Arizona Sucks

It would appear as though spring has arrived in the Phoenix area, with daytime high temperatures in the 70-85 degree range for this past week and this trend is expected to continue. The weather, baseball spring training, and a number of local shootings is all we have really been hearing about over the last couple weeks out here. Everyone, as usual, is constantly talking about how nice the weather is going to be and how this is weather worth bragging about to everyone up north and all the usual Arizona nonsense whenever it comes to the climate out here. Quotes such as ‘this is why we live here’ and ‘I’ll put up with the summers for weather like this’ are heard at least five times a day. People in Phoenix just love to talk about the weather and it is brought up more than you could ever imagine. Don’t have an answer or don’t know what to say or just want to hear yourself talk? Bring up the weather – it almost always works in handling any situation you will find yourself in out here.

And I will agree that the month or so of mild temperatures we get during the spring is a nice change of pace from the horrible summers and uncertain winter months we get here in Arizona. However, this one month of spring-like temperatures is just one of about two months of the entire year where I would say the weather in Arizona is even close to approaching the levels of greatness that so many in Arizona brag about YEAR ROUND. It is really only during these couple months of the year that we get nice and mild daytime temperatures, with a pleasant cool down overnight. Days like these just aren’t around for very long out here so you really should try and get in all the hiking, golfing, gardening, washing the cars, barbecuing, and anything else that goes on outdoors while you still can without having to put your life at risk. These days have to be taken advantage of as much as possible in Arizona, because we all know what is right around the corner…

As the temperature keeps on climbing, you can’t help but think about the 100 degree days which are only just a month or so away. Before we know it, everyone will be essentially locked in their homes day-after-day in order to avoid the excessive heat. The five or so months of summer in Arizona gets really old, really quick. Sure, you can drive in any direction and escape the extremes, but you still know it will be waiting for you as soon as you get back. Does anyone else out there view the increasing temperatures as simply a warning sign that the five months of dreadful, blistering, uncomfortable, and depressing weather is on its way?

I’m pretty sure most anywhere can claim they have at least two months of really nice weather a year, and that is without having to endure a seemingly endless summer every year….

In case you missed it, the Associated Press just put out an article titled, ‘People in Sunny States Happiest, New York Least’. The article went on to state that people in sunny and outdoorsy states are among the happiest in the country. People are supposedly most happy in states with good climates, low crime rates, good air quality, and good schools. All of these factors makes perfect sense to me except for one small part of the article. How in the world does a state filled with crime, extreme temperatures, illegals, piss poor schools, no jobs, and nothing to do but drink to excess rank fifth in the entire country? That’s right, Arizona has been ranked in the top five states with the happiest people.

The only thing Arizona even comes close to having on the ‘happiness checklist’ is abundant sunshine and more often than not the sunshine is filtered through the brown cloud which is just about permanently planted over the Phoenix area these days. If you have considered moving to Arizona for the sunshine or the supposed glorious weather, remember just this one thing. Abundant sunshine isn’t going to pay your bills and it surely isn’t going to stop your children from being robbed at gun point while on the school bus.

Arizona is not an outdoorsy state and there really aren’t many exciting outdoor activities if that is your thing, especially so in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The main outdoor activity in Arizona is hiking and that can only be done safely for about half of the year or so. The most popular outdoor activity amongst most Arizonans is getting plowed outside on a bar’s patio.

You’d be an idiot to think a state full of uneducated degenerates and illegals is going to have low crime rates. The crime in Arizona has been continually on the rise and it is only going to get worse. Not to mention the crimes in this state are truly like something out of a horror movie.

The brown cloud and the traffic backups speaks enough for the air quality in Arizona. While, Arizona’s dead last ranking in public education tells the whole story of Arizona’s education system. Remember, it doesn’t matter if you think you are in a good school district – your kids are still far behind the rest of the country.

In the end, it couldn’t be more obvious that the writer of this article has never been to and has certainly not lived in Arizona, but this ranking is still worth a laugh especially for those of us who know the truth about Arizona and aren’t living in some sort of fantasy state of mind. Share your thoughts about Arizona’s ranking below.

Merry Christmas!

