That crack some folks In Carmel Valley are smoking must be really good…

[sdrealtor]

AN,
You are absolutely correct about Asian food being much better in the MM/kearny mesa area where those communities are centered. We probably have 1 or 2 of each type in each of the areas i mentioned. I love many types of food and dont live on hamburgers and hot dogs. My tastes for asian food tend do to the americanized versions with the exception of Indian food. With that said, i stand by what I said about all those places.

In Encinitas, you places like the Self Realization Fellowship (Swami’s), Quail Botanical Gardens, La Paloma Theatre, Pannikin Coffe shop (in the Old Train Station), Lou’s Record’s, Swami’s, Moonlight Beach, Cottonwood Creek park, Olivenhain, Leucadia, Ecke Ranch and the whole funky 101 corridor. Cardiff has the undeveloped coastline and great local joints like Pipe’s, VG’s, legendary surf spots and a state campground at the beach. In Solana Beach, you have great family owned restaurants in Eden Gardens like Tony Jakal’s that have been there for decades, The Belly Up Tavern, Fletcher Cove, Cedros Street etc. Del Mar has the track, dog beach, the torry pines reserve for hiking, Del Mar Plaza, Powerhouse Park and all the beach cottages. All of these areas make up what I consider the quintesential Southern California Beach Town experience.

Mira Mesa has Mira Mesa Blvd, Fuddruckers, Best Buy and On The border. Need I say more? Carmel Valley has a Ralphs where people dress to impress to go food shopping and a coupel strip shopping centers. Is there even a decent park there?

For someone with a love for the ocean, living in place like Encinitas is akin to a snow lover living in Steamboat.

[an]

sdr, as you mentioned, you tend to prefer Americanized version of Asian food, so it might not mean as much to you. But personally, I like my food authentic. So when I want Korean food, I go to Kearney Mesa, when I want Indian food, I’d go to Miramar, if I want Vietnamese food, I’d go to Mira Mesa or El Cajon. If I want Chinese food, I’d go to El Cajon or Kearney Mesa. I detest Americanize Asian food, such as PF Chang. All of those authentic Asian food are all family owned. If I want family owned American food, I can go to the Butcher shop or Donevans if I want steaks. Fuddruckers makes great burger, so I don’t know what you’re complaining about. Best Buy, well, where else do you go to buy your tech toys? I’m also 10-15 min away from those NCC lil restaurants or the upscale places in Hillcrest and down town. Does NCC have places like Extraordinary dessert in Hillcrest? All best restaurants are w/in 15 min drive for me, same with any kind of supermarket from Japanese to Chinese to American. I can’t say the same for NCC.

[Anonymous]

asianautica, so where do you live?

[an]

Sorrento Valley. Nothing beat living 5 minute from work. Once you experienced the ability to go home for lunch and relax before you have to go back to work, you’d do anything to keep that.

[sdrealtor]

AN,
Dont get me wrong as I love to eat as much or more than the next guy but food and the ability to go home for lunch dont define me. The places I mentioned go well beyond eating which seems to be the only thing you can come up with for those areas.

BTW, if I want to eat great Indian food I go to my Indian friends home for dinner, same goes for Korean, Persian, Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Phillipine food. I’ve got friends whose ecompany I enjoy that would be as happy to have my family over for dinner as they would be to come over for one of my house specialties. If I want a steak, I pick up a big ol USDA Prime Cut at Tip Top and throw it on my grill out back or head down to Donovans.

[an]

sdrealtor, I’ve only brought up food because you brought it up first as one of the reason why NCC is so special. Food is very important to me and my family. We love to try all different kind of food from all different kind of nationality. There are many type of food that you can eat that even a person from that country can’t make. One example is Vietnamese food. My family knows how to make great Vietnamese food. But we’re from north Vietnam, so we only know how to make food from that region. They’ve tried to make central and south Vietnamese food but it just doesn’t taste as good as a Vietnamese restaurant owned and cooked by the central or south Vietnamese. Same goes for all other nationality. My wife is Chinese and she makes great Chinese food, but there are things you can find at certain Chinese food from different region of China that she does not know how to make.

Living close to work is extremely important. I assume you’re older than me, so you should know how short life is and how time flies. I don’t want to waste and time on this earth being stuck on the freeway. Any minute I don’t have to be on the road, stuck in traffic, I can spend time w/ my family. That’s another extremely important thing to me. Both me and my wife came from very tight nit family. I have dinner with my parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents at least once a week. All that is so much more important than sending my kids to the top school, etc. Because I can take the money difference and send my kids to private school, which would be better than any public school.

Food and ability to go home for lunch does not define me. As I’ve stated above, it’s just some of the reason why I think NCC is not that great for someone who want those two things. It seems like those are the only thing you can come up with for NCC area as well. Well, I guess you can say the people who live there are richer as well. I would much rather have my kids be close to their aunts, uncles, grand parents, great grand parents than some friends. Friends can come and go, family are with you till you die and beyond.

