About the town… Sunnyvale is one of the bigger cities in Silicon Valley, with a population of about 130,000. It is basically just a lot of urban sprawl. Never ending neighborhoods, tons of stores, and restaurants galore. I like having everything so close, but I miss having wide open spaces and I really get bored with all the traffic. Sunnyvale is home to such notable companies as Yahoo and AMD, among many others. Most of the other big names like Google and Apple are in the neighboring towns of Mountain View and Cupertino.

About the neighborhood… It is pretty typical suburban Northern California, with lots and lots of single-story houses on small lots with very green grass despite the fact that it never rains here, ever. Magic, I guess! We have nice sidewalks all over, which is good for the rare jog that I take. Within a mile or so, we have a Walgreens, plenty of high-priced gas stations, a Starbucks, two Trader Joes, three Safeways, the YMCA, a Chipotle (yes!), and tons of other stores. There is definitely no shortage of shopping to be done in Sunnyvale.

About the house… I really love this place. It is a single story structure, I guess some people would refer to it as a ranch style. It was built in the 60s, along with most of everything else around here, and the architectural style totally shows. I like it. We have a palm tree in the front yard! A real one! The house is a little on the tiny side, but we have a cozy living room where the cats usually hang out, along with a big enough kitchen that I rarely use, and that is about it. On one side of the house I have my own area with my bedroom and my bathroom. Marilyn has her own area in the back. More about her in a minute.

The inside of the house is cool, but the outside is my favorite. We have a really fabulous yard with lots of colorful flowers and plenty of sunshine. The flowers are kept pretty by the gardener dudes who come bright and early every Monday morning, waking me with their weed whackers and leaf blowers. I’m pretty sure the guys just stand outside my window with their leaf blowers blowing and weed whackers whacking, just to make sure I am not getting any more sleep than they are! I have been considering earplugs as an option, but I think hearing my alarm clock would become a little tricky then. And I’m not really sure if my employer would accept earplugs as an excuse for me showing up at 11:30, although I’ll never know until I try! The backyard has even more flowers, along with a little pond and a groovy patio with a picnic table. It is a nice place to chill out in the sun or to eat some lunch and drink a little wine.

About my room… My bedroom is a great place. I have decorated it pretty well I think, with some bold colors and plenty of IKEA accessories, as some of you will recognize in the photographs. The floors are hardwood, the walls are textured, and the ceilings are exposed beam and wood, and are wonderfully vaulted. Not your average boring bedroom! I have a nice big window but I really wish there were even more, since I am a big fan of natural light. The furnishings were conveniently here when I arrived, and include a basic desk, a book shelf, a small dresser, and a nice big bed! It is so soft! I threw down a few carpets and added some lighting to make things a little more warm, and I think they did the trick. I will ackowledge the fact that my walls are harshly bare, but worry not, I intend to create some original works to hang up and fill the empty spaces.

My bathroom is right next to the bedroom, and is pretty typical. The only thing of note is that anyone taller than about five feet has to duck to get under the showerhead! And being that I am measuring in at about 6’1” these days, it is a rather hilarious ordeal that I go through every morning just to get myself clean. I hope Home Depot sells something to rectify the problem before I develop neck problems or have some kind of slip and fall type accident!

About Marilyn… So my landlady is named Marilyn. She is a nice lady, probably somewhere between 60 and 70 years old (I am really bad at guessing age!). This has been her home since 1977. By trade, she is an artist, privately contracting various mural-painting jobs around the area for different people. She paints all types of things, from zoo animals and underwater scenes to clouds on the ceiling, mostly for children’s rooms. From the photos I’ve seen, she does excellent work. In her free time, she is an opinionated and well-informed lady who is passionate about all things political. It is a rare moment to see her in front of the TV and not be watching Wolf Blitzer or one of those other wind bags from the cable news networks. I occasionally sit down with her, at which point she talks my ear off for basically as long as I will remain seated, and often will continue once I get up. She mostly yaks about Obama (she loves him!), as well as the situation in Iraq and other random stuff in the news. I am kind of apathetic but we occasionally get good discussions going. Overall I like her because she is a positive and liberal lady who loves to have a good conversation but also knows how to let me live my own life. It’s a good arrangement.

About the cats, for you cat lovers… Ahh, yes, the feline members of the household. We have two cats, both Burmese, and they are cute and friendly. Now I will say that they are not the cutest and most friendly cats I have ever come across, but I am told that they are both nearly 15 years old, so I would say they are doing pretty good for their age. One of the cats is a boy, and his name is Valentine. He is a big black cat with a notch in his left ear that makes him identifiable from the girl, who’s named Gemma (pronounced with a J). She is a little smaller and slightly grayish compared to him, although the two are sometimes very difficult to tell apart. The boy has big black eyes and loves to be petted. He is all over me when I am in the kitchen, although he seems afraid of coming into my room. The girl, on the other hand, is not shy about coming right into my room and hopping into my bed, where she then proceeds to lick herself in some highly unladylike locations, right in full view. What manners. Then she hops down on the floor and wanders around my feet while she meows incessantly. And her meow is the most old lady sounding meow I have ever heard! Sometimes I have to kick her out just because it is so annoying. I have to say though, it is kinda nice having them around. I was never a cat person before this year, but I am definitely being converted, albeit slowly.

Well that is basically it. It’s a nice place to live, although the best part of being out here is really what I see and do once I’ve left my house and gotten out of the neighborhood. I hope to see some of you out here to visit soon, so you can experience it too!