As most of you already know, I moved from Nebraska to San Francisco in July. I haven’t really written anything since that happened – not for a lack of things to say, but a matter of priorities.

Today is a rainy, chilly day – the kind that would probably result in some snow and a Christmas letter back home. In that spirit, some thoughts on life in the city:

• I’m living in a tiny studio in SoMa not far from Townsend Street. It may be small, but it’s warm, modern, and I have nice neighbors, so it’s hard to want anything else.
• I had interview requests from around 20 companies when I came out here. It didn’t take me too long to figure out that Eventbrite was where I wanted to be. (Obvious disclaimer: any thoughts or opinions expressed herein are mine alone and may or may not reflect those of my employer.) I signed on as a Mobile Software Engineer and worked on the 2.0 release of the Easy Entry iPhone App. Obviously working on iOS apps is a ton of fun, but it’s even better to have incredibly smart and fun co-workers. Speaking of which: Eventbrite is hiring. Come play with us!
• Testing our iPhone app has resulted in getting to attend some pretty cool events. Like the TechCrunch Disrupt after party featuring MC Hammer, Kaskade at the Warfield, and Fleet Week at Fort Mason featuring Warren G, among others.
• In a life milestone, I attended my first John Digweed show.
• I gave the carless life a shot for 3 months after moving to San Francisco. I am very close to Caltrain, Muni Metro, and Zipcars, but all in all, it simply didn’t work out. Fortunately, I can walk to work, so my car is free to a life of leisure.
• I went back to Missouri at the end of September to get my Accord and some of the belongings I hadn’t brought when I first flew out here. The trip back to California took me through Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, and of course California for a total of 3,200 miles over 10 days. No mechanical failures occurred and my Accord reached 191,000 miles on the odometer. I got to spend some time among the Tetons, around Yellowstone, and went camping in Wyoming.
• Commuting by car (and for that matter, public transport) is relatively hellish here by midwestern standards, but recreational driving is at least as fun here as it was in Missouri. CA-35 and CA-84 are breathtaking and I plan to see some more of CA-1 after the holidays. I’ve also visited Laguna Seca; Infineon may follow next spring.
• As far as people around here go – well, there are nice ones and not-so-nice ones. There are a lot of ‘transplants’.
• The fact that Caltrain is still diesel and not electric bothers me a lot.
• Gran Turismo 5 finally came out.
• I am making up for my previous inability to do so by buying a ton of stuff at IKEA.

I’ve been here long enough that I’ve kind of forgotten about the day-to-day weirdness. If there’s something you wish you knew – ask.