It may not come as a whole heap of a surprise but I love California. I’ve never been to Southern Cal but it strikes me as a little too non-fun for me. It’s full of upper crust people that are so full of themselves that anything less than People Magazine simply won’t do it.

I like regular people. People who you can have a beer with and laugh about stupid stuff. People who understand the nuances of business but yet aren’t so caught up in money to be flaky. People who understand a good work-life balance and put it into practice. I enjoy cool summers and warm winters and picturesque mountains within eyesight.

I love San Francisco.

For the second time in my life, and really, the second time in 6 months, I’m in the Bay Area. Sure, the 3 hour time change kicks my ass. I wake up at 7am here feeling like it’s 10am and I never wake up before 9am at home. The flip side of that is that I want to crash at 8pm, instead of going to a jazz club or having dinner with a colleeague.

I still love San Francisco.

See, I have expensive taste on a pauper budget. If I could choose one of two places in the world to live, it would be New York or San Francisco. It’s expensive to live in either of those places. Too expensive for my budget. That can change, of course, but right now I live in Baltimore – because it’s affordable.

I’ll never be a Giants fan or a 49ers fan. Hell, I couldn’t tell you what sport the San Jose Sharks play. But I love the atmosphere. I love the weather. On the east coast, we get super humidity thanks to trade winds from the southeast and the Gulf of Mexico. During the winter, we get Canada’s Alberta Clippers that serves to freeze my tooshie. On the west coast, the Pacific Ocean keeps me warm in the winter and cool in the summer. We drove the 101 with the top down in the convertible today. Fantastic weather.

When I was here in August, it took me three days to find someone who was not nice. In Baltimore – give me 15 minutes.

In the Bay Area, violent crime is in two-digits for a city of 6 million. In Baltimore? 300+ in a city of 300,000. In Baltimore, we have 100 degrees with 98% humidity in July. In San Francisco? 70 degrees with 10% humidity. In Baltimore, it’s 35 degrees right now. In San Francisco, it’s 55. In Baltimore, people wear ties to work because of customers. In San Francisco, it’s torn jeans because product speaks for itself.

I love this town.