OT - Thinking about relocating to berkeley california, atleast for the summer

so yeahzers. Any opinions?

There seems to be crap tons of engineering work out there, and I am in need of a summer internship

Ive never been to california, but since my brother moved to San Fran, and berkeley is just down the road practically, Im starting to think about it.

Bring your Birkenstocks and Ch

I love the weather in N California. Berkeley has great fish restaurants, I recall. . .

I love Berkeley and am trying to move there myself. I would do it if I were you. It probably has the best food in the nation, and san fran is right there. It's a beautiful city and the weather is perfect.

I lived in Berkeley for a few years and have continued to visit since I left. It's an interesting college town, basically, largely residential, but with an endearing and somewhat unusual collection of shops and restaurants. It's a quirky place that leans farther to the Left than any other place in the US, I believe.

Due to the University of California being there, it can be difficult to find a place to live in Berkeley. Assuming you do find a place, it can be very expensive. If you're not going to UC, or working in the East Bay, San Francisco (just across the Bay) may provide more options in terms of housing, jobs, entertainment, etc.

The entire Bay Area is a phenomenal place to live. I love the climate (generally cool summers and mild winters), the diversity of the people, and the proximity to some of the most beautiful landscapes to be found anywhere in the world.

In my mind, the only downsides are the cost of living, frustrating traffic, and rather nasty earthquakes (I was there for that big one in 1988). But if you're willing and able to pay the freight, it's difficult to find a more fascinating and wonderful place to live than Northern California. San Francisco is one American city that I think really holds its own with the great cities of Europe, such as Paris and Rome. Go for it!

so yeahzers. Any opinions? There seems to be crap tons of engineering work out there, and I am in need of a summer internship Ive never been to california, but since my brother moved to San Fran, and berkeley is just down the road practically, Im starting to think about it.

By brother lived in San Mateo for quite a while, south of The City, across the bay from Berkeley. The cost of living was phenomenally high; he paid over $600K in around 2000 for an 1100 square foot fixer-upper. I can't imagine the rents were cheap, either. It was a neat town, though, and of course San Francisco was only a short hop away.

Do you have any thoughts about where you'd like to intern at?

If you can get a summer internship and afford to live there then go for it. Try to find a job with a place that provides reduced rate housing for interns, if they do such a thing anymore. When I was in the summer internship at Eastman Kodak they provided reduced price housing for summer interns; I grew up near Rochester so I lived with my parents and car-pooled with neighbors. That was in the mid 80's.

I take it you are an engineering student? I would say that in this economy get used to moving around a lot and save your money religiously in a well-distributed portfolio of investments.

I have a pretty "bent" and insane view of life, and you probably don't want to hear any other advice about your career and life.

I forgot to mention a guy I was in scouts with as a kid moved out to the bay area and got mushed to death in the '88 earthquake.

I lived in Santa Cruz for a year after college and had freinds in the City so I was always up there - as well as the east bay...personally I like the City more but good luck with the rent - while theres lots of high priced nice places to live in the City...theres also some pretty shady ones...so goes the story of every metropolitan area...visit first...fantastic city...one of the greatest in the country...great weather too!

so yeahzers. Any opinions? There seems to be crap tons of engineering work out there, and I am in need of a summer internship Ive never been to california, but since my brother moved to San Fran, and berkeley is just down the road practically, Im starting to think about it.

sure, if you live in Berkeley, you can simply float your boat to SF

already do

thank god I havent suffered from GAS in the last year or 2. MD, MEK and a small modular is all I need

small world, I owned a house in San Mateo, 1987-1997

Yup, expensive like most quality areas

One of my favorite towns in the area. I also windsurf off the bay next to San Mateo

Season is a month away, Can't wait

small world, I owned a house in San Mateo, 1987-1997 Yup, expensive like most quality areas One of my favorite towns in the area. I also windsurf off the bay next to San Mateo Season is a month away, Can't wait

Wow, photo-snap. I have this one I took at Muriwai Beach in Auckland, NZ

Looks like a great place to go

here's 1 more from my back yard

Taken from one of my favorite spots on the planet:

yep, close to another great windsurfing spot

And don't forget the greatest independent record store in the world, located only in Hollywood, San Francisco . . . and 2455 Telegraph Ave., Berkeley. That would be AMOEBA!

And don't forget the greatest independent record store in the world, located only in Hollywood, San Francisco . . . and 2455 Telegraph Ave., Berkeley. That would be AMOEBA!

yea yea... amoeba is great, but they have nothing on aquarius.

