Thursday, February 3, 2011

You know you're from Seattle when...

Thanks CDNCOWGIRL for the idea! This is a long list, but I think a lot of my readers are from the Seattle area and will like it. (Edit: I did not come up with this list - I found some lists online and combined them.)














You don't go to work for a whole week if there's 2 inches of snow

You have ordered a coffee with at least 6 specific instructions to the barista

You know what a barista is

You know what a sunbreak is and the weatherman actually uses the phrase













No matter how much you dislike someone you are still nice to them

You don't let the rain stop you from doing something, otherwise you'll never do anything (that was mine)

You've scraped your icy car windows with a credit card

You don't think twice about wearing Teva sandals, blaze yellow Gortex, rip-stop pants to a nice steakhouse

You take your dog to play at a special park just for dogs














With all the microbrews around, drinking a Bud is like drinking Folgers

You have a lifetime REI membership

You think Azteca is pretty good Mexican food (me: excellent)

You wanted a piece of the demolished King Dome (me: I have King Dome dust in a cup)

You think there are too many Starbucks (me: I'd only be seen in one in Germany)













You go to a small concrete/glass enclosure on an annual basis to watch fish desperately swim against the current (me: I take tourists to see Salmon swim up the fish ladder, of course!)

You know what "Keep Clam" is from (me: mmmmmmm Ivars....)

You think Copper River salmon is WAAAAAY tastier than the rest

You recycle everything possible and think people who don't are criminally irresponsible

You've hiked in a lava tube














You've driven to Vancouver, B.C. to shop (me: or go geocaching for the day)

You've visited all major fish 'n chips restaurants and know which is best for which seafoods

You own at least one of the following: an S.U.V., a Vanagon, or a hybrid (me: what's a Vanagon?)















You know which house is Bill's












You've kayaked past "The Sleepless In Seattle" house












You own some weird figurine made out of Mt. Helen's ash (me: no, I have a cup of the ash)

You don't wear high heels/hose or neckties, pretty much ever

You've experienced firsthand the difference between "water-resistant" and "water-proof" clothing














You know Seattle actually gets less annual rainfall than NYC and that summer is amazingly perfect

You don't tell too many people because than it will get even more crowded here than it already is














You and your friends share “start-up” stories

You've done one of the following: dug for clams, fly fished, or raised a crab pot out of the ocean

You know someone who retired extremely wealthy before turning 40

You think beaches are just fine at 65 degrees with ankle-numbing water














You don't carry an umbrella (me: until you move to Germany)

When Mt. Rainier appears on a sunny day, you are always amazed

You've "packed it in and packed it out"

You buy new sunglasses every year, because you can't find the old ones after such a long time (me: sad but true)














The only honking you ever hear is from geese

You have a giant moss carpet outside your house, not a lawn

You know the phone number to report carpool lane violators (me: 384-HERO, right?)














You've seen one of the following in your neighborhood: bear, coyote, buck, mountain lion

You don't need to call a computer specialist for home computer problems because you or someone you know can fix it

You don't listen to the weather forecast anymore

You have flex hours at work

You eat at least one kind of Asian food on a regular basis

You can't believe Boeing moved its HQ elsewhere (me: *sob*)

You are regularly sobered by the power of nature, whether that be noticing tsunami escape routes in Ocean Shores, experiencing earthquakes in downtown Seattle, hearing about volcanic activity, or seeing rapid flooding of our local rivers (me: being threatend by volcanic activity)


































You know the difference between Chinook, Coho, and Sockeye salmon

You know at least eight people who work for either Microsoft or Boeing












You measure distance in hours

You have actually used your mountain bike on a mountain

You do one or more of the following: catch rainwater in rain barrels, compost, and/or use organic pesticides/weed killer

You don't think it's strange that there's a Bavarian village an hour and a half outside Seattle (me: no, it's strange)

You obey all traffic laws EXCEPT "keep right except to pass." (me: Come ON people!)














You know how to pronounce "Sequim", "Puyallup" and "Issaquah"

You've been on most of the ferry routes and missed ferries by just a few seconds














You expect people to come to complete stops in highway merge lanes (me: and how about those left-side exits/entrances??!)

You know more people who own boats than air conditioners

You've visited The Troll, Lenin, and Hendrix (me: and Bruce Lee)














You consider that if it has no snow or has not recently erupted, it is not a real mountain

You consider floating bridges a pain in the butt, not an engineering marvel (me: both)















You switch to your sandals when it gets about 60, but keep the socks on

You own your own tent and about a hundred other camping supplies














You sort of do but sort of don't "believe" in the existence of the Sasquatch

You have Canadian coins in your house or wallet (me: I still do)















You have no concept of humidity without precipitation

You know what these are: SKOOKUMCHUCK, WYNOOCHEE, STILLAGUAMISH, SKOKOMISH, NISQUALLY, SNOQUALMIE, STILLAGUAMISH, CHAMOKANE, CHAMOKANE, KLICKITAT

You know at least three Microsoft burnouts, of which two are millionaires














You've bought something really good from Value Village (me: my suitcase)

You've seen bald eagles and orcas in the wild

You know University of Washington is known as "udub", not "u of w" or "uw"














You know where all the free wireless is














You never have a real tan but you do get badly sunburned at least once every year (me: and you stay younger-looking with no sunlight)














You own one of those lamps that simulates sunlight

You know you're living in one of the most beautiful parts of the world and you try hard to experience it, appreciate it, and take care of it

***
Would you like to add something to this list? Do you disagree with something on this list? Can you find which photograph was not actually taken in Seattle?

