And So It Begins

The bad news is that it turns out that by the time I got there it was already rented. This is not terribly surprising, since the guy told me on the phone that he had someone who was thinking about it, but I decided to go up anyway to at least see the place and start getting a feel for what's out there.

On the other hand, the brief look I did give the place made it seem very nice. Indeed, without checking little details like whether it had grounded outlets or not or checking out the laundry, it seemed very much like what I want: My current apartment picked up and moved to the peninsula, for a couple hundred dollars more per month. It was actually in a nearly-ideal location, which is just about worth that money all by itself, since it could save me potentially 2-to-4 hours of driving per week.

(The "little things", by the way, are in general things that on their own wouldn't kill my interest in a place, but if it had a small kitchen and non-grounded outlets and crappy laundry, then my interest would be substantially dampened.)

I am going to try to call additional places the next two days (but don't quote me on that). I have a pretty clear idea of what my ideal (but attainable) place would be, but I'm trying to consider classes of places outside my ideal. For instance, a suitably large one bedroom would be sufficient if I came across one, especially if I could save a little money. I might even consider a smaller place as a trade-off for location, although I am starting to think that as long as I'm in decent biking distance of a destination I'd be likely to go to regularly (e.g., a good coffee house) then that would be location enough.

I'm finally at a point that I seem to have cleared my plate of outstanding "projects" (I made a dentist appointment, and I even finished clipping articles to save from all my old issues of Baseball Weekly), so I really have no excuse not to be looking.

Plus, both Ceej and Lucy have recently commented that they'd like it if I moved closer to them. And as you might have guessed about me, there are few more powerful motivations than feeling wanted!

Not many entries this week because there hadn't been a lot to write about.

At work, we're seeing some turnover lately, both in and out of the department. We're in this bizarre transitional stage and I think some of us are unclear as to how it will all shake out. (I've felt in a "transitional stage" for months and am ready for it to be over with.)

Last night Subrata and I played ultimate, and I'm definitely finding it more rewarding as the season goes on. My defense is getting better, especially in covering the man with the disc and forcing bad throws. I'm making better cuts and getting the disc more often, and I had my first key defensive play last night (there's nothing in ultimate quite as satisfying as tipping or blocking the disc). My legs are finding it quite challenging, they really are not appreciating all the impact activity, but overall it's a lot of fun.

I notice that my journal page recently passed the 20,000 visitor mark! That doesn't seem bad for two-and-a-half years of this journal.

Who are all of you people, anyway? Feel free to introduce yourselves in the forum (shameless plug). I may also start posing questions there in the near future. (I admit it; I feel a little inferior next to CJ and Lucy who have dozens of posts in their forums already.)