Well, Bye, Kansas City...

[TinyEvel]

Those of you who know me and my story know I am a Southern California born and raised native but picked Chiefs as my NFL team in 1994 after the Montana win in Houston in the AFC divisional playoffs. Stayed a loyal and true Chiefs fan through the years and after finding CP in 2005 began coming out to KC once a year (thanks NZoner) for games.

2015 -- through random happenstance, I had an opportunity to come out here for a job. I did it. I made great progress in this firm, hiring and relocating new talent to KC, championing the boomtown that it is.

A few months ago, through some reorganization, I find myself leaving this firm. Not much opportunity for me any more in KC, so I relocated my family back to the West Coast last week. I must say as a born and raised Californian, the weather and the fitness here in CA, I have to pinch myself that I am lucky to be back here.

I still love KC and will be back for games, but here are a few things I observed after living in an entirely new region for the first time in my life.

1) The people are nice. Like, genuinely nice. It would take me three minutes to get through the grocery checkout just because the cashier would ask how I am doing and make small talk.

2) No traffic. I mean, the Plaza at Christmastime is basically any road in any city in California year-round. Getting from A to B in KC was always a breeze.

3) Season Tickets at Arrowhead are a dream come true. Being able to get to the stadium at 7 am every home game, and feel the rush of the crowd every week...now when I watch the games on TV it will be different. I'll surely miss being there, and the waft of BBQ smoke will be forever emblazoned in my mind.

4) It's a good life if you have very young kids. You can buy a three bedroom home for $150K with great schools. If you have teenage kids, moving here is more tough because most local kids have already bonded with friends.

5) Lots of people are overweight. Not to make a body issue statement but it's unhealthy. I hated myself for judging people there.

6) BUT.... Lots of people are active. I was surprised at how many people are running and playing tennis, etc. The workout here seems to be more for heart health than to be good looking fit, so, glad to see so many people getting out there and getting their heart rate up.

7) Produce goes bad too fast. Buy an avocado, better eat it that day. Same with lettuce. And Citrus. I was shocked how fast those fresh produce go bad.

8) Free parking in KC is a blessing. We just went to a museum in San Francisco, Parking was $24. That was focked. Ludicrous.

9) Fast healthy food is hard to come by in KC. We just ate fresh Mex burritos for lunch and in KC it seems all the fast options are Wendy's or Arby's or Burger King etc. It was an effort to eat fast/cheap/healthy there in KC.

10) The weather. Probably the most significant difference. I didn't mind the winters (many said the past two were mild) but the summers and the sticky heat, that was the worst. Three days here and it's 70 degrees and a cool breeze, that's a million dollar climate, and it cost that much.

11) KC is a boomtown. Look at all the development, there's a ton of opportunity there right now.

12) Body modification: People in KC seem to have a higher level of "fck what other people think" in terms of what they do to their hair/face/skin. As a result you get a lot of questionable tattoos and piercings and haircuts, etc. On one hand, i was appreciative of the diversity, on the other hand, it felt like the human modification version of the bad Charles Jersey I ordered online from China.

13) who the fock am I to say what KC is like or any other place. You be you, Kansas City, that's what makes you special. I'm gonna do me out here. I'll be back to visit and sing your praises in my social media feeds. All day long. Just hide the fat people.

TinyEvel out.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I'm just going to sit here in high-altitude heaven and watch all of you lowlanders talk up your places.

I drove nearly 4 hours to get to Denver airport to pick up my daughter and the entire drive was flat. Only got to see the mountains that stretched a great distance but it was still flat coming into Denver.

[ModSocks]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I have a friend that lives there that's constantly raving about all of the places in the Village and the numerous IPA's.

I joined him one Saturday afternoon and man, it seemed endless.

Carlsbad is nice. I grew up in Oceanside, the neighbor to the north.

But yeah, breweries are all over San Diego county...it's like...our thing i guess...

