The cats settled in faster than I am. This move to San Francisco brought a lot of change with it. I’m living in a city for the first time, I’m living with someone again, and although I didn’t change jobs, east coast company from the west coast has brought all kinds of challenges to my previously defined daily workflow.
But I love it here! It will take some time to adjust but I’m confident that within a few months I’ll feel very at home here. Part of feeling “at home” will be the ability to return to my previous state of high productivity. I think part of the challenge project-wise was that I really took a huge step back from all projects when I started planning my move. It gave me a lot of perspective as I start coming back to all my project work, sorting out where my talents can be best spent, but it’s also made it difficult to know when and where to jump back on to the moving train. I’m very fortunate to be working on projects with wildly supportive and productive communities, where taking a break is perfectly acceptable (and supported).
As for “moving in” here. there are still boxes everywhere, and probably will be until we get our storage situation sorted out. It will be so nice when the office is finally put together and I stop wondering “which box is that thing in…” when I am looking for things.
And getting adjusted to the city? I’m certainly enjoying the food in San Francisco! I am so used to living on the outskirts of Philly where the food choices tended to be pizzerias and Chinese takeouts – which I love, but do get a bit tiring, especially since I’m a bit of a foodie. Having so many cuisines within delivery (or walking!) distance is quite novel, it’s amazing that I haven’t gained weight since moving – indeed, all the walking I’m doing is starting to have the the opposite effect. People here are great too, I already know so many people in the area through open source and other things there’s no chance that I’ll end up bored or feeling isolated, in addition to meeting up for food/drinks with a couple people already, a couple members of the Ubuntu California team have suggested meetups and offered rides to local events. And I’ve never really used public transportation so I was apprehensive about not having my own car here, but it turns out that public transportation in SF so far is not scary or very difficult to maneuver, so it’s been very convenient.
Now, time for some lunch and a movie.
Sunday, Mar 7th, 2010 at 15:28
Nice to see and hear you are finding your feet over there in SF….
Is SF public transportation expensive compared to Philly or indeed any other places you have been?
Sunday, Mar 7th, 2010 at 20:21
I am not too sure about expense, I know they’ve raised it significantly in the past few years so it’s probably much less economical than it used to be. Still, driving in cities is a pain and parking can be expensive in touristy areas (and public transit rocks in the tourist areas) so I think it really depends on where you are and what you’re doing.