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SF BayGaf

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Area-s-new-Lexus-lanes-will-require-a-6819130.php

Having two people in your car, or a low-emissions decal, won’t be enough to get you into the new carpool lane on Interstate 580.

By the end of the month, when the I-580 Express Lanes are expected to open, carpoolers who want to keep getting a free ride in the fast lane will need a special new FasTrak toll tag, known as “FasTrak Flex.”

The new tags still resemble an ink pad but have a switch to indicate the number of occupants in the vehicle.

If the switch is set to 2 or 3, the driver won’t be charged. But a driver with the tag set at 1, or with an older FasTrak device, will pay the variable toll. Drivers with no transponder at all will be subject to fines.

Express lanes are carpool lanes that allow solo drivers to pay a toll to gain access to the lanes. Tolls on the new 12-mile express lanes on I-580 — two lanes eastbound, one lane westbound — will vary depending on distance traveled and level of congestion. Tolls rise and fall with congestion, going as high as $13 and as low as $2.10.


For more information about the new express lanes and what they mean for the future of Bay Area transportation, go to sfchronicle.com.

Where to get Fastrak Flex

The new toll tags, featuring a switch to indicate the number of occupants in a vehicle, are available at Costco and Walgreens stores in the Tri-Valley area of eastern Alameda County and in the northern San Joaquin Valley, online at www.bayareafastrak.org or by calling (877) BAY-TOLL or (877) 229-8655.

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Curler

Unconfirmed Member
Can we use those with the extra $$ to fix our roads then? Infrastruture around the country sucks, and there's already been one case of sink holes in the Bay Area. I'm actually surprised all that rain didn't do more damage :/
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
I'm thinking about it... is it worth going if you want to get into the industry but not as a dev? Not sure how GDC is set up or anything, but I did heard they have recruiters for some companies.

There's a job fair on the Expo floor. A lot of positions will be dev focused, but companies may also have openings for marketing, PR, business roles, etc. Expect a lot of people fresh out of college or with minimal experience also looking to get a foot in the door.
 

Curler

Unconfirmed Member
There's a job fair on the Expo floor. A lot of positions will be dev focused, but companies may also have openings for marketing, PR, business roles, etc. Expect a lot of people fresh out of college or with minimal experience also looking to get a foot in the door.

Alright looks like I'll definitely consider on heading on over!
 
Yup. Not sure on my booth schedule, but, I'll be there.

Tell me more.

I'm thinking about it... is it worth going if you want to get into the industry but not as a dev? Not sure how GDC is set up or anything, but I did heard they have recruiters for some companies.

An Expo Pass, the cheapest and lowest tier, gets you into around 50 sponsored panels (all basically Amazon or Unity, but with some good indie game roundtables), the job fair, IGDF Awards show, and career seminars. Plus the expo floor.

Worth it at $249.
 

Curler

Unconfirmed Member
Tell me more.



An Expo Pass, the cheapest and lowest tier, gets you into around 50 sponsored panels (all basically Amazon or Unity, but with some good indie game roundtables), the job fair, IGDF Awards show, and career seminars. Plus the expo floor.

Worth it at $249.

I was more looking at the "student" tier, which I assume gets you into the job fair, at the least.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
"You a student and don't want to pay a few hundred to get in? Well, you don't get to do much here!"

At least there's the job fair...

There's also working the show as a staff associate which gets you an All-Access pass, but:

1) Application deadline for that has long since passed.
2) Veterans who have done it before get priority.
3) You have to commit to something like 20-30 hours of working the show that week, meaning you may not get to see all the panels and stuff you want to see if you can't arrange a shift exchange for a particular timeslot.

That said, it's a great experience if you can get selected and have the time free to do it.
 

Curler

Unconfirmed Member
There's also working the show as a staff associate which gets you an All-Access pass, but:

1) Application deadline for that has long since passed.
2) Veterans who have done it before get priority.
3) You have to commit to something like 20-30 hours of working the show that week, meaning you may not get to see all the panels and stuff you want to see if you can't arrange a shift exchange for a particular timeslot.

That said, it's a great experience if you can get selected and have the time free to do it.

The panels would have been nice, but I'm more about the job opportnities, which it does have. Most shows like PAX and PSX don't really offer such thigs. Of course, those are more investor-based, and not the same.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
The panels would have been nice, but I'm more about the job opportnities, which it does have. Most shows like PAX and PSX don't really offer such thigs. Of course, those are more investor-based, and not the same.

Well, yeah. GDC is an industry conference aimed at professionals. Those other shows aren't.

