Update: the initial version was way too purple on print. It did look fine on my iPhone screen but the print was definitely not blue, especially when under indoor lights. The guys at gelaskin were kind enough to give me another one for free that I could do with an updated version of the image. This is what you're seeing here. I changed the blue to something that I felt was a safer bet (and better looking to). They looked at it before shipping and they did confirm it looked blue…for real this time.

It's a well-known fact that lack of sunlight affects mood. I know this to be true but it's easy to tell ourselves we're just too strong to feel the influence of something so out of our control as this distant sun.

Except that the sun does help. But the sun is shy in San Francisco during what we conventionally call “summer”. Most of the time, the fog is king. Obviously, the closer you get to the coast, the worse it is (or the better it is if you're looking for atmospheric fog).

Then, there's September. People say the fog magically leaves by September. Well, it's a big lie. I've seen some of the thickest fog this September and we barely had any sun. I can't say for sure if it's an anomaly but if someone tells you September is never foggy here, it's a blatant lie. This year was the proof (oh, isn't fun to prove a proposition by a single contradiction?).

Then came October. And now, oh boy, did October deliver. It was great. Not _too _hot but just right (except for that one time where it was way too hot but that lasted like just one second). Along with the first days of October came the sun and it felt great. You might be like me and love seeing nature's force in action (snowstorms, pouring rain, thunder, thick fog) but we need the sun. I didn't think so much before but I do now.

Then, I remember Montreal. I know, it's been only 6 months or so since we left. You know how it is though. As you leave a place, you start feeling the ties more strongly.

For me, this manifested in an odd manner. I felt like I should show my identity (as if people can't tell from the way I talk). That's a tricky thing. I'm not one to just dress myself with a flag or hang it by the window. But then, there had been this thing I had seen and liked for its looks but didn't really feel right: a Canadian flag skin for the iPhone. There was also the United States flag, not right either. UK flag? Even worse. You can guess the rest of the story.

Oh, you can't? Well, I made my own gelaskin. My Quebec flag gelaskin. I'm not sure I would actually use it if I were still living in Quebec but here? I like the idea. I know I've said in the past that cases and screen protectors are bad but I'm making a compromise here. A gelaskin isn't actually a case: it should not add much perceptible thickness to my phone and it's not covering any of the screen.

Like it? Feel free to use it to make your own. Or just try it to see how it looks using gelaskin's custom skin creator.

San Francisco is not Montreal. Talking specifically about weather (yep, this has been my great weather post!), we won't get the great snowstorms of Montreal's winter. That doesn't mean it's always the same though. It might seem like it is sometimes. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: same forecast.

Then one day, it's different. One day, there's that pouring rain threatening a Giants game or that thicker fog that completely erases the view. And sometimes, there's the sun and it's rays shinning on through the leaves, bouncing off windows to come and tickle our senses.