(Part 2) Best products from r/Seattle

My favorite one of the 4 I've tried over the years, by far, has been the Day-light Sky light. Pricey, but I like how it can tilt over my head while I'm at my desk at work, it definitely tricks my brain into waking up. I usually flip it on the super bright setting for 30 minutes to an hour, then turn it off for a bit, then I'll use it for the next several hours on the slightly lower setting. Hot tea, good music, and that light makes winter afternoons nice.

My second favorite has been the Verilux HappyLight Liberty 10k, I bought this one at Bartell Drugs. I tried another variant or two of the Verliux, and I liked this one the best of those. For me, having the light shine from above eye level seems to work better for me, so I usually set mine up on a small shelf, though it works fine just sitting on the desk too. I sort of have the same regiment with this one, I'll use it on the super bright setting for a little while, maybe 30 minutes or so, then switch it down to the lower setting for the rest of the evening (though I try to turn it off a couple of hours before bed).

I tried the blue light, but I found that I preferred the more normal feeling lights. Honestly, I don't think its the spectrum that seems to make the biggest difference for me, its just having a really bright light to trick my head into going into awake mode.

In addition to the bright lights, forcing myself to get up and walk around the block can help fight the dreary feelings for me, or if its super nasty out walking around somewhere airy and busy, like Pacific Place (or similar indoor place), helps me feel more awake. Also, try to do some social things regularly if possible, even if you aren't feeling super social. I've found its easy for me to accidentally forego hanging out with people for a couple of weeks if its messy out, then realize I'm feeling more cabin fever than usual. Movies in the theatre can be fun in the winter too, as you are sort of transported by the big screen to some far off place while being warm and dry.

Those are my coping mechanisms. I love winters here in almost every way, the clean, crisp air, even the cool, damp, darkness is calming for me. Its just convincing my brain to feel awake that can be tough for me. If it really gets to me, I try to take a week or two and go somewhere sunny in February or so if possible (though I realize this isn't an easy option for everyone).

Cool! I'm a photographer and photo blogger and a lot of my personal work revolves around my everyday life in Seattle so perhaps I can offer some ideas!

Photographing outdoors in all Seattle area's beautiful locations is great, but photographing in window light is also a sure way to get some beautifully lit results and interesting subjects.

For example, hands holding a cup of coffee (or pouring cream into one?) in a cafe with beautifully textured tables (Cafe Solstice and Arabica on the hill come to mind). Little details of a bigger picture make for great casual photographs.

There are also some incredible buildings around the area, such as the Biltmore on Summit & E Olive Way on the hill, that offer lovely variations of texture and light.

Also, Discovery Park is freaking beautiful. There is this really cool little tunnel thing on the W Emerson St entrance that looks like a magical rabbit hole and overall the park is just acres and acres of scenery. Shooting there on a foggy day is really fun.

Edit: If you don't have one yet, I strongly suggest investing in a Canon 40mm f/2.8 or Canon 50mm f/1.8 (both very inexpensive lenses, though arguably the 40 is a bit better quality, but does not have as wide of an aperture). Also, Canon is coming out with a 22mm (wide angle/zoomed out) pancake lens similar to the 40mm and I think it's going to be awesome.

LIGHTROOM IS YOUR BEST FRIEND.

It may not be what you're looking for, but I have an 8-10 person dome-top tent with a tarp-bottom in good shape. It's very much a summer-tent (great when it's hot, but zero warmth provided), but it's about 6'1" tall in the middle so most people can stand up, and is about 10' x 10' square. That said, as you're offering $50 to rent it, and I think I got it for $80 (was on clearance) at Big 5 a few years ago, I imagine you're looking for something nicer / warmer / bigger.

If you're really just needing a simple camping tent though, let me know. I would have to make sure it has all the pieces, but I would be happy to help you out if that works for your needs. Again, it does not provide any warmth, but it's waterproof and can be set up incredibly easy (can be assembled by 1 person, but only if absolutely necessary. 2 people suggested).

