June 28, 2007

Heather. Redmon. · Post by **Heather. Redmon.** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 8:03 pm

My interview went well today. I'm glad it's over. Now I just have to wait to find out if I win. I hope the results are posted soon! Wait, it's work, not songfight.

Today was our team's evening out, we got to leave work at 3:00. My boss, Kelly, took us to a movie and happy hour. Well, she paid for the movie, but we had to buy our own snacks at the theater and drinks at the bar. We saw Evan Almighty. It was the only movie we all could agree on. It was pretty cheesey, but it made me laugh in a few parts and it was way better than being at work. There were free burgers and dogs along with 2 for 1 drinks at Bootleggers, a pretty good deal. It was weird going "out" with a group of people I otherwise have nothing in common with.

When I got home, the kids were so happy to see me and lavished me with many hugs and kisses. It was the best.

It looks like this weekend is shaping up to be a kids at the grandparent's house/date weekend. Phil and I want to see Eagle vs. Shark, but it doesn't appear to be playing here. Bummer.

QotD: Most of my wardrobe is black or black and white. I've been in the habit of wearing black since my Jr. High "goth" days. If I am to wear color, I usually opt for green, red or maroonish, but sometime blue. This whole idea of color has been a very recent development. I'm not really into patterns, I like my colors solid.

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 8:21 pm

I suppose I should answer my own question. Plaid is my favorite pattern, but purple is my favorite solid color. I actually don't wear plaid that often, aside from my bathrobe and my pajama pants, and I have a few plaid button-down shirts that I wear for performance purposes. Mostly I wear solid colors, and I also have quite a few gray shirts since often I prefer to just wear black khakis and a gray shirt and I might do that same color scheme for a whole week.

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 8:35 pm

Heather. Redmon. wrote:Now I just have to wait to find out if I win. I hope the results are posted soon!

I voted for you........mentally.

jack · Post by **jack** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 10:26 pm

hey fluffy, i'm a bit behind here, but if you're moving to the hood, you might check out los gatos to live, it's nice and not too far from mountain view, maybe a 20 minute drive, but it sits in the santa cruz mountains foothills so it's pretty sweet.

mountain view is nice too, good downtown, blue's got a nice little place over there. redwood city is nice too.

santa cruz to mountain view is about a 30-45 minute commute each way. maybe 20 minutes from los gatos to mountain view.

living in SF and working in mountain view, you really don't want to do that. it's an ugly commute on 101, and you'll be pissed off all the time.

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 10:45 pm

It's the other way around. I'd be working in SF, and living in (probably) Mountain View, and taking Caltrain for the commute. That's with the first position I'm interviewing for.

Basically the two possibilities are:

1. Really cool job at San Francisco office of a really well-known multinational corporation

2. Less-glamorous but still pretty interesting job at a nichey demi-startup in Santa Clara

Clearly for case 1 I would want to live CLOSER to SF than Mountain View (which I see as about the furthest away I'd want to get before the commute goes from ridiculous to soul-rending). For case 2, Los Gatos would be reasonable. :) (Though Santa Clara seems pretty nice to live in anyway.)

jack · Post by **jack** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 11:03 pm

working in the city i'd probably try to live there. keep your eye on craigslist. alameda could be a cool option as it's cheap for the bay area, cleaning itself up but still has some funky character, and you could take a ferry to the city that would drop you off downtown.

i got pretty burned out on the city after 10 plus years there but i still miss it. going up there saturday morning in fact.

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 11:21 pm

See, that's the thing, I get burned out on living in the heart of a metropolitan area really quickly. Also I'd like to live somewhere that I have a remote possibility of buying a home in.

What are transit options like from Alameda? It doesn't look like it's particularly expedient to get from Alameda to the part of town that this office is in (right by the Caltrain station on 4th and Townsend), at least <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&g ... 3&om=1">by car</a>, and I'd really much rather take mass transit anyway.

Also... isn't that where they keep the nuclear wessels?

jack · Post by **jack** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 7:27 am

4th and townshend is right next to the ballpark. the alameda ferry drops you off at the ferry building. it's probably a 10 minute walk from the ferry building around the embarcadero to the ballpark, but it's a really nice walk (or even quicker bike ride, as the ferry allows bikes).

anyways, it's something i'd consider if i worked downtown.

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:45 am

Ooh, saucy.