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-12-18-happiest-states_N.htm

In case you missed it or are fortunate enough to be outside of the Phoenix area, a local Arizona news station ran a piece last week about how life out in Arizona might be portrayed to the rest of the country. Viewers were left to ponder the question of whether or not the state of Arizona has a national image problem. Surprisingly enough, this is a great example of the typical Arizona attitude for you – instead of considering what the necessary steps are to begin fixing the multitude of problems currently plaguing the state and its millions of residents, even the news stations out here are more concerned with only how Arizona and its people LOOK to the National eye. With that being said, it is pretty clear to most people these days that Arizona does have an increasing image problem because the truth about Arizona has been exposed as the population growth went way up in recent years, and also as a result of the mortgage fraud and subsequent real estate meltdown out here in the last few years. Here are just a couple of Arizona’s many problems grabbing attention in the national spotlight:

Worst school systems in the country – that’s right, every single other state around the country outranks Arizona when it comes to public schooling. Education is not valued in Arizona and this certainly affects all facets of life out here from the workplace to the grocery store to eating out at a restaurant. You can continue to make excuses, move your children to another Arizona school district, or even continue lying to yourself – it does not matter though – you are putting your children’s safety and future at risk by sending them to any of Arizona public schools. If you have kids or plan on having children, you really should re-evaluate settling down in Arizona at least until your children are in college.

Increasing violence and hate crimes – every single year, the violence in Arizona seems to be getting worse and increasingly more violent. Nobody wants to admit to it, but these crimes are increasing and becoming even more commonplace – and don’t think you can escape it by moving to a supposedly higher income zip code or to a gated community. Arizona boasts some of the craziest, most unbelievable crime stories that you could not even make up if you wanted to. Watch just one day of the local Arizona news and you will never want to step foot in this place again.

Weather – the one problem that can never be fixed, but it is still important to continually point out how dreadful and depressing the summers can be out here. You know the weather in Arizona is terrible when even people who are just quickly passing through on a cross-country road trip still feel the need to complain about how high the temperatures are out here. It’s never going to get any cooler in Arizona, so stay far away unless you are prepared for month-after-month of the extreme heat, and the famous Arizona dry heat argument goes right out the window when the temperatures are over 100 degrees.

Economy – what economy? Arizona population growth is dwindling, construction is way down, there were never any great jobs in Arizona, and now we have a surplus of houses and commercial buildings. How is Arizona going to turn it all around this time? Can Arizona rely on its economic growth strategy with such a poor national image? Probably not – Arizona is a retirement and winter golf state, at best, and that is all it should have ever been provided there was enough water for all this grass out here.

What it really comes down to is what does the state of Arizona have to offer you? Is it the comparatively warmer winters? Or is it all the congestion, pollution, violence, and blowing dust storms? What does Arizona offer you that you can’t find anywhere else, except for those 4-5 months of temperatures over 100 degrees? Don’t wait for Arizona to try and fix its deteriorating image – get out while you still can and still have your sanity.

Many thanks to member, Out of AZ, for recently posting this invaluable, honest look at how life really is in Arizona. I wanted to be sure everyone got a chance to read it, so enjoy!

I lived in the Phoenix area of AZ for eight years and just moved back to CO this summer. There are definitely negatives about anywhere, but there seems to be more in Phoenix than most. I’ve lived in NY, CA, CO, and NE and AZ is definitely the worst of all the places I’ve been.

For the nation’s fifth biggest city, there is absolutely nothing to do. You can go to one of 1235 shopping malls around the valley to escape the heat or go watch a movie, but you can do that anywhere in the country. You can go to an indoor baseball game if you can afford it. If you don’t have a swimming pool, your time in Phoenix will be miserable. If you do have a pool, expect crazy APS/SRP electric bills due to the pool and 24-hour air conditioning your house will need to keep it livable.

Your car will take a beating, the heat notwithstanding, but also the AZ drivers that you’ll drive defensively to avoid slamming into. Constant road construction is also a negative. There is approximately 15 miles of valley freeway closed every weekend for construction.

The job scene isn’t all that great. Not only is this place a right-to-work (more like right-to-get-fired-for-no-reason) state, the economy is heavily dependent on construction, which has all but ceased to exist right now.

There are like 21236 strip malls in Phoenix that look exactly like the 21235 others in the area. Same stores, same restaurants, same landscaping. It’s pretty hellish. And now, roughly half of most of the strip malls stand empty because of Arizona’s economy (and the broader US economy as well).

There’s no culture here. I’m not kidding. The best Mexican food here comes from chain restaurants. Or at least that’s what most Phoenicians think. Most Phoenicians love spending long weekends in Mexico but look down on Mexicans, Mexican food, and Mexican culture. Any other culture? Forget it, the best Italian food in the valley is at Olive Garden, the best Chinese is at Panda Express. For a metro area with a population over 4 million, it’s pretty pathetic.