13 comments:

Aunt Krissy said...

I laughed at the Ivers one. When I was young I worked in a cannery gutting/cleaning fish in Alaska. When we cleaned/gutted fish that were not that fresh we would say " Oh, that's an Iver fish"
I had some grape kool-aid the other day and thought of you.

EvenSong said...

I could probably say I am about half of those--but I guess that's because I'm only half-way to Seattle!

Nuzzling Muzzles said...

Starbucks recently opened a plant in our valley, which is great, because it employs a lot of people. However, on a breezy day the whole valley smells like coffee. Ironically, we only have one Starbucks store in town, and many small business coffee shops.

Word Verification: yedlati (yeti and latte)

Rising Rainbow said...

I grew up in Seattle and I rarely go there. Still I know which pic isn't Seattle itself but from it's big rival. Lots of competition between those two. LOL

I think you appreciate Seattle way more than I do. For me if you can't raise horses there, then what's the point. I can be a little single minded in my thinking. lol

Thanks for this view of how others seem to see our neck of the woods.

Oh, and I cannot tell those fish apart nor do I think that Copper River is anything but more expensive AND to add insult to injury, I do not drink coffee. LOL

Formerly known as Frau said...

Love it.....Both my parents are from Washington and went to Udub! I was born in Edmunds live there til I was 5. We have very little Starbucks here, Dunkin Donuts is big here I hate it I'm a Bucks girl all the way! Love the list!

AareneX said...

Starbucks, peh. Give me Market Spice Tea, any day.

"You've seen the fish being flung."

"You've visited the Space Needle, but only with out-of-town guests."

"You are a Patches Pal." (yes, I am--and I have my t-shirt signed by the Mayor of the Seattle City Dump to prove it.)

"You know how to pronounce 'geoduck' correctly. You also know how to find one, clean it, and cook it."

Reddunappy said...

I am not from Seattle, LOL, but 3 1/2 hours South of.
I know most of those though!!! LOL
( and can pronouce them!)

LOve the geoduck comment, that one you have to ad!!

Unknown said...

Very cute - and sometimes sad. But fairly true. I would like to see one about Eastern Washington. Instead of saying you've seen one of the following wild animals in your yard it would say you've seen ALL of the following wild animals in your yard. AND then I would add Bob Cat to the list.

To my Trek friend - check this out....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF8imG4mbWA

Dom said...

Love it :) So different from New Jersey.

lytha said...

Aunt Krissy, well, it's the clam chowder I especially love. Are the clams fresh at least?: ) I would always pay a ridiculous price for a cup of that stuff on the ferry.

Evensong, I wonder which half.

NM, I know that smell of burning Starbucks beans so well!

Mikael, I always planned to live the first third of my life in the city, and the second 2/3 in the country. I think I made my goal! And I don't know the differences in the salmon, but I do know that here it's not even pink. Man am I spoiled on Costco salmon.

Frau, no kidding, you're from Edmonds! I went to the same university as your parents, and one of my best jobs as a kid was Dunkin Donuts. I sure had fun there. That was before Starbucks existed. Barely.

Aarene, I had to remind my man of the Patches and Gertrude monument we cached at in Fremont. And he never made it to the Museum of History and Industry to the other Patches memoir. Holy crap, I just read that MOHAI is moving to Lake Union!!?!??! AGH! Due to the 520 bridge expansion? Let me guess, the toll booths needed that spot!? *sigh* And my man only made it to the observation deck on the needle, we didn't want to pay for the food up there (but how I cherish the memory of my grandma taking me up for dinner!).

Stephanie, "Dieses Video enthält Content von Sony Music Entertainment. Es ist in deinem Land nicht verfügbar. " that is the message I get all the time from YouTube, telling me I'm outside of the United States and am not allowed to view copywrited content. Nice. Thanks Sony.

Dom, we spent our honeymoon in NYC and went to NJ and were in a very scary situation in a little town called "elizabeth"? and we had to leave very quicky, and were told by the locals to do so. Not that it couldn't happen in the scarier parts of Seattle, but we are both unfamiliar with NJ. I'd be curious to hear a "You know you're from Jersey when..."

cdncowgirl said...

Loved it Lytha!! Although to be honest I can't take credit for compiling my list, it was a joke that got e-mailed to me but I thought it was SO true (or at least most of it)

EvenSong said...

Lytha, I have an award over at my blog for you--You are welcome to take it or leave it, as you wish. You may have already received it, but I just wanted to hi-light your blog.

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

These were really interesting. I bet you miss Seattle a lot. Do you think you could create a "You know you're from Germany" list now that you've lived there a while?

The thing about the mountains always makes me scratch my head. Why call all those PNW volcanoes, mountains?

Why not just call them what they are?

Volcano St Helens
Volcano Mt Jefferson
Volcano Mt Admans
Volcano Ranier
Volcano Sisters
Volcano Shasta

and so on, ad nauseum.

My guess is by just calling all those volcanoes, simply 'mountains', they seem less foreboding and dangerous.
Imagine if instead of people saying "Oh look at the beautiful mountain" they said, "Oh look at the beautiful volcano".

Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it?

My jaw dropped at seeing Bill's digs. He's really done well for himself. Have you ever seen the location where he actually founded Microsoft? It's in a very tiny, ugly little building in a seedy area of Albuquerque. There's even a fancy plaque in front of the building, but I doubt very many people realize where this is where Bill Gates started it all.

I think it's the same way with Intel. New Mexico has one of the biggest production facilities in the world, but most people connect Intel with Washington instead.

~Lisa