I’ve come back to the Bay Area at a great time. The weather is cranking up to full heat for summer. The Warriors have made it to the finals in the playoffs. And it seems many friends from both high school and Berkeley are coming back to old stomping grounds as well. Coming back to my hometown after 3+ years and settling in has the advantage of knowing the area well, and easily choosing which patterns to get back into and which activities to (re)explore. The last weeks have seen no shortage of reunions with friends and exactly such explorations.
Settling in: BBQs in Concord
While Kaj is off in the Netherlands for a little vacation, I’ve taken advantage of the warm summer weather in Concord to host some barbecues. Last weekend it was with a bunch of buddies from my high school. Obviously this is a good crowd to get together given that we’re in the hometown. And followed up this weekend, I had a small get-together as well with buddies from Berkeley yesterday. I love having a house with space for such gatherings. I certainly look forward to having more in the coming summer months. That said, it doesn’t need to be 90-100 degrees every time!
Nature calls
I’ve terribly missed camping over the last years. I always made sure to have a sleeping bag and backpack close by in my homes in Europe, but I rarely used them for some good camping. Something about the distances or other self-imposed limitation held me back. No matter now. Among my first purchases after coming back to the Bay Area was a 4-person tent and sleeping pad. Working remote gives me the option of making my own schedule as long as I continue to perform.
With that in mind, I took my new camping gear and I spent a night in one of my favorite spots in the Bay Area: Kirby Cove. The cove is in the Marin Headlands just next to the Golden Gate Bridge and is named after the old battery that was there. On the beach you can look under the bridge to see the city of San Francisco. Look the other way and you see the Pacific Ocean, with the occasional tug boat drifting and ready to direct cargo ships to the ports of Oakland or SF. I was incredibly happy to be able to spend the night there. I took advantage of the location and worked there for several hours before heading into San Francisco.
SAIS in San Francisco
After a couple hours working in cafes around San Francisco, I joined up for networking drinks the hip ‘Chambers’ bar. A group of classmates from Bologna and recent graduates from Johns Hopkins SAIS were on a career-trek through San Francisco. As I experienced when I went on a similar trek to Brussels last year, there is always an network event set up to meet alumni from the area. Now I’m that alumni meeting current and recently graduated students.
I wasn’t quite prepared for the questions from the hungry students look for a tip or connection to get their careers started. Nonetheless I enjoyed chatting with them, and seeing several classmates from Bologna as well. Additionally, I chatted quite a bit with other alumni living in the Bay Area. Naturally I want to be involved, so I volunteered to help organize some alumni events this year. I look forward to get more involved in the community.
Personal running record blasted
Of the five weekends that I’ve been back, three Saturday mornings have been spent running with friend and ex-roommate Emmad. The first two times around Lake Merrit in Oakland, and yesterday on the trails in the Walnut Creek area. Each time we’ve gotten together we’ve progressed to run longer distances. Yesterday we set ourselves for an ambitious 16 miles. With a good pace and some carbby-goos we made it past 17 miles (27.4 km), a new personal record for both of us. This training run gives me absolute confidence that I’m capable of running a marathon. So much so, that I am ready to go run one as soon as possible. I might just run the 26 miles on my own next weekend, or find a marathon close by to be able to do it. In which ever way it manifests itself, I’m incredibly excited to know that these distances are easily in my grasp!
Ease into it
“Ease into it”. Emmad keeps telling me this in regards to my excitement to get new patterns going. Often he references this to training, but it’s also the remote work situation. Up until this most recent week I’ve focused on making remote work possible from home. I moved my work station from the dining room into a formal office. I haven’t had to do it yet, but the ability to just close the door and work puts me in a different mindset. At least I’m better at preventing self-distraction. Now I’ll try to work from cafes locally or over in San Francisco or Oakland. Being away from home keeps me on target I’ve learned this week. But I’ll ease into it.
What do you think of my blog post this week? What do you want to see more or less of?
Any tips or tricks for either running or remote working? I’d love to hear from you on that.
Let me know in the comments below so I can create better and more engaging content for you, my valuable reader 🙂
