We had a great time!  Tammy took a bunch of photos and I grabbed this one from Facebook.

Thank you Tammy for making me go out on a sightseeing tour!

Thanks for all the nice comments folks!  I’ll certainly miss Minneapolis!

Jeremy Wilker
@tweak
just getting to know you and now you’re leaving! you’ll be missed. best wishes, though! here’s to rocking SF!

Erica Mauter
@swirlspice
I’m so proud! *sniffle*

Leslie Lacoursiere
loveyaloveyaloveya my intellectual supportive and welldeserving friend Go west young woman

Randi Luoto
@ruluoto
While I will miss you, I am proud of and excited for you as you begin this new adventure. An appropriate and well-deserved next step. Congratulations, kid. Way to go!

Veronica Robinson
@technicowl
Adria, Hey I can’t be there in person. Minnesota is a long drive from the Chi. I will definitely be there is spirit. Bon voyage

Jim Hyttinen
Thankyou and looking forward to seeing U but not becasue you are leaving this fair city.

Mary Cosgrove
@marycosgrove
Can’t believe you are moving!

David Skarjune
@skarjune
You go grrl! …literally…

Abby Mathieu
So I don’t feel bad that I would be nervous too going somewhere i’ve never been on my own. But, you did it you go girl!

Meghan Wilker
@irishgirl
Sad to see you go, but SF will be an awesome place to live!

Mike Peden
@thesportsbrain

I’m sure San Francisco will offer you plenty of opportunities to grow…nice to meet you before you headed west!

Jacqueline Bona
@jacquebona
boo hoo hoo

Make sure to RSVP for my going away party next week!

Catch the live show at AskAdria each Monday at 6:30pm Central (That’s 4:30pm Pacific, 7:30pm Eastern, 11:30pm GMT)

photo credit: tomt6788

Twitter hashtag: #movetoSF
Since December, I’ve been perusing the ads of Craigslist to get an idea of what I could expect once I made the decision to move to San Francisco.

I’ve truly enjoyed working with Zendesk doing the webinars and  since they’re in San Francisco, it’s a good move for me to make.  Not only do I love the product, I’ve found the folks who work at Zendesk to be quite awesome!  I never imagined the cloud would whisk me out of Minnesota so…here…we…go.

I saw Adam Jackson wrote a post on his recent move.  If you don’t know Adam, he’s on Twitter as @adamjackson and made news in 2008 with his webcam that recorded all sorts of drama outside his apartment window in the Tenderloin district in San Francisco.

photo credit: adamjackson

When I first got on Twitter, I followed about 5 people and then data mined people who they followed and who followed them.  Who you follow is sort of an unspoken approval.  I somehow came across Adam when I saw a tweet about his friend who was in the hospital and was going to lose her radio show (or something like that).  I was intrigued by his seemingly constant tweeting.

In my early days on Twitter (I joined March 31st, 2008 due to @WomenWhoTech Conference), I was a total lurker (someone who watches but who doesn’t participate).  I was afraid to tweet as I wasn’t really sure what to share, if anyone was listening or what to say.  Actually, most of my time on the internet since 1998 was in lurker mode.  On forums, I was that person who PM’d (Private Message) instead of posting a public reply.  In fact, back in the early days of Lifehacker, you had to apply to be allowed commenting rights.  I don’t think Gina wanted a bunch of empty minded folks leaving useless comments.  I applied and got permission to comment.  Did I?  Nope!  Too uncomfortable.  Not sure what to say except, “I agree”.  LOL!

Twitter helped me get over this fear of public expression.  I enjoyed reading Adam’s dramatic tweets about life, work, his girlfriend, his apartment, food, travel and everything in between.  I now tweet freely so I have people like Adam to thank for that.  Another person I enjoyed following was @chuckumentary who always had a “pants status” update (I had no idea why his pants had to update us via Twitter but the updates were funny!)

Ok, back to apartments in San Francisco.

