It's official ...

It's official, as of today I am a new member of the Morro Bay community.

I will be working in San Luis Obispo, so my daily commute will be about 20 minutes to and from work. Definitely do-able because I get to come home to Morro Bay. These days I am quite sensitive to the heat and need to have the natural air conditioning from the coast. I found a cute cottage in Morro Bay and plan on walking a lot. I might even get a dog so that I don't have any excuses not to walk!!

So far people have been SO welcoming. They were really nice at the Post Office when I set up my P.O. Box, she let me choose from three numbers. I was totally impressed by the new accounts guy at Washington Mutual when I set up my checking account. He even printed out a form so that I can file for a pseudonym when I write my book!! When I went to Cuesta College to ask about a class I was planning to take this Fall, the lady helping me welcomed me and told me that my coworkers would love me. Another lady on campus told me that she lives in Morro Bay and would be happy to give me a tour. Everyone tells me that the people are great at the company where I will start work next month. The Tech gal gave me her personal email if I had any questions, and one of my coworkers welcomed me and gave me his personal phone numbers so that we could talk before I started work. The list just goes on and on ...

Apparently, people don't feel the need to lock their houses or cars here in Morro Bay. Last week when I was walking into Albertson's, I overheard a little girl ask her mom what a burgler was. She was about 7 years old. The mom said that a burgler was a thief. Recently there has been a rash of burglaries, I heard about it three times. This woman actually knew someone who had been burgled, and she told her daughter that she didn't want to have her purse stolen like so-and-so's bicycle had been. The impression I had was that it might be a group of punk kids and that the rash of thefts would just go away once the kids were back in school. I thought it was amazing that a 7-year-old wouldn't know what a burgler was. Are they naive in this town, or is it really just safe? I will err on the side of caution and will re-key the locks in my new cottage.

Overall, I am getting a good feeling about this Morro Bay place.