Oh how I wish I had a job in Seattle so I didn't ever have to come over here.

Stupid office parks and parking lots and sprawl. I HATE IT.

Charmed.

But you'd have to actually ask someone over there to know that. What a concept.

I know. I live there.

Freeman Kemper alone is a reason to avoid it.

But I work in Seattle (and overseas) and spend every possible minute -not- in the Eastside. All my friends are in Seattle, all my free time is spent in Seattle. As soon as I can clear up a messed-up family situation, it will be bye-bye to that land-O-SUVs and perfect lawns. And they're all made out of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same.

I want them back, you bastards.

I could go on.

You'll be doing everyone else a favor by keeping your your holier than thou attitude over there on the hill.

The horror!

Back before I finally wised up and stopped reading Nicole Brodeur, I seem to remember quite a few references to her home in Issaquah (or another one of those identical car-devoted circles of hell... I can't keep 'em straight.)

the rest of it, not so much.

i only go over there when i have to, but i also only go to west seattle, or richmond beach, or mt. baker when i have to. its pretty much downtown & northeast of the ship canal for me.

Seattleites shouldn't discourage people from moving or living on the eastside. If they can stand it over there or if they have that kind of predilection, why not live there? Do we really want to add all those people to Seattle's housing market?

I say...stay where you are, eastsiders...and enjoy!

Of course, the whole argument is silly. It's a regional newspaper, not a parochial weekly focused almost exclusively on the gay community of a single neighborhood. Having a mix of people from all over the region the paper covers should be seen as a good thing. And you can nitpick my list (it's possible somebody moved at some point), but it includes most of the top editors and columnists, all of whom live in Seattle.

I could say that many people at SLOG night secretly admit that they live on the Eastside. I could explain how my wife's job is in Bellevue, and we have a shorter commute than if we lived in Seattle. I could talk about the schools. I could talk about all the great, non-corporate restaurants in Issaquah (the Brewhouse, Jax, Pogacha, and above all Noodle Boat to top the list). About house most of the houses in Issaquah proper are neither new nor McMansions.

But really, the waits for tables are already long enough. If you don't want to come over, don't. We won't hold it against you.

That would be more intellectually honest.

And, yeah, the Eastside, for the most part, reminds me of LA.

Oh, the horrors of living on the Eastside. Yeah, we're looking to move from our apartment in Issaquah to possibly the hill, or Bellevue. Here's the thing: if we move to Bellevue, we get an apartment with a dishwasher for the same price we get a smaller apartment with no counter space for on the Hill. Bellevue: yuppies complaining about "the poors". The hill: cranky yuppies complaining about clubs.

And while living on the hill means you can walk out your door and be in the middle of a metropolitan area, living in Issaquah means that five minutes' walk away from me is Tiger Mountain and all its trails. It means that I can continue to live practically in the middle of the woods, the way I grew up, while still being on a bus line and ten minutes' walk to Jak's. Mmmm... Jak's.

While I do hate a lot of the people who live out here, there are more and more people moving out here because it's becoming more affordable than Seattle. How many of you have been priced out of your apartments or booted for condo conversions? I'm paying less that $700/month for an apartment with a vaulted ceiling that looks into the woods. It's a 25-minute commute to Microsoft for the husband, and a 15-minute commute to BCC for me.

@29: I sold my car last year because I didn't need it. I carpool to school in the morning and am able to get back home within 40 minutes of my last class getting out via Metro and Sound Transit. There's a free bus that loops through downtown Issaquah, though I wish it ran later than it did, or at least on weekends. I've worked in Kent and bussed from the Quah, and I've had friends who work here who bus in and out easily from as far away as Lake City.

While I love Seattle for the architecture, the higher-education institutions, and the fact that some of my best friends live there, it's not the end-all, be-all of NW living.

And, duh, I've got a shot for you too. The Stranger isn't a hobby sheet for the Capitol Hill gay community, it's a good big city alternative rag that at least equals the dailies in covering local government and urban life. How else do you explain the fact that every disparaging post about the Times is immediately answered by Times employees like you? You guys troll the Slog in search of stories you didn't break yourself and will have to do so more and more as the Blethen bankroll dwindles and staff cuts become an annual event.

Me, I'll stay on Beacon Hill.