The California Sun is written by me, Mike McPhate.

I used to do the popular California Today newsletter for the New York Times. Before that, I held various reporting and editing jobs at the Times, Washington Post, and New York Sun. I've also been a forklift driver, a bagel server, a movie usher, a recycling coordinator, and a dog groomer.

I live in Los Osos, a beautiful speck of a town on the Pacific Ocean outside San Luis Obispo, with my wife and two little kids.