I actually don't hate parallels, even though like you said, most people say they hate it. I have to have windows in some form or another for school stuff that can only be accessed through IE, and a few other school related programs that don't have mac equivelants. Prior to the new job I had parallels in order to run speaker related programs like Bass Box Pro. Trust me, if I could get away without ever installing parallels I would, but schools are notoriously mac incompatible, so I grudgingly continue to keep parallels, or should I say, continue to hatefully give money to microsoft for their stupid OS'.
For design apps, I do use mac stuff, like dreamweaver for mac and all that. I only use windows for about 4 things, but 3 of them I have to have which is annoying.