Seattle is a Strange Land
August 30, 2008 |
So I’m here, at PAX, and after spending about 24 hours in Seattle I’ve noticed a few things. Namely, this is a strange place.
The strangest thing, and the hardest to get over, is the fact that it’s three hours behind the East Coast. It feels like living in the past actually. When I turned on ESPN last night, at 630p, college football games were half over. I felt like I had missed something. It might have been the jet lag, but it just felt odd. Today I decided not to turn on the TV.
Another thing that I found rather strange are the drivers over here. Evidently no one that lives in Seattle can drive. Even stranger, there are stop lights that tell you when you can leave the on ramp and enter the highway. Odd yes, but their erratic pattern is even odder. I’ll add the YouTube video of this strange light system later on, when I’m not waiting in a 3000 person line to enter PAX.
Other then these two things, Seattle is your typical “big city.” The downtown area is pretty cool, especially the Pike Street Market — the place with the famous fish throwers and all the flower vendors. One thing that is pretty unique, especially after being in Florida for so long, is that the second language used (in the airport mainly) is not Spanish but rather Japanese. That’s pretty cool.
I’m sure my weekend here will result in many more observations, especially as it relates to geeks and nerd culture, but for now that’s all I got. Look for those fun realizations sometime next week.
Here’s the YouTube video of the retarded traffic light. Behold the stupidity that is Seattle’s highway system:
I mean, Seattle isn’t all bad. I guess. At least PAX is pretty much awesome.
enguy
August 30th, 2008 | 5:22 pm
Ramp metering is actually pretty common: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramp_meter
Nick Tabick
August 30th, 2008 | 5:25 pm
Seattle is not the only place that has traffic control devices at the entry points to highways. They’re in a lot of major metropolitan areas, including most of Chicago, and they are to be treated just like any other light. In other words, ignoring it is a moving violation (IIRC, IANAC).
By the way, that knocking at the end of the video isn’t a cop tapping on your window, is it?
Justin
August 31st, 2008 | 5:32 pm
I’ve never actually seen these before… and if I have I can’t remember it. I just thought it was the funniest thing.
@enguy: I don’t know how you live here and are still alive. In fact, I’m not sure how anyone who has to drive I-5 lives to tell about it. I’ve been terrified every night driving from PAX to SeaTac where my hotel is.