Hey Pat (and Kurt), I am so *envious*! I would love to be in the Pacific
Northwest. If you get a chance, try to go to a place called The Northwest Trek
(if you like the outdoors and animals). We also took a little jaunt out to
Leavenworth, a charming little Bavarian Village that has lots of German
food/beer and looks like a tiny village in the alps. You can look these places
up in a Fodor's guidebook.

Have fun!
Kathy in NJ

As long as I have my Starbucks and my Chipotle, and the sun during summer... It
doesn't matter where I am.... oh yeah, throw in a beach and some water and it's
golden. I try to catch up on here every once in a while... its hard with my
job... I don't have the luxury of sitting in front of the TV and doing work on
individual stocks all day... I have to try to think longer term and learn the
asset management business. Definitely different than trying to make sense of the
market on a day to day basis and help others and learn on this site... It really
makes you appreciate the site when you can come on here and bounce ideas off
each other and every once in a while have the friendly attacks ;).

Gotta have it that way though or else there wouldn't be any accountability.
There is a unique culture that this site fosters and I am thankful for the work
that James and others have put into this for everyone else.

Hey Kurt!
I am in PDX till tomorrow...
I have spent most of my life in PDX....
Everyone is different....
You may very well have found your niche....
Glad to see you here again....
You have been missed....

Where are you in the Pacific Northwest? I am currently living in Seattle for the
summer.... in the International District. You have only been here 10 days....
were you here when it was 90 degrees and sunny for three straight days? The
weather here is amazing in summer. No such thing as umbrella weather here...
maybe a bit cooler than most of America but I wouldn't say it sucks.... Coming
from the Midwest, I've been pleasantly surprised. It has only rained once since
I've been here... It's been a month so far.... Hope you enjoy it.

Yes we need some humor..any other news from your R&R would be appreciated..
I'm sick of this market..alittle funnies will help this old girl
Marjorie

..Ok, I have lived in Washington for over 20 years..and it is a horrible state
for business. Impossible to get anything done (permits, approvals, etc)...dems
run the state. I owned a large sales oriented business, and the state did and
still does OVER regulate sales practices. Camas smells like the pulp mill that
is the major business there. There are many awesome things about the NW..but
lack of regulation isn't one of them. If you want that, go to Nevada or
Arizona. Those ARE free and easy for business. Dean

The problem with NYC is that they have over one million employees, and they try
to balance their budget on the backs of people earning around 33k

Live in Florida
Its like LAws don't exist here-
People drive like they never knew what driving laws were.
It is nuts but sure beats living in TAX deprived NY

Being someone that lives just across the river from Camas in Portland, I will
have to disagree and say the weather has been very pleasant lately. Not too hot
and not much rain.

I too enjoy the lack of fireworks regulation as the state of Oregon has way too
many rules so everyone just drives across the bridge and gets fireworks in WA.

Basically nothing can explode or go over 6 feet high. Personally, I wouldn't
even consider anything that fits that criteria a firework!

actually Ken Fisher already lost a few fingers when he got clipped dipping into
somebody else's pocket