The homes/neighborhoods/cities all look the same. Stucco brown boxes with eight tons of crushed rock in the front yard. You don’t know if you are in Ahwatukee, Tempe, Peoria or Chandler. It’s all the same.

I don’t know about public schools, I don’t have kids. But I will say that if you really think you’re going to receive a world-class education in a college with 70,000 others like at ASU or by paying tens of thousands for a degree people may or may not take seriously like at University of Phoenix, this may be a good place.

Phoenix is a waste. Truly. They waste water for miles of grass for golf courses or huge resorts. There are fountains and fake lakes everywhere. It’s great if you want to live near a body of green water so you can be eaten alive by mosquitoes. They waste electricity. How else do you justify living in a town that can get upwards of 120 degrees?

Phoenix is a demonstration of human accomplishment and hubris all at once. The fact that you can take a desolate, uninhabitable desert and turn it into the nation’s fifth-largest city shows what we can accomplish as a society. But for what purpose? So your kids can stay indoors for six months watching tv and playing video games because it’s too hot to play outside. So you can drive in your air conditioned car to your air conditioned office and back to your air conditioned home. So you can earn less money than most people doing the same job in the rest of the country. All this, with fluctuating real estate values, increasing crime, decreasing job opportunities, it’s all reason to stay out of Phoenix.

Have you thought about relocating to Arizona and wondered what the average weather was like through out the year? Or have you moved to Arizona and realized that the summers are a lot longer and hotter than your Arizona Realtor had you believing? Maybe the winters aren’t as warm and comfortable as you imagined? For some reason, whenever people talk about the weather anywhere they love bringing up the average temperatures going month by month. While, average temperatures do in fact give you a vague idea of what to expect, can you really rely on these Arizona average temperatures to tell you the whole story?

Unfortunately, in a place like Arizona that has experienced so much growth and construction and everything else in recent years, you really cannot count on these given temperatures which are often averaged from the daily temperatures over the last 100 years or so. As the Phoenix area blew up into a sprawling mess of concrete, asphalt, strip malls, houses, and plastic people it really solidified hotter days and nights for the entire area. All these buildings, homes, and roadways have no choice but to retain all that heat and energy from the never-ending sunny days, and then this heat is slowly radiated back into the atmosphere. Thus, creating a situation where it ends up even hotter during the day than it ever was in the past and there is no relief when the sun goes down either. The entire Phoenix area has unquestionably become a great deal warmer now than when the area was significantly less populated and built up. What really makes this scenario quite interesting is how the entire Phoenix economy was tied to increased growth – so, just to ensure the city’s survival it meant more buildings, roadways, and houses and with this came the higher temperatures for everyone to enjoy.

If you were to only look at the averages, then Arizona summers suddenly look quite a bit more survivable. Averages would tell you that Arizona summers have highs only in the very low 100s with night time lows hovering around the 80 degree mark. Unfortunately, the truth is that is is getting hotter every summer across the Phoenix area and this past July was the hottest month ever recorded in Arizona. It is now early September, and we are still suffering from temperatures approaching 110 degrees. These summers, you rarely see days where the high temperature is below 105-108 degrees and the number of days where the temperature is over the 110 mark seem to be increasing every year. Night time lows during an Arizona summer are often closer to the uppers 80s with quite a few nights not even getting out of the 90s.

You can’t really put into words just how hot, brutal, and long the summers are in Arizona so if you are thinking about relocating here, you might want to make an extended trip during the peak of summer to see how bad it really is. Whatever you do, don’t simply rely on the average temperatures given to you and certainly don’t move here or anywhere just for the weather.

If you have read through this blog or if you have spent anything more than a weekend in Arizona, then you should be quite familiar with the countless problems which are currently plaguing most of the state. Some people are under the impression that these issues exist at the same magnitude everywhere else around the country. While there are many issues which certainly affect everyone around the entire country, there is a few that Arizona residents can really claim as their own. Some of these major downfalls found throughout Arizona would include:

Lack of Good Jobs – it’s no secret that a lot of people and areas are hurting in this department right now. A lot of very qualified people are unable to find jobs and everyday someone you know is getting laid-off somewhere. The difference between Arizona and most other places is that Arizona has always had a slim number of strong career opportunities. Even when the economy turns, most in Arizona will still be working at grocery stores or trying to sell overpriced condos – this is not the case in most other places.

Terrible Schools – Arizona has the worst public education system in the country. It is under-funded, overcrowded, and infiltrated with illegals. You cannot argue with the facts – and remember – even if you think your local school district is better, remember it really is just comparatively better when put up against another deprived Arizona school district. Go outside of Arizona and the truth will haunt you for the rest of your life, and you can bet the school system here will surely affect your children’s future as well.

