Final Destination

I'm here! Home! In San Francisco!

The drive yesterday from L.A. to San Francisco was decent. I totally wimped out and didn't do the drive up Pacific Coast Highway. RED (yes, he gets to be named, now, because we had a nice visit) couldn't go with me, and I was too tired to drive 12 hours by myself. We plan on making the trip soon, though. In a convertible, nonetheless. Which will be much nicer than squeezing into Honda with his stuff and my life in the backseat. Plus, L.A. has taken its toll on RED. Gone are the days of the hatchback Mazda 323. He now drives a Lex, and Honda just isn't up to par. His loss, though. Any car that can take you from DC to SF in 8 days and 3500 miles is a fine in my book.

So for my final day of driving, I only endured six hours in the car. Only 6 hours... Funny how my frame of reference has changed in a week's time. On the license plate front, it was pretty boring. CA, OR, WA, AZ, and CO. No East Coast. I like to think that people get excited to see my DC plates, but I have a small feeling that I'm the only person who takes this much pleasure from looking at license plates.

I got into the city last night around 7:30 P.M. It was an eventful arrival. Would you believe that I got stuck at a red light at the top of THE steepest hill in the city? (Or so my roommate says... Taylor and California? I'll do some research.) Remeber, Honda has a manual transmission. As I turned onto Taylor from Pine (and down-shifted into second gear) I could feel my heart start to pound. I swear this hill was almost vertical. I prayed the light at the top of the hill would stay green. The prayer did not work. Uncle Jim and JBB, the two patient men who taught me how to drive stick, would have been so proud. No stalling, but it still smells like burnt rubber around my car.

Sacramento Street, my new address, is also quite hilly. Hell, I'm in Nob Hill - not sure what else I should have expected. Our block is downhill, luckily. But the uphill parallel parking should be a blast.

I arrived to find my roommates up on the rooftop soaking in the city and a few bottles of wine. I joined them and learned within a few minutes how our circles overlap. Friends from college and high schoool are both shared friends between all of us. So even after a humbling 8 day drive to get here, I'm again feeling good about how small the world is.

And so now I am tackling the daunting task of fitting everything into my room. I'm a lot nervous. "Everything" hasn't even arrived yet. However, organizing is my #1 favorite challenge. And it's good to put my systems engineering degree to the test every now and then...