---
title: "Young man, gone west"
date: 2006-07-25T12:25:00-04:00
url: https://blog.lmorchard.com/2006/07/25/youngmangonewest/
author: Les Orchard
---

# Young man, gone west

It's been over a month since my last update here, and a week and one day since <a href="http://blog.del.icio.us/blog/2006/07/hello_world.html">I started here at my new job in sunny California</a>.  So, I figure it's about time I make some sort of peep.

Along the way - in fact in the midst of our move - I upgraded this blog to WP 2.0 and broke a number of things.  Hopefully, things are stabilized enough now to offer you this exercise to compare recent experiences in Michigan and California:

<style type="text/css">   .comparecontrast { width: 98%; font-size: 0.85em;  } .comparecontrast tr th, .comparecontrast tr td { width: 50%; padding: 0.7em; border: 1px dotted #888; vertical-align: top }  </style>
<table class="comparecontrast">
<tr>
<th>Michigan</th>
<th>California</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>GMT-5</td>
<td>GMT-8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Partly cloudy, warm summer sun</td>
<td>Not a cloud in the sky, daystar bakery</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Moist air, scents of green dew and cut suburban grass</td>
<td>Warm, dry air carrying scents of magnolia? (I guess that's what it is, anyway - correct me if I'm wrong!)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Two-story 1100 sqft townhouse in Royal Oak, MI, with a spacious basement, full of our stuff</td>
<td>Second-floor 950 sqft apartment in Santa Clara, CA, with a small balcony, devoid of our stuff</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Two spotted ocicats and two dwarf bunnies</td>
<td>Two spotted ocicats and two dwarf bunnies - thank goodness!</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>15 minute commute, driving down Woodward in a Ford Focus ZX3, listening to podcasts</td>
<td>30 minute commute, with a walk of 3 blocks and a surprisingly non-scary bus ride, listening to podcasts</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Free Starbucks coffee at work</td>
<td>Free Bean Trees barista-crafted latte at work</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Zipping around a familiar town in a nimble Ford Focus ZX3</td>
<td>Lumbering around an unfamiliar town in a clumsy Pontiac Montana rental</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Sleeping in a canopy bed, with cushy pillow top mattress</td>
<td>Sleeping on leaky air mattresses - the girl's in particular has failed spectacularly</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Friends and family close by, though we hermits rarely venture out to visit</td>
<td>Friends and family far away, we hermits wishing we'd gotten out more</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Familiar default choices for lazy take-out dinner</td>
<td>Every night's dinner is an adventure into the unknown</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>White Castle is a purveyor of evil gut bombs</td>
<td>Weinerschnitzel is a purveyor of evil gut bombs</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Dairy Deluxe in Birmingham, MI is good frozen yogurt</td>
<td>Yumi Yogurt in Santa Clara, CA is good frozen yogurt</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Steady internet access</td>
<td>Frustratingly intermittent cable modem connection</td>
</tr>
</table>
As you can see, this is a study in sudden unfamiliarities.  Our Focus actually arrived this past Monday night, and we returned the Montana to the airport last night - so that chapter of the move has closed.  I hear that our stuff will arrive tomorrow, so hopefully we'll be on our way to finally settling in by this weekend.

After that... I don't know.   I'm hoping we can finally establish a home base of some stability, then consider venturing out to the wonderful nearby city and maybe start to meet some people in the area.  And I hope we find a good lazy default dinner choice - we miss <a href="http://www.zumbagrille.com/index.html">our local Zumba for addictive and cheap Mexican-esque food</a>.

(My new bride and I are so enamoured of Zumbas in Royal Oak, MI, that you'll find mention of them included in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0470037857/0xdecafbad01-20?creative=327641&camp=14573&adid=0MTPP0JW2JPAPHVJ3JW7&link_code=as1">my new book</a>, in Chapter 6, p140.)

<div id="comments" class="comments archived-comments">
            <h3>Archived Comments</h3>
            
        <ul class="comments">
            
        <li class="comment" id="comment-221084816">
            <div class="meta">
                <div class="author">
                    <a class="avatar image" rel="nofollow" 
                       href="http://www.freeke.org/ffg"><img src="http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=04f871ea2f60c65c0b53dfd25315498f&amp;size=32&amp;default=http://mediacdn.disqus.com/1320279820/images/noavatar32.png"/></a>
                    <a class="avatar name" rel="nofollow" 
                       href="http://www.freeke.org/ffg">d.w.</a>
                </div>
                <a href="#comment-221084816" class="permalink"><time datetime="2006-07-27T00:25:44">2006-07-27T00:25:44</time></a>
            </div>
            <div class="content"><p>Somehow I let you move to California without ever meeting you while you were working 15 minutes away from me... I feel undersocialized and regretful. :)</p></div>
            
        </li>
    
        <li class="comment" id="comment-221084818">
            <div class="meta">
                <div class="author">
                    <a class="avatar image" rel="nofollow" 
                       href="http://fairuz.isi.edu/blog"><img src="http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=f90445075e883ce601ddf83ee93ba0a0&amp;size=32&amp;default=http://mediacdn.disqus.com/1320279820/images/noavatar32.png"/></a>
                    <a class="avatar name" rel="nofollow" 
                       href="http://fairuz.isi.edu/blog">Nick</a>
                </div>
                <a href="#comment-221084818" class="permalink"><time datetime="2006-07-27T23:47:47">2006-07-27T23:47:47</time></a>
            </div>
            <div class="content"><p>Les, you should talk to <a href="http://randomfoo.net/ " rel="nofollow">Leonard Lin</a>, in the Upcoming group over with you guys at Y! .  He's an old friend of mine, and he's also thought a lot about intelligent feedreaders.</p></div>
            
        </li>
    
        </ul>
    
        </div>