Moving to the SF Bay area...
 

In 48 hours I will be packing up and leaving my wonderful condo in Hermosa Beach CA to move to the east side of the SF bay. For work relocation. Same company, different job.

I absolutely hate moving. I always feel better afterwards, but during it sucks. Added to that is that I have to be up there for work by monday, but have not been able to find a place to live or pack any belongings. So I am leaving my girlfriend behind for the rest of the month to take care of the shipping company that will be taking my things for me to northern california, which scares the hell out of me. I've never had a whole apartment shipped. Whenever I've moved before I've never had more than two suitcases and a backpack. Most of the items are hers, I've realized. Besides a TV, everything of mine still almost fits into two suitcases and a backpack.

To add to this though, I have a lot to do as soon as I arrive on Monday and will need my computer, which is a special workstation. This is not a cheap laptop with some excel spreadsheets on it. It is a 90-pound tower packing six arrayed terrabyte hard drives and two graphics cards with 64GB of RAM and sixteen cores split over two processors. Along with a 30-inch LCD. So I ask if this can be shipped up by monday and I get vague answers to if it could be there or not on time. I'm told I can take it with me if I want it for sure Monday morning. Great.

So I currently have to figure out a way to pack a massive computer with incredibly proprietary data stored on it along with a 30 inch monitor and anything else I need to live off of until I find an apartment into a Lotus Elise for a 7 hour drive. And I don't even know where I'm staying. I'm doing all of this without my significant other as she will not be allowed to relocate offices like I. It has been very tough.

All this due to a career decision to leave my current office/working group to be a part of another. It was one of those situations where I felt my skills and knowledge would best be used elsewhere but I did not want to leave the company as a whole. I interviewed for a job at another one of our (far larger) offices and got the job, which ended up possibly burning some bridges locally with those currently managing me. It's a one way trip.

I'm doing it not for a pay increase (there is no salary increase), not for a better place to live (I'm leaving an awesome, cheap condo at the beach to a more expensive, boring neighborhood), and not for better working conditions (they will be far longer hours with far more stress, more than likely).

I'm doing it because I was tired of not being in a place to advance a career. So starts about two weeks of hell to make this all work.

I'm hoping this isn't a start of me losing my mind.

As Han Solo once said, "I have a bad feeling about this..."

Rent a van to move your computer, arrange to get to your place of work IMMEDIATELY and unload the very expensive computer... vans get broken into (ask me how I know). Rent a cheap hotel room in SF entil you find a place to live and can move you GF up.

All the grumpy old men here will chime in about what liberal hell hole SF is... however they have fantastic food and great arts/entertainment... enjoy.

I usually drive up to Morro bay, spend the night there, drive the rest of the way to SF.

Best of luck

Enjoy. San Francisco is my second favorite city. Behind Chicago.

OC to SF is a one day, 8-9 hour drive, take Hwy 5 and skip the scenery. Rent a comfy big car or SUV one way. Fly back for the Elise next weekend. What area of the Bay are you working in - we can give you some advice on areas to live, commutes, etc. Sorry about leaving the GF. OC to SJO or SFO or OAK is an easy and cheap flight, but long distance is still not a long term option.

Start looking for a role for her in the new office, which means be sociable, make connections, involve yourself in the decisions, don't just be an engineering nerd. In most companies, the engineers start as the schitz but in a few years find themselves subordinate to the marketers and finance guys and managers, at best they become well-paid role players, valuable but ultimately fungible. Unfair truth.

Welcome!!!! Let us know if you need anything,, I'm down there almost every week

Come see us at the track!


KT

Join up with Golden Gate Region meet a lot of great people and have fun in their events. The every other month breakfast at Alice's in Woodside is a great way to start, it is advertised on the GGR site. Get ready for some awesome driving roads.

Need a spot to stay in Fremont, I can put you up for a few days until you get your affairs sorted.......SmileWavy

RE: GF, airfare Sac to LGB is super cheap

I can possibly help, PM sent.

I know a bunch of kids in the Middle East who would change positions with you right now.

Trite, I know.

But apt. Buck up. Ask for help not pity, which it seems you are. You are moving, experiencing a bit of life change, not getting shot at.

Get it done. Revel in the opportunity.

If work is paying, try contacting AA Packing and Crating by LAX. They can pack it up nice and should be able to recommend a shipper

Get up here! I'm in the east bay. I can help. What city is work in?

If this is of any help:

Stacy at Enterprise Rent-A-Car (415) 703-9000 in SF might be able to help you get a good one-way rate for a van or SUV. I can call her if she doesn't remember me, but we refer her a lot of business. She's nice.

Teresa at White Lightning Trucking can bring your Lotus up for about $375.

What Vash said.

Not really asking for help or pity, just sharing a story. I know some like hearing such.

Kind guys like Denis make this board awesome. I think I got this covered, though-

My company will be paying for my move, they just drag ass at getting me details. My s/o and I both work for the same company. She has done work at both offices- the one here in LA and the other in the bay area. She usually flies back and forth (as have I) between the two. I got the job at the bay area office, but they will not be allowing her to move with me, even though her job can be done at either location. It is a political mess dealing with overseeing managers and HR people. It's the kind of thing that is really driving me to think about one day working for myself.




I also decided not to try and fit my work machine into my Lotus.... not worth it plus the car is going to be on it's weight limit as it is. So instead I'm going to be freighting my computer equipment up to my new office on a pallet.... and my company's paying for it. They don't know this yet, but they are.

Mike, you will have fun once you get there - I'm sure :) Lobster, the best Chinese food this side of China...

I hope the computer still goes by the time you get there.

The machine is my baby..... been working with her for 2 1/2 years...

It's like they say with audio equipment... you know it's good 'cause it's heavy.

Mike, Welcome to the Bay area. I think you will like it here. You may be frazzled for a bit, but you will be fine. Let me know if I may be of any assistance to you.

Bay Area is huge. Where you headed again?