John Frenette's Dandelife : The story of John Frenette's life

Some Thoughts On San Francisco: 8 Months In

John Frenette — Wed Mar 05 08:51:58 UTC 2008

It's been a solid 8 months living in San Francisco now, and I wanted to share some thoughts:

Everyone knows this, so I'll get it out of the way quick: It's very expensive here. Housing, of course, is ridiculous, but everything's expensive--from gas to food to gym memberships. It's common knowledge, but it's such a pervasive truth that I can't leave it off this list.
The standard of living here is much lower than other cities (San Diego comes first to mind). For twice what you'd pay in most other cities, you will get an older, smaller apartment with far less amenities. I truly don't understand why an in-unit washer and dryer is such a hard-to-come-by feature. Further, it's not unheard of to see listings in the upper $3000s that offers no parking, no washer/dryer, no other basic features. I think that's kinda nuts.
There are many, many, many fantastic restaurants. You will never be at a loss for a restaurant serving exactly what you're in the mood for...
...with the exception of Mexican food. The mexican food here is sub-par; restaurants under-season, put beans in everything (including tacos?!?!) and make everything inexplicably wet and therefore inedible. I'm not sure why.
Sun can be hard to come by, but the weather really isn't all that bad. Compared to most places (Chicago? Minnesota? NYC?), it's absolute paradise. Seriously.
There's lots of good things within easy reach: Tahoe is a short trek, and Napa/Sonoma is even closer.
People here are absolutely in love with living here. Many have completely drunk the Kool-Aid and sing SF's praises at every opportunity.
There are way too many crazy whackjobs wandering around the city. Every city has their weirdos and whatnot, but man-oh-man there's TONS here. I'm not a big fan.

8 months, 8 thoughts on San Francisco. You have to live in a city for a while to really get the hang of it, so some of these observations might reflect my ignorance more than anything else. I'll check back in later and see what else I have to add or amend.

In the meantime, I'm open to input on what I might be missing in my list or my SF experience. Anyone got anything to add?

Moved to San Francisco

John Frenette — Wed Jan 02 00:28:20 UTC 2008

My oh my.

After 6 years in San Diego, my wife and I packed up the cats and moved north 501 miles to San Francisco.

What was supposed to be an 8-ish hour drive turned into a 13 hour saga; scattered summer wildfires along our route slowed the 5 down to a crawl, and we found ourselves in bumper-to-bumper traffic on and off. It's a very weird experience to be in rush-hour style traffic in the middle of nowhere, let me tell you.

We arrived exhausted.

It would be another 7 days before our furniture arrived, but we set out and explored our neighborhood in this brand new city.

We had mixed feelings leaving San Diego--it's a beautiful city, and we left behind some good friends. But the new opportunities for us up here were just too good to pass up.

I realized quickly that San Diego suburbanified us quite a bit--it had been a while since we lived in a true urban city. But it's good to be back where we can walk to the corner and hail a cab, grab 6 different kinds of foods in various cafes within blocks, and feel "in the mix" again.

Senior Director, Web Development - Financialaid.com

John Frenette — Sat Jan 27 20:55:37 UTC 2007

Financialaid.com was very much a dotcom when I started. Lead by Mike O'Brien, it was a small-to-medium-sized company, providing student loan solutions through online methods. Things were pretty loosey goosey culture-wise, and the IT team worked very hard to keep pace and provide the systems for Mike's vision.

One of the best things about working at Financialaid.com for the first few years was working for James S. James had a very smart, very driven approach which truly affected the way I look at work and IT's role in serving "the business". It's funny to say, but if you've seen Band of Brothers, I would liken working for James to reporting to Dick Winters. He's just one of those inspiring guys that has his stuff together and gets results.

I did a number of different things earlier on, eventually settling into a more formal management role. Financialaid.com was eventually purchased by longtime partner Education Lending Group, which was in turn purchased by Fortune 500 company CIT as part of their specialty lending division.

Day to day, I work with executives and department heads to define and develop solutions that fulfill aggressive business goals. I manage the Web Development group on projects including web-based call center systems, lead generation and application sites, and marketing-driven online destinations. My duties include defining the overall goals, processes and practices for the department, maintaining a high level of developer productivity, project management and staffing, and human resource management; with less frequency, I still get to contribute to application development, querying/reporting, and user interface design and direction.

Financialaid.com sites of note include http://campusdirt.com, http://mylenderlist.com, http://financialaid.com

I unequivocally love this job. The group we've developed over time has some very smart, creative people that really help the company get the job done. It's been a great opportunity for me to use and improve on technical and management skills acquired in previous career experiences.