"San Diego basically owns two global subcultures for a short period of time each year: They own nerd culture during San Diego Comic-Con. And they own beer culture during San Diego Beer Week. It’s arguably the best city on the planet for beer, let alone the United States, particularly if you’re into the now-trendy hop-heavy variety of craft beer.

The riches are endless: Stone. AleSmith. Ballast. Green Flash. Modern Times. Mike Hess. Karl Strauss. Societe. Rough Draft. Helms. Benchmark. We could go on: the city is home to 123 breweries, microbreweries, and brewpubs. The city basically created the Double IPA, and one of the local breweries has won “Best Small Brewery” at the Great American Beer Festival four times, and Pizza Port has won several awards as one of the brewpubs in the US.

We don’t usually like to honor the big, obvious choices in these lists, favoring always lesser-known and lesser-appreciated towns and cities, but there comes a point when you’re so big, and so obvious, that ignoring you is just plain stupid. San Diego, we bow to your beer dominance."

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

What else differentiates a place to live?

And finally, for me anyway, I live in Los Angeles because it's the music and entertainment capital of the world. If the music and entertainment capital of the world was Kansas City, I would have never moved but in 1993, I didn't have a choice. Today, it's somewhat easier due to the internet but it's nowhere near as "easy" as attending one of the many music related functions each month and getting real "face time" with decision makers (i.e., Music Supervisors, Production Music library execs and creative departments, Ad agency execs, etc.).

While I haven't forayed much into composing for scripted television and movies, mainly due to the time it requires, which would take away serious time from my young children, I could theoretically move from Los Angeles to another city (or state) because I'm already established as a composer for the biggest production music libraries in the world. But as mentioned earlier, both of my children have aspirations of working in the TV and movie business, so it doesn't make any sense to move further from Hollywood, which would take them out of this element.

So in reality, there's no reason to do so. My children love their friends, their respective schools and where we live. My wife has an amazing job 15 minutes from our home. We have plenty of friends nearby and with the 17 new hotels and multiple skyscrapers planned for Hollywood just minutes from our home, we'll have even more choices for restaurants, "Staycations" and will likely see our property value skyrocket once everything completed. Also, our home does everything we need, including housing a large, sound proofed studio for me, an office for my wife while each of my kids have their own bedrooms and bathrooms.

But yeah, I think location is also tied to certain job opportunities for sure.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Detoxing

Carlsbad is nice. I grew up in Oceanside, the neighbor to the north.

Have you ever been to Dini's? We hung out there one Saturday afternoon and drank so many different IPA's that I couldn't keep track. Awesome view of the ocean as well as many hot chica's.

[KCUnited]

Having just returned from somewhat of a beercation in SD last weekend, I was a bit underwhelmed with their IPAs, and I love IPAs. Their beer scene was super cool though and I respect it, just came away underwhelmed with what I was able to try. I glanced at some literature that listed 200+ breweries/craft-centric pubs in the SD area though, which is impressive.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by KC Tattoo

I drove nearly 4 hours to get to Denver airport to pick up my daughter and the entire drive was flat. Only got to see the mountains that stretched a great distance but it was still flat coming into Denver.

The mountains are only for residents.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

My price for this is $6.80. What's yours? http://www.homedepot.com/p/Morton-Sa...1500/100089553

My price for this is $9.38. What's yours? https://www.walmart.com/ip/Dr-Pepper...z-6pk/20854248

My price for this is $26.99. What's yours? https://www.costco.com/Kirkland-Sign...100047638.html

Interesting! My price with Home Depot is $5.65 so over a dollar difference. On the Dr. Pepper with Walmart I get the same price, however the product is not in stock and shipping is not available anyways. On the Costco seasoning I also get the same price but it does say prices vary by store.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

My price for this is $6.80. What's yours? http://www.homedepot.com/p/Morton-Sa...1500/100089553

My price for this is $9.38. What's yours? https://www.walmart.com/ip/Dr-Pepper...z-6pk/20854248

My price for this is $26.99. What's yours? https://www.costco.com/Kirkland-Sign...100047638.html

1. Salt - My price is $4.14.
2. Soda - My price is $9.38.
3. Spices - My price is $26.99.

[ModSocks]

Originally Posted by BiStateNo

Indeed. The last time I was in Denver, people were raising hell about all the California people who were buying up the real estate in Colorado.....