Anyhoo, good luck to you. Bring plenty of resumes, be prepared for an on-the-spot interview if you luck out, and don't be too discouraged if things don't work out.
 
Well, yeah. GDC is an industry conference aimed at professionals. Those other shows aren't.

Anyhoo, good luck to you. Bring plenty of resumes, be prepared for an on-the-spot interview if you luck out, and don't be too discouraged if things don't work out.

At E3 my first year, I got interviewed at lunch.
 

Curler

Unconfirmed Member
Well, yeah. GDC is an industry conference aimed at professionals. Those other shows aren't.

Anyhoo, good luck to you. Bring plenty of resumes, be prepared for an on-the-spot interview if you luck out, and don't be too discouraged if things don't work out.

Thanks. Yeah I have tried my luck at trade shows before, but of course they never really bring the right people to talk. This is more what I should have been going to. I never really looked into GDC, but always thought you had to already be a dev to get in.
 

finalflame

Banned
Hey SFGAF, wanted to get some feedback. I currently work in the South Bay and also live down here, about 5 minutes from work. However, I am in my mid-20s and considering moving to the city.

I currently live in a 1/1 and would be looking at a studio, probably in the Mission. Any advice from people who live in the city and commute to the South Bay for work? I'd probably do CalTrain daily, and my office is a 5 minute walk from the CalTrain station.

What do y'all think? Recommend making the move to the city to enjoy the more lively nightlife scene? Or stay close to work and keep my 5 minute commute?
 
Hey SFGAF, wanted to get some feedback. I currently work in the South Bay and also live down here, about 5 minutes from work. However, I am in my mid-20s and considering moving to the city.

Don't do it. Commute length is the single most significant predictive factor in life happiness. Whatever you want to do in the city, you can drive/train up to do it instead.
 

butzopower

proud of his butz
Hey SFGAF, wanted to get some feedback. I currently work in the South Bay and also live down here, about 5 minutes from work. However, I am in my mid-20s and considering moving to the city.

I currently live in a 1/1 and would be looking at a studio, probably in the Mission. Any advice from people who live in the city and commute to the South Bay for work? I'd probably do CalTrain daily, and my office is a 5 minute walk from the CalTrain station.

What do y'all think? Recommend making the move to the city to enjoy the more lively nightlife scene? Or stay close to work and keep my 5 minute commute?

AirBNB a place in the city for a bit to see if you can handle the commute?
 
Hey SFGAF, wanted to get some feedback. I currently work in the South Bay and also live down here, about 5 minutes from work. However, I am in my mid-20s and considering moving to the city.

I currently live in a 1/1 and would be looking at a studio, probably in the Mission. Any advice from people who live in the city and commute to the South Bay for work? I'd probably do CalTrain daily, and my office is a 5 minute walk from the CalTrain station.

What do y'all think? Recommend making the move to the city to enjoy the more lively nightlife scene? Or stay close to work and keep my 5 minute commute?

5 min from work? Don't do it. You should embrace having that amazing commute.

I've done the reverse and it's tiring being stuck to a strict train schedule and having all that time taken up by taking the train, even with the bullet train.
 

jon_dojah

Banned
Hey SFGAF, wanted to get some feedback. I currently work in the South Bay and also live down here, about 5 minutes from work. However, I am in my mid-20s and considering moving to the city.

I currently live in a 1/1 and would be looking at a studio, probably in the Mission. Any advice from people who live in the city and commute to the South Bay for work? I'd probably do CalTrain daily, and my office is a 5 minute walk from the CalTrain station.

What do y'all think? Recommend making the move to the city to enjoy the more lively nightlife scene? Or stay close to work and keep my 5 minute commute?

I live in the city and used to commute to Redwood City which is about half way to Southbay/San Jose. It was hell everyday to and from work on highway 101. Usually its a 25m drive in no traffic but turns into 45m at best to an hour at worst during peak commute hours.
 
Dont move to the city unless your work has a shuttle. Its not worth the daily drive and definitely not worth taking caltrain everyday. Maybe you need to find a younger area in the south bay. Im not hip with all areas, but I hear there are some friendly neighborhoods like willow glen and the area west of the shark tank.

If you really want to move north go look at Oakland, no seriously I'm not kidding. Its kind of awesome in some spots.
 

finalflame

Banned
Don't do it. Commute length is the single most significant predictive factor in life happiness. Whatever you want to do in the city, you can drive/train up to do it instead.

