[neilk]

I hear you. It's very difficult. In this town, people have to squint at their schedules to find a free hour for their best friends. And yet, somehow, they always have the time to respond to you instantly on Twitter or Facebook.

All my friends in the Bay Area came from Burning Man, art projects, hacking projects, NoiseBridge and so on.

I don't find that friendships are forged from common interests or whatever draws people to Meetups. It has to be a thing you both find intrinsically valuable, ideally something of at least moderate difficulty that forces you to spend a long amount of time together. Could be hacking or could be fishing.