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[San Dieg-ON] Advice for living in SD.
starmanbrand
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So, I'm transferring out of Riverside to go snag a BS in Business Admin: Accounting at SDSU. Maybe even a masters. Here is where you come in, friend. Impart with me all your wisdom concerning this glorious city and surrounding area. I already have a place to stay (With an uncle), but information on awesome places to live may come in handy next year if I wear out my welcome.
My first major concern is: whats the deal with cable internet providers down there. At the recent open house for SDSU I saw a booth for COX and for TimeWarnerCable. I've only heard horror stories about TWC, so they are out of the running. Is my only other option COX? And if so....How awesome are they? I have Charter communications here in riverside and it is better than anything I could ask for. It's never down, it's never slow, even their newsgroup was slightly active. Can Cox or any other SD Cable internet service compete? (Also, how is their TV? I probably wont get it, but you never know)
Second concern is- Camping. I love camping and I am wondering what you guys think are the best campsites in the area are. Or are they all pretty meh since the fires? (I like forest camping more than beach camping)
Third- How is city traffic? I will need my car to make trips home to visit, but may opt to save gas money on city travel by taking the trolly and busses. I hate-hate-hate city traffic, but I've heard san diego hasa good infrastructure.
and last? Anything else you can tell me about my new home. I've been to san diego county often in my years, but I usually never made it down to san diego proper unless it was for sea world. What are your favorite places to eat, shop, whatever? I know I could google most of this, but I'd rather rely on tips and tales from a community I trust.
TL/DR: Moving to SD in the summer or fall- Have a place to live. I need advice on the best cable internet, camping locations, traffic, and general SD places you, personally, like.
My first major concern is: whats the deal with cable internet providers down there. At the recent open house for SDSU I saw a booth for COX and for TimeWarnerCable. I've only heard horror stories about TWC, so they are out of the running. Is my only other option COX? And if so....How awesome are they? I have Charter communications here in riverside and it is better than anything I could ask for. It's never down, it's never slow, even their newsgroup was slightly active. Can Cox or any other SD Cable internet service compete? (Also, how is their TV? I probably wont get it, but you never know)
Second concern is- Camping. I love camping and I am wondering what you guys think are the best campsites in the area are. Or are they all pretty meh since the fires? (I like forest camping more than beach camping)
Third- How is city traffic? I will need my car to make trips home to visit, but may opt to save gas money on city travel by taking the trolly and busses. I hate-hate-hate city traffic, but I've heard san diego hasa good infrastructure.
and last? Anything else you can tell me about my new home. I've been to san diego county often in my years, but I usually never made it down to san diego proper unless it was for sea world. What are your favorite places to eat, shop, whatever? I know I could google most of this, but I'd rather rely on tips and tales from a community I trust.
TL/DR: Moving to SD in the summer or fall- Have a place to live. I need advice on the best cable internet, camping locations, traffic, and general SD places you, personally, like.
starmanbrand on
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Your traffic situation will depend on where you're living, I guess. I don't think the trolley goes to SDSU. It just shuttles people around a few of the downtown areas.
http://www.sdcommute.com/
San Diego is very spread out. SDSU has several bus lines going through it, and if there's one near your residence that may work out for you, but I was looking at taking the bus from the airport to my place in Mira Mesa once, and it would have been an hour and 40 minutes compared to 25 minutes by car. Depending on your commute, a bike might be practical. I had coworkers who biked to Sorrento Valley from Escondido (~20 miles), and I was doing about half that at my previous job and residence.
SDSU is reasonably close (less than an hour) to Cuyamaca Rancho State Park east of San Diego. I don't know how wooded it is; it's been a long time since I've been out that way, but my memory of it is more meadowy. That said I'm sure there are stands of trees. And I have no idea how the park has survived the fires.
it's a longer drive, but there is also camping in Cleveland National Forest northeast of the city. this is certainly forest camping.
traffic in San Diego can be a pain in the ass; it depends on the time of day. however, the green line trolley has a stop at SDSU. that will take you to old town, where you can jump on the blue line to get downtown. The SD MTS site has a timetable and map for every bus and trolley line in the city. there's info about fares here, and info about monthly and semesterly college passes here
Good places to eat: Jasmine for dim sum. Buds Louisiana cafe. The field irish pub downtown (go on a night they have the session.. order the boxty to eat). The pannikin for coffee. Apollonia for greek (get the flaming cheese appetizer).
San Diego is a pretty cool place. Yelp has been pretty good so far for when I want to try new things.
Cleveland and Cuyamaca seem really nice. With the ocean and so many lakes around I may end up having to drop some dollars on fishing gear.
Traffic is pretty gnarly most days during rush hour. just dont bother with freeways from 4-6.
I am on TWC, the automated billing is not to be trusted, just manually handle it.
You are neck deep in great camping areas: protip, take a geology class as an elective, you will learn great spots.
goldfish point cafe is perfect. a bit of a drive for you, but so so so worth it. There is also some great places to eat in OB, hodads, hodats, (or however you spell it) and the fish taco place right next to the ocean on the same street
Also, if you like punk or metal, check out SOMA. Excellent shows there.
See how many books I've read so far in 2010
I think Lake Murray is just east of SDSU, and there's fishing there.
As noted, I was wrong about the trolley -- there is a line that stops at SDSU now, which I'm pretty sure didn't exist in 2003.
Re: Fishing gear. I think I have a float tube and a set of chest waders at my old residence that I should get rid of. Please PM if interested (whenever).
Two awesome and often overlooked places in SD are Balboa Park and the Wild Animal Park.
Balboa Park is a big free public park. There are tons of museums, theaters (including the Old Globe, which routinely sends new shows straight to Broadway), and all sorts of good stuff. If you go on a Sunday, there's always a free concert at the organ pavillion (the country's largest outdoor pipe organ) and all sorts of yummy free food and entertainment at the International Village (a bunch of little houses, each representing a different country - it's incredibly kitchy and corny). The park is also right near Hillcrest, which is an awesome place to go for yummy restaurants and funky shopping. The zoo is also in Balboa Park. However...
The Wild Animal Park is run by the same organization that operates the zoo, but it's bigger and better. It's out in Escondido rather than downtown, though, so they just have acres and acres of land that they let the animals run free on and that you can tour on a bus (or a private safari jeep, if you're willing to pay). On the way there, you should stop at Queen Califia's Magic Circle Garden, a kickass sculpture garden by Nikki de Saint Phalle (www.queencalifia.org).
See how many books I've read so far in 2010
I was a bit nervous about living down there, but after checking out yelp and the parks sites, and all of this awesome advice I am feeling pretty damn excited about being in that neighborhood and city.
Accounting is one of the harder majors and requires a lot of sweat equity, but you get to know the professors really well. If it's the lower div. Information Systems class you need to take, it's pretty much a "here's how you use microsoft excel and access" class. I usually take night classes cause I work full time. Are you starting next semester?
If you like coffee, there's a nice cafe off of Adams Avenue called Lestats. They're open 24 hours and sometimes have live music, so lots of different kinds of people hang out there.