Location

This map of San Francisco was drawn by Michael Wood for me at the Creamery coffee shop, December 2009 while I was in town for the Zendesk holiday party. Thank you Mike and Val for reaching out via my blog to provide your advice and knowledge of the San Francisco landscape over a cup of coffee! They both have technology careers.  Val had lived in San Francisco for 15 years and Mike for 3 so it was great to hear about what they liked, how they spent their free time and what neighborhoods they thought I would like based on my being a single technology geek.  Thank you!  It meant SO MUCH to me!

Zendesk is located in SOMA (South Of Market) so I’ve been looking at apartments in the following neighborhoods:

• SOMA
• Mission district
• Potrero Hill
• Castro
• Noe Valley
• East Bay Area (based on @outdoorafro and @Surfinbrotha‘s recommendation)
• Pacific Heights
• Cow Hollow

I see on Twitter that @surfinbrotha says I should consider the East Bay.  He’s not the only one but my goal is to be within 30 minutes of Zendesk so, drop your ideas in the comments for sure because…that’s how I got into this whole “Moving to San Francisco” thing…asking others!  (more on that later)

Amenities

My goal is to find an apartment with hardwood, floor to ceiling windows, not on the first floor that will accept my well behaved pets.

I have a 4lb, 10 year old Chihuahua named Bluey and I’ve had her since 2003
(Well behaved means potty trained, non barking, non destructive)

and my awesome 15 year old cat named Turtle
(Also well behaved meaning non destructive, uses her litter box 100% and doesn’t do weird cat stuff like attacking strangers)

Past that, there are nice things like having an office space, a garden space and storage.

Cost

photo credit: dcmaster

In Minneapolis, you can pay anywhere from $480 for a studio to $1,200 for a really nice 1 bedroom.  In fact, you can get many 2 bedroom units in the Twin Cities starting at $900.

The cost of living is higher in San Francisco.  Everyone keeps telling me that.

Based on my research through Cragslist, a studio (not in the Tenderloin) will cost you $1,200 and many 1 bedrooms go for $1,700 and up.

Right now, I pay about $650 for my 1 bedroom apartment in Minneapolis.  I’ve lived here 3 years.  Last year, they jacked up the rent considerably when they put in new kitchens (that is a WHOLE OTHER post unto itself).

Crazy People On Craigslist

Now in terms of how I’ve gone about finding potential apartments, I’ve mainly used Craigslist.  I have a couple of saved RSS feeds and when I go through them for keywords, pets allowed, rental price, etc, I sometimes come up with “gems”.  These are ads that somehow made it onto the Interwebz but have no chance of getting any sort of response from a sane person since it seems someone a “little off” wrote it.

This photo looks like there was a nuclear fall out in San Francisco

(cloudy day plus dirty lens).

And the ad that offered 200 square feet for $850/month in SOMA

Now since this is California, I also saw several ads that said, “420″ friendly

There were of course, there were ads that highlighted the toilet as the best photo of the unit.  I can only imagine what the rest of the place is like

I even found one today that graciously offered the use of their cell phone for the very affordable price of just $0.10 per minute.  I’ll continue to collect the “special postings” over on Flickr.

Housing For Next Month

photo credit: coleypauline

For right now, I am going to be moving into a temporary place for 4-6 weeks.  This will give me time to get a bit familiar with San Francisco but most importantly, allow me to go to apartment showings.  Ever bought a car over the Internet?  I have.  Twice.  First time was a bit shady.  Second time went much better but you’re still buying based on faith even if you have an independent auto mechanic check it out.  Same goes for apartments.  I’m better off looking while I’m in the city.

Thank you

photo credit: DNQA

I want to take a moment to say THANK YOU to all the wonderful folks who have reached out on the blog to offer advice, recommendations and connect me to people in their network concerning my move!  Thank you as well to all the folks on Twitter.

I personally find this life event to be terrifying but in the face of fear, you find courage.  I’ve faced scary, horrible things in my life and each time, I’ve come away better for it.  I think this is what drives me on where others say, “I’m not going to risk it”.  The unknown has actually been more rewarding to me than the known.