Found a reasonably similar product on Amazon for reference, although given the price, I would suggest that if one of you has the room to store it in the off-season, it might be better just to buy one new. That's assuming you have Amazon Prime though, and can get it in time. Otherwise check Target, they may have them on clearance for end of the season.

EDIT: Just realized you're looking for mid-september, not this weekend. If the above fits your needs, I would suggest getting an inexpensive one brand-new, as it'll give you the piece of mind to not worry about it missing pieces or leaking. Plus having one already will potentially inspire you and your friends to go camp more often next summer.

I know Cellar Homebrewing does classes, which, judging by your neighborhood tag, would be close by. I personally prefer shopping at Sound Homebrew (cleaner store, more selection, really great staff), but it's down in Georgetown and I'm not sure if they do classes. I guess you could always call and ask.

I know there are quite a few homebrew clubs in the area. There's also http://www.flyingbike.coop/ which has a ton of homebrewers and occasionally will do a "learn to homebrew" event.

Other than that, poke around on r/homebrewing. We're really tolerant of newbies (we've all been there) and always happy to help or offer any advice.

No matter where you go first, pretty much anyone will tell you to read through the first section of John Palmer's How to Brew, which is free and online. People may also recommend picking up The Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian, which has a more conversational feel to it.

Also, do you have any friends that homebrew? If so, they'd probably be happy to have you over and hang out while they brew so you can get a feel for it.

Hello and welcome to the wonderful world of alternative transportation. Instead of just bragging about how awesome bikes are, I thought I'd link to a few bikes that are reasonably priced and come with fenders and/or racks for year round enjoyment. I ride year around with minimal fender coverage and I do just fine on my 8 mile commute from Ballard to Downtown, although I'm lucky and work for a non-profit, so we have showers in the building for commuters. I know thats not an option for a lot of larger companies. I mention this because it makes a big difference since my office is on a big hill and I get a little sweaty. But a whores bath, clean clothes and deorderant worked for me before working somewhere with showers.

Anyway, I tried to find bikes under $3k. Sounds like a lot of money, but then again my dinky fiat 500 with a 1.4 4-banger was $19k and is currently in the shop thanks to a hit and run.

Specialized AWOL "Elite" $1500 (disc brakes, fenders, racks, lots of gears, comfy handlebar and seat placement / geometry):
http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bikes/adventure/awol/awol-elite

Specialized AWOL EVO $2500 (same as above, includes friction powered headlight, hydraulic disc brakes):
http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bikes/adventure/awol/awol-evo

Kona Sutra $1500 (same stuff as above mostly, just a different brand):
http://konaworld.com/sutra.cfm

Trek District - 3 models from $800-1100 fenders, rack, gears or single speed options:
http://trekbikes.com/us/en_US/bikes/city/urban-utility/district/c/B441

Trek Lync - $1000-1500 - has fenders, gears and lights built in, disc brakes, smartphone connection for tracking miles, etc:
http://trekbikes.com/us/en_US/bikes/city/urban-utility/lync/c/B442

If you already have a bike but don't know shit about bikes and want to get fenders:
Portland Design Works:
Full Metal Fenders - $120 nice full coverage of the wheels:
https://www.ridepdw.com/goods/fenders/full-metal-fenders-city

Also from PDW, less coverage but cheaper:
https://www.ridepdw.com/goods/fenders/sodapop-fenders

Raceblade fenders are what I use, almost full coverage about $50:
http://www.amazon.com/SKS-Raceblade-Bicycle-Fender-Set/dp/B0019JNTLS

The lights just flickered at my office and now our connection is 5400 baud. Hope that helps some of you try something else besides the bus and driving alone. Any bike shop will be happy to get some fenders on your bike, theres always a solution and the nice thing about shopping from a bike shop instead of online is that you're supporting the local economy. Well I guess you're supporting local when you buy from Amazon too.

