NJ

What a difference a month can make. In October I departed for Davis lamenting the fact that I may be leaving "home" permanently. Now that I'm back, I'm not entirely sure this is where I want home to be. Probably not the best phrasing since, no matter what, this will always be home, but its not exactly where I currently want to reside.

This trip obviously had a pretty massive effect on me. I'm under no real illusions because really, why wouldn't I have liked it? I was basically on vacation for a month, and who wouldn't love every minute of that. But I really did just enjoy nearly everything about living in Northern California. Yes, there is traffic. Yes, some of the people are odd (especially when a majority of your company are physicists). But for every minute I was stuck in traffic, there was an hour of open road with breathtakingly beautiful views. And for every nut I met, there were two more incredibly welcoming and interesting people who came my way. Going to Tahoe with Jamie and Dave; eating dinner and drinking a gin bucket at Greg's; splitting a bottle of Scotch at John and Rashelle's; watching Arrested Development (and doing just about everything else) with Ms. Katherine (seriously...what's with the Ms.? I don't get it) and Adam. None of these events and none of the kindness will be forgotten easily.

The greatest injustice ever committed in the United States occurred when Thomas Jefferson brokered the Louisiana Purchase, paving the way for our fine country to dominate the North American continent. In nearly any other nation on Earth I would consider living in, the journey from one extreme point to the other would take as long by train as it does by air here. I actually looked it up: my flight to San Francisco from Newark was about 5 hours and 40 minutes long; a train from Southampton to Newcastle in the UK takes 5 hours and 37 minutes. I told you so.

Of course, had the Louisiana Purchase not occurred, California wouldn't be part of the country, and the east coast would be even more horrendously crowded than it already is. But I'm sure you get my point. I just want to be closer.