I still need your help so feel free to reach out and contact me if you think you have an idea, resource or tip that would make my relocation to San Francisco easier.  People have shared their stories of moving to San Francisco, their thoughts about one day moving and also what to watch out for.  I love it all!

photo credit: enfad

Now I was skeptical as to how much a “computer game console” could help me be healthy.  I remember the Super Nintendo (SNES) power pad days with the Track and Field.  Those hurdles were hard!  Still, I decided to keep an open mind because you can’t learn if you mind is shut!

First, Annie had me create a profile.   it seems your entire existence with the Wii is based on this profile so we picked out the shape of my head, my hair, my skin tone, my eye color, if I wore glasses and my height/weight.   There is a remote control that you use  to make choices and I found it easy to make basic selections but it took a while to use with the games (more later).

You don’t get on the Wii until just before you’re ready to play.

Wii Yoga

Yoga comes as part of the Fit Plus game package  and was also a part of the original Fit game.  It also has this extremely fun (and physically exhausting) bicycle game.  That one took me over 2 miles of “virtual peddling” to capture the 13 flags.  Whew!

photo credit: domesticknitter

The first thing you do with the fit program is get your BMI which is in index comparing your height/weight against other folks.    I tried three of the yoga items to. The first one was balancing and I wasn’t sure how I would do sense balance is something I’ve always had to work on the. I had ACL surgery on my left knee back in high school.  Combine that with the often sedentary lifestyle of people who work in technology and you have a recipe for not being physically fit!

Surprisingly I got a very good score in terms of balance!  This means doing yoga since 2006 has helped!  When I saw a physical therapist after a nasty fall on the ice that left me on crutches for a month back in 2005, the first thing she told me was that I was physically not strong.  Yes I was thin but I didn’t have core strength.  An easy way to test this is to lean against a wall with your back flat to it in a squatting position.  I began trembling immediately.  That was years ago and since I started doing yoga in 2006, I’ve felt more balanced, had very little pain in my back/neck/wrists and have better posture.  Go yoga!

photo credit: photos.by.ed

I also tried the yoga exercise where you bring your knee up to your chest and a warrior stance. What I enjoyed about using the system was that I could see on the screen my real body balance with this little meter which showed if I had more weight on the left or more weight on the right. The same thing went while doing the warrior pose I could see if I had too much weight on the front foot or not enough on the back foot. Wowzers!

photo credit: kelvin255

I never got this kind of feedback going human person and even though I love doing my video yoga with Yogamazing on iTunes, real time feedback is huge!  Yoga Wii will give you tips to improve your alignment and yoga posture after you complete a section. It will keep track of how much time you have spent doing these exercises. You can then create a goal for yourself to maintain or increase your health.

I think I like the information that we gives me because it’s like Google Analytics. Not only does it collect the information but it also provides me with actionable items! Plug me into the Matrix!

Part of the BMI I is learning your weight.   I wasn’t sure if the Wii could really weigh me but it did! Wearing clothes, I am 128lbs.   I’ve been at this weight since the age of 14, pretty much. The highest I’ve fluctuated was to 140 in 2002 from eating out three times a day for four months while working on a technology project in living out of my suitcase.   I lost the weight by exercising and increasing my protein intake.   it took about three months to lose 15lbs.

I’m Getting A Wii

As you can see, I was able to find many photos of people using the Wii, and more specifically using the lead for yoga! I always thought it was silly to interact with the computer about your health. When the computer know about you? A lot obviously!   I was very impressed with the Wii and was happy that Annie shared it with me. I don’t know what my neighbors will think of me doing this stuff on the Wii but I’m going to wait until I move to San Francisco and pick one up!

photo credit: shareski

I like to think of her as my part time employee because she’s often here when I’m working at my desk.

Here are some photos I took a few years back when I heard about Stuff On My Cat. I was able to cram quite a bit of stuff on Turtle before she got up and walked away…disgusted!

