Does Florida Suck?

[mrSHEiK124]

I love Tampa, fuck the haters

iFX: Tampa traffic is a lot worse than Orlando traffic, regardless of construction or other shit. Orlando has traffic because there is a legitimate reason for it, there are TOO MANY CARS THERE. Actual "congestion" accounts for 1% of the traffic in Tampa, that's the morning/evening rush hour on I-4/I-275.
All the other traffic, like traffic in North Tampa (ever try taking Nebraska Ave. NB out of Tampa between 3-7 PM? or SB into Tampa between 7-11 AM? absolutely no reason for that traffic beyond a one hour window), traffic in New Tampa, traffic in Brandon, traffic ANYWHERE in Tampa, is caused by +++suburbanite transplants who have absolutely no fucking idea how to operate a motor vehicle.
Know how to merge? NO. Know how to "time" a traffic light you drive by 2x a day, 7x a week, all year long? NO. Know that you can safely make a right turn (with just a quick glance for anyone making a U) when traffic on the road perpendicular to you is providing "cover" since they're turning left? NO.
It's actually faster for me to make a "Michigan left" in the morning than to wait in the left turning lane because although the signal is timed perfectly to let everyone that can fit in the lane turn, somebody manages to fuck it up and leave three or four cars without turning. Yellow lights mean "SLAM ON YOUR BRAKES RIGHT NAO" even if you're already inside the fucking intersection here, because nobody can drive.

Wow, that turned into a traffic rant pretty quickly

 

[oiprocs]

Don't go. Florida sucks. They wish they could be California, but they're not even better than Texas. And Texas is a real big pile of sh!t.

 

[Lurknomore]

Back in 2004 driving through all the way from Jacksonville through Orlando to Sarasota to Naples through the Everglades to Miami to Boca Raton to Key West back to Miami through Palm Beach to Boca Raton to Cape Canaveral to Daytona and back to Jacksonville, all I can say is that there are an awful lot of Waffle houses down there.

But I did enjoy driving 100mph on the highway with everyone, and 75mph on the side streets!

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

I don't know about living there but I do know people in Miami are rude.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Originally posted by: BUTCH1

Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
Florida is a great place to visit from what I hear, lot of cool stuff you won't see anywhere else, such as 1 foot long grasshoppers. But do you really want your building in a place that has an actual "hurricane season"?. Rebuilding your property once a year gets expensive and you lose lot of stuff. You'll also need some kind of offsite backup system or you'll also lose all your data every time there's a hurricane.

Huh? do blizzards cause data loss too?? Been through 4 hurricanes and didn't lose a byte. Loss of electricity does not mean your hard drive is wiped, when the power gets restored it still works!! Oh, the bugs, yes there is lots of 'em but that's why they make insecticide for. I've lived in Mass and they have plenty of skeeters too but of course they die quickly in the fall.

Sure but when a house gets ripped off the foundation and smashed, chances are your hdds will take on lot of damage if you even find them. You've probably been lucky if you made it 3 years and the house is still standing. Seems every year I see on the news mass destruction. Though not sure if brick buildings survive or not. Also is it true you guys have no street drainage systems? I've heard this but it's kinda hard to believe.

As for Blizzards/cold, they don't do much damage, if any. Just have to know how to drive in them.

 

[Wag]

Florida- The state where old Jewish people go to die...sort of like Africa and the "Elephant's Graveyard" (if all the elephants drove badly and spoke Yiddish).

(Hehehe. My parents live down there)

 

[Eeezee]

It gets very humid in the summer. I vacationed in FL once and it was almost unbearable

 

[Kirby]

Originally posted by: FlashG

Originally posted by: nkgreen
I really like NW Florida, around Pensacola.

FTW :thumbsup:

Plus you can make a killing, figuratively speaking, reloading ammo and selling it to the Bamaites across the border

We can't reload?

If so, I may know some criminals. :laugh:

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: nkgreen

Originally posted by: FlashG

Originally posted by: nkgreen
I really like NW Florida, around Pensacola.

FTW :thumbsup:

Plus you can make a killing, figuratively speaking, reloading ammo and selling it to the Bamaites across the border

We can't reload?

If so, I may know some criminals. :laugh:

It's people in Alabama and that whole area are just too stupid. If we cut away that part of the country (annex it to Mexico or Canada?), the US would lead the world in education scores.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
It gets very humid in the summer. I vacationed in FL once and it was almost unbearable

May help to specify where in Florida...i am assuming some shithole like Pahokee.

 

[bobdole369]

Pahokee is quite the shithole.

 

[dman]

I'd have to wonder why your employer is moving down this way, it seems like most companies were looking to leave FL. Perhaps our local gov. is getting wise and offering incentives again? What industry is it? What's your role in the company?

I grew up in S.FL, Boca Raton specifically. I moved to Lake Worth a while back which isn't far away. For what it's worth, I'm ready to leave FL, only because I'm ready for a change. My family isn't though, so I'll be here for a while I think. FL is different, but it's really what you make of it. It's not Utopia, but, you can enjoy yourself if you want to, or you can complain like a lot of people do.

