I gotta say: the Woody Allen thing is more annoying than cool. One of the advantages of living elsewhere is that when you've got Geek Stuff you want to do, you never have to make advance plans.
The Bay Area is like Bizarro Universe when it comes to nerd culture.
Given that you're from the Great White North, what sort of immigration hoops did you have to jump through? Are you on a TN Visa, are you only down there visiting and you'll move back to Canada to work on the startup full-time, or something else?
I don't mean to flame or rip on Kul, but why are they letting grads of the program--with successful exits under their belts!--go through YC again? Aren't there enough awesome teams out there that need this program a first time?
Also, if you're doing it all over again after a respectable exit, you're more likely to keep going for the really big prize. Which is what investors are after.
I'm more curious about why grads are redoing the program...I understand the stick with what works mentality but Y-comb alumni should already have the ears of investors. You don't need yc to focus on product. As I'm writing this I guess the exception might be if your customers are heavily technical, like the heroku for NFC.
It's not like you graduate with a degree, and doing it again is redundant. It's a focussed networking and product development session where you get some much-needed advance from people in the know as you develop your company. Funding alumni is a no-brainer; it's a much safer investment.
Here's a clue on the taxi situation. SF is 7 miles x 7 miles (and the bulk of this is Richmond or Sunset where you'll rarely go). Walk. Ride a bike. Take the Muni or BART. Problem solved.
The Bay Area is like Bizarro Universe when it comes to nerd culture.