Hmm, I've slowly learned from many sources, mostly books. And more about Washington/Seattle, since I live there—although Oregon has a rich tradition of being interested in its history. For online stuff there's

• HistoryLink; Washington-centric; has hundreds of articles on many topics.
  
  
• Oregon Historical Society; (OHS) Oregon-centric.
  
  OHS publishes the Oregon Historical Quaterly. I think at least some of that is online. They also publish a mighty place name tome, with more detail than you probably ever want to know about Oregon place names: Oregon Geographic Names. But it isn't online and is expensive to buy new. I found a used copy for cheap though.
  
  
• BC Geographic Names is BC's place name database. Some pages have tons of info about a particular place name. Some pages have very little. Kinda hit and miss.
  
  
• The Volcanoes of Lewis and Clark is a surprising detailed USGS website about more than just volcanoes.
  
  
• Columbia River History.
  
  
• Center for Columbia River History.
  
  For books, some of which are previewable on Google Books:
  
  
• Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest, by Derek Hayes, is very good and covers the whole PNW, from Alaska to California to Montana and more.
  
  
• The Atlas of Oregon is very good, although it is only has a couple of history sections. Also it is expensive (again, can be found used for not too much). Obviously Oregon-centric.
  
  
• Murray Morgan's Skid Row and Puget's Sound are about Seattle and Tacoma respectively (or more generally north and south Puget Sound area).
  
  
• Native Seattle, by Coll Thrush, is an excellent Seattle-centric book about the long history of Indians and Seattle (and beyond, ie, the famous totem pole in Pioneer Square is from Alaska).
  
  
• Range of Glaciers, by Fred Beckey, is a hugely detailed history focused on the exploration and survey of the North Cascades. Everything you could possibly want to know about the US-Canada border survey through the mountains—exciting, right? But also lots of stuff about early fur traders, gold prospectors, railroads, etc.
  
  
• The Great Columbia Plain, by D.W. Meinig, focused on eastern Washington and northeast Oregon.
  
  There are many books about the very early history of Spanish exploration, British fur trading, and so on. Many are poorly written or very scholarly. A few I've liked:
  
  
• At the Far Reaches of Empire, by Freeman Tovell. Focused on the life of Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, who was the Spanish commander on Vancouver Island in the late 1700s, when war with Britain almost broke out over events there, and when George Vancouver came by, etc. This book gives a good picture of the peak of Spain's reach into the PNW. Spanish PNW history kinda got the shaft by British and American historians. We remember Captain Cook and Vancouver but not people like Bodega y Quadra and Malaspina. Yet Bodega y Quadra's accomplishments exceed Vancouver's, I think, and he was all around a better person; and Malaspina's was similar to Cook in many ways.
  
  
• The Nootka Connection, by Derek Pethick, is a somewhat drier, and more British/Canadian-centric account of the late 18th century ship-based stuff, detailing the Russian, Spanish, British, American, French, etc, ships that explored the PNW coast. He wrote another book, First Approaches to the Northwest Coast, that covers a slightly earlier period.
  
  
• Trading Beyond the Mountains, by Richard Mackie, focuses on the land-based fur trade that dominated the PNW from the 1790s to the mid-1800s. Mackie focuses on the British fur traders, who basically controlled the PNW until about 1840.
  
  Finally, there are hundreds of good references on some Wikipedia pages, like Columbia River and Maritime Fur Trade.

I've got this unit: Whynter 14000 BTU

Area: ~750sqft

Dual hose unit, and I keep a blanket wrapped around the hot air hose for a little insulation.

No real other advice. My unit is probably overkill for a smaller place or a single room, but the fact that it can cool my bedroom at the far end of the house is a huge plus.

This thing weighs a ton but it rolls super super easy. I would not get it to bring up and down stairs though.

Don't regret it at all :)

The Youtube video has been stabilized, but otherwise hasn't been altered.

