Failure of the Day: So Long, and Thanks For All the La Pat Dok

Yep, it’s for reals—we’re bailing on this town. Gave notice yesterday, finalized the new apartment the day before. We’re headed to the unexplored wilds of San Jose; downtown to be precise. A very swank building and a very beautiful townhouse with amenities and comforts coming out its well-appointed arse, and all within 2 blocks of an excellent burrito place and 137 other restaurants. Chris’s round trip daily commute to work next month will be roughly 5 blocks…whereas at the moment it is 100 miles, so you do the math in saved time and money and freeway hell.

And sure, there’s some sadness about leaving the only place I ever dreamed of living, but I’ve lived in the City for 20 years give or take, and for my lifestyle and tastes these days, it’s really just coasting by on cachet anymore. Well, cachet and really good food. People are impressed when you say you live here, and for a while that was enough. But do you know what’s even better than impressing strangers with where you live when you are out of town? A landlord who paints the walls and cleans the carpets before you move in. A washer and dryer in your kitchen. An apartment pre-wired for a T1 line in every room and an entire downtown area that is a WiFi hotspot. A neighborhood full of places to walk to. All of which is to say: a higher standard of living at a lower cost of living.

San Francisco is beautiful and we will miss it, I’m sure. But the bloom is off the rose. We’re headed South, to the newly minted 10th largest city in the US, where not everyone will agree with us politically (imagine! actually arguing with people who don’t share your views!), and where we will seriously consider going into the Mission to see live music on a Friday night and then not go, same as living in the Richmond.

Count on us to visit with some frequency as well…unless we find a really good Burmese restaurant in San Jose. Then we might really be gone for good.