[aigel]

I live in the south bay. It is boring as hell and inversely proportionally expensive. Definitely don't expect a lot of excitement.

What I do in my spare time close by is hit the open spaces and ride my bike, run the dogs, hunt the bay for waterfowl. Day trips are often to the beach in Half Moon Bay. The local Porsche club is great - I continue to instruct at AX.

Restaurants are good in terms of finding every ethnic food in the world a few blocks away. And being an immigrant myself, it is great to blend in with the crowd, including my kids who won't get any grief for being different. Everyone is. And I love meeting and working with people from around the globe.

SJ has some nuggets of restaurants and nightlife. The San Pedro square area is neat and if you like German food, go check out Teske's Germania on 1st street - the beergarden is fun in the summer with live music on most Fri/Sat evenings.

There is nothing really "cheaper" in a 45 min commute distance, IMHO. It gets cheaper if you are willing to go 1+ hour. And the traffic will be a mess - 1h will be 2+ on Friday.
I am looking at ranch type suburban homes 3bdr/2bh and nothing decent under a million in the south bay. You get to 800k in Fremont and if you are willing to hump it into the tri-valley (Dublin/Pleasanton/Livermore) you'll get into the 700s. That's the discount for 1+ h commuting. I am speaking of a home that's in an area with a public school that's at least testing at state average. There are cheaper homes in the hoods but good luck raising a family there or even keeping the wheels on your car while you park it in the street.

If you are in tech, ther is NO place in the world with the same opportunities. I had to look for a new job earlier this year and it took literally a week to find one. And that's mid-career in a fairly specialized field. A 3-6 month job search along with a move would have been inevitable anywhere else in the country.

If you would like to talk on the phone about your upcoming visit, or would like me to show you around, PM me.

Cheers,

G