Things I Miss About Living in the Silicon Valley

Whenever I come down to the San Francisco Bay Area, various people suggest to me that I should move back. Having moved away in 1997, I am all too familiar with the area. As such, there are things I miss in no particular order:

1. The weather. It’s generally nicer there than it is in the Seattle area.

2. I know lots of people there. In addition to my co-workers, I know several other people there. Part of my family (my aunt & uncle, their daughters, and their families) lives in and around Scotts Valley.

3. Scotts Valley and the whole Santa Cruz area. I was born in Santa Cruz and lived all around that area until I was 13. Many a fond memory there.

4. Pink Godzilla. The best Sushi restaurant in the Santa Cruz area, hands down.

5. Frys, Weird Stuff, and Surplus Computers. Yeah, there’s a Frys in Seattle now, but it’s nowhere near where I live. Weird Stuff has lots of old computers, parts, and various doo-hickies. Surplus Computers is a new place I discovered from a co-worker. They have lots of cool stuff cheap.1gb MMC for $79. A 5-in-1 memory card reader for $12. A Caillou game for Jaden for $8. Can’t beat that.

6. More upward mobility at my employer. Right now, I am somewhat constrained by the fact I am remote. There are some other issues affecting that as well, but they have nothing to do with me being remote.

7. KFOG. A radio station that doesn’t suck. As near as I can tell, it’s not owned by Clear Channel or any other mega-conglomerate media company. It’s definitely not the homogenized crap many other radio stations have become. Where else can I hear the new, catchy song by Ben Lee called Catch my Disease, Cheryl Crow, that 80s pop song Our House, Boz Skaggs, Peter Gabriel, House of Blues, and a whole bunch of other great artists?

Meanwhile, there are a few things I don’t miss:

1. Traffic. Living a ways out from Seattle and Tacoma, I am spared most traffic problems. The Bay Area has traffic everywhere.

2. Housing prices. Median price for a house in the Bay Area is over $600,000. And that’s for a crappy house. Nice houses are over a million. No thanks.

3. Cost of living. Forget housing costs, everything is just more expensive down there. Gas is a good $0.30 more a gallon there than it is in Port Orchard.

Oh well, time to land…