Camping Indoors in San Francisco

I have been in San Francisco for about a week now. I came early so I could handle the practical things before work takes up more of my day: getting an SSN, setting up bank accounts, buying apartment basics, and waiting for the rest of my stuff to arrive.

Right now the apartment is still mostly a sleeping pad, a sleeping bag, a few cat things, and whatever has arrived from Amazon. My furniture is still in transit, so the week has been paperwork, deliveries, outdoor runs, and making the place usable enough for the cats and me.

Camping Indoors

The apartment is still mostly empty. Until my stuff arrives, hopefully next week, I am basically camping inside it with a pad and a sleeping bag. I have an address and keys, but most of my day-to-day setup is still on the floor.

It is not uncomfortable in a dramatic way. It is just sparse. Everything I have with me is doing a job because there is not much else around.

Getting the Cats Here

The cats needed their own plan. We used a pet taxi service, which turned out to be the right call for a few reasons. We did not want them to be apart, and I did not want either of them in cargo when I could only bring one in the cabin myself.

Conveniently, having them come by pet taxi also gave me time to set up cat trees and cat beds before they arrived. The apartment is still unfinished, but having them here changes it immediately. Their beds and trees make the place feel occupied even before the furniture arrives.

Environment

I have been noticing small everyday differences too. Amazon is much better here than it was in Waterloo, which has been useful while most of my things are still in transit.

The tap water also tastes good. Apparently San Francisco water is snowmelt water, which makes drinking from the tap unusually pleasant.

I have been enjoying the outdoor runs, especially along the Bay Trail. It has been a nice way to get out of the apartment between errands and setup tasks.

I also often overhear people talking about tech: startups, AI, infrastructure, products, companies, jobs. It is a little odd, but also not surprising here. For now it is mostly just part of the environment.

Overall, I am enjoying it. This first week has mostly been paperwork, deliveries, empty rooms, and figuring out what the cats need. I am also looking forward to the coming week, when hopefully more of my attention can move from getting established here to the work I came here to do.