Re: #1-- On the west coast, work isn't 9-5, hell, it's been 8-5 and no you best not take that whole hour lunch that CA requires unlike the very east coast. Many people in white collar jobs are working more than whatever they actually get paid for, whether that's 40 hours or something else. When you work 12 or 16 hour days, when you don't take smoke breaks because smoking is not cool in CA, you take some social media breaks. We have also found that alternative environments- a break room that's a play room, walking with coworkers, etc. help with bonding and brainstorming and productivity as a whole. Truth, due to the unfairness of it all, those doing hourly work for low pay are also likely working more than they are paid for, which is something those in the middle think is not cool-- which is why living wages receive a fair amount of support. But the divide between the kind of wages and the treatment of workers between the salaried skilled and the people who make their catered lunches is pretty wide and sometimes there is a still a need for more compassion. Some folks have zero flexibility in their lives with regards to their job. Individual companies even in high tech can differ, with some setting minimum hours or resisting work from home policies, and some not caring about anything so long as you get your work done and wow the boss once in awhile. As a whole, we really struggle with work-life balance, and if the weather wasn't so damn nice outside, it might be even worse.

2: We don't have pets because of loneliness. We have pets because we love pets. We have pets because we can afford their companionship. And we have pets in greater number, most importantly, because we have and continue to push for the most liberal pet policies in rentals, so that a higher proportion of Bay Area residents in rentals can have pets and can have the expectation that they can move and new landlords will accept their pets. if someone does not have a pet, you're likely to hear "I am allergic" over "my landlord doesn't allow them." Where shelters are full in other states, community shelters work to encourage landlords to open their minds to pet-friendly policies because renters are the biggest market they can't reach. Also, having kids in the Bay Area is expensive, so some people have more time for pets as they delay having kids.

3: It's expensive to live here because you're here. Just being honest. Other people want to come from other places for jobs and jobs are being created here, and the influx of new people has been making CA more expensive since the Spanish showed up. There's not enough housing, the disparity in pay between the very wealthy and the minimum wage creates tension and everyone feels it. We had a mini-housing bust in 2008-2009, but the price of everything else did not go down, we had high unemployment for awhile, and yet, people still came from other places for jobs here. As long as that continues, so does the cost of living here.

4: As innovative as CA might be in so many ways, you aren't just noticing racial segregation. For a state that prides itself on diversity, women have not broken through the glass ceiling so you don't see them either (or everyone losing their minds over it when it happens), you don't see enough Hispanic people or black people of either gender in enough management- or in tech at all. [This] (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/google-discloses-workforce-diversity-data-good/) came out in May and one might expect the rest of the Bay Area big companies to look even worse. Why is that? Great question. What can we do about it? Well, a number of things, but I guarantee you that the white men currently benefiting from it are not going to be the ones to change it, we are. Start with asking some questions where you work now, why the management doesn't reflect the diversity of the workforce. One thing that we have to battle as a society, particularly locally to CA, is ageism. A statistically significant portion of those unemployed in the last recession were over 50, and there are clear biases in HR and in the tech world that older employees are washed up, out of date, have no skills and are untrainable. Not true, but pervasive and detriment to the diversity and experience in our workforce.

On another note, though, "immigrants without accents," this is the normal makeup of CA and San Jose in particular, it's been diverse since Europeans interrupted the Native Americans, we take great pride in actually looking like the Melting Pot everyone else talks about. You might enjoy the series of CA history books by the author [Kevin Starr] (http://www.amazon.com/Kevin-Starr/e/B000APB8FG/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1407001670&sr=8-1) for more information and entertainment while you learn about it. Another rec is the "Images of America" series with topics from [geographical neighborhoods] (http://www.amazon.com/Historic-Downtown-America-Arcadia-Publishing/dp/0738529222/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407001889&sr=8-1&keywords=downtown+san+jose) to specific immigrant populations. Most are available at our awesome public libraries. White has been the minority here for my 30+ years. Grow up with diversity and it's pretty easy to get uncomfortable with assumptions made when diversity disappears-- a horrified look at the terribly inappropriate comments is a good first step, and if you stay here long enough you'll end up doing it too. We deal with other stereotypes too, that we are all blond and live on the beach a la Baywatch, and have you been in the ocean in Santa Cruz? It's freezing. We have a hoodie culture, not bikini.

5: As mentioned previously, regions have their diversity. Within the Bay Area, within neighborhoods in San Jose, we have some segregation by cultural communities, by socioeconomic status, etc. some of it less than ideal but you can't get away from the Melting Pot aspect in San Jose as you might in some other places in the state. It obviously looks different to you than wherever you came from, and if we traveled to Philly or Chicago we might also note a higher proportion of black people in the city than we have in San Jose, as you'd also find a higher proportion of black residents of the Bay Area in Oakland and Richmond, I don't want to go off on a tangent for the reasons, I am just commenting that every place looks different. So you're noticing a specific population that doesn't have "mass" wherever "home" is for you. Some of it is that you work in tech, in engineering, an area where asians and east asians are well-represented in the local workforce and where a majority of H1B visa holders are coming from, H1B being the visa for a specific skill set a company declares they can't find in potential employees locally. Could also be the neighborhood you are living in, which might be a popular neighborhood for asian and east asian families. Some if it is just internalizing what /u/mdf356 described- we are kinda the 30/30/30 city. It's totally what makes us special. Break those stats up even further and it's why we have amazing options for music, food, language, festivals and holidays, etc. and why CA is notorious for exporting our "liberal ideas" about all kinds of things to the rest of the country. It's organic and comes from ALL the people.