Stevie Ray Vaughn's Last Show - Alpine Valley

John Frenette — Sat Jan 27 19:13:28 UTC 2007

I was at this show. As a matter of fact, I think this was the first concert I shelled out cash for reasonably good seats. Alpine Valley is one of those huge outdoor venues, and I usually bought the general admission tickets that place you way up on the grass, hundreds of yards from the stage.

I'd have to dig up my ticket, but I seem to recall we were in the 15th row or so in the pavilion.

It was a guitar fan's line-up--SRV, Eric Clapton, Robert Cray were on the bill. I remember being pretty blown away with Robert Cray's set, as a matter of fact. Arguably one of the best of the night. He had a very natural guitar tone and did some amazing things.

I had seen Stevie Ray Vaughn several times before--one of the better shows was when he was co-headlining a tour with Jeff Beck.

Sometime after the concert, Stevie Ray's helicopter crashed, killing him. We didn't find out about it until we heard it on the radio the next morning, on the drive back to college. Given the time when it apparently happened, and the absolute gridlock traffic jam resulting from the thousands of attendees leaving the venue at once, I sometimes wonder if we were still in the parking lot when it happened.

First Huge Concert - Van Halen 5150

John Frenette — Sun Jan 14 02:52:14 UTC 2007

Loudest. Concert. Ever.

Granted, I was pretty young and had never experienced anything like this before. But I had that nice high-pitched ring in my ear for three days after the show.

It wasn't a David Lee Roth-led Van Halen, but at 14 any Van Halen is better than no Van Halen.

Soundgarden, Faith No More, Voi Vod - Vic Theater

John Frenette — Sun Jan 14 02:27:24 UTC 2007

Oh man. Me and a friend were waiting outside the Vic Theater, freezing, excited to see Soundgarden. I was in high school. They were opening for a band called Voi Vod (which I knew little about--some Canadian metal band); Faith No More was the first band up. This was before Faith No More broke, too, and were relatively unknown.

They finally opened the doors and the show started shortly after. Faith No More was fun, and Mike Patton was all over the place. They did a cover of the Nestles' "...sweet dreams you can't resist...N-E-S-T-L-E-S..." chocolate jingle. Then Mike Patton was climbing on the PA equipment and dove into the crowd. And kicked me in the head.

Okay, not a bad start for a show.

Then Soundgarden came on and played a great set. This was before "grunge" was really a tag and "alternative" still meant The Cure. The pit was very active. And then Chris Cornell jumped into the pit. And kicked me in the head.

2 Doc Marten shots from 2 soon-to-be rockstars in the same pit on the same night.

I don't remember much of the Voi Vod set--mostly just CHA-KA-TA-CHA-KA-TA and songs about alien vampires.

But of all the shows I've seen, I think that's my best rock show story.

Design Consultant - Animation Technologies

John Frenette — Sat Jan 13 23:22:59 UTC 2007

After leaving AldenEm, my friend Chris approached me with the opportunity of being a design and animation consultant for his company Animation Technologies. The company at the time had 2 branches--one that provided animation services for biotech companies while the other served as trial support. Chris lead the litigation services group, which used animation and graphics that help make complex or abstract concepts easier for the judge and jurors understand. These demonstratives could range from something as simple as a 2 dimensional timeline of events to a full-blown 3d animation of a traffic accident.

I provided on-site creative support and graphics production for clients including Microsoft and Campbell Soup Company during major jury and bench trials. It was during these few months that I learned how to truly work hard.

On-site trial support requires quick thinking, infinite flexibilty and incredibly long hours. It was not unusual to work three 110 hour weeks back-to-back, spending your time fastened to your computer in the war room, feverishly trying to make the lawyer's arguments for the next day come alive visually. I distinctly remember late one night, going on hour 16 for the day, when I asked my coworker "did you hear that?". The office was dead quiet, but I could swear I heard voices. He chuckled and smiled and said "The voices? Yeah, that's the ice machine. But after a week of long hours it starts to sound like people talking...". *sigh*

This experience had a huge impact on my sense of my own limits. We tend to cut ourselves off and stop working when we *think* we're tired, but this completely changed my threshold and made me realize what people are capable of doing if they are motivated and determined.

Rich Media Developer - marchFIRST

John Frenette — Sat Jan 13 22:50:01 UTC 2007

I was excited to begin at marchFIRST. I was joining the Rich Media group in the Brand Building Studio--one of the many sub-groups in the corporate structure.

If you remember marchFIRST, you'll probably remember them as one of the quintessential examples of dotcom excess and demise.

Of course, I didn't realize that when I started. Things had yet to start going south and we all still believed we were, in one way or another, part of something amazing.

As Rich Media Developer my duties including creative development, technical recommendations and consultation, and creation of animated and interactive pieces using programming, sound design and Macromedia Flash.

Projects were amazingly thin. I was ready to be busy, but found myself and other members of my group frequently riding the pines. Some of the most talented Flash developers got work creating PowerPoint templates for internal corporate presentations, which wasn't quite what they anticipated working on.

I did contribute to some interesting projects; I was able to use my Flash and music composition skills for 3Com's Planet Project campaign, for instance. But within 6 months of starting, f***edcompany.com became the most visited site in the office while we waited for our turn on the chopping block.

Director, New Media - AldenEm

John Frenette — Sat Jan 13 22:24:40 UTC 2007

I began working at AldenEm shortly after arriving in San Diego. I was brought in to lead the interactive arm (the "Em" part of "AldenEm"). They had a lot of online corporate brochures and an e-commerce site or 2 in their portfolio when I started.

My duties included all aspects of a project life-cycle, including: creating proposals, defining project architecture and parameters, defining and managing budgets, presenting to clients, designing websites and interactive presentations, client-side and server-side programming, animation, testing, project management and developer mentoring. I learned a ton about project management and tech on my own in this position.

The interactive group stayed relatively small, but didn't atrophy with the other groups as the company "downsized". There were nearly a dozen print designers and art directors when I started, but this eventually dwindled down to 2 by the time I left.

I was lucky enough to work with some incredibly talented designers at this agency, including the Creative Director Jim McWilliams. Jim taught at Cooper Union and was a design giant from the days when layouts were composed with matte knives. My understanding of design theory increased exponentially. I still hear Jim's voice bark principles of good design ("...no no NO! use an em-dash!") in my head when I'm working on a design.

Joined WebSanDiego

John Frenette — Sat Jan 13 21:57:41 UTC 2007

In preparation for the move to San Diego I got on the WebSanDiego mail list. I've met some ridiculously smart, insightful people on this list (including one of the creators of *this* site) and have been lucky enough to work on projects with some of them.

Moved to San Diego

John Frenette — Sat Jan 13 21:49:02 UTC 2007

We packed our stuff and moved to San Diego.

We drove across the country in Carrie's Saturn with the windows rolled down because my father had me convinced using the air conditioning would overheat the engine. I'm not sure why I believed him. We had to turn the stereo up SO LOUD to play over the constant roar of the wind. I still catch hell about that, and laugh at how convinced I was that he was right. Hysterical.

We arrived half-deaf, wind burned and completely exhausted.

Carrie had to start her residency the day after we arrived. I had to complete a Flash contract project I had committed to, and worked laying down on the floor in our furnitureless apartment. The movers didn't arrive until 10 days after we moved in, and they broke almost everything we shipped. Ikea became a regular weekend destination for us.

Being a lifelong Chicagoan, this was a HUGE culture and climate change for me. It probably took me a good 6 months to adjust to the slower, laid back pace and atmosphere. The overall level of tension was so much lower that I found myself feeling restless.

The 10 perfect days of weather you get in the average Chicago year are more or less the year-round norm, and I continuously felt the need to pinch myself to be sure I wasn't dreaming. The only thing missing was really good thunderstorms.

Hitch'd

John Frenette — Sat Jan 13 21:07:56 UTC 2007

Carrie and I tied the knot.

We decided to go the less-traditional-more-fun route and whip up our own ceremony. Our friend Harvey (who, interestingly, was the PM for the engine on SpaceShipOne--an actual rocket scientist) was deputized for the weekend and performed our ceremony.

The whole thing was from scratch and Carrie put a lot of work into getting everything together. Since I'm allergic to wedding DJs, one of my jobs was to figure out how to get good musical entertainment in our budget.

We were lucky enough to get Wes from the eMics to fly himself and his band out from Chicago to play our wedding. They were awesome. I knew Wes from the Elbo Room and from his Monday night gigs with the eMics.

What an amazing night. The setting sun cast the most amazing golden light--it was a cinematographer's dream.

I was wearing out Outkast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below at the time, and I remember listening to "Hey Ya" on the way to the ceremony with my buddy/best man Chris. I still think of that moment when I hear the song.

We honeymooned in the Greek Isles, which probably deserves its own story.

Apple IIc: My First Computer

John Frenette — Mon Jan 08 00:56:03 UTC 2007

I saved up my coins and bought myself an Apple IIc. It looked a whole lot like this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/condour/25552919/ .

I don't think I ever really accomplished anything on it--just some BASIC and some hours playing Castle Wolfenstein--but it was cool to have.

