At my place on right on the beach...life is good.

I accomplished what I set to do which was to live near the beach. Last weekend, I sat out on the beach and got a sunburn. The ocean breeze is so nice that I didn't realize I was burned until I got home.

I met my first match in SF and we immediately clicked. We met for dinner at Pacific Catch over off of Chestnut. I took the 30X (marina express bus) from downtown and it dropped me off not far from the restaurant. The week before I met an old friend for dinner at Mas Sake in the same area. Anyway, after my match and I ate dinner we walked around the area and celebrated her new job at Harry's, a bar she recommended.

I drove down to Palo Alto yesterday for the second date with my match. Today we went to Moss Beach, spread out a blanket and chilled on the beach for about two hours. We then drove to Half Moon Bay and had lunch before returning to Palo Alto. I got sunburned again. More importantly, I am really enjoying the time spent with her. She is the most interesting person I've met in a long time. She is also beautiful and fit. She is very much California - smart, environmentally conscious, and exercises regularly.

I've started running again and hope to be back in shape within two months. I'll buy a bicycle soon since it's a great form of exercise and there are some great routes around and outside the city.

I've scheduled the move for my stuff in storage in Dallas and expect it to arrive in here in SF in about two weeks. I still need to purchase a mattress and sofa.

Quitting my job to move to California was the best decision I've made in a long time.

A few more nights...

I have a few more nights left in this crappy hotel before I move into my place near the beach in the Outer Sunset district of San Francisco. It has been about a month since I quit my job. I was able to rest and enjoy my time in San Diego. I stayed in Hotel Circle while there. I really like San Diego but there were no opportunities for me. I am now employed and I like my new job. It's a medium sized agency (100 people) but I already see things are a little different. It took nearly two years to get wireless and a laptop at my last job. When I finally got my laptop it was a hand me down with 12" screen. A friend at work referred to it as the "etch-a-sketch" since it was so damn small. That seems like no big deal but when you are using a computer all day it is. Next week I'll get a MacBook. Next, we will install Project Server. Learning both how to navigate a Mac and how to setup Project Server through VMware will be great experience for me. I'm looking forward to it. I am very lucky to have found work so quickly. Most of the people I work with seem alright. A lot of cute girls which is definitely a plus in advertising vs. tech industry.

Even though I'm still living out of a hotel (near the ghetto), I signed up on match.com. Why wait? I won't have any furniture in my place until I figure out what to do with my stuff that's in storage in Dallas.

I found upack.com. They will ship it in a pod to my doorstep for ~$1200. This might be a good deal considering I'd probably have to stay in a hotel two nights and pay for the uhaul truck and gas which would probably be around $800-$900 plus the cost of a flight back to Dallas ($250). I won't accrue the needed vacation time for a few months. I may go ahead and do this. The best part is I don't think I would have to be there at the storage place in Dallas but could have my dad go. Hmmm...that might work.

The weather in San Francisco is so nice. It's really kind of cold. It does get down to the 50s at night. It's often foggy along the coast but I believe that the fog is usually gone by noon.

Found a job in S.F., now to find an apartment.

I quit my job in Dallas about a month ago (July 15th) with the plan of moving to California. I talked about it for years and decided it was finally time. I started in San Diego but realized that San Diego doesn't have any big agencies and so the pay sucks. I didn't have any response from the companies I applied to in L.A. so I stayed with family in Santa Monica overnight and continued my journey North to San Francisco.

Here is a brief list of the companies I applied to:


It wasn't a surprise that I wasn't able to find a job in San Diego. I had searched google for "advertising agencies in city" and this was the result:

SF
13,156
LA
63,996
SD
4,486

I was surprised at the salaries offered in L.A. for what I do and also surprised that I only had a handful of phone interviews. It's not that I think I'm that good I just applied to a lot of companies. However, it has all worked out and now to decide where I want to live.


View City of San Francisco in a larger map

Oakland is cheaper, but I'm not quite sure I want to live there. I may have to though.

Long weekend ahead in South San Francisco

As I expected, one of the agencies I interviewed with on Tuesday offered me the job. As requested, I had submitted an application including my salary requirements and they were checking out my references. I knew an offer was imminent. Unfortunately, they basically offered me what I was making in Dallas. The job is in downtown S.F. I will counter on Monday. There is a $25K gap between what they offered and what I asked for so it could be difficult to negotiate something I'm happy with.

I visited the Google complex yesterday aka Nerd Mecca. Nothing much there. A soccer field and basketball court across the street. The offices were very generic. Apparently, most of silicon valley is just industrial office parks.

I have a phone interview on monday with a big CRM SaaS provider. :) It's a large company and would be great for my resume and probably end up being a long term gig due to the fact that it is such a large company, and would offer good benefits I'm thinking.

Now in the SF Bay Area

Cabrillo National Monument

San Diego was great. It was more of a vacation than anything else. I left San Diego and drove two hours to L.A. to visit family in Santa Monica. I stayed the night Sunday night in Santa Monica and then left for SF on Monday. I took 405 to 101/PCH to San Francisco but exited at San Luis Obispo and heading west toward the Hearst Castle. I thought I would check out the castle. I found out once I got there that the tour of the castle is by bus and lasts 2 hours. I didn't really want to spend 2 hours with a bunch of annoying kids and families and they wouldn't let you walk up to the castle (I just wanted to take a few photos), so I left. I continued driving up Cabrillo Highway (HWY 1) all the way through Santa Cruz, Sand City, San Mateo, San Bruno and on up into downtown San Francisco. I left Santa Monica at 9am and arrived at the hotel in downtown SF @ 7:30. I took around 40 photos along the way.




Cabrillo Highway 1

While in SD I setup 3 interviews in downtown S.F. The cheapest hotel I could find was the King George Hotel (intersection of Mason & Geary). Parking was expensive. I think it was $30/day. However, I didn't have to worry about public transit because I was so close to all three addresses. I interviewed at 2 agencies and with one creative recruiting firm. All 3 went very well. Based on the job ads on craigslist, my experience, and those interviews, I feel confident I'll find something before the end of next week. I want to interview at a few more places before I decide.


Amazing views along HWY 1

I moved to a new hotel outside of downtown San Francisco this morning so I could save money. I am now staying at the Quality Inn near SFO. I chose this hotel since it was in close proximity to downtown when I need to interview. The frontdesk clerk was very nice and encouraged me to come down for their breakfast, and I will. I also like the fact this hotel has a free shuttle to the airport if needed. I don't think I'll be flying anywhere, but it's nice to know it's available if I do.

The weather has been great so far. It's been in low 70s during the day and lower 60s at night. I'm excited about the future and looking forward to starting anew in the Bay Area.

Is this the right thing to do? Hope so.

I booked my hotel in San Diego earlier tonight. I have spent the last few days trying to figure out where to stay and for how long. I'm starting with 8 days in San Diego and I already have an interview the 2nd day I'm there. I think the company will offer me some contract work which depending how long it takes I may do it. The craigslist ad they posted was for 25-30 hours a week of work. It's a small shop and that to me like I may be regressing in my career. They don't want me to do project management but instead were "more impressed with my programming skills". I am not a programmer, so I am curious why they think I am. Their website isn't too bad, but they probably just hired a flash guy to knock out something quick. I noticed they haven't touched their blog they link to from their site. Not good.

So, I'm worried. Am I making the right decision? I want to believe that I am. This will make the third time that I've been to San Diego in the last 5 years. I interviewed for jobs but was not offered the position before.

I have 8 days in San Diego. If nothing substantial happens in that time I may continue on North to LA and then to SF.

Salary Comparison:
San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Dallas