Yah, I've read the study. I used to commute from Berkeley to SF and that wasn't too bad, but it was also about half the commute I'd have going from SF to the South Bay. My real point of contention is if the benefit of being close to the hustle and bustle of the city is worth the extra commute every day.

AirBNB a place in the city for a bit to see if you can handle the commute?

That's good advice, actually. I don't think I mind the commute. When i started my current job I commuted from the East Bay to Mountain View and that was ~4 hours/day doing most of BART and a decent chunk of CalTrain. I mostly just read a book, opened up my laptop, or did some catching up on my 3DS.

5 min from work? Don't do it. You should embrace having that amazing commute.

I've done the reverse and it's tiring being stuck to a strict train schedule and having all that time taken up by taking the train, even with the bullet train.

Yah, what doesn't make this easier is the lack of reliability of CalTrain in general and how shitty the schedule is, especially with bullet trains ending after rush hour, so if I want to stay near work to go to happy hour or something I would end up taking a Local or Limited train instead.

I live in the city and used to commute to Redwood City which is about half way to Southbay/San Jose. It was hell everyday to and from work on highway 101. Usually its a 25m drive in no traffic but turns into 45m at best to an hour at worst during peak commute hours.

I'd absolutely never drive, no way. Train or bust, really, unless I had a really good reason to drive to work that day.

Dont move to the city unless your work has a shuttle. Its not worth the daily drive and definitely not worth taking caltrain everyday. Maybe you need to find a younger area in the south bay. Im not hip with all areas, but I hear there are some friendly neighborhoods like willow glen and the area west of the shark tank.

If you really want to move north go look at Oakland, no seriously I'm not kidding. Its kind of awesome in some spots.

My work does have shuttles, but unfortunately they only go to main campus and not to my specific office which is ~3 miles away. But yah, finding a younger area could be the way to go, but if I'm going to commute at all then I might as well be in the city, is my thinking. I currently live and work in Mountain View, so, all-in-all it's a pretty sleepy place (no taco trucks open past 10pm =( , and the downtown nightlife options are ... lackluster to say the least ).

Anyways, thanks for the input guys. I come from a small college town with tons of nightlife and excitement where you could literally get anywhere within 10 minutes driving or on a bus, so having to pick the city and living far from work or being close to work and having basically nothing to do on weekends is rough.

I'm going to talk to some of my SF-commuting co-workers and get their input as well. Won't be an easy decision, but my lease is up April 1st so, gotta decide soon.
 

broz0rs

Member
Downtown San Jose is pretty decent in terms of nightlife.

I tried CalTrain and BART from Santa Clara to SF. It's less stressful than driving, but it takes double the time that it took to drive.
 
It won't stay that way forever.

Me and my GF been going too open houses around East Oakland, it will be her second house and yes, MAN! let me say this, there around alot of people now, going to open houses even in the hood ....let say you gotta have at least 10-15% extra over asking price for homes in Oakland now ...crazy how it become since i bought my own home 1.5yr ago
 

broz0rs

Member
I remember a few years ago a friend of mine told me he bought an Oakland condo in Jack London Square. I think I laughed a bit thinking about a bunch of Oakland stereotypes. Then I went there, and was floored. We followed that up with a dinner at Downtown Oakland.

I felt a bit of jealousy after that visit. The laughs on me.
 
Yah, I've read the study. I used to commute from Berkeley to SF and that wasn't too bad, but it was also about half the commute I'd have going from SF to the South Bay. My real point of contention is if the benefit of being close to the hustle and bustle of the city is worth the extra commute every day.

It's not. Everyone I know who made this call -- and working in SJ I know a number of such people -- gave up again after a year.
 

Blunoise

Member
So you guys saying that Oakland is a good place to be now? I was actually thinking of moving there for the Bay Area, or it would be LA instead...convince me gaf!
 
So you guys saying that Oakland is a good place to be now? I was actually thinking of moving there for the Bay Area, or it would be LA instead...convince me gaf!

The entire bridge/ocean angle is stupid. There's really no easy way to get from the East Bay to the South Bay.
 

broz0rs

Member
So you guys saying that Oakland is a good place to be now? I was actually thinking of moving there for the Bay Area, or it would be LA instead...convince me gaf!

I'm LA raised, but live in the Bay.

I like LA better because there's so much things to do, simply because the city is so huge that it can be a small country. However, I live in South Bay because of work. The money is easily better here. It doesn't even come close career-wise.

I just hope one day I can exercise these stock-options so I can move back to LA and work at a ramen place just for fun.
 
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