Bike and Build and Beyond: Life in SF

So, it's been about a month and a half now since I rolled into San Francisco. After about two weeks, I had found an apartment and moved in, was potentially coaching the Varsity Girls' Basketball Team at the Urban School of San Francisco, and had started tutoring a girl in pre-calculus. Life has continued down a similar path, but with added attractions.

A couple weeks ago, I met up with Amelia (of B&B fame) for the SF Lovefest. Here's a snippet:

We got to talking about our job situation (or lack thereof) and she tipped me in on a possible job opportunity. Work from home, flexible hours, as much or as little as you wanted. Turns out, her sister works for a start-up company based in Millbrae, CA. The company is called Power Reviews, Inc. They started a couple years ago designing and installing consumer review software on company's websites (like REI.com, for example). Within the last couple of months, they have rolled out their own website, called BUZZillions, which is essentially one central location where all of their clients' reviews can be viewed by consumers. It's similar to Epinions or Bazaarvoice. Anyway, I sent in my resume, applying for this work from home position where I'd be a moderator for reviews coming in to the site. Essentially, a quality control person - is the review relevant? does it contain profanity? Is it substantive? I got a call back and had an interview. They didn't need moderators, but they thought I had some skills that could be useful. So, I took a job in their office (which is a 1/2 hour train ride away, but they're looking to move into the city soon). I started this week and have really liked the company atmosphere. It's almost entirely populated with employees under 35. Being a start-up, they're really eager to hear/share/explain ideas from/with/to everyone. So for now, I'm working on a few different things. It works really well, too, since I can leave in the afternoon and make it back to the city in time to coach. I've since dropped the pre-calc student (rather, she dropped the class and hence, me) so having full weeks but generally free weekends will be nice.

Aside from work, life has been good and fairly busy. I've been going to a yoga/meditation class that I love. I'm in a co-ed basketball league with my friends Laura and Gabe. And today, I attending a Couchsurfing picnic at Crissy Field where I met a bunch of new people (and quite a few with Boston connections/roots, somewhat surprisingly). So, for those of you still reading, life's good here on the west side. Thanks for checking in.

CS picnic: