Apologies to my friend Steve, who grew up in Fresno and understandably was not amused by the gross generalizations and tone in my previous post ("a tone that infects the Bay Area like the plague... elistism in it's purest form"). Perhaps I too easily granted myself license to bag on the Central Valley, having made twice-yearly trips down there since I was in the womb. Steve flip-flopped my post for a good counterpoint about San Francisco. For your reading pleasure and an alternative viewpoint on our fair city, I give you 'Small Town Mind.'

My last attempted entry got lost. Twice. I decided to listen to whatever the higher powers were trying to tell me a took a break. Where were we?

I went to visit my grandparents at their ranch in Reedley, California, a small town in the Central Valley, the long strip of dusty farmland between Los Angeles and Sacramento. I wanted to plant a seed in my grandmother's mind that when she's ready, the Bay Area (close to me, my sister and nieces) might be a nice alternative to the sleepy town in which she and my grandfather currently reside. Her health is deteriorating and my grandpa would prefer to hop in an RV and tour America than stick around their 10-acre raisin grape farm on Road 40 for much longer. We'd love to have her near us and be a bigger part of her life. I hope she's considering it.

As a child, the 4-hour drive to Reedley seemed interminable. The only interesting landmarks along the way are Casa de Fruta (a rest stop/ RV park/ dried fruit stand) and the eternally-underfilled San Luis Reservoir. Oh yeah, and Fresno, California's sixth-largest city. But Casa de Fruta is more fun than Fresno.

Highway 5 runs through Washington, Oregon and California, from the Canadian border in the north to the Mexican border in the south. Driving along on a weekday, I shared the road with hundreds of semi-trucks; America's famous 18-wheelers with Playboy Bunny mudflaps and oversexed-drivers who keep themselves entertained on the long haul by communicating to others via CB radio the presence of women in the vicinity. Roused by the toot of my horn as I signalled to pass, one driver hung his head out the window and immediately deployed his CB. As I passed the next five trucks, the driver of each gave me props in the form of honking air horns and lascivious looks.

On the way home, I stopped to take photos at a dairy farm. With its lined up herds of black and white bovines with giant plastic number tags through both ears sucking up water in a trough, it was quite a different scene from the small family-owned dairys I saw and even lived on in India. The farm foreman, a Mexican named Gilbert, rode up on his giant tractor and inquired with a wink, "Joo are likeenk de cowss?"

In the last week, I saw Eckhart Tolle, went to Harbin Hot Springs, the Burning Man Decompression Party, Tyler's barbecue, Stacy's birthday brunch, had the best cheesecake on earth, incredible crab and avocado Eggs Benedict in Half Moon Bay with Tim, and found an apartment in the Inner Sunset district of San Francisco. It has a backyard with a big tree, a gorgeous big brand-new kitchen and a two-car garage all for me! I'll be living with a very cool couple, Linda and Jeff. I move at the end of the month just in time for a visit from Mary, who's wrapping up her one-year world tour and heading back home to England.

Time to face reality. I am looking for a job. If your company or anyone you know here in the San Francisco area is looking for someone with web marketing, production and/or content editorial experience, please pass along information to me at hireme@nosillaklaf.com or direct them to my resume. (If you are prompted for a password, just hit cancel and it should come up.)

I am particularly interested in working for a company in the retail, media or travel sectors, though most of my experience is with software companies. I am open to full-time or contract positions. Thank you much!

This morning I had my favorite traveler's menu breakfast of fruit, meusli and yogurt. Lacking the abundance of inexpensive in-season mango, pineapple and papaya usually involved in this dish, I helped myself to a can of Safeway Tropical Fruit Salad in Light Syrup from my sister's pantry. Masked by the crunch of the granola and the opaqueness of the yogurt, all in all it was quite close to the real thing.

I'm back at my sister's place in Pacifica after a week in Colorado for Jen and Larry's wedding. They live in the town of Superior, just southeast of Boulder against a backdrop of snow-dusted Rockies all along the western horizon. The mountains almost look like paper cutouts set against the crystal clear autumn sky. I haven't felt that crisp, cold, dry and wonderfully pleasant chill of fall since... I don't remember when. We don't really get that here in San Francisco. And speaking of paper cut outs, we went to the real town of South Park and I got my photo taken with the town sign.

Jen and Larry did all the planning for the wedding by themselves and they did an amazing job. Jen made a stunning bride and the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, wedding and reception all went off beautifully. I hid in the bathroom when Jen threw the bouquet.

In preparation for the wedding,I got my hair cut for the first time since Christmas in Pai . It was kind of sad to say goodbye to those dry brittle ends that have been with me through so much.

My cousin Dawn (father's sister's daughter) and her husband Jim live in Denver. I hadn't seen them since I drove cross country from Connecticut to California in 1997, and regretfully hadn't really ever gotten to know Dawn very well at all. I embraced the time we had together and left feeling so happy to have gotten to know this part of my very little family.

On a perfect clear Saturday, they took me for a ride up to 11,000 feet to Vail (one of Colorado's best ski areas) to see the Aspens at their peak. Mountainsides covered with millions of delicate, round, tinkling bright yellow leaves glowing in the afternoon sun greeted us as we wound our way up to the snow line. I once again failed to take photos (I still can't find my misplaced camera charger).

Looks like my tendency towards losing things hasn't stopped just because I've finished traveling. Somewhere between San Francisco and Denver I managed to lose both my cell phone and my prescription glasses. Of course, I also lost my camera charger and Palm Pilot, and the MP3 player Jai gave me as a gift malfunctioned and my computer is on the fritz. I believe it's time to invest in a label maker and stick my name and address on every last thing I own and maybe just surrender to the idea that maybe I am supposed to live a low-tech existence.

I'm driving down to visit my grandparents near Fresno tomorrow and will return on Friday.