[sdrealtor]

AN,
That was a wonderful description and pretty much echos how I feel. The difference is that I chose where I wanted to live and then figured out how to earn a good living there. My RE office is less than 5 minutes from my house and I work from home often. My other local business is the same distance. I do have a significant interest in another business across the country with couple of my many childhood friends (that I have know my entire life, so they haven’t come and gone). For that I can use http://www.gotomypc.com to access what I do for that business from my couch. Right now I am logged into Quickbooks and working on marketing issues acoss the country while posting here, keeping an eye on the NFL draft and entertaining my kids. Definitely a multi-tasking morning!

Culturally we hold many of the same values re family and I see mine often too. My SIL is Thai and I cant wait for dinner tonite! NCC is far more than food and good schools to me. It is beautiful beaches, open space, a sense of history (albeit less than 100 years), parks, quality health care, education, entertainment, activities for my kids through the YMCA and City Rec depts and perhaps most importantly being surrounded by kind, caring, well educated people that share the same values as myself yet all come from different backgrounds.

As long as you depend on an employer you will be limited as to where you live. I chose to take control of my life and select where I wanted to spend the time I have on this planet and the lifestyle I wanted to lead. Only then did I worry about how I would support the lifestyle I wanted. I am living my dream and wish the same for you whatever it may be.

[an]

sdrealtor, that’s great that you have a career that is within that distant from the area you want to live. I love my profession, so changing profession is out of the question. You’re right that if you depend on an employer, you’ll be limited as to where you live. Don’t worry about me, I’m living my dream too. Albeit at a much earlier stage in that dream than you. Maybe when I’m in my 40-50s, I’ll be retired and be able to do some of the things that I can’t do when tied to a employer and a salary. But that’s for the future. Life is moving fast enough as is, no need to sit and dream about the future, time to live life today.

Regarding to your statement about NCC, I totally agree with those assessment. Those are some of the things that I see as positive in NCC too. Being a s/w engineer in the telecom industry, I have to be around Sorrento Valley area. I love SV because, it’s close to the beach (just as close as NCC, unless you’re talking about west of the 5 in NCC), price is much more reasonable than NCC, newer homes, close to everything (I can truly say I can get to most places I want to go in SD w/in 15-20 minutes), great canyon view, great health care (Scripps Hospital in La Jolla are one of the top in the country and my wife works there), education (well, I’m not sure which school SV belongs to, but there’s always private school), entertainment is w/in 15 minute drive for me. As you can see, SV have many quality you describe about NCC, it lack in some area, but it makes up in other areas.

Regarding your close ties to your child hood friends, that’s fabulous. I’ve lived in the same house since I was 10, but I’ve made new friends from Jr. High to HS to college. The friends I made in college are the friends I’m still talking to now. So, not everyone is as fortunate as you to find that kind of friends since you were little. I didn’t find mine till I got into college.

I think we’re basically agreeing on the principle, but the details of the two area are what made NCC right for you and SV area right for me. Since SV area is more right for me, I don’t see the need to pay a premium for NCC. That’s just my 2.5 cents.

[sdrealtor]

We agree on most things. SV is close to everything but doesnt have the things I look as part of the community. You just have to be willing to drive somewhere else which I not. I can drive to beaches I love in less than 5 minutes and can always find a place to parke easily which isnt the case down south.

The one major exception I take is Scripps Hospital being tops in the country. It is abysmal. Both my wife and i have extensive experience in health care and know what we are talking about. They almost killed here twice and she is lucky to be alive. If we were the type to sue, my name could be on the building instead of Scripps. When we came back for the birth of our second child everyone their remembered us and thanked us for not suing them. Quite frankly they couldnt believe we didnt. The utter disregard for even basic infection control procedures was horrifying to us.

Access to high quality health care is one thing we all give up living in SD and most of the west coast for that matter. Should I ever require anything beyond basic healthcare, you will find me on a plane heading back east to one of the Top teaching hospitals found in several cities.

[an]

I take it that you live on the west side of the 5. I would love to buy a home on the west side of the 5 in NCC some day to retire, but it’s not in my card at the moment. Congrats on that. Torrey Pine and La Jolla Shores are both 10 minute drive for me, 15 if I hit all the lights. To me, 5 or 10 min drive doesn’t make much of a difference. The only big difference is if you can WALK to the beach, now, that’s a whole different story. Most of the things you want to do, you’ll have to drive. That’s just the fact of living in California. You just mentioned SV is not for you because you have to drive to get to anything, and then you mentioned you can drive to the beach in 5 minutes. That doesn’t make much sense to me.

Regarding Scripps, my wife works there, so that’s how I came up with that statement. According to her, Scripps was abysmal a few years back. They had major restructure since then and now, in term of nursing quality, they one of the top. So I would have to assume that your experience was before this whole change. I don’t remember the term she used, but she said that all hospital try to get this top honor spot but Scripps is one of the few that got it. Because of that, their process has been much improved and they constantly get audited to make sure they still qualify to be called with such title. The title just escapes me for the moment. My wife had many patient tell her that they’ve been to many hospitals and Scripps is the best.

