Well, after a couple of years of working way too much, especially recently, I’ve taken some time off – naturally, so I can get some work done! A friend asked me to speak at a fund raising event in San Francisco and I decided that a small road trip before would help me clear the cob webs from my ancient attic of a brain.

I flew into Orange County and drove down to Laguna Beach to crash for a few days before I begin the slow drive up Highway 1 later on today. It’s very picturesque here, palm trees, rolling waves, nice beaches. It’s the rest of the stuff that puts a born and bred New Yorker on edge. It’s SO different.

Here’s a list of things that jump out at me:

- I’ve seen more people with plastic surgery (breasts, lips, faces) in my two days here than I have in the last 5 years of being in NY put together!

- They have these bus stops that look a bit like holding pens with signs that say “pick up day laborers here”

- The class differences are huge, between Whites, between Whites and Hispanics, and between the Hispanics.

- I have a new found distaste for the “soul patch.” In NY it indicates a cross between a geek and a fashionista. Here it indicates some kind of slacker/surfer/bum combination