Leaving the Bay Area always seems like a good decision on paper for a brief moment; then my QA brain kicks in and I think about what life would be like elsewhere - based loosely on experiences I’ve had in the past living 20 of my 35 years in the suburban Midwest.

In an alternative reality…

Really happy with my new place!

The first place I found, what a nightmare. I almost committed to buying that house until I remembered to check the high-speed internet situation. Since Skylink is not available yet and the previous owner did not have high-speed Internet, I called the local cable company. All they could tell me is that possibly there might be? There never has been service there, and they can’t guarantee that there will be.

Phone company had 10 Mbps ADSL.

Not to worry, I backed out in time. Working from home only works when you can work from home.

Something now told me to rent instead. The house I found had 250 Mbps cable. This I confirmed with the previous renter. I’m going to put it to good use.

We are in a pandemic and now I’ll be having to entertain myself. It’s winter, I’m new (again) in town, and the pandemic is keeping my from being more social. I guess there’s always Scruff from a safe social (digital) distance.

I also consider the extra physical distance. This is not San Francisco. I love the idea of my more distant, comfortable life outside of California, but living in denser cities is much better for the environment. My greenhouse gas emissions footprint has grown significantly; especially around travel.

I still drive an EV, that helps with my conscience. Maybe all logistics and shipping providers servicing my new home will do so too? Lots of new delivery truck EVs available now. Of course none are good as walking.

I’m now a bit more dependent upon UPS/FedEx/Amazon for shopping online. The new address doesn’t have Amazon Fresh or Instacart available; and Prime Now is only available one zip code over. Every shipment takes two days.... I can make it work - but to do so, I had to get reacquainted with retail shopping.

Trader Joe’s has one location 15 miles away, must go plug in now for tomorrow. I’ve got 100 miles of range; but it’s 30 degrees outside this week for the high (and we just got through a wicked snowstorm.) My cars’ range may take a hit.

It is frustrating whenever I can’t get businesses to free up chargers blocked by cars. But what about snow?

Last week the charger was blocked by a snow bank 8’ tall on the side of the parking lot with the charger. Seriously, I can’t be the only one in this town who needs to use the EVSE!

I moved to SF happy I’d never have to drive 30 miles to get errands done again. In San Francisco, I could just walk; or otherwise it’d be less than 6 miles round trip.

I shop at night after dinner. This town is not taking COVID-19 seriously. Lackluster mask usage, no social distancing. I am hoping that it won’t be as busy. I’ve got one comorbidity that I don’t want to test the limits of. I heard the regional hospital is out of ICU beds; but the bars are pretty full by the University.

It’s like science doesn’t exist. People here have a common distrust of government. It makes sense that in a low tax state, the local government public health department is regarded with the same esteem as the other underfunded and underperforming city departments.

On second thought, I think San Francisco doesn’t seem so bad after all. Eh who needs money, we can’t take it with us when we go.

To each their own.