I always find it funny how much hate we Californians get, yet our state/cities are overflowing with people from the rest of the country.

[ModSocks]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Have you ever been to Dini's? We hung out there one Saturday afternoon and drank so many different IPA's that I couldn't keep track. Awesome view of the ocean as well as many hot chica's.

I have not. There's a lot pf places i need to check out still. I'll add this to the list.

[ModSocks]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

Having just returned from somewhat of a beercation in SD last weekend, I was a bit underwhelmed with their IPAs, and I love IPAs. Their beer scene was super cool though and I respect it, just came away underwhelmed with what I was able to try. I glanced at some literature that listed 200+ breweries/craft-centric pubs in the SD area though, which is impressive.

I'm underwhelmed by IPA's in general. My wife loves them and we went through a phase for a couple of years where we'd try anything and everything.

Afterawhile i realized that an IPA tastes like...well an IPA.

Kinda like weed. After awhile it all starts tasting the same lol.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

Having just returned from somewhat of a beercation in SD last weekend, I was a bit underwhelmed with their IPAs, and I love IPAs. Their beer scene was super cool though and I respect it, just came away underwhelmed with what I was able to try. I glanced at some literature that listed 200+ breweries/craft-centric pubs in the SD area though, which is impressive.

Originally Posted by Detoxing

Afterawhile i realized that an IPA tastes like...well an IPA.

As someone who drank beer from age 14, about 5 years ago, I stopped drinking beer. I don't know what happened but it was like a "switch" was flipped and I just didn't like the taste, the buzz, nothing. I switched to Vodka/Soda and I've been happy with that ever since. It's kind of weird.

Anyway, I did enjoy the IPA's that I've had in Carlsbad. My bud owns a place in the Village, so he knows all of the best places (and they know him). That was probably an advantage that most people don't have, so he chose all of the different IPA's and it was quite fun.

It didn't cause me to rush home and try IPA's from Costco or the grocery stores and I'm still not drinking beer in general, but it was a nice experience, nonetheless.

[KCUnited]

Originally Posted by Detoxing

Afterawhile i realized that an IPA tastes like...well an IPA.

That was pretty much my experience with the IPAs in SD. There were SO many that I was having trouble differentiating one from the other. If you're ever near Petco, and haven't already been, Half Door Brewing was really cool. They converted a really old house into a brewery. They also have some east coast style IPAs on tap that are a little sweeter and less bitter than the west coast version.

[Shag]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

Having just returned from somewhat of a beercation in SD last weekend, I was a bit underwhelmed with their IPAs, and I love IPAs. Their beer scene was super cool though and I respect it, just came away underwhelmed with what I was able to try. I glanced at some literature that listed 200+ breweries/craft-centric pubs in the SD area though, which is impressive.

Crazy talk. Where did you go/what did you try?

[Shag]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

That was pretty much my experience with the IPAs in SD. There were SO many that I was having trouble differentiating one from the other. If you're ever near Petco, and haven't already been, Half Door Brewing was really cool. They converted a really old house into a brewery. They also have some east coast style IPAs on tap that are a little sweeter and less bitter than the west coast version.

Half Door is awesome - really cool space. The west coast IPA originated in SD, and is a very hop-forward beer, typically with hop bitterness. The east coast IPA is a craze now, quite often hazy, and much more juice-like flavor with very little bitterness. The east cost variety is fairly recently big - will be interesting to see how it progresses.