If you've read through my thought process in the previous posts then I don't think it comes as much of a surprise that my compass will guide me to San Francisco. Since I was young, I've always felt a westward pull. Maybe I'm just a product of effective marketing but there's always been something romantic and attractive about following the sun over the horizon towards the glittering majesty of the Pacific Ocean. I felt it even just moving from New York to Houston"¦ it is this idea of excitement and opportunity that springs from the very thought of West. Yes, I agree, I probably played far too much Oregon Trail in elementary school (curse you, typhoid fever, for all the Abigails and Johns and Marys you took from me along the way!) but I just can't help the feeling.

Despite the seeming inevitability of my eventual shift to the west coast, I think I'm doing it for the right reasons. I've always preferred being the small fish in a big pond because that means bigger opportunity and an accelerated chance to climb the learning curve. The Bay Area is where that opportunity resides. I am excited to surround myself with intelligent and motivated people looking to change the world in all kinds of interesting ways. I'm excited to be immersed in new cultures, technologies, and experiences every day. I can't wait to ride through the redwoods, explore wine country, and consume some world class seafood.

Sure, I'm not thrilled about the fog, the cost of living, or California's absurd regulatory and tax systems. Those are the necessary evils in all this. There are downsides to living anywhere and I think they're hardly insurmountable (please remind me of this when I bang my shins on the corner of my bed because it's only 6 inches from the wall in my 150sqft studio and I slipped on an empty Cup-O-Soup container). There is just so much opportunity and creativity and energy out in SF that, for me, I don't think it could happen any other way.