...when you fully understand and agree with their ranking as the worst area to drive in!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/washington-rated-the-worst-for-traffic-congestion--again/2013/02/04/125be724-6ee3-11e2-8b8d-e0b59a1b8e2a_story.html

If you are a government worker in DC and it starts to snow.

You rethink your relocation when you've been here less than one week & the snipers start 3 weeks of chaos! Oh...and your company has you traveling in a white panel truck.

...you can take the subway to another state
...it can sometimes take 30 minutes to drive 3 miles on 66, no matter the time of day
..."I got stuck behind a motorcade" is a valid excuse for being late

If the term contractor initially makes you think of government contracts not construction.

If you are blocked from getting to work because of the latest group of protesters, million whatever march, occupy whatever.... and naked people protesting for animal rights don't get a second glance.

If you get the day off for Emancipation Day.

If your boss or their boss changes every time the election goes to the other political party because they are an appointee.

If you ride the subway to work in January with no pants on. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock/wp/2014/01/09/no-pants-day-coming-to-metro-on-sunday/

Going to the mall doesn't always mean shopping.

OMG....forgot about the "no pants day"!!

You know what NoVa Knee is & if you've ever had a manual transmission...you've had it!

If you've ever read "The Hot Zone", you'll never allow yourself to live or work in Reston!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hot_Zone

Bungalowmo I just moved to Reston, but no fears here. A friend of mine at work (NIH) is the world's leading authority on Ebola and related viruses.

I guess only design dilemmas show up if you're just browsing by clicking "advice" at the top of the page. Kinda disappointing more people aren't jumping in and adding their 2c worth but I guess they just don't ever click the "Other" option on the side of the page.

I know what you mean. You started this post from the California post, but I don't recall how I even found that. Wasn't looking in "other". Hmmmmmm

So...had you ever read the book? Scary stuff! I work just south of there in Herndon....but live out in Fro Ro! haha

Actually that California post was started by Emily Hurley under the design dilemma heading. Since I've lived in Maryland (born & raised), Virginia ( 2 yrs of boarding academy, 1 yr in Richmond, just moved to Reston in Feb.), California (4 yrs while ex was in med school), Michigan (4 yrs of college), Mississippi (6 yrs while ex was in residency and getting started) and spent significant amounts of time visiting grandparents in Pennsylvania, Florida and Kentucky, I have fun with that sort of thread. What do you do for a living? I work at the NIH in Bethesda with a bunch of brain surgeons although I'm a computer nerd myself.

Hi. We lived just outside of Alexandria during the Carter term and just into the beginning of Reagan's term. I loved it and was my favorite place to live during my hubby's military career. The schools were fantastic and Northern Virginia at the time had the highest per-capita income. Holla!

I mentioned the snow because there was a "tongue n cheek" article in the Star about the poor government worker trapped in DC and it was going to snow and the poor thing couldn't decide what to do, flee or stay the night!!

My other favorite were the drivers coming toward the beltway and not getting off on the correct off-ramp to the correct state. Many times there would be cars backing up to get to the off-ramp, usually someone from New York! No offense to anyone from New York!! LOL

And speaking of New York, we had only been in Virginia a very short time when we needed some minor welding done to something and the guy was going to charge us more because he thought we had a New York license plate. Ha ha That just killed me, talk about ROFL!

Bungalowmom, you prob found this thread on right hand side of dilemmas. They put other threads from diff places on Houzz there that may be of interest. ((:

Now I know we have more than 5 people from the mid-atlantic on Houzz.... anyone else want to chime in?

I'm a Michigan transplant...via Pennsylvania.

Lived in Flint, MI until I was 28, moved to the Lehigh Valley from 86 to 2002, then moved to VA to work for a Pro Audio Visual company (think white panel truck), then left there to work as A/V Engineer for the Army Materiel Command. They used to be in Alexandria but moved to Ft. Belvoir. That was early '03 thru '06. After that, moved to the TSA Op Center. Cannot believe I've been here almost 8 years!

Been interesting living in this area. Met some amazing people! Found my Old House & planted myself firmly in that place. Lord willing...I'll die with those keys in my hand! Just like all the generations before me :0)

We need to find some more folks to add to our little mixed bag here!

Yes indeed!

I like

Jessica - i love that you call the metro a subway ;-) i called it that too when first began my commute from Southern Maryland to DC and was quickly schooled! lol

bungalowmo - where in PA? I grew up in Latrobe

When you find someone who also lived in Bowie, and the first thing out of your mouth is "what section did you lived in?" or "I lived in the M-s"!