On Thursday 19th August I will be leaving Northern Ireland and relocating to California. I'm keeping my current job with 3PAR (who I should point out are actively hiring in Belfast), just moving west by a few thousand miles. I'll be working in the Fremont office, but based on advice from most people I've talked to I plan to live in San Francisco.
I've got a few trips over to England planned between now and then which will give me an opportunity to see people before I go. Also I'll be at DebConf, where I hope to try and meet a least a few other Debian people from the Bay Area and pick their brains for advice about where to live & things to do.
This is something that's taken a lot longer to come together than I originally expected. I'm very glad it finally has, but obviously there's a degree of trepidation about the whole process. If I seem somewhat disconnected from reality for the next few months rest assured I'm sure I'll be back to normal soon enough once I've moved and found somewhere to live.
I've got a few trips over to England planned between now and then which will give me an opportunity to see people before I go. Also I'll be at DebConf, where I hope to try and meet a least a few other Debian people from the Bay Area and pick their brains for advice about where to live & things to do.
This is something that's taken a lot longer to come together than I originally expected. I'm very glad it finally has, but obviously there's a degree of trepidation about the whole process. If I seem somewhat disconnected from reality for the next few months rest assured I'm sure I'll be back to normal soon enough once I've moved and found somewhere to live.
Bloody hell - do you hate Norwich that much that you have to first move to Belfast, then to the other side of the world?
Best of luck. SF is a fab place. Been there three times - once holiday, twice work and loved it every time. Seems to be the most 'Europeanised' (should that be Europeanized?) of any American cities I've been to.
Enjoy.
Colin.
I don't know anything about your personal situation, but San Francisco is a long commute from Fremont. If you really want the "big city" lifestyle, then sure, go for San Francisco, but if you hate commuting (like I do) then I'd live in the South Bay somewhere. The commute will still suck, but a bit less.
Also, see http://bad.debian.net/
Good luck with the move, some of what I've written at http://blog.andrew.net.au/2006/01/01#bootstrapping may be useful to you.
My condolences on moving to the shittiest parts of a shitty country (speaking as a Cherokee native who lived in California for five years).