Teppy -- that is so something I would do -- which is EXACTLY why I try to pay my bills online as much as possible.

And it's 89 degrees here and it's not even NOON.

What a great surprise, vw! It's like new jewelry that is ALREADY your favorite!

I KNOW!

Most of it is cheap stuff that I just really liked. BUT, it also holds my Tiffany's bracelet that I adore.

Having lived in Portland and LA (but not SF) I can tell you that Portland combines a major small town feel with a fairly urban environment - decent variety of ethnic food, though not up to SF, decent variety of culture - though not up to SF. (Up to the LA I knew, but my LA knowledge is too many decades out of date to useful.) Also - though good on the shopping and resteraunt thing - not anything like as multi-cultural as LA or SF. It has great public transit. It has powells and that is a mega-cool bookstore. Plus a fair number of other indendet bookstores. Not really making a case over SF am I? Advantages over SF - lower cost living, and I'll bet the small town feel is smaller cause it is a smaller city than SF. SF has a much higher numbers of buffistas including JZ and Hecubot and Deborah Grabien as well. I think we have two Portland Buffistas, but have not checked map lately.

Teppy -- that is so something I would do -- which is EXACTLY why I try to pay my bills online as much as possible.

This happened back when online bill-pay was just barely starting -- now, I pay every single bill online. I can't remember the last time I mailed anything.

vw -- I had this weird habit of losing one earring from the same pair (my blue scarabs) on vacation, and then the next time I went to use my luggage, I'd find the damn earring. It happened at least 3 vacations in a row, with the same pair of earrings. I think the earring just really likes my luggage.

Yeah, I don't pay anything by hand anymore.

Great news, vw!

Yay vw! What fun to find lost treasure.

Go Bangkok! Choose Bangkok!

See now, this is what I would do. That said, SF & Portland have better air than LA. I love LA, but found it hard to breathe.

I'd pimp Florida, but if you don't like it hot it would not be so good for you.

I'd pimp Florida, but if you don't like it hot it would not be so good for you.

Yeah, the only way I'm willing to do hot is if it's also dry. Also, the fewer insects the better. I know there's no way to have none (short of moving to Antarctica, where I hear there aren't many schools), but at least if there are cockroaches they shouldn't be able to fly. That's my stand.

I don't know Portland, so I can't comment. What bothered me most about LA is that it is such a car place. I never saw anyone walking anywhere. What appealed to me about SF was that I coould walk and bump into things. what I like about the bay area is that you don't have to be in the middle of a city. - dense suburbia if you want to be close to a city, but you can have your own space. so you can teach in oakland, but be ufrther away ( though there are some very comfortable areas of oakland). Honestly, if you come to the west coast , even if you ( correctly ) chose the bay area - there is enough variety for exploration