At the time, the wirecutter review of dashcams liked the G1W the best. I bought this one from eBay for $45 with free shipping from China.

When it arrived the suction cup mount was defective. It was only $45 so I didn't bother reporting it as arriving damaged. Instead I bought this rear-view mirror mounting kit from Amazon for $12.

I also bought this 12 volt to USB power converter from Amazon for $8 so I could hard wire it into the car power. My rear-view mirror has switched 12 volts on it which I tapped into for camera power.

I used a normal microSD card for a while but it died pretty quickly due to the constant writing. I bought this heavy duty 16GB card for $11 on amazon.com and it's been working great for the last 9 months.

Pretty cheap insurance if you ask me. If I had it to do over again I would buy the version of the G1W that uses a capacitor instead of an internal battery or I would try out one of the cameras that the wirecutter now is suggesting.

Enjoy!

I saw elsewhere in the thread that you live in Alma, so I chose Topeka as the nearest large comparison city: Cost of Living Comparison Between Topeka, KS and Seattle, WA.

Rent is indeed going to be a major factor for you. I don't know how things work in Alma, but here the rent usually only covers the structure itself (the "four walls" as it were); it doesn't include utilities: power, heating, water, garbage, internet, phone, etc. A lot of other cost-of-living factors are pretty similar. My girlfriend has lived in Seattle for several years on about $30k/yr (pre-tax) but she makes compromises to do so: lives with a roommate in low-rent housing, doesn't have a car (but uses Car2Go occasionally), walks miles to/from bus stops every day, cooks 90% of her meals at home, does most of her non-food shopping at thrift and second-hand stores, etc. It's definitely do-able.

/u/synthesizedjasmine's response was really quite good and I'd like to piggyback on that comment (and elaborate upon it) a bit, including some non-cost-of-living things:

• Sell one of the cars before moving here. You can get membership to a service like Car2Go or ZipCar for occasional car use.
  
• Violent crime rates are extremely low here, but property crime is very high; even if your rental agreement doesn't require it, renter's insurance would be a good idea. (Seattle crime map)
  
• The wealth inequality thing is pretty stark; there is a community of homeless people living in what is known as The Jungle, which on any given day could be driven past by more than one person whose net worth is more than all of those people will ever make in their lifetimes, combined.
  
• The traffic can be absolutely horrible, there's really no two ways about it. While you're sitting in that traffic, you'll be surrounded by entitled self-righteous dipshits driving $100,000 (or more) cars who haven't used a turn signal in years. Drive defensively if you're going to drive at all.
  
• Some notes about the weather. This is really important and can come as a shock to people.
  
• It doesn't rain here nearly as much (quantity) as people think it does: Comparing Topeka with Seattle again, we average less rainfall in Seattle than in Topeka.
  
• If you follow those links to the rainfall data, you'll notice that when it rains here is almost the exact opposite of when it rains in Topeka; high rainfall in the winter and low rainfall in the summer.
  
• It doesn't rain hard here and we seldom get storms (you can literally go years without hearing thunder) but it can drizzle for weeks on end, especially during the winter.
  
• Although the rain may not always fall, the sky can often look like it; cloudy days are more common in Seattle than in Kansas, about 22% more frequent.
  
• Predicting the weather here is hard. Really hard. Two mountain ranges and an unusual weather convergence zone can cause wild variations in weather in locations only a mile apart. Cliff Mass, a professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Washington has a blog where he will often go into much greater detail about the weather forecast than you see on the news; he's also written a book about the weather here.
  
• Snow has become less frequent over the years. If it does snow, everything will shut down, even if it's only a couple inches of snow. Seattle is woefully unprepared for dealing with snow; there are a lot of hills, we don't use salt, and nobody knows how to drive in the snow. If it snows at all and you have the option of staying home, do so, you'll be safer there. Here are some videos if you would like more convincing.
  
• The Seattle Freeze has nothing to do with weather and can be a real thing. Forming new friendships here, especially for people who move from out of state, can be really hard. It doesn't happen to everyone, but it can and does happen to some.
  
