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I'm starting graduate school in two weeks and I just wanted to let all of you know that this is where I live now.
And if you are going to be in the Glendale Phoenix area or if you live around here feel free to drop me a line. I will also be writing about my experiences in graduate school here in this thread.
My first impression is, Waaaaaaaaa! It's so bloody hot don't ever live here!
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Welcome to the land of out-of-staters who complain annually about summer and winter.
Our schools are under funded by tradition, the bus drivers are on strike and we are running out of book stores. You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.
I'm born and raised Arizonan, let me know if I can help you accolamate. For now here are my top referrals for places in the Valley.
Oh, and a few things that no one ever tells the new people early enough, the Valley is a perfect grid system. Number streets are north to south, name streets are east to west. West side is avenue, east side is street. President streets are in the middle of town and downtown Phoenix is a ball of stupid street design. Apache Junction is depressing. If someone wants you to take them to Sunnyslope, they are not your friend. Businesses are required by law to provide free water upon request, but not necessarily the receptacle so don't push it. If someone has a hand print or the numer 13 tattooed on thier neck say please and thank you but don't avoid eye contact like they are a wild animal, it's rude. Scottsdale ruined the grid system. The train has one kill.
Posts: 2302 | Registered: Aug 2008
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I'm currently in El Paso, TX Blackbade. Which, to my original east coast self would have been an unthinkable distance away from you. But my new and improved El Paso self views 7 hour drives like they're nothing now.
Unfortunately I move to Madison, WI in a week and a half. Posts: 8741 | Registered: Apr 2001
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If you have a day to waste drive up to Jerome AZ, it was a mining town that was quite literally abandoned. A few decades ago some free thinkers moved in and made it a bit touristy but fascinating. Even the bed frame is still in the dilapidated jail cell.
If you like hockey the Coyotes play in Glendale. And if you'd rather see some goons with more oomph, Prescott Valley has its own lower league team and stadium. I prefer my hockey with more on the line with less to gain, and those players are there for nothing more than love of the game.
Prescott is the original capital, in fact the town square and the court house are a bit of a time warp.
Posts: 2302 | Registered: Aug 2008
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Obama
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I'm in north Phoenix.
The dry heat only applies to May, June, and the first week or two of July. Right now we're in the monsoon season, so it's not only 105-110, but muggy as hell. The winter really is beautiful, though. My windows are open pretty much the entire season.
If you're white, you don't have to worry about carrying your papers. I am, and I carried my green card when it was required, but I was never bothered for it.
Don Ruben's is on 43rd and Camelback, ran by an ex's family, best Mexican food I've ever had.
The British food place I mentioned, the Codfather, is on. 16th street and Bell road. Not a fancy place by any means, but a decent place for lunch if you're looking for something different.
Best place for used books/media that I've found is Bookman's. Location in Phoenix is 19th and Northern, location in Mesa, on Country Club road between Emerald and Southern.
Welcome to the state. I'm sorry in advance.
Oh, also, if the heat gets too much for you, Flagstaff is only two hours north, and rarely climbs out of the 80's in the summer. Beautiful place, can also go there in the winter if you want to see some snow.
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Yeah, my parents are in Case Grande, and when we visited I was amazed at teh variety of climates in AZ. We all know about the Valley of the Sun, but Flagstaff was beautiful and much cooler. We saw snow there. Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Hmm, I apparently work a few hundred feet from AchillesHeel's favorite Mexican Restaurant (which is pretty awesome, though I'm more of a Tacos Atoyac guy myself).
Posts: 1368 | Registered: Sep 2002
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I'm useless when it comes to AZ info, unless you want to hear about how to spend your time idling in tuba city in the navajo nation.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Finally unpacked the living room and kitchen. Bedrooms are about half done. It's kinda of funny, because we have no room in an apartment to spare, we unpack like crazy. In our previous basement of a house apartment, this process took weeks.
It was 90F+ in the apartment when we went to bed. Now that the AC is fixed, it's a much more manageable 73F. I'm still not looking forward to the energy bill when it comes next month.
Location wise we are pretty lucky. School is literally across the street, and groceries/restaurants/other major outlets are all < 5 minutes away.
I love being outside of Daylight Savings time, but seriously, it was 5:45am when the sun woke me up this morning.
We have a pool, but nobody uses it during daylight hours save early morning and super late afternoon. It's just too hot to do anything outside right now.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I didn't mind the dry heat (living in Tucson) as much as I thought I would, coming from Wisconsin. I did, however, quickly learn that if I found myself thinking "When was the last time I went to the bathroom?", I was dehydrated.
The funniest part was when we got .75" of snow in Tucson and the city shut down. The tiny snowmen that the children built on their day off of school were both adorable and local headlines.
Posts: 3932 | Registered: Sep 1999
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Here is a full medical write up on dehydration, and I would add that over-hydration is serious as well. If you drink too much water in too short a time span for your body to process you will find the symptoms to resemble dehydration. Plus the feeling of water rocking to and fro in your stomach is very very unpleasant.
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So, how many hatrackians have to out themselves as residents of the Sonora before there is a meetup? Perhaps a unified false optimism while walking into the theater for Ender's Game.
Posts: 2302 | Registered: Aug 2008
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Energy bills tend to be horrendous in the summer, and very small in the winter. I think I turned the heater on twice last winter, both on nights where the temperature in the middle of the night dropped to around freezing.
I don't know which energy company you're using, but if it's APS they offer a program where you can average out your bill. You pay less in the summer, more in the winter, but it can be easier to budget for as you know what you're going to get.
Earlier this summer we had a night where the low for the entire day was 102 F. Believe it or not, it's actually cooler now, just muggier. Warmer and dryer is still preferable though, you don't even feel your sweat because it evaporates so quickly.
Posts: 572 | Registered: Jun 2013
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quote:Originally posted by Carrie: I didn't mind the dry heat (living in Tucson) as much as I thought I would, coming from Wisconsin. I did, however, quickly learn that if I found myself thinking "When was the last time I went to the bathroom?", I was dehydrated.
The funniest part was when we got .75" of snow in Tucson and the city shut down. The tiny snowmen that the children built on their day off of school were both adorable and local headlines.
I went to an all day rock festival when I was younger, out at Cricket Pavilion. (Ozfest.) This was in the beginning of August. By the end of the day I was urinating yellow sludge and I was purple for a week.
Posts: 572 | Registered: Jun 2013
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quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: I'm useless when it comes to AZ info, unless you want to hear about how to spend your time idling in tuba city in the navajo nation.
I used to live on the border of the Rez. Not a place I'd mentally associate with you.
What on earth brought you out there, Sam?
Hope you enjoy yourself, BB. I lived in northern AZ so I have no Phoenix experiences to share. It wasn't quite so hot up there and it was almost always dry heat.
Posts: 3580 | Registered: Aug 2005
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