Local living

Talking with people the past couple of months, I've come to realize that because of all the traveling I do, and the way I am about directions/maps/etc, I am basically a local in several cities where I never have formally lived in. Here in LA, I have been approached three times now while at a stop light and people asking for directions. Two of the three times, I actually knew where they needed to go. In LA, I have been here twice, once in 2003 for about eight months, and now in 2007-2008 for about a year. Condensing it down, it really means I have been living here for around a full year. Compared to most other LA locals, I know a lot more about their own city than they do. Of course, it helps when my projects are in completely different areas of LA (Burbank/Pasadena and El Segundo/Long Beach), but even beyond that I am familiar with Orange County, Santa Monica, Hollywood, Monterey Park, and other areas.

Its kinda amazing, and a little sad too that I can still remember how to navigate in most of the cities that I have had projects in. Or even cities that I have visited but not worked in, like NYC.

Officially I have lived in these cities:
Salt Lake City, UT 1978-1980
Dallas, TX 1980-1982
Phoenix, AZ 1982-1984
Austin, TX 1984-2000
Dallas, TX 2001-2003
Austin, TX 2003-2004
Dallas, TX 2004-2005
Bay Area, CA 2005-present

I have worked in these cities:
Cincinnati, OH 1998
Colorado Springs, CO 1999
Austin, TX 1999
Chicago, IL 2000
Tampa, FL 2000
Dallas, TX 2001
Nashville, TN 2002
Detroit, MI 2003
Los Angeles, CA 2003
Minneapolis, MN 2004
Philadelphia, PA 2004
Denver, CO 2004
Baltimore, MD 2004
Palisades, NY 2004
Tucson, AZ 2005
Phoenix, AZ 2005
Olympia, WA 2005
Los Angeles, CA 2006
Dallas, TX 2006
Forest, MS 2007
Los Angeles, CA 2007

I have visited these cities:
Taiwan 1985, 1988, 1991, 1994, 2000
Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi, Hangzhou, Beijing 2000
Cayman Islands 2004
Paris 2004
Anguilla 2004
Venice, Milan, Florence, Rome 2005
Anguilla 2005
Singapore 2005
Taiwan 2005
Shanghai, Hangzhou, Xi An, Beijing 2006
Los Cabos 2007
Whistler 2007
Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto 2007
Taiwan 2007
Hong Kong 2008
Boston 2000 - 2002
NYC 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007