Rabid Garfunkel · Post by **Rabid Garfunkel** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 9:30 am

Welcome back bill. ...and boy are my arms tired!

Someone had to say it.

Don't forget BART, y'all, though I don't remember where the nearest station to Alameda is.

Hoblit · Post by **Hoblit** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 9:50 am

I was sick yesterday. Eh, sick today to, but at work...so I have to be in front of a computer.

qotd: I'm the typical earth color guy. Lots of flat greens, browns, greys. I wear my share of black as well. Orange is my favorite color and purple comes in a close second. I have orange & purple shirts that are mostly solid. Not real pattern guy but have a couple to shake things up. No purple or orange pants. That'd just be weird.

Black wingtips. Black short boots. Brown Vans.
Train conductor hat, black greek fisherman hat, green army cap, bill removed baseball cap, black leather fedora, white and blue florida fishers hat.

HeuristicsInc · Post by **HeuristicsInc** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 10:38 am

Rabid Garfunkel wrote:Welcome back bill. ...and boy are my arms tired!

I thought about it, but I was too tired

thanks!
-bill

king_arthur · Post by **king_arthur** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 11:02 am

Nearest BART Station to Alameda is Fruitvale, and that's not one you want to be getting off on late at night... as I recall, Alameda to downtown S.F. is going to involve going east into the rough part of Oakland, taking BART back around west to the City, and you'd be going with rush hour ridership both ways, so you'd be standing both ways most days... the Transbay bus terminal is (was?) right downtown there, that might be a much better option, catch some sort of AC Transit bus to Alameda, again, try not to have to change buses in Fruitvale.

Somebody who has actually lived in the Bay Area in the last twenty years will no doubt correct me on all that, but that's what I remember... if there is some sort of ferry directly from Alameda over to the City, that would be your transit of choice. I _have_ heard that Alameda is a good place to find relatively reasonably-priced housing, there are condos along the "beach" that a friend on a limited budget was looking at...

Charles

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 11:26 am

BART scares me anyway. It's like yesterday's transit of tomorrow, today, but not nearly as much effort has been put into keeping it modern as went into making it look futuristic when it was first built.

I really like Caltrain though. Ferries are generally nice too but living in Alameda means having to go through Oakland for any non-ferry transportation.

king_arthur · Post by **king_arthur** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 11:39 am

Well, the thing I'll say for BART (and, again, it's been 20 years since I rode it regularly) is that it connects the areas of mostly housing with the areas of mostly offices, and if where you need to go is somewhere near BART, it gets you there in a reasonable fashion.

Of course, in the 35 years since they built it, housing and office construction has taken into account that "near BART" is a good thing, so in that sense even more of the places someone might live or work are "near BART" or well-connected. It's kind of a pain to have to take a feeder bus to to the Oakland Airport, but I think they send a few trains directly into SFX now.

Santa Clara may not be quite as glamorous / exciting a place to live as it sounds like, particularly if you're depending on public transportation, but if you have a car when you need one, it's okay.

Charles

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 11:45 am

I do have a car, and Santa Clara isn't glamorous but it's close to stuff that is, and most of my friends are in the general Santa Clara/Mountain View area. With either job I'd probably live in Mountain View and either commute by train to San Francisco or by car to Santa Clara. But I really won't know until I look.

jack · Post by **jack** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 12:01 pm

santa clara is actually pretty nice, near santa clara university.

affordable housing in the bay area is an oxymoron if you didn't already know that.

if anything fluffy, you might even look for a rent controlled sublease in the city. like i said, keep an eye on ctraigslist for the best opportunities.

as for buying, maybe a TIC (tenancy in common) might be an option, but unless you've got about 100k for a deposit, forget about it.

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 9:47 pm

I couldn't do the mass transit thing.

Caravan Ray · Post by **Caravan Ray** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 12:23 am

Billy's Little Trip wrote:I couldn't do the mass transit thing.

That is why Americans are destroying the earth.

Either live where you work, or do the mass transit thing.

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 1:08 am

My business is where I live. We don't travel more than 20 miles left to right, up or down.
You don't have to be a tree hugger to care. I care about the environment and the people within it.

WeaselSlayer · Post by **WeaselSlayer** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 1:22 am

I don't. Earth is fucked, get over it.

Billy's Little Trip · Sat Jun 30, 2007 12:48 pm

Luke makes baby Geronimo cry.