Since April 1st, I have traveled to the following cities; Manila, Palo Alto, Berkeley, Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, Singapore, Boston, NYC and now back to Berkeley. While I have enjoyed my travel, I must reiterate that California is the place to be. When people visit California, they are happy and content. They sit at the UCLA Faculty Club with a smile on their face and relax. Unlike when I taught at certain East Coast schools, nobody at UCLA has ever given me a second look because I like to wear sneakers and sometimes don't tuck in a dress shirt. While I can't name what Californian industries will thrive over the next 20 years, I know that the state's unique quality of life will continue to attract those who like to live well. As Dora and I flew today, I was looking at a map of Northern California. There are no real cities north of San Francisco and South of Portland along the Pacific coast. I told Dora that rather than buying Facebook shares that purchasing that coastal real estate is the right long run investment play.
As I sit here in Berkeley, protected in this nuclear free zone, I'm enjoying the fresh air and good breeze. While I can't predict what the state government will do next or how much high speed rail will really cost Californians, I am optimistic about the future out here. From our travels east, we learned that humidity is no longer our thing. This blog post has no real point except to try to nudge my friends who live on the East Coast to think about the possibilities in the sun to the west.
