I grew up in Central America in the 70's - 80's. If you only read the news, back then, you would have read about right wing assassination squads, communist gue

I grew up in Central America in the 70's - 80's. If you only read the news, back then, you would have read about right wing assassination squads, communist guerrillas fighting US supported dictatorships and a revolving door of military juntas and coups d'etats. But fact of the matter was that it was lovely. Sure, you had to be careful, but there were more murders in DC, Detroit, Chicago or NYC on a weekend than there was in an entire week of "guerrilla warfare" in Central America. I spent a great deal of time on amazing beaches. I rode a sea turtle, and got peed on by a howler monkey. Murders, crime, internet kill-switches, tea partiers, debt doom and gloom all make for great headlines. "It's good TV" as they say in the media business. But, really, how much does California's debt crisis affect you from day to day? How often do you see police brutality on a regular basis? I've actually worked as an ER nurse in the ghetto of Chicago for 9 years, and I've seen cops beat the shit out of people. The police that I've worked with on the Bay Area peninsula are some of the nicest, most professional police I've seen in year. Granted, I haven't spent much time in Berkley or Oakland. I'd suggest fasting reddit for a few months. Either that, or limit yourself to a select group of programming subreddits for a while. Really, things are just getting going again in the Bay Area. Tons of cool startups are crying out for engineering talent, and there's going to be a lot of great exits once larger corporations feel like it's okay to start spending the $1.6 Trillion in cash reserves they have on hand.