 20 minutes in any direction without running into a large car shopping center in Orange County. Is it the same up North?
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What Shane said. Rush hour traffic can get pretty bad on the major highways. I don't think as bad as LA though. We do have a decent mass transit system though.
 
Masquerouge said:
Hey I have a couple of questions about California that have been bothering me since I moved here. I asked several locals but did not get a satisfying answer.
- roads. What on Earth is going on? Why are they in a worse state that an average Baghdad street? This was confirmed when I read somewhere that the San Jose area actually had the worst roads in the nation, but I don't understand why - it's not as if Californians did not pay taxes...
- cell phones. You would expect that the most populous state in the United States had some decent cell phone coverage, but I'm surprised at some of the places where I simply don't get any. Granted, I have T-Mobile and apparently they're the worst for the Bay Area, but not having coverage in downtown Mountain View? In the Yahoo! building?
- internet. Why is it that I'm living in the middle of the Silicon Valley but have laughably low, pathetically expensive Internet access? Is it the same across all the US? I remember back in France I paid 30 euros per month for 20+MB/sec, dozens of TV channel and free long-distance phone (aaahhh... the freebox)

Other than that, I really, really love it here. People are nice and relaxed, the way of life is awesome, and there is so much to do...
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My roads are in great shape so I suggest the problem lays with the San Jose City Government.

Ditch T-Mobile and get Verizon. T-Mobile is the absolute worst rinky dink network operate in the state and you no doubt signed a contract with them because they were the cheapest. Surprise, surprise you got what you paid for.

Most cable companies are defacto local monopolies which used to be heavily regulated but now are deregulated but still defacto monopolies. This means service can be extremely crappy but in some parts of the state the telephone company as stated competing with the cable company and things have improved.
 
Masquerouge said:
In the Bay Area it does not snow nor freeze. You might have some snow upper in the hills, but that's it. It also does not get cold during the day, but when there is no sun (dawn/evening), it can get in the 40s in winter. San Francisco and the coast have its own micro-climate, mostly made of fog, and July and August in San Francisco have TERRIBLE weather: fog, rain, and cold.
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The more inland areas of the Bay Area (east, south, north) can get overnight freezing and very occasionally the daytime temperatures may drop into the high 30s, but that's rare. It's not unheard of for there to be snow every few years or so, but it never sticks.
 
How do you feel about so many of the mortgage foreclosures happening in Cali? E.g. Modesto et all, with ~ 50% foreclosure rates according to an article I read.

Are those towns starting to become ghost towns, or are squatters starting to move in?




How do you feel about racial-sociological acceptance/mixing in the secondary school system? Is it about just right? Too politically-correct / self-censoring? In other words, is Cali a big, happy melting pot at the secondary school level?
 
Masquerouge said:
July and August in San Francisco have TERRIBLE weather: fog, rain, and cold.
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What? Not true at all. Maybe foggy in the Richmond and the Sunset neighborhoods but that's about it.

Summer months in SF have about the same precipitation as a desert climate. I.e. it does not rain here in the summer, ever.

East of Van Ness ave., during the summer it is absolute paradise here. Mid 70's and sunny almost everyday.
 
The universities are great: 3 of the top 6 research universities in the world http://www.arwu.org/rank2008/ARWU2008_A(EN).htm
Undergrad education is very good too, with the best public university system in the world: the three tiered UC/CSU/CC system, which both has probably the two best public universities in the US (Berkeley and UCLA) and great accessibility to all. It also two of the top 6 private national universities (Stanford and CalTech) and well as the two most selective liberal arts college in the US (Pomona and Harvey Mudd).
 
I am considering two schools in California for grad school. America has a great climate, big cities and lots of job opportunities, so I would love to live there. I am Norwegian BTW.

Funny thing, you have gone to one of the schools I am considering. So how was Pepperdine? The students, the administration, the town, the academics - rigirous? How was grad school as compared with undergrad at Pepperdine? I am going to grad school and am considering Public Policy. Is it easy to get scholarships for grad school?
How is recruiting at the school, are there job opportunities?
How is fraternity life there? I know I won`t be an undergrad anymore, but I`d still like to hit up the EX parties. :)
BTW, I am Norwegian but am going to college in Michigan, Hillsdale College to be exact.