  Edit to add:
  
  
• Seattle is a highly educated city. The person who makes your coffee is likely to have at least a bachelor's degree of some sort or be working towards it. The Seattle metro area is the sixth most well-educated in the country.

My doctor gave me this info some time ago:
> The usual dose is 10,000 lux, beginning with one 10 to 15 minute session per day, gradually increasing to 30 to 45 minutes per day depending upon response. It may take four to six weeks to see a response, although some patients improve within days. Therapy is continued until sufficient daily light exposure is available through other sources, typically from springtime sun.

I don't know, (I haven't spent much time looking so I could certainly be wrong,) but I don't imagine most desk lamps are capable of outputting that much light. Here are some of the suppliers they gave me. I don't have any first hand experience to offer since I didn't end up buying one at the time (though I may reconsider soon. Oof, Seattle winter...)

• Sunbox
  
• Bio-Light
  
• Philips goLITE - formerly Apollo BriteLite
  
  Philips has a couple of models that they claim are "as effective" as larger 10,000 lux lamps, one of which is right around $100. Good luck!
  
  edit: formatting

More thanks, to the guy who brought charcoal and operated the other park grill, and to my fiancee for slapping together 30+ hamburger patties from the bowls of ground beef that someone brought (whoever that was, it was thoughtful, but in the future you may want to form them into patties first!)

Recipes!:

Chipotle mayo:

• 15 oz of mayo (about half a 30 oz jar), I used Best Foods brand because it was on sale.
  
• 1/4 cup of light brown sugar
  
• 1/4 cup of white sugar
  
• 1/4 of a 7 oz can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce This is what I use.
  
  A little goes a long way with the peppers, they are very spicy. Take out the peppers, save the sauce, re-introduce 1 pepper (make sure there's no stems), use a food processor and turn the sauce and pepper into a paste, you can remove the seeds (I do) or not, up to you. Add mayo, mix, add both sugars, mix. If it's too spicy, add more sugar in equal parts to desired taste a tablespoon at a time, if you want it to be more spicy, add more chipotle pepper paste/sauce.
  
  
  Teriyaki sauce:
  
  
• 6 grams of xanthan gum, this is a thickening agent, a little goes a very very long way, should only ever be used to 1% of the total mixture, the only place I know of to buy it is online or at Whole Foods (it's $12 for an 8 oz bag). In this case, more is not better, the texture gets terrible and it becomes very viscous if you add too much.
  
• 1 bottle of this teriyaki sauce: it is a little pricey, normally about $5 a bottle, but it has the best flavor of any teriyaki sauce I've tasted.
  
  Mix the xanthan gum into the teriyaki with a whisk or mixer for a minute or two until fully combined. Put it into the fridge for 12 hours, while it will thicken immediately after mixing, it thickens more as it sits cold.
  
  Chicken:
  
  If you want restaurant grade teriyaki chicken, you need a grill or something with an open flame. Also, the chicken that is typically used is boneless chicken thighs, do not trim them as fat = flavor, and it's usually not necessary to season them, just slap them thawed on the high heat grill and cook until done and with slight char on all sides. Take off the grill and slather them with your new teriyaki sauce.
  

• Build a 5-gallon bucket air conditioner
  
• turn on your bathroom and kitchen fans to draw hot air out
  
• Pick up a blower fan (this one is a beast) and a big box fan. In the evening, when its a bit cooler outside than inside, place the box fan in the windows to pull in cool air and the blower fan on a chair a few feet away to turbo-boost the flow. You can also point the box fan out to push out hot air during the hot afternoon. The blower fan pushes a lot of air with a good 15-20' range, so you can experiment with the best placement.
  
