Listening to the Grateful Dead's Dead Set on the way to work this morning, I was reminded of a very Bay Area moment in my life.

June, 2001 - I was driving across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco to Berkeley on a Sunday morning to pick up this amazing girl I'd met the previous week on a camping trip. We were headed to the local North Face outlet to check out the sale on sleeping bags and fleeces. The sun was shining. "Samson and Delilah" from Dead Set was blaring out the speakers in my 10-year-old Toyota, and I realized at that moment that this was a happy, happy cliche.

A bit later, at the North Face register, the guy who was ringing me up saw Sarah (that was the girl I was with) who had already paid for her sleeping bag, and was waiting by the door. "Check her out," he said. "She's hot." I turned around, looked at Sarah, looked back at the guy, and replied with a grin, "She's with me." He whistled, shook my hand, and handed me my receipt.