Our First Date

John Frenette — Mon Jan 08 00:46:52 UTC 2007

I took Carrie out on our first date to Green Dolphin Street in Chicago. It was a pretty warm, humid Chicago day, and I had on a cast that went up to my elbow due to a healing broken wrist. Let me tell you, a cast on your arm is like wearing a thick wool sweater. Due to the heat and the cast, I started to sweat a little when we sat down for dinner. Then, due to nerves about sweating a little, I started to sweat a lot.

Watching me seemingly start to melt in front of her, she was gracious and as cool as a cucumber.

The warm humid day turned into a pretty phenomenal summer thunderstorm that night, and we walked to the lake shore and watched the lightening flash in the storm clouds over Lake Michigan. I still remember what she was wearing.

And Then I Saw Her

John Frenette — Mon Jan 08 00:37:50 UTC 2007

I met my future-wife Carrie while tending bar. She was celebrating the completion of her first year of post-graduate work with her class at The Note.

I noticed her the moment she walked in. And really, I sorta knew right then.

Bartending at the Blue Note

John Frenette — Mon Jan 08 00:07:34 UTC 2007

I tended bar at the Blue Note (eventually renamed The Note) in Wicker Park in Chicago, IL (http://www.thenotechicago.com).

I had never been a big 4am bar attendee--I just never had that sort of endurance. (And yes, bars in Chicago can be open past the typical 2am last call.) The Blue Note--a legendary bar in its old location on Armitage Avenue--had moved to a much larger location in Wicker Park (the site of MTV's Real World Chicago, if you watched that). I got the opportunity to work Saturdays and Sundays at this club and jumped at the chance.

Originally the club focused on featuring jazz bands, but this evolved to included rock and funk bands over time to accommodate the market.

What an experience. People generally trickled in from 8pm until around 10pm. Bands would generally start playing at 9pm or so (which would affect the size of the early crowd). By midnight there was usually a line forming outside and things were in full-swing in the bar. Most action started when all the other bars closed at 2am, and everyone looking to stay out would flock to us. Having your most active time of day fall between 2am and 4am on weekends definitely messes up the average 9am to 3pm college attendee's circadian cycle, but this job enabled me to invest a minimal amount of time working to support myself.

The bar stayed open until 5am on Saturdays. One of the craziest times I could remember was when daylight savings time fell on a Saturday, and the clock rolled back 1 hour at 2am; what this essentially means is that instead of staying open until 5am we were open until (what would have been) 6am. The bar was jam-packed until last call. Ugh. Crazy.

DePaul University

John Frenette — Sun Jan 07 23:45:03 UTC 2007

I attended DePaul University at the Lincoln Park campus in Chicago, IL. Having attended community college and one year at Illinois State University for financial reasons, I felt under-stimulated and wanted to finish my undergrad degree in a better academic environment. I took some time off to work and then enrolled at DePaul. I felt the programs and favorable student-to-faculty ratio was well worth the expense.

I started as a Communication major, but worked with the Sociology and Social Sciences department in my second and third quarters to develop a curriculum and path that was in line with what I wanted to study. I didn't have a pin-point career goal that I was working towards; instead I saw undergrad as more an opportunity to study what I thought was interesting (or concerning) in the world I experienced as a lifelong Chicagoland resident. I pursued sociological and economic disciplines, with a focus on racial and ethnic relations. Chicago is a very large, diverse metropolis and is a very inspiring environment in this field of study.

Having the previous college experiences under my belt, I was a more mature (read: "the old guy") student by the time I arrived at DePaul and was amazed how easy it was to excel in college as a focused, early-twentysomething. I was dean's list 8 of 12 quarters and truly invested myself in my studies.

Web Developer - Magnitude Network

John Frenette — Sun Jan 07 22:47:35 UTC 2007

Armed with my brand-new understanding of HTML I started my coding career as Web Developer at Magnitude Network in Chicago, IL.

Magnitude Network provided streaming and Web development solutions for terrestrial radio stations so they could stream their broadcast online. We were a start-up that was eventually purchased by legendary dotcom incubator CMGi.

My duties included building and maintaining radio station websites. This included coding, graphics production, account management and eventually Flash animation. I was the prime contact for more than thirty-five clients, and managed the top three websites on our company roster.

This was my first office job, which was a pretty big (welcomed) change from bartending in Chicago rock clubs. I loved working with clients, as well as being engrossed in code. I also made some great friendships that have lasted through job changes and cross-country relocation.

HTML: So That's How Web Pages Work

John Frenette — Sun Jan 07 22:30:10 UTC 2007

With some guidance from my friend Chris (and the help of Sams Teach Yourself HTML in 24 Hours) I coded my first HTML site. Chock full of table tags and "spacer.gif"s, to be sure.

Welcome to This World

John Frenette — Sun Jan 07 22:21:58 UTC 2007

Born to Dick and Rose.