My 3 Reasons For Leaving Minneapolis

1. I’m tired of the bad weather. We get hard crusty snow and humid summers. The mosquitos have not been so bad in the last few years but hey, I want to enjoy the seasons, not fear them!
2. I want more tech. I want to easily find events dealing with my technology interests and I have a hard time doing that in Minnesota. Dates are uncertain; some years get “skipped” for annual events and there is a big focus here on “corporate” technology.  I want to discuss geeky tech stuff with other people who “get it” more often.  Sometimes Most times, I feel trapped on a tech island here in the Twin Cities.  I’m a cozy small business + cloud computing geek.
3. I want more racial diversity. After traveling last year, I realize that the East and West coast are more diverse. I like seeing Brown people, hearing different languages or for that matter, talking to people who speak more than one language!  With my very first passport on the way, I am ready to truly embrace a “World culture” and feel that is more likely to happen outside of the Midwest.

My Numerous Reasons For Selecting San Francisco

1. I want more technology.
2. I want to be surrounded by health conscious people
3. I want more sunshine
4. I want to attend more technology conferences
5. I want to eat more fresh food that is grown locally
6. I want floor to ceiling windows (see Adria’s Goals and 21 Things video)
7. I want to snowboard on powder without it costing $1,400
8. I want a more simplified lifestyle
9. I want to change the world and San Francisco has a lot of movers and shakers

This is all for now.  I could go into the reasons that I will miss the Twin Cities.  There are people here who I find supremely awesome and inspiring.  I will miss them.

I have a target move date for April 2010.  That’s less than 2 months away.  It’s my time to explore the world so here I go!  I do find the prospect of moving quite terrifying as you may remember last year just traveling to Chicago left me feeling unsettled.  It’s a good time to do this.  I’m young, single, no kids and so, so ready to make a difference in the world.

Check back to the blog and this blog post as I will be updating it with the details of my move including:

• How I plan to find a place to live in San Francisco
• My next trip to San Francisco (Late February)
• What I’m bringing with me and what I’m leaving behind
• Photos of apartments I’ve looked at
• How I’m moving my stuff out there
• Moving day

Say Goodbye Or Hello

If you’re in Minneapolis, let’s have coffee together in March.  I may do some sort of small get together if it seems like a good fit.

If you’re in San Francisco, reach out as I’ll need help finding a place, getting around and meeting folks.

Photo credit: releasingorange, CarbonSilver (gbenz), Wuggum03

photo credit: yoppy

I’m heading to WordCamp Chicago today and mentioned on Twitter that I wasn’t bringing my electric toothbrush.  I didn’t want the hassle of TSA making up “rules” on the spot and then telling me I’d have to toss my toothbrush.  @swirlspice suggested I try and get it through TSA so today I will attempt to bring my toothbrush with me as carry-on.

I found some interesting experiences on the internet:

Let’s design a basic, compact, TSA-compliant carry-on “survival kit”

In light of the continuing drama-rama that is the TSA (see this thread), I propose a project: let’s design a basic carry-on kit that complies with TSA rules while granting the bearer the most comprehensive array of essentials possible in the event of an emergency (delayed/lost luggage, etc).  The more compact the “core” essentials, the more space is left over for items you don’t want to check (read: “donate,” provided they’re legal to carry onto the plane).

Confessions of a Baggage Screener

So far I had seen the machines flag plenty of deodorant sticks, toothpaste tubes, and shoe heels, which showed up on the screen outlined in red. I had handled sex toys, machetes, and pistols (legal in checked bags). But the closest thing I had seen to a bomb were manufactured images on the screen created by the Threat Image Projection System, a software package developed by the government to make sure we were paying attention. Every once in a while, I learned, police let drug dogs find contraband so they don’t grow discouraged. I didn’t much care for the implied comparison.

The ticking was real enough, though, and I couldn’t let the suitcase through until I’d figured out the origin of the sound. A US Airways supervisor was hovering nearby, and jittery fliers were peeking at us through the breaks in the partitions. I took everything out, stacking clothes on the table. I felt around the lining. I turned the suitcase over once more, noted that the ticking stopped, and saw a bulge in a tiny pocket tucked between the rods for the extendable handle. It was an electric toothbrush that turned on when it pressed against the table but was packed too tight to vibrate.

Common Items, Extraordinary Threat (TSA Blog)

Authorities overseas also found an electric toothbrush, similar to one the TSA showed ABC News, which was actually re-engineered to detonate a plastic explosive that could be hidden in the lining of a briefcase.