All the stuff mentioned so far, I think it's no better / worse (on average) than other places I've traveled to the last few years.

 

[dman]

Originally posted by: bobdole369
Pahokee is quite the s-hole.

It's also not relevant for a discussion on S.FL (Boca Raton) living. I can almost see folks talking about Tampa or Orlando for feedback, but Pahokee, please? It's in the middle of f-ing nowhere. Mappage

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: nkgreen

Originally posted by: FlashG

Originally posted by: nkgreen
I really like NW Florida, around Pensacola.

FTW :thumbsup:

Plus you can make a killing, figuratively speaking, reloading ammo and selling it to the Bamaites across the border

We can't reload?

If so, I may know some criminals. :laugh:

It's people in Alabama and that whole area are just too stupid. If we cut away that part of the country (annex it to Mexico or Canada?), the US would lead the world in education scores.

Having had kids in Florida schools, I can say for certain that the schools my kids are in right now in Alabama are getting a far greater education than that of public schools in Florida. There's a reason my kids ended up in private school while we lived in Florida.

 

[Linflas]

Florida sucks, everyone stay in the state you live in now and don't move to Florida. In fact while we are at it Northern Virginia, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas also suck so you don't want to move there either. Great places to move to are California, Oregon, Washington, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: SunnyD

Having had kids in Florida schools, I can say for certain that the schools my kids are in right now in Alabama are getting a far greater education than that of public schools in Florida. There's a reason my kids ended up in private school while we lived in Florida.

AGAIN where in Florida. Since you didn't keep you kids in a public school there seems moot anyway.

 

[GiggleGirl]

Originally posted by: Mr Pickles

Originally posted by: bobdole369

Due to the jet stream - the possibilty of the Tampa Bay area (where I live) getting a direct hit is astronomical, albeit better than living in a frigid snow state. I have lived here since 1977, and have never been in order severely threatened by a hurricane.

It has nothing to do with the jet stream. Hurricanes tend to move east to west, and once they get into the westerlies (about the latitude of key west) - they start to move west to east. This causes the familiar recurvature that we all know and love and Wilma smacked us with.

Tampa is no more protected than anywhere else. They don't have a jet stream, or climatology, or sea currents, or weather patterns, or anything else at all that makes them more or less likely to be struck full on by a hurricane.

The location has just been lucky over the past hundred years. In the 32 years since 1977 Tampa has had an equal chance as anywhere else in the state to be hit. The chance of Tampa bay getting a direct hit is exactly the same as Charlotte Harbor (remember Charley when you guys were in the scope?) - Fort Lauderdale, the Miami River, Palm Beach Gardens, the Big Bend, etc.

That you haven't seen anything since the 70's doesn't mean that a CAT 5 won't come barreling up the gulf coast this year come September and hit Tampa full on.

Let me say it again - There is NOTHING weather wise - especially a jet stream (BTW "the jet stream" usually exists over the northern plains and rockies - and rarely makes its way down here) - which protects Tampa.

Lucky.

Oh I agree with that. That's why my original post said that that no one in Florida is completely safe. We have been lucky. Charley was the big scare, we weren't just in the scope, it was heading straight down our throats until 1.5 hours before it hit land.

hey screw you i got demolished by charley!!! lol

IMO florida sorta sucks. mostly because of where i reside. theres nothing to do here. id rather live in a larger city like sarasota or st. pete or the outskirts of orlando like altamonte springs. there are some gorgeous areas around here but mostly for me its the lack of family and friends i have here.

im also not one to enjoy the heat. i prefer seasons and snow.
i dont like that you can walk to mailbox and sweat for no reason. you didnt earn that sweat, it was thrust upon you. lame.

anyways, ive lived down here and up in MA for an almost equal number of years and id have to say that MA is a million times better

 

[Sentinel]

I travel to Miami & Naples all the way up to Clearwater every 3 months. Being from the Midwest I couldn't move here based on basically everything bobdole mentioned -and then some.

 

[Illusio]

Ok. So my company is now pushing pretty hard for me to relocate down there. They want to fly me and my wife down to Boca Raton next week. Anything we should check out or see while were down there?

 

[lupi]

I lived there for a couple years and still regularly visit. Have a bunch of relatives in the tampa and melbourne areas. Heat isn't nearly that bad on the humidity area, it is hot, not as dry as desert heat, but no where close to the worst the east coast has to offer. Worst things are the inflated insurance rates on homes and traffic from population growth. Traffic not as bad once you get out of the more touristy areas, and they are doing road growth to help, but they are also putting tolls on most of the new roads which also kinda screws ya. Traveling out for vacation and such would be easy as it's got major hubs up and down the state. Other than home insurance, the biggest negative you may experience is due to this being a border state, albeit one without a land connection.

 

[episodic]

yes, it sucks
100% humidity
Hurricanes
TONS of elderly drivers.
Tourists constantly.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: episodic
yes, it sucks
100% humidity Only part of the year, the other 5 months it is gorgeous "why we live here weather" Unless your fat, then sweating all the time is a foregone conclusion.

