Day 13, 14 & 15: Observations

Oh hai guys!, originally uploaded by edmarchedrick.

Hi guys. I know you have all probably forgotten what I look like, which is why I decided to take a photo of myself... in Palm gear.

They've been giving me a lot of stuff. Three palm t-shirts, a hat, lip balm (all of which are premiums for our Summer Tour campaign), a little water canister thing, a cocktail shaker set, and an unbranded "Palm orange" drawstring bag. One of my t-shirts is a Large, so if you want, you can have. Alls you need to do is ask.

Everything's still going swell. Still trying to meet as many people as possible. My marketing professor told me to never have lunch by myself. Trying my best to do this. And I didn't fail today. It's so nerve-wracking though. "Hey! Be my friend, I don't want to eat alone, please have lunch with me!" That's pretty much my strategy. It works about 42% of the time... 72% if I ask a female though.

Anyways, here are some observations I've made about the Bay Area...

1. Every time you bring up Oakland, everyone shudders. It's kind of like mentioning Oakcliff in Dallas or Riverside in Austin.
   
2. San Francisco is most commonly referred to as "the city" or "SF" (ess eff). No one ever calls it San Fran like I do. Or like I've heard other good ole Texans call it.
   
3. San Jose is sometimes referred to jokingly as "Man Jose." All engineers, dude.
   
4. The only toll roads that exist here are the bridges. Texans, we know all about those. A coworker was baffled by the number of tolls in D-town.
5. High 70's is hot for a lot of Bay Area folk. I'm sorry all you Dallasites who experienced triple digit weather this past weekend. It's June... wayyy tooo early!
   
6. Bay Area folks also crumble when they feel the slightest bit of humidity. Ooh boy, they can never survive in Texas.
7. You'll find very few Wal-Marts here. There are maybe two in Silicon Valley. I think there are more in East Bay than there are on the peninsula. It's all Safeway here. It's kinda like Tom Thumb/Kroger/HEB.
   
8. Finally, a lot of people bike here, which I think is great. Also, EVERYONE wears a helmet. ATX, TAKE NOTE.

That's all I can think of right now!

Tchau amigos.