I Need Advice on Sunny US Cities With Decent Tech Jobs and Urban Centers

DSGamer wrote:

We looked into full spectrum lights this weekend. Most of what we saw were special light bulbs. Like $30 a pop. Is that what you guys were talking about?

Here are the less expensive Reveal ones that Clover was talking about. I like them better, I've never been a fan of the CF kind, and they're much cheaper.

Yellek wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

We looked into full spectrum lights this weekend. Most of what we saw were special light bulbs. Like $30 a pop. Is that what you guys were talking about?

Here are the less expensive Reveal ones that Clover was talking about. I like them better, I've never been a fan of the CF kind, and they're much cheaper.

I already use Reveal and I don't notice much difference.

Those are not full spectrum bulbs:

Reveal's unique neodymium glass filters out dull, yellow rays, unlike regular soft white bulbs, leaving you with enhanced, vivid surroundings.

It's removing light, not adding it.

I guess it's just false advertising, because I was going by this in the description:

Providing A Color Enhanced Full Spectrum Light Source Which Delivers Pure, Clean, True Light.

Huh, I dunno. I was looking in the 'tech specs' section. I've never thought of Reveals as being full spectrum -- in fact, I've thought of them as being crap bulbs you want to avoid. I bought a few at first, but I don't remember what changed my mind about them.

Malor wrote:

Huh, I dunno. I was looking in the 'tech specs' section. I've never thought of Reveals as being full spectrum -- in fact, I've thought of them as being crap bulbs you want to avoid. I bought a few at first, but I don't remember what changed my mind about them.

Yeah, I can't say for sure if they are truly full spectrum, but I got them to use for lighting my jewelry at art fairs because they give a brighter truer color.

Malor wrote:

I bought a few at first, but I don't remember what changed my mind about them.

Over time I noticed that they seem to burn out faster, but the color difference is obvious enough to me that it's a price I'm willing to pay. I'm thinking of changing our bar lights to the other full-spectrum ones this winter though, to see if I notice more of a change.

Good for you, guys. NW is a great area, I hope you like it as much as we have over the last 8 years or so. Someday we'll be back full time, and have a proper S&T.

I think you made a great choice. My wife and I recently moved from Austin to Seattle and one of the major reasons we did it was to live in a more urban environment. Austin is so spread out and the only really urban feeling areas are small and too expensive. The benefits of actually living in an environment we want to be in have easily outweighed the downsides of the weather.

Have you considered Sydney?

IMAGE(http://exchangehomes.com/home-photos/4019/4022.jpg)

Hey, uh, I'm pretty up on the whole Colorado thing, and if somebody mentioned this earlier, please forgive me - if one of you has Seasonal Affective Disorder, like, for realsies, Denver is not the place to live.

My wife used to suffer pretty badly from SAD. As she has started recovering from depression, it's gotten better. But I live a scant 45 minutes from Denver and I can tell you - we have a real fall and a real winter in this state. I cannot tell you how many childhood Halloweens were destroyed by the first snow storm of the year. The winters on the Front Range aren't terrible at all in terms of snowfall or temps, really (it rarely goes below zero) but winters are pretty gray.

If you go a little further south to Pueblo or maybe even the Springs, I don't think it's quite so gray in the winters, but I could be wrong. Also, as a NoCo resident I am obliged to hate those places, in any case.

Viva Taos!

We would move to Australia in a heartbeat. We're constantly looking for overseas opportunities. There's just the whole issue of jobs and visas, etc.

InspectorFowler wrote:

...winters are pretty gray.

Have to disagree here. Between Colorado Springs and Denver, I've lived along the front range since 1997. I can't remember a time when we had more than three grey days in a row. In my experience, it's brilliantly sunny almost all the time here. This morning was a bit grey, but now it's a cloudless blue sky with bright sun again. I have pretty bad SAD and I'm terrified to move away from Colorado, as I'll probably end up jumping off of something high if I get stationed in a really gloomy place.

DSGamer wrote:

We would move to Australia in a heartbeat. We're constantly looking for overseas opportunities. There's just the whole issue of jobs and visas, etc.

Keep in mind, they have human-sized spiders that will eat you whole.

iaintgotnopants wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

We would move to Australia in a heartbeat. We're constantly looking for overseas opportunities. There's just the whole issue of jobs and visas, etc.

Keep in mind, they have sexy human-sized spiders that will eat your hole.

Fixed for additional terror.

Malor wrote:
We looked into full spectrum lights this weekend. Most of what we saw were special light bulbs. Like $30 a pop. Is that what you guys were talking about?

Yes, but you don't have to spend that much anymore. Here's a pack of six CF bulbs for $75. Those are 125-watt equivalents. 60-watt equivalents are $35 for six.

You can get full spectrum bulbs at Home Depot or probably any garden store labeled as "plant lights." They're commonly stuck in greenhouses as grow lights and are pretty inexpensive. I have a few in desk lamps at work.

I think this thread needs to be renamed, "I Need Advice on Funky Light Bulbs".

"Recommend me a Tanning Bed"

DevilStick wrote:

"Recommend me a Tanning Bed"

Is space an issue? Does it have to be a bed?

DevilStick wrote:

"Recommend me a Tanning Bed"

IMAGE(http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQFBTxVdkg0rhxyJhq9BFut6_heH94yxfu2J5Mt4Hm-yY5nwcPSiEpUbFazTQ)

That's not a bed, that's a lamp.

complexmath wrote:
Malor wrote:
We looked into full spectrum lights this weekend. Most of what we saw were special light bulbs. Like $30 a pop. Is that what you guys were talking about?

Yes, but you don't have to spend that much anymore. Here's a pack of six CF bulbs for $75. Those are 125-watt equivalents. 60-watt equivalents are $35 for six.

You can get full spectrum bulbs at Home Depot or probably any garden store labeled as "plant lights." They're commonly stuck in greenhouses as grow lights and are pretty inexpensive. I have a few in desk lamps at work.

Won't that put you on some kind of federal watch list now?

I was looking at my full spectrum bulbs, and I remember the Reveals as being much bluer. I think you'd be better off buying one of the options I linked, or one of the $30 bulbs from the local hardware store.

I don't know about the grow lights. I'm not sure those are full spectrum, I think they're just different spectrum. Maybe that's the part of the spectrum that matters for SAD, but maybe not. Full spectrum works for sure.

I mean -- really, if you think about it, it almost doesn't matter what they cost, if they keep you from being suicidal.