Mytee, long time no post from me but this caught my eye.

Do it man.

If you still have open chunks of time and low-risk opportunities to travel/visit/work to and in different places, go for it.

I took up flight training at a university in Florida in 2004. Instead, I ended up performing at jam festivals, playing surf bars, and carefully handling political situations with other dude's girls I came out with a few tracks recorded with them that were going to be shopped to satellite radio when the band dissolved. I came out of this with no financial harm, two more songs to add to my portfolio of materials/demos, and a wealth of experience playing to a whole new audience/demographic. Also, contacts with at least four industry-level (but unknown) musicians and one person who is still working in the industry. I also got to be in two hurricanes: Frances and Jeanne. When Frances came and was still the size of Texas, all our aircraft were moved to Georgia and the east coast of Florida where landfall was projected (where I was) was evacuated. This ended up being an 11-day vacation at a friend's place in Tampa where I got extensive opportunity to hit up the club scene and see some illegal street racing (these aren't normall my digs, but when in Rome...)

Last summer, I took up an opportunity to record in Hollywood, CA for a friend on a $$$,$$$ album. I'm not going to get into the amount of industry contacts I built with that, or the amount of experience I gained. It was a slight financial hit over my other options for the summer, but the right move professionally. Networking in California seems to be ten times easier than trying to meet people in the industry in the City or Boston, too. I can't explain that, but I guess there's just a lot of up-and-comers there willing to take on interns and show others the way.

California knows how to party too.

Get your ass there. I had more fun during my four months in Los Angeles than I did in the entire year leading up to it. Smokin at Venice where so many music greats had before, the view off Mulholland at midnight, hanging off historic Hollywood skyscrapers 10 stories above the walk of fame...these are a few of my favorite things and you never know who'll you'll meet out there and where they'll drag you for the night. California attracts all kinds of whacko-types, but a lot of famous/interesting/knowledgeable people as well. Unless you're giving up college, a job with benefits, and a fiance to do this, I see little reason not to you'll also be with a family member...often a trustworthy way to see new places. Often a situation that won't last. Get out there.

Oh...and as I recall, people like us are more common, present, and accepted out there. One night we were having some fun at a hotel in Beverly Hills hotel (as were several other rooms on that floor) when we heard a knock on the door. Back here in NY where we're from, we would've been scrambling and stashing. It was hotel security, and he had come to recommend that we towel the door to the hallway

A story like that? Go to california.

The Twin Cities MN is a quality area with the exception of the weather absolutely sucking, which is probably why the housing market here is not nearly what it is in CA. My office buddy transferred from 3M Petaluma a couple years ago and made about $800k on his house (bought there about 13 years ago). He turned the money around into a gorgeous home on 5 acres here (personally I would have invested it and retired earlier - but that is him and not me). At least when it is

Internships and coops are a great way to get your foot in the door at a company and get valuable experience. I worked at Kodak in various departments all the way through grad school. My grad advisor was not the happiest about it, but the extra experience and education was invaluable and ended up shaping my long-term career. By way of recommendation from people at Kodak it also got me a dream NSF post-doc at what is perhaps the best place in the US for applied math type folks to go (IMA). My next younger brother did the coop thing at Harris through the RIT EE department and got hired after his coop with the remaining 2 years of his tuition paid by the company.

So I would say go for it.

By the way, a college buddy of mine started a small company called Field Diagnosticson the East coast that specializes in industrial HVAC controls. He seems to be doing pretty well.

I loved my 3 years in Southern California, and I imagine the north is just as nice. I'd move back in a heartbeat, then I'd move to Hawaii to jam with Walter Becker.

Why would you move all the way out here just to move to Berkeley? Move all the way into SF, you'll have more fun.

Not to mention you'll probably end up doing some engineering down on the peninsula, and getting there from Berkeley just about requires driving, which is an aggro, soul-sucking endeavor in the Bay Area. If you're in SF you can strike out to the East Bay and the peninsula using Caltrain and BART pretty easily.

Check out Leo's on Telegraph for pro audio gear pr0n. And Yoshi's, if you're into good jazz.

(both in Oakland, but, close enough)

I hear this might be a fun place to spend money if you're in the area: http://www.robotspeak.com/

Definitely should and when you come, try finding a place in the Castro district. I hear its cheaper there...:poke:

why don't you tell us of your favorite bars there, too ?