The other school I am considering is San Jose State School, because of their economics department, which emphasize Austrian Economics. How is San Jose? Job opportunities, how is it to live there? It is located in Silicon Valley, which is great.

So there you have it, a school in NorCal and one in SoCal, both have a great climate, both have great locations and great programs, and both have a EX chapter. It`s a win-win :D

Would love to hear your input man.
 
Oerdin said:
A friend of mine got his MBA from Pepperdine and he said it was mostly a commuter school.
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It depends where he got his MBA. They have a program on the main campus and they have several satellite programs, primarily in the greater LA area.

@Homie, Pepperdine supposedly has a pretty good Public Policy grad program. I'm not that knowledgeable about it. IIRC, its not on the Malibu campus, but I could be wrong. My grad degree was in History and was on the main campus. I didn't find it that hard, but that's probably because I love the subject matter so much.

If you want the party/frat life, Pepperdine is not for you. They are affiliated to the Church of Christ and do not allow alcohol on campus (not sure if that's true for law students, etc...). When I was there they did allow frats, but they weren't national and didn't have their own houses.

Malibu is an interesting, beautiful, and bizarre community.
 
GoodGame said:
How do you feel about so many of the mortgage foreclosures happening in Cali? E.g. Modesto et all, with ~ 50% foreclosure rates according to an article I read.
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It means cheap houses for those of us looking to buy! :goodjob:

illram said:
What? Not true at all. Maybe foggy in the Richmond and the Sunset neighborhoods but that's about it.

Summer months in SF have about the same precipitation as a desert climate. I.e. it does not rain here in the summer, ever.

East of Van Ness ave., during the summer it is absolute paradise here. Mid 70's and sunny almost everyday.
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We made numerous trips to the city in July/August where the weather there was terrible. I remember leaving Mountain View by car where it was a solid 90 degrees, and arriving 1 hour later in SF where it was 25 degrees cooler...

Plus Mark Twain supposedly said: "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco".

Plus...
http://sanfrancisco.lovetoknow.com/wiki/San_Francisco_Weather
Spring and Summer in San Francisco

Spring and summer in San Francisco tend to be cool. While inland California suffers through some of the hottest summer temperatures in the country, the Bay area stays cool, even cold at times. It was the famous 19th century author, Mark Twain who quipped that "the worst winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco." Acturally, the average summer temperature range from 60 to 75 degrees, and evenings in the summer can be rather cool, with temperatures dipping to the low 40s, but never quite to the freezing point. One bright point: rain is rare in the summer in San Francisco.
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Plus...
http://ca-ca-california.blogspot.com/2008/05/san-francisco-in-summer-fog-and-worst.html

I mean I'm not making this up.
 
.Shane. said:
It depends where he got his MBA. They have a program on the main campus and they have several satellite programs, primarily in the greater LA area.

@Homie, Pepperdine supposedly has a pretty good Public Policy grad program. I'm not that knowledgeable about it. IIRC, its not on the Malibu campus, but I could be wrong. My grad degree was in History and was on the main campus. I didn't find it that hard, but that's probably because I love the subject matter so much.

If you want the party/frat life, Pepperdine is not for you. They are affiliated to the Church of Christ and do not allow alcohol on campus (not sure if that's true for law students, etc...). When I was there they did allow frats, but they weren't national and didn't have their own houses.

Malibu is an interesting, beautiful, and bizarre community.
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The public policy program is on campus, I checked.
How about San Jose, do you know anything about the city, the university, housing there, etc...
 
San Jose is a boring city. There is nothing there.

You can check out the Winchester Mystery House. Other than that, it's pretty boring. Just head straight to San Francisco.
 
Masquerouge said:
Seconded. And I would even say the Mystery house is a rip-off. It's like $30...
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Well, as long as you're in the area, may as well check out a little bit of history and have a little fun, you know?

:p

You know, it's like, just go check it out 'cause you can, and then don't do it again.

Edit: And my memory may be way off because I'm sick (and I just have a bad memory in the first place), but I don't think it was that expensive. I seem to recall ~$10 for the tour.

Edit2: I looked it up online. It's ~$24 for one tour (they're charged differently) and $31 for both.
 
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