My hometown area of San Ramon/Danville/Pleasanton is nearing the same size as DC, but every single bit of it is suburban homes. No, really, I need you all to understand the scale of this. Imagine 6-10 completely uninterrupted miles of one million dollar homes and schools. There isn't a store, restaurant, or anything else in between. It's just very expensive, very generic homes.

That sounds terrible. Suburbs are generally awful places, bereft of anything worth living in (in my opinion), but that takes it to a whole other level.

That was really interesting to read, because I have a roommate who is enamored with just about everything about California that you hate. Oh - and guess what he wants to go over at the radio station's executive board meeting this Friday? Branding.

Shitty childhoods happen everywhere, and I'm sure a lot of us can attest to having gone though some stuff like that (hell, galen already has). Can't say much about super-wealthy people seeing as how I've grown up and lived in some pretty poor areas, but that sounds like something out of a modern day Great Gatsby. It's good to have you back, and you know, despite "hating the fuck out of California" maybe that gives you a greater appreciation for what you have on the East Coast and in DC. You know that you like it there, and that's what counts. I think?

Oh and just...I have to...but. Fuck the O's.