Day 2

I skipped the free breakfast this morning in favor of sleep. This meant, of course, that I'd have to venture out for food. From the time I left my room to the time I finished eating at a Subway, the weather had gone from this:

To this:

Which is why I went from wanting to stay in here all day:

To buying a pair of these:

I spent the next five or six hours testing these babies out up and down San Bruno's main shopping artery, El Camino Real. If you took a mix between Salisbury beach and West Providence, added some Spanish architecture, and turned up the thermostat a good twenty degrees, I'd say you were playing Sim City. If not, I'd say you were a God, and then carefully, and with the appropriate degree of deference, point a quivering finger to a map of San Bruno and mention that someone had beaten you to the punch.

I stopped by the mall again, only to find it overtaken by an angry mob of alarmingly stunted people crawling over and defacing private property in what I assume was some kind of revolt against their taller overlords.

I quickly bought some items I'd been looking for and got the hell out of there. On my way back home I stumbled across this:

Notice the blue Volkswagen Beetle inside the blue Volkswagen Beetle. I couldn't get close enough to see if there was, in fact, another such Beetle on the dashboard of the Beetle on the dashboard of the Beetle, but that way led to madness anyhow.

When I finally returned to El Rancho Inn, I found a peculiar message awaiting me:

I'm pretty sure that most of the people who read that sign have never seen a real snowman, nor attempted to assemble one out of its confusing constellation of parts. Even so, this would have probably made more sense in front of an Ikea outlet.

Those of you who were paying attention yesterday will realize that I haven't talked about my apartment search. That's because I skipped out. It's probably better to get an idea of what the Bay area has to offer before narrowing down on a spot, otherwise I'd probably end up in the California equivalent of Worcester. I should be checking out of El Rancho soon to stay with a friend in San Francisco, and I'm sure they'll fill me in on the best spots to live.

Anyway, that's that. Tomorrow ushers in a new era for me: my first day at a 9-5 job in this country. Wish me luck! Actually, wish them luck. Poor bastards don't know what they've got themselves into.

I miss you all!