Claire Moves Up the Left Coast
Claire is now a full-fledged
pediatric anesthesiologist at
Children's Hospital and Research Center in Oakland, CA. That's right! She's no longer one of the downtrodden residents you see on TV, though she does still seem to pull some bad shifts. She got called on Christmas night, for example, to deal with an emergency or three.
Of course, Claire wouldn't think of living anywhere except in San Francisco, at least until she can afford something in Marin County. (Median price for a home there is reputed to be $1M.) She set out her requirements for an apartment:
- In the Mission District
- Two bedrooms
- A parking space
- A back yard for her cat,The Princess
- A dishwasher and washer/dryer
She wound up with:
- More Haight-Ashbury than the Mission District
- One bedroom, but with a sunny living room
- A parking space, but a tight squeeze
- A back yard
- No dishwasher or washer/dryer
So it goes. She seems to be happy. We think her apartment is quite nice, and somewhat bigger than the places she has been camping out in for the past five years. It's within walking distance of Golden Gate Park, a wonderful place on par with Central Park. It even has some fair birding. We heard and saw a Red-shouldered Hawk by the DeYoung Museum.
Claire's Travels
As usual, Claire spent a lot of time away from home. We have a hard time keeping up with all of them. Here's a short list of places we can remember:
- Florida, to take (and pass!) her board exam and get some beach time
- Mexico to learn surfing at an all-girl surfing school, then Baja for some surfing
- Costa Rica, a quick trip with an old friend with the allegedly unintended consquence of energizing a potential suitor to get serious
- Telluride, for a music festival
- Austin, for the Austin City Limits Festival, which coincided with Hurricane Rita
- Denver for a wedding
- Houston for friend Jenny Salomon's 30 (sigh) birthday
- Hawaii, to visit Lagaya, a friend from New York residency