If the error was done by the nursing staff, I’d assume that it’s probably better now. If the error was done by the doctor, then there’s not much you can do except find better doctor. Doctor are independent from the hospital. I had extensive experience with Sharp hospital and all of my experiences have been fantastic. I broke many bones and they patched me up perfectly. I have no complaint.

[sdrealtor]

The entire HC system is broken out here but that discussion is for another day. It is no reflection on your wife but rather the entire system. Top to bottom, you find much better care at teaching facilites in Balt (Hopkins), Philly (Penn, Jefferson, Temple), Boston (Mass Gen, Yale New Haven) and NY (Sinai, Columbia) to name a few.

You pretty much have to drive everyone regardless of where you live here. My intent is not about having to drive places and I guess it is indicative of the difference in our values. It is about finding what you want within your community and not driving to someplace where you have no connection to. I look for a strong sense of community in the places I live. I abhor faceless suburbs made up of strip malls with no sense character and being in place. I was raised in place with a very strong community and I will raise my family in a similar place. The fact that I am close with friends that I crawled around a playpen with is no accident. I suspect my kids will have the same experience because that is what I value. It is what I have sought out and found where I live today.

And good luck finding a parking spot at TP or LJShores in the Summer.

Hasta…time to hit the beach

[an]

The recognition I was referring to earlier is called Magnet Recognition Program. The hospital have to be up to a certain standard to be recognized as a Magnet hospital. Here’s a list of the 238 hospital in the US and Australia that got this recognition. Scripps Memorial in La Jolla was one of them, so is John Hopkins Hospital. I’ve confirmed it with my wife, Scripps had a massive restructuring 4-5 years ago. She said it was pretty bad before the restructure and now, they’re one of the 238 hospital w/ this recognition.

Like I’ve said before, NCC has what you want so you prefer living there. SV has what I want, so I prefer living here. Both of us are right. I don’t care about the “connection” with the community. It is important to you, hence your preference in NCC. I love strip malls and being able to go to Best Buy to check out the latest tech toys. I abhor place where I having to drive 15+ minutes just to go check out the latest tech toys or have an authentic Asian meal. Why is it so hard for you to agree to the fact that NCC is not for everyone and not everyone put the same importance in community connection like you?

I highly doubt that all people who lived in the area you grew up in have the same connection with their peers like you have made with your friends. Also, I chose to not hang out w/ my HS friends and Jr. HS friends, not that the group got disbanded. They’re still there if I want to join again. I just don’t feel the same connection as before. I’ve moved on and found new friends. My brother on the other hand still hang out will his HS/Jr. HS friends as well as his college friends. So two brothers who grew up in the same “soulless” sub-burbs, one no longer is close to his HS/Jr. HS friends while the other are.

[SDowner]

I would like to comment on the topic going on between asiannautica and SD realtor, as I have had some personal experience relevant to it.

On healthcare: It is apparent that HC system is a total failure here in US. Unless you can spend a whole lot of money out of pocket or have excellent job with insurance, access to good healthcare is nonexistent.

On quality of healthcare: Dismal in my experience, but is dependant on the skill of particular doctor and not the hospital. I had a life-threatening situation and a doctor in Seattle cleared me for international travel (non-stop 14 hour flight) without doing the appropriate testing. I was ultimately lucky because my home country has world-class healthcare at minimal costs.

On Scripps: I worked as a volunteer in Scripps 4 years ago, exactly the year when they got the Magnet status. I can vouch that the particular department I worked in was excellent in patient care, very professional, fast, and efficient.

Life West of 5 and along 15: I rented in an area west of 5 for 2 years and currently own and live along 15. I think the kind of community feeling that SD realtor talks about would make a difference for people born and brought up in the US. For many others, access to places that are important to them makes the difference.

On life-long friends: I do think “luck” plays a big part in having good friends, lucky in meeting them not in maintaining them. No matter how steady and loyal you are, it is pure luck that will lead you to meet a person suitable to you.

SDowner

[sdrealtor]

I’ve always thought that luck is the point where preparation and hard work meet.

[sdrealtor]

AN,
I have to admit that it has been about 4 years since I’ve been near Scripps so perhaps things have gotten better. After what we went through, I sincerely hope they have. Atr going round about with you (dont we always seem to) I think you hit the nail on the head when you said.

“NCC has what you want so you prefer living there. SV has what I want, so I prefer living here. Both of us are right.”

Culturally different things are imprtant to you than me and I completely respect that. When i speak, it is from my perspective and I know everyone is not like me. That’s more than OK, its the way I like things. Also, I have no problem admitting NCC is not for everyone. The truth is my rant started with Mix’s rant that he didnt get Del Mar or Encinitas, that they were in the middle of nowhere and expensive for no reason.

[Author]

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