In a few days I'll have been living in San Francisco for a full year and it's been anything but boring... Within the last 12 months, I've worked for two companies with awesome people who've introduced me to even more awesome people, I've written tons of code, taken lots of pictures, inhaled quite a bit of solder smoke, sold my car and walked hundreds of miles.

For as long as I had been making long-term goals and plans for myself, I knew that I wanted to live in California. Everything I had heard and read just made it sound like the perfect place for me. So, I chased my dreams and set out toward San Francisco. The cross country drive was a lot of fun and my only regret is that I couldn't spend more time hanging around all of the small towns I passed through. Someday I'll go back and find out what towns like Bettendorf, Iowa are really about.

By the time I got to San Francisco, I was left with a single day to find a place to live. Being the somewhat insane person that I am, I ended up picking a handful of places off craigslist and ended up signing the lease on the first one that looked reasonable. I had never lived in a city before. In hindsight, this may not have been the smartest move, but it could've been a lot worse. A year later, I'm renewing my lease.

On my first day of work, I showed up at 8am, only to find that there was nobody else there... I quickly learned that things are a lot more laid back around here. After work, I headed back home only to find an empty refrigerator, no furniture, and a car still full of boxes. Yet I was incredibly happy because I could finally say "I live in San Francisco!" I still smile every time I write my address.

I had heard talk of an awesome piece of furniture called the Lovesac, which is basically a beanbag chair except instead of little PVC beads, it's full of shredded mattress foam. I bought the biggest one I could find on craigslist and drove over to inner richmond to get it. The guy I bought it from was kinda strange, but had a definite innocence to him. The following few hours can only be described as a surreal scene from an indie film. Myself, this high school kid and his girlfriend spent the last few minutes of daylight pushing and pulling and rolling and turning the Lovesac through his apartment, down the stairs and into my car. It quickly became apparent that it wouldn't completely fit. Some clever knot work with a bit of loose cord got it tied up to the point where I was willing to drive, albeit slowly, back home with the hatchback wide open and the Lovesac hanging halfway out. I ended up driving around the city for at least an hour and a half after I got lost somewhere in the Mission district trying to get back home. I don't like the idea of having a GPS in the car... It makes you complacent because you never truly know where you are or where you're going. That being said, I have no problem asking for directions or looking at a map. Still, it was getting dark and I thankfully made it home safely. At this point, I alone squeezed the Lovesac into the elevator, down the hallway, and into my apartment.

Stay tuned for part two of my first year in SF.