My first snappy entry as deemed "Silicon Valley Virgin"

So, my dear friend Nate just gave me a nod in his very well-read blog, and I'm feeling the need to strut my stuff a bit as a blogger today - seeing as I may be getting more traffic. [is my ego inflating by the second? I think so!]

Anyhoo, it is about time for me to make some smart-ass remarks about my initial week here in Silicon Valley. Being a big fan of lists, here goes:

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Qualifiers: (as a rule, I hate qualifiers, but these observations are based on limited data and this should be made clear to you)

1. Really, I have only talked to Apple folks (and my roommates, and their friends) so I suppose this will be dominated by impressions of them.

2. Places I've gone (physically): My house in San Jose, Apple campus including Caffe Macs (cafeteria), Rite Aid, a Subway, jogging around my neighborhood (see below entry), Trader Joe's and Tandoori Oven in Pruneyard (a shopping strip in downtown Campbell), Bascom Animal Hospital, a brazillian breakfast place near my house called Joao's, Cow Hollow/Marina/Union Street in San Francisco.

3. Time I've been here: 9 days

Some thoughts:

First, people here are smart. Compared to Boulder (where I lived for four years) people appear more world-savvy and amped up. They have degrees and they can do math quickly. They like to talk about liberal politics; they know about Darfur in Sudan and the latest news in wiretapping. They read Dan Brown books (DaVinci code, etc.) and have also seen Pixar flicks. They like to get excited talking about these things (as do I), so it's a good fit.

Second, there are a lot of guys (tons) and they are mostly engineers. A quote via Ari from Linda Lim: "The odds are good, and the goods are odd". Ha ha. No really, I love engineers. I really do.

Third, it gets cool at night (see Nate's Austin entry), which seems like a small thing but is actually important. It gets hot during the day. Like, really hot.

Fourth, the food is good, much much better than Ann Arbor. Thank god.

Ok, so these thoughts are pretty generic. Sorry. I've only been here 9 days. More will come, soon.