Hurricanes Been here all my life *42* Cocoa Beach area, and haven't so much as lost a shingle yet. At worst we lost power for a few days, but I wasn't here, it was a good excuse for a evacuation vacation.

TONS of elderly drivers. This point is far too accurate, and the wrinklies don't so much drive, as crawl along blocking the normal flow of traffic. Oblivious too all around them. Many so old and shriveled they stare through the steering wheel instead of over it. It really makes baby Jeebus cry

Tourists constantly. This is a mixed bag, they insure no state income tax, but drive almost as badly as the old folk

My advice; Stay the fuck out, you won't like it here, and we don't want you to stay. Just spend your god damned money and go home!

Oh, the biggest pluses are-

fairly warm surf temp all year= can skin it almost all year

awesome fresh and salt water fishing

beautiful girls, almost naked, everywhere pretty much year round

Water sports in general year round FTW

no inbred hillbillies I keed I keed



As to the boring to ride a motorcycle comment, not at all. You ever find yourself in this god forsaken land Jules, look me up, I'll show where I used to ride-banked corners, twisty, curvey, scenic roads, and long flat straight aways through the countryside where most bikes can see their top end ticket free.

 

[evident]

i was in fort lauderdale for a week in offseason in september, the beaches are very nice. some people were really nice and just talked to us when we sat at a bar. ft lauderdale is hella expensive, i saw lambos and aston martins every other car. the rest were just 'ordinary' mercs and bmw m5s. when going into some shops and stuff though ,people were really pushy and tried to sell me stuff all the time. i didnt like that. there are alot of posers that wear ed hardy from head to toe, but there were also some real nice people there as well.

the weather was REALLY hot. we could only sit by the pool from noon to 3pm, then afterwards we could go walk around and do stuff. i liked it as a place to visit. i did a tour of the everglades and man that was fun. not sure if i could find any tech jobs in ft lauderdale, but i would def go back to another part of the state before passing judgement on it.

 

[invidia]

- Humidity is not 100% 365 days of the year. It's much less during the winters. Humidity only hits you if you live closely inland. It feels much drier and better the closer you live to the coast. The winter to us is probably like summer to you up in IL. We have short winters (December - Feb where it isn't above low 80s).

- We have bugs. Alot of bugs, especially during the summer. At times, you'll think you're in the Amazon rain forest. In fact, I just encountered several water bugs (the ones the bite as hard as a bullet) near my porch last week. They're starting to appear with a bunch of other bugs.

- There are no half naked girls walking around unless you live within half-mile of the coast. Whoever said there are a bunch of naked girls walking around is a liar as I work near the coast/beach in Miami. You only see them AT the beach, just like any other state with nice beaches.

- South Florida is completely different from the South. The South actually begins way up in North Florida bordering Georgia. Most Floridians don't have a southern accent. We don't have backwood hicks that like to rape you while you squeak like a pig.

- Spanish is one of the primary languages. It almost overcomes English in some parts. Alot of jobs require you to speak both English and Spanish, especially in South Florida.

- Boca Raton is full of old, retired people and college students alike. You can drive as defensively and carefully as you can but someone WILL end up rear ending you at least once a month.

- The closer inland you live, the closer it is like in any other suburb city/place. All the stuff in the above posts only exist very near the coast/beach.

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER

Originally posted by: episodic
yes, it sucks
100% humidity Only part of the year, the other 5 months it is gorgeous "why we live here weather" Unless your fat, then sweating all the time is a foregone conclusion.

Hurricanes Been here all my life *42* Cocoa Beach area, and haven't so much as lost a shingle yet. At worst we lost power for a few days, but I wasn't here, it was a good excuse for a evacuation vacation.

TONS of elderly drivers. This point is far too accurate, and the wrinklies don't so much drive, as crawl along blocking the normal flow of traffic. Oblivious too all around them. Many so old and shriveled they stare through the steering wheel instead of over it. It really makes baby Jeebus cry

Tourists constantly. This is a mixed bag, they insure no state income tax, but drive almost as badly as the old folk

My advice; Stay the fuck out, you won't like it here, and we don't want you to stay. Just spend your god damned money and go home!

Oh, the biggest pluses are-

fairly warm surf temp all year= can skin it almost all year

awesome fresh and salt water fishing

beautiful girls, almost naked, everywhere pretty much year round

Water sports in general year round FTW

no inbred hillbillies I keed I keed



As to the boring to ride a motorcycle comment, not at all. You ever find yourself in this god forsaken land Jules, look me up, I'll show where I used to ride-banked corners, twisty, curvey, scenic roads, and long flat straight aways through the countryside where most bikes can see their top end ticket free.

Couple of buddies of mine back when I was in the Navy tried that on Atlantic Blvd in Jacksonville and got caught. They were lucky they stopped instead of trying to run and the cop gave them a break and wrote them standard speeding tickets rather than tossing the book at them.

Just to reiterate, Florida sucks, no one should move there. In fact people should be moving out In an earlier post I pointed out the states that you should be moving to.