Questionable People – Arizona is one giant melting pot with grossly measured ‘ingredients’ leading to an unpleasant taste and an insufficient balance. In Arizona, you have just a couple at the top, a few in the middle, and an abundance of bottom feeders. Just sharing a grocery store aisle with one of these Arizona deadbeats will boggle your mind and make you question your own existence. It really is one of those places where it is everyone for themselves – you can’t trust anyone out here and you shouldn’t even try.

Extremely Hot Weather – ideal climate is certainly a matter of opinion. Arizona happens to have months on end of temperatures over 100 degrees. Some might prefer the comparatively mild winters here over the snow found elsewhere, but you certainly pay for it during the summer months. Regardless of opinion, you surely can’t say anywhere else in the country puts up with non-stop heat like those in Arizona do from the months of March – September.

Illegals Galore – how long is it going to be before illegals outnumber the number of US citizens in Arizona? In exchange for the increased strain on our schools, hospitals, and law enforcement; we reap the benefits of more crime, more unfit and uninsured drivers on the road, increased spread of disease, as well as national security risks too.

What do you think? What sort of fantasy land are people living in who think Arizona shares the same problems as anywhere else?

It’s hot this time of year. In fact, it is insanely hot. And as much as people from Arizona love talking about the weather, it seems like there is still a large percentage of them who just don’t get it. Being outside for extended periods during this time of year will take a toll on your body no matter who or what you may think you are. It will wear you out, dehydrate you, and could even kill you if you are not prepared for it.

Deciding to head up a mountain completely unprepared will certainly put your health and safety at risk, as well as those who will eventually have to come and rescue you. Many people in Arizona refuse to plan ahead or appropriately, and instead end up getting on TV or in the newspaper. Some even get to experience their first helicopter ride. Probably not how they had always dreamt, but summertime hiking rescues are all too common in Arizona.

Why are there so many hiking stories gone wrong across Arizona? Could it be that typical Arizona mentality that is becoming all too common – always trying to outshine the next person in any way, shape, or form no matter what the consequences could be.

Instead of drinking plenty of water, your Arizona hiker is most likely already intoxicated and has only packed 40s along with a flask for the hike. Of course, dressing appropriately would make too much sense. What’s the point of hiking, if you aren’t going to look great while doing it? These hikers are sporting designer clothes which couldn’t even be comfortable while sitting inside a climate controlled restaurant or office building. Why go to work when you can take a sick day and go hiking during the hottest part of the day while simultaneously working on your tan?

Now, obviously these examples are a bit extreme, but, if you really value your life then make sure you drink enough water, dress appropriately, and know your limits. Nobody is going to be impressed watching the breaking news story as you get rescued while hiking in Arizona during the summer, but a lot of us will probably laugh at your misfortune. Even more so, if you go down while wearing a stupid Ed Hardy t-shirt.

So, Arizona, where’s the common sense?

Most everyone, everywhere will go through some sort of honeymoon phase whenever he or she moves somewhere new. Many of you who have or are considering relocating to Arizona just based on a short visit out here will be in for a real treat once you make the move. Life in Arizona is a lot different when you are actually living here – just like almost anywhere else. Within two weeks of moving to Arizona, chances are you will be wishing you had stayed where you came from or had moved elsewhere.

Weather – the weather might have seemed nice during that March visit especially compared with most of the rest of the country at that time. Just wait for those summer months when the temperature hits 119 degrees. Arizona residents like to justify it as only a dry heat – the fact of the matter is 119 degrees is 119 degrees. That is easily 20 – 30 degrees warmer than most of the country during the summer months.

Traffic – the traffic might not seem so bad during a visit when you are more likely to be on the road while everyone else is at work. If you make the move, be prepared for hour long commutes with the worst drivers in the country. The commute is even more enjoyable when the temperatures climb over 100 outside.

The people – they may seem nice at your hotel, they may even seem nice at some restaurants. You will notice within two weeks of moving here that the majority of people are unfriendly, arrogant, and you will be judged solely on your material possessions. Everyone tries to one-up each other out here, even though there really is not much money here to begin with.

Leisurely activities – it may seem like there is a lot to do in Arizona if you come out here for just a week. Move here, and you will quickly realize there really is a limited amount of activities out here, besides getting drunk every day like most residents end up doing.

How long did it take you to realize that Arizona sucks after moving here? Two weeks? A month?