Ian works the counter at the bagel shop. The shop is around the corner from my hotel. I went there this morning because I had run out of oatmeal and wanted something different for breakfast. Ian is friendly and blends the right mix of curiosity and salesmanship. He picks up on details (he asked me…
Category: Dear Diary
Every Chance I Get
This morning I woke to a slight epiphany, or more accurately, I gave consideration to more potential evidence that what we dislike in others are sometimes the things we dislike in ourselves. The sequence of thinking went as follows (with lots of room for error because who really knows how the mind works, and it…
Control & Conditioning (Not Shampoo)
At 8am (when I started this), it was a brisk 53 degrees and sunny. I had already gone out to have some breakfast and had taken a short walk around the neighborhood. From the window in my hotel room, I could see the sun hitting the Golden Gate Bridge and the mountains beyond. It also…
Confronting Discomfort
There’s a funny story/meme/joke about Pennsylvania winters that circulates from time to time on Facebook. I’m sure it’s also used for other states with winters. It begins with someone saying how lovely the fall is and how they saw their first deer. It continues on about how pretty the first snow is and how gentle…
Laundry and Procrastination
It’s 8 am. It’ll be later than that by the time I finish writing this. The plan was to get up early(ish), have some breakfast, walk to the laundromat and do what people do at laundromats, and then go look at a few apartments. I have showings at 10:30am, 1pm, and 2pm. I like to…
Re-learning to Run
Today I went for a run. It was my second run this week. My hope is to get back into the habit of running. I used to run. I ran without much regularity for a while. Then, when I got divorced in 2016, I started running more frequently. I was dating people, trying to get…
It Was a Good Day
Settling in without really settling in – that’s what I’ve been doing. My first full day here, yesterday, was a mix of getting my bearings, trying to adjust my habits, and working on a game plan. In terms of doing what I NEED to do, I checked out two apartments along with their surrounding neighborhoods….
New Beginnings Can Be Overwhelming
Having arrived in San Francisco yesterday, I felt a strange sense of pride well up inside me. I sat at a park near the water looking out at the Golden Gate Bridge and had this “I made it. I’m here.” sensation. I walked with a little more bounce in my step, and having been here…
Victory Lap
After 53 days, 6,140 miles through 17 states with stops in more than a dozen cities, 3 national parks… through rain, fog, sleet, snow, and wind, in deserts, mountains, forests, and on two different coastlines… I’ve arrived in San Francisco. I’ve had more drinks with strangers at bars than I can count. I started the…
Shifting Gears
Fittingly, tonight, my last night on the road before I arrive in San Francisco, I ran out of steam. I spent the day driving to Monterey and then walking along the waterfront. I had lunch at a great little French bakery. I had a couple of beers and an early dinner at a brewery that…
Advice to a Friend (and Also to Myself)
Twice this week, I spoke with a friend who wanted my opinion on a marital issue. I’ve been told I’m good at that stuff: providing sage, honest, and tender relationship advice. I try to remind people that I’m single (as in not very successful in this domain) and maybe not as wise as they think….
Being a Novice, Navigating Traffic, and Decision Fatigue
On Tuesday morning (today as I write this), I was feeling bummed that I got a rejection for a job I had applied to. By Tuesday afternoon, I had gotten a second rejection for a different job. Between the two rejections, I wrote about how the first rejection (and reading that email first thing in…