Landing in California
28 Apr 2007 |
Personal
Today was the big day, leaving Utah for sunny
California—alone. Bittersweet, but such is life. I
planned my travel to maximize convenience and
flexibility once I got to San Jose, leaving me enough
time to buy some food and get situated in my new
place. Unfortunately, leaving plenty of time in the
afternoon becomes a "rob Peter to pay Paul"
situation—I had to wake up at 4:30 to catch a 5:30
shuttle, all for an 8:45 flight.
It was a good thing I left so far in advance, though, since my hair gel bottle holds a lot more than 4 ounces, which caused me to circle around right after security to check my other bag. And don't imagine they let me back through without another thorough screening, either. After all, I'm just the type that is liable to pick up a bomb during that 5 minutes. Anyway, by 7:30, I'd already put my shoes, belt, and watch on 3 times. Ah, the love I have for the TSA…
Happily, the flight went without a hitch, and I soon found myself in the tiny San Jose airport, grabbed my luggage, located a shuttle, and 30 minutes and $40 later I was at my new home in Menlo Park. I was actually pleasantly surprised at what $575 a month can get you in Silicon Valley, at least if you look closely and get lucky. The apartment has 3 bedrooms, and there are 3 of us, so it works out nicely, and the neighborhood is nice and somewhat quaint. I think I'll like it here.
As it turns out, the outgoing roomie (Spencer Nielsen, getting married on Saturday the 5th) was celebrating his birthday. Like any quick thinker, he had lined up a trip to a buffet that's free on your birthday. Our victim was Todai, a decent restaurant with one catch for an Arizonan/Texan/Utahn like me: it's a Japanese Sushi & Seafood buffet. Right. I am proud to admit that I ventured out a little and tried some sushi, albeit no raw fish. I even tried eel and calamari, but I ended up eating mostly teriyaki chicken and tempura shrimp. The verdict is… Hey, have I mentioned how much I love Mexican food?
To avoid further intrusion on Spencer's birthday, I headed off to buy groceries with our roommate Joey, an extremely nice guy whose family is from Taiwan. He also has a Porsche Boxster, which was a slight change of pace from a Honda Civic. All I have to say is that it was a good thing there were only 2 of us, because anyone else would have been out of luck, even if they wanted to ride in the trunk. Hence, my reaffirmation that I will never own a sports car—I already knew that monetarily, and now I know that physically—as they are not built for anyone over 6 feet in mind. I suppose I'm on my own if I should choose to have a mid-life crisis!
After I had a chance to ponder this epiphany, we hit up a Chinese supermarket that is inexplicably named "99 Market Ranch", one of the few English phrases to be found on the premises. It was full of new and interesting smells, and had very narrow aisles full of people jabbering in Chinese, making as much sense to me as the packages on the shelves. I felt strangely out of place, perhaps partly because I'm about 6'3" tall. Just as Joey commented that it must be strange to be the tallest guy there, a tall Asian teenager walked by, which somewhat starled me although he didn't quite break 6 feet. I had to laugh and remember many similar experiences I had in Brazil about 4 years ago. We also hit up a Mexican market closer to home, which felt a lot more normal, at least to me. With enough food to survive for the week, I headed home to get some rest and get settled in. Busy day, but somehow I get the feeling that things will get even busier come Monday…
It was a good thing I left so far in advance, though, since my hair gel bottle holds a lot more than 4 ounces, which caused me to circle around right after security to check my other bag. And don't imagine they let me back through without another thorough screening, either. After all, I'm just the type that is liable to pick up a bomb during that 5 minutes. Anyway, by 7:30, I'd already put my shoes, belt, and watch on 3 times. Ah, the love I have for the TSA…
Happily, the flight went without a hitch, and I soon found myself in the tiny San Jose airport, grabbed my luggage, located a shuttle, and 30 minutes and $40 later I was at my new home in Menlo Park. I was actually pleasantly surprised at what $575 a month can get you in Silicon Valley, at least if you look closely and get lucky. The apartment has 3 bedrooms, and there are 3 of us, so it works out nicely, and the neighborhood is nice and somewhat quaint. I think I'll like it here.
As it turns out, the outgoing roomie (Spencer Nielsen, getting married on Saturday the 5th) was celebrating his birthday. Like any quick thinker, he had lined up a trip to a buffet that's free on your birthday. Our victim was Todai, a decent restaurant with one catch for an Arizonan/Texan/Utahn like me: it's a Japanese Sushi & Seafood buffet. Right. I am proud to admit that I ventured out a little and tried some sushi, albeit no raw fish. I even tried eel and calamari, but I ended up eating mostly teriyaki chicken and tempura shrimp. The verdict is… Hey, have I mentioned how much I love Mexican food?
To avoid further intrusion on Spencer's birthday, I headed off to buy groceries with our roommate Joey, an extremely nice guy whose family is from Taiwan. He also has a Porsche Boxster, which was a slight change of pace from a Honda Civic. All I have to say is that it was a good thing there were only 2 of us, because anyone else would have been out of luck, even if they wanted to ride in the trunk. Hence, my reaffirmation that I will never own a sports car—I already knew that monetarily, and now I know that physically—as they are not built for anyone over 6 feet in mind. I suppose I'm on my own if I should choose to have a mid-life crisis!
After I had a chance to ponder this epiphany, we hit up a Chinese supermarket that is inexplicably named "99 Market Ranch", one of the few English phrases to be found on the premises. It was full of new and interesting smells, and had very narrow aisles full of people jabbering in Chinese, making as much sense to me as the packages on the shelves. I felt strangely out of place, perhaps partly because I'm about 6'3" tall. Just as Joey commented that it must be strange to be the tallest guy there, a tall Asian teenager walked by, which somewhat starled me although he didn't quite break 6 feet. I had to laugh and remember many similar experiences I had in Brazil about 4 years ago. We also hit up a Mexican market closer to home, which felt a lot more normal, at least to me. With enough food to survive for the week, I headed home to get some rest and get settled in. Busy day, but somehow I get the feeling that things will get even busier come Monday…