• Keep your windows closed with black-out shades (or, even better, thermal shades that reflect light) drawn during the day, keep the lights off, don't use the oven or stovetop, don't turn on your audio receiver, etc.--anything that generates heat adds to the net rise in temperature
  
• wrap ice packs in a towel and, when you go to bed, place them on your neck, in the small of your back, etc. Really helps drop your core body temperature
  
• Drink hot tea and eat spicy food, like curry. Both stimulate the blood vessels in your skin to dilate and release body heat into the surrounding air faster. Sounds crazy, but it works.
  
• Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Castile Soap. The peppermint has a cooling effect.
  

I've been using the OXO Good Grips Compost Bin for the last two years. It's super easy to clean and just the right size.

Don't rent, just buy one like this. You will use it more than just one summer. I've had this one for two years now and it's been fine. I only use it to cool the bedroom at night but it would probably also cool a small studio. It also doesn't hang out the window so I don't think your landlord would care.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007Q3RQ6

Looks interesting. I am particularly amazed with the $36 thermostat-based outlet control module that amazon recommended at the same time as looking at the AirKing.
http://www.amazon.com/Lux-Heating-Cooling-Programmable-Thermostat/dp/B000E7NYY8

I have an Oxo Compost Bin that I line with Bio Bags. It has a handle for easy carrying plus the lid pops off and it can all be washed easily (by hand or in the dishwasher).

Option C: Treat yourself to an air conditioner. I bought myself this model last summer and it's been one of the best investments of my life.

My apartment just really soaks up the heat for some reason. If it's 65 outside, it can get into the upper 80's in my place, even with the blinds closed. I bought the following AC, and I am very happy I have it on days like this.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0037UVHZM/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Are those electrolyte bottles full? Looks like that battery has never even been filled with electrolyte or charged. Probably fits a motorcycle or even a small garden tractor/lawn mower with electric starter. Someone might be able to put it to good use. $108.95 at Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Yuasa-YUAM62H4L-YTX14AHL-BS-Battery/dp/B0018F3MP6?psc=1&SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-d-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B0018F3MP6

Well I don't really know much about Detroit, I have only been there multiple times and have read the following books cover to cover.

Which is why I kind of thought everything I said about the city can be objectively proven as true. But what do I know?

https://www.amazon.com/Detroit-American-Autopsy-Charlie-LeDuff/dp/0143124463/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1499201761&sr=8-2&keywords=detroit+a+history

https://www.amazon.com/Detroit-Biography-Scott-Martelle/dp/1613748841

https://www.amazon.com/Detroit-Biography-Scott-Martelle/dp/1613748841

Here is an example of what I am using. They are pretty common.

http://www.amazon.com/SPT-000BTU-Single-Hose-Portable/dp/B006YG683C/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1407957235&sr=8-7&keywords=portable+ac+unit

Cliff Mass's blog and book are worth reading too.

Try something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Lasko-Pro-Performance-Blower-4900/dp/B001DNGSCM/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1519649761&sr=8-17&keywords=lasko+fan

It's about as loud on the low setting as a normal box fan on medium, but the air flow is next level.

Me too! Bought it last month when we hit 88 in April. It cools my bedroom from 85 to 68 in about 20 minutes. Worth every penny, ($380 on Amazon). https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J5U8P4E/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_api_nAtoxbCD34G1P

Edit: mine is the 10,000 btu model, which is smaller than OP's but it is plenty for one room.

Love the concept and execution. PSA to the lazy, try this instead: http://www.amazon.com/AirKing-9166-Whole-House-Window/dp/B0007Q3RQ6

Edit:Whoops, cut off the link. Fixed it.

OXO's + biodegradable bags works for me.

Acrylic was $90, but we had a fairly tall window to cover.

Unit was this, but damn it was only $300 when we got it back in March.

Whynter ARC-14SH 14,000 BTU Dual Hose Portable Air Conditioner with Heater with Storage Bag

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002W87P9C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_pCpbBbXT4ZH5A

I use this, and keep it in the fridge. When it gets full, I dump its contents into a compostable bag.

http://amzn.com/B003ZFW0YQ