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:


My room:


The view from the best roof-top room in all of SF:

For all of you who are still following this thing...

Thank you! This is for you.

As a bit of an update: I have now moved into my own apartment here in San Francisco. I am living in the lower haight with 4 other roommates in a 3-floor house (we have the top floor). My room's fairly small, painted a salmony shade of pink, and has a loft bed. I spent a couple days cleaning and re-arranging and now I'm quite happy with it. The roommates are great, and we have an AMAZING roof-top room looking south over Market St., the Mission, the Castro, Twin Peaks, and beyond. I have started a little tutoring gig with a small company called Connexion Tutoring. Last week I biked out to Tiburon (18 miles, one way) to tutor a sophomore girl in precalculus. I'm hoping to get more gigs in the city, but the long bike ride (relatively speaking of course) actually turned out to be quite nice, despite that damn climb out of Sausolito and onto the GG Bridge. In addition, I'm interviewing for an assistant coaching position for the girls varsity at Urban, a local private high school. Little pieces are coming together.

So, tonight I attended the 15th anniversary ride of Critical Mass here in San Francisco. (Also, see this, this, and this.) There were a bunch of people (thousands I would guess) and lots of funky-ness. I'm gonna upload some photos and video, you can provide the narration. Oh - craziness - I ran into Colin who had just crossed the GG Bridge at 5pm! The "photo" I thought I was taking of him actually turned out to be a video. You'll see. Check it out:

San Francisco Update

To all those who have left comments, posts on my Facebook wall, emails, voicemails, texts, and all forms of telepathic communication: thank you so much for your thoughts and words of luck and love. I have been/continue to be overwhelmed with the generosity of my family, my friends, and of perfect strangers.

For the past week+, I have been staying with my friend Margot in the Lower Haight, where she is house/dogsitting for 2 weeks. She has been so generous in sharing this space and her time with me, as well as her clothes (walking around in SF in Sugoi spandex isn't exactly the style I'm shooting for) and the company of the 2 dogs, Petey and Matilda.

I've been spending a lot of time searching Craigslist for my own place to live. There is not a lack of places. However, there is a lack of affordable places in places I want to live and an over-abundance of others who share the same situation. I went to one open house yesterday where the housemates had already met 60 people that day alone. It was that house, too, that I felt the most drawn to. But, beggars can't be choosers, and as I ended the day feeling a bit discouraged, a bit anxious to get my own space and free up that of those who've been generous enough to host me, I got a phone call from a house here in the Lower Haight offering me a room in a 3 month sublet. It was the first place I saw yesterday and it had grown on me over the course of the day. I haven't officially accepted it yet, but plan to on Tuesday when I meet the remainder of the roommates. I'll have a small but furnished room for the months of October, November, and December at which point the sublettor returns to reclaim her space...and I start the search again. But that's ok, gives me time to get a more focused search done for something slightly more permanent at the beginning of the new year. I think it's going to be a fun place -- good sign: bumping into one of the housemates last night at a bar on Haight St. One with a great beer selection.

So, today I'm meeting up with my friend Lucas from BU who's here in the East Bay for grad school. I spent last Wednesday night with Gabe, from Boston, catching up and seeing his new place. He's been generous, too, as I've been using his computer daily to spearhead this apt. search effort. I spent Friday with my friend Laura, also from my BU days, who's in town for grad school now, too. There's a little life starting to take shape now, and with a place to live all but secured, I'm getting excited to delve into the job search. Updates on that later.

THANK YOU ALL AGAIN FOR YOU GENEROSITY AND KINDNESS.

Peace,
-t.