Only a few days in Northern California but there are a few marked differences already. Since I spend so much time on the road, it's where I've noticed the most. My first day here I had a moment of realizing that I could SEE in front of me and for several miles. Why? Because there is a conspicuous absence of giant vehicles. The trucks that I've seen are work trucks and there is a plethora of old Toyota trucks that are 10-20 years old, used faithfully and taken care of. (My mom's husband has one parked in their driveway that she's been harping on him to get rid of.) Mini-coopers and Priuses are very popular and in general, people here drive smaller, more fuel efficient cars.
The second difference is that they actually DRIVE. I was cruising in the fast lane at 80 miles per hour this morning, along with everyone else. The people in the next lane were going 75, the next lane 70 and the slow lane 65, the speed limit. In Los Angeles, people sit in the fast lane, going exactly the same speed as every other lane causing others to insanely swerve in and out of all the lanes trying to get places. Here, the ego has been removed from the driving equation.
There was an accident today and while traffic slowed, it was momentary, we drove right past at 35-40mph. L.A. people come to a slow crawl and gape long after they've physically passed the crash site as if expecting to see Brad Pitt giving Angelina Jolie mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The entire Bay Area smells like the forest, it's filled with pine trees and my drive (soon to be bus ride) down the 280 is a jaunt through rolling hills shrouded in fog and punctuated by a long lake and groves of redwoods.
My co-workers are awesome and today when I was stressed out, one came to my desk with a stuffed animal on her head, the other with a large Darth Vader figure in hand singing a "don't stress" song. They live in Noe Valley and take a company bus to work that goes straight from SF to our "campus." It takes an hour and there's wi-fi on the bus in case you want to work. When I mentioned that I was going to look in San Jose (for a place to live) my co-workers became very concerned and wondered if they'd have to do an intervention. Hundreds of people do the hour commute from the city to the 'burbs for work.
When I first walked into our office, I thought it looked like the companies they use in romantic comedies (where the hip girlfriends help our heroine negotiate the dating terrain). Their little cheerleading only supported that theory that, in fact, I'm working in a romantic comedy! Our totally gorgeous gay boss, that I have a crush on, took us for coffee this afternoon to chat a little about work but mostly just for fun. There's a free gym on campus, an ATM, dry cleaners and a cafe that makes every kind of food you could want for cheap. I love this job and tomorrow I'm going to Noe Valley apartment hunting. Wish me luck!
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