Posts filed under 'Spokane'
After a year of being in Spokane full-time, I’ve decided to re-establish a residence in Seattle so that I can be closer to my business partners and work with them in person more often. That’s not to say that I will be leaving Spokane behind. In fact, I will keep my primary residence in Spokane. I found a nice little furnished cottage to rent in the Greenlake neighborhood of Seattle. Yay! No more apartments. At some point, I plan to buy a house in Seattle or a live-aboard boat.
September 4th, 2008
I recently came across a problem. I was really in need of consulting with a qualified PHP/MySQL developer close to home to discuss a problem that I needed to solve. I only know of one in the area and it got me thinking about where these mid-career professionals might be. Did these qualified developers leave the area?
So I started thinking about salaries. The bulk of my work comes from Seattle, so for me personally this is not a concern, but what about the people here who work for a Spokane-based employer? I went to payscale.com to get some salary comparisons, not just between Seattle and Spokane, but also from cities closer in population to Spokane.
When I did a search on software developer salaries between Spokane, Boise and Seattle, I found that salaries are significantly lower for software developers in Spokane. This could be why there’s few qualified software developers in the area.
The big question is, WHY?
Median Salary by Job - City: Spokane (United States)
CAREER TOOLS: Salary Calculator, Career Path Tool, Cost of Living Calculator, Meeting Miser
Median Salary by Job - City: Boise (United States)
CAREER TOOLS: Salary Calculator, Career Path Tool, Cost of Living Calculator, Meeting Miser
Median Salary by Job - City: Seattle (United States)
CAREER TOOLS: Salary Calculator, Career Path Tool, Cost of Living Calculator, Meeting Miser
July 16th, 2008
Last year, I published a list of all the Gay Pride events in the Pacific Northwest and I decided to make it a tradition for 2008. So here’s the list of this year’s celebrations around the Northwest:
Idaho
Montana
Oregon
Washington
British Columbia, Canada
May 9th, 2008
There’s a lot of snow on Spokane’s South Hill. Last Saturday, there was about a foot of snow on the ground and that night 17 more inches of fresh snow fell in a 24 hour period. After we barely got all that snow cleared, another 6 inches of snow fell. Then on Wednesday, 7 more inches of snow fell. I believe this officially qualifies as too much damn snow.
Yesterday, I took refuge from the snow in Seattle. I had to fly over since all the passes were closed (because the Cascades got too much damn snow, plus 4 more feet). I will be back in Spokane in a few days (with hopefully not much more snow accumulation).
February 2nd, 2008
My decision has been made and I have chosen to move to Spokane by the end of October. There are things I’m looking forward to in Spokane, and things I’m going to miss about Seattle. Here’s my list:
Things I’ll miss about Seattle:
- Living on Lake Washington
- Being close to Vancouver, BC and Portland
- Friends I’ve made in the past 2 1/2 years
- Eating at Bing’s, Jamjuree and Broadway Grill
- Whole Foods Market
- Kayaking on Lake Union
- Bald Eagles in the Washington Park Arboretum
- Being close to my brother & sister-in-law
- Mild weather
- Shopping in downtown Seattle
Things I’m looking forward to in Spokane:
- Living in a quiet single-family home on the South Hill
- Still being close to Seattle, Portland and Vancouver, BC
- Being close to my good friends in Spokane
- Eating at Europa, Wild Sage and Herbal Essence Cafe
- Rocket Market
- Kayaking on the Columbia River and area lakes
- Living close to Manito Park
- Living a block away from my sister and her family
- Great downhill skiing
- Saving money so I can afford to buy things when I go shopping in downtown Seattle
I will continue my participation with groups such as Ski Buddies and OutVentures in Seattle, plus I will still have business in Seattle and will visit often.
October 22nd, 2007
For several weeks (if not months), I’ve been thinking about my living situation here in Seattle. I no longer have an office or corporate job tying me to the Seattle area and have been asking myself the question: is it time to leave Seattle?
Fundamentally, there is nothing wrong with Seattle. In fact, I’ve grown to like the city a little more in the past year. What it’s coming down to for me is mainly the cost of living here. Without a regular paycheck, it can get expensive to live here, not to mention the cost of buying real estate in this area. I also have opportunities in Spokane, both for business and social growth. Over the next few weeks, I will be giving it serious thought.
October 3rd, 2007
It’s like Christmas for gay people: Gay Pride. At any rate, pride season is here, starting the second weekend in June and ending the second weekend in August. Here’s a roundup of all gay pride events in the Pacific Northwest:
Idaho
Montana
Oregon
Washington
British Columbia, Canada
May 13th, 2007
