Booyakasha!!!

Yay me! After a marathon apartment hunt on Sunday in DC I have gotten extremely lucky.

Talk about grueling. I woke up at 6 in the morning to get down to my cousin Jef's house in Adams Morgan around 10:00. Jeff and his partner Gary, drove me to the first open house to find out it was just a studio that would barely even hold 1/4 of my stuff. Gary is more familiar with DC so he drove us around for about an hour going by some of the places we were going to later that day and finding more phone numbers.

So then the marathon started. I think I visited over 8 places in one day from Capitol Hill to Mt Pleasant to Takoma Park outside the city. I'd have to say that half were shit and half were promising. The last apt we visited had a lot of cat hair all over. I now realize that all the little bug bites I got all over my ankles must have originated from FLEAS in the apt. Gross. So I really only had like 3 good choices out of 8 or so visits. By 6:00 I found out my top choice was rented to someone else. Oh my god the competition was ridiculous. Like 6 applicants fighting for the same place. So I was down to 2 choices. One was PERFECT and the other had poor prospects for transportation. Both weren't making their decisions until at least the next day. So there goes my goal of coming back with lease in hand. My cousin says I was being very optimistic about that. Especially with my budget or lack thereof. Oh I should mention how freakin grateful I am for my cousin's help. I would not have been able to do this without him. While I was filling out applications he would be chatting up the landlord trying to convince them I'd be the best tenant they ever had. His hospitality is also second to none. I tried to pay for our dinner at a nice mexican/spanish restaurant and he wouldn't let me. He said I had to save my money for the place. Thanks again Jeff!

So on top of the schmoozing I did on Sunday... I went ahead and emailed my credit report on monday morning to the top choices landlord. He's a really nice guy named Viraj. My credit score has gone up about 100 points since I last checked it... SWEET. So in the email I mentioned that I know he was doing renovations and I just wanted to let him know i have experience in woodworking, carpentry, and landscaping. Also if he wanted me to maintain the landscaping of the place I would be more than happy too. Voila! it worked. He called me back a few hours later telling me the place was mine!

So ok... the new place. It's on 14th street SE. Capitol Hill neighborhood. I'm practically on Pennsylvania Ave. It's an end unit of a row home first floor. So I have windows on 3 sides. I even have a front and back yard with a tall hedge for privacy. The Potamic Ave. Metrorail is literally 50 ft from the front door. The neighborhood is a little rough around the edges. However I used to live in the Germantown area of Philly. A guy got mugged at knifepoint 10 ft from my door. I was the Minority in my entire apt complex. My new neighborhood is like a country club compared to Germantown. Also right across Pennsylvania ave they are putting in a new shopping center with a Harris Teeter supermarket, starbucks (ugh) and some other sidwalk cafe type places. Also nearby some high end condos are going up so the neighborhood (much like every neighborhood in DC) is being quickly gentrified. My commute will be around 25 minutes includeing the walk across the street lol. It's a lot like my apt now but a little smaller. The bedroom is actually bigger. Its about 10x10 and its going to have big french doors seperating it from the main living area. Right now there is a wall seperating the living room from the kitchen. The landlord is tearing that down and putting in a kitchen island with a gas cooktop to seperate the space. Oh so the kitchen is going to be redone, new appliances, countertops and cabinets. Tiny bathroom with a shower stall but I don't take baths anyway. Washer and Dryer. ALL utilities included. YAY. So I'm very excited. However Viraj says the wall being torn down will not be done by the time I'm moving so I might have to work something out to handle that but thats nothing. I got a place and I'm happy with it.

Peace

Americans are delusional

I know any of my friends could tell you they are sick of hearing about how much I enjoy reading James Kunstler's pessimistic outlook on oil. He may be morbidly pessimistic about it but at least he's grounded in reality. Unlike the rest of our so called reality show addicted American droans. I'm very glad that I'm getting rid of my V8 truck and using public transportation in DC. I really love that truck but I think even if I didn't move to DC I'd be getting a different mode of transportation altogether anyway. So check out his "blog".

Frickin Argh!

Ok, yeah I know most of my titles are collapsing into barely audible vocalizations of frustration. But hey I never claimed to be a creative title writer.

Another quick post. Being a short timer here at work I've started wasting even more time than usual doing personal stuff. I know, I know its not exactly professional but come on who doesn't? My big move to DC depends a lot on crucial timing of the actual moving of my things to my new place. If my one friend can move into my apartment I'm golden. However due to complications of a girlfriend he now wants to move in with a horse of a freakin dog. Not sure my landlord is going to like that. If my friend can't move in... I'm screwed in more ways than I care to think of. Oh I should also mention on top of this my landlord has either decided to ignore my phone calls or he just happens to be on vacation at the worst time possible. Hence... frickin argh

DC Here I come!

Ok this is a quick one. I know, I know I usually ramble and quick ones end up turning into long rants but I'm keeping my promise on this one.

So the DC Job is definate. I start September 12. The compensation is not near what I was hoping for but I can't pass up this opportunity like so many I have before. So I'm jumping in with both feet and hoping for the best. I might have to get a part time job to survive but whatever. Isn't a dream job worth it?

Anyway I have SOOOO much stuff to do before I get to DC. Ugh. So much. I also have to sell my truck. Anyone interested in a 1996 Dodge Dakota 4wd V8? It's in good mechanical condition regular oil changes, new alternator and battery. A few "cosmetic" problems like a dented bumper but other than that she's in good shape. It's going to be hard to get rid of her but it has to be done. If your interested and in the Lansdale area leave a comment with your contact info.

Ok back to work and freaking out about all the stuff I have to do.

Zip Bang Wheeeee!

Ok I don't know where I got that title I really couldn't think of anything.

Ok so first things first. This weekend rocked. One party I was supposed to go to got cancelled which turned out well because instead of partying friday night we partied (with fewer people of course) on Thursday. Played some frisbee and did some swimming. I love swimming! So then Friday night I did the Pub Crawl with Val. You can read about the hi-jinks on her live journal. I didn't realize how drunk I was till the next day. I remember vaguely going to the wawa for hoagies and complaining about the stupid touch screen order machine and how no one talks to anyone anymore. I also realized that from wawa back to Vals house I don't remember much, I must have been almost totally incoherent. Oh I also found out that I have another reader Jen. With all these readers (must be like 5 now) I need to start watching what I type. My wierd streams of thought might make people think I'm a lunatic.

Went to my friend Matt's parents house on Sunday to work on his dad's Cobra Kit Car. This has become a Sunday ritual. Free donuts, lunch and dinner for me. I love it, no cooking and a day of wrenching on a performance vehicle. Here are two links if anyones interested in actually seeing the beast. The first one here is just some pics. The second one here is a video of the first time we started the engine. We are getting so close to the road test I can feel it. I got most of the wiring complete and ready for the road test. The only few things that need to be worked out are the clutch cable bracket, throttle cable bracket some suspension tuning and bolting the seats and mounting some interior panels. Now that I write it out it seems like more than I had thought. If we are lucky we might be able to test it next weekend. I hope so... I'm running out of time because.....

I got an email this morning about the DC job. It seems my contact there is going to make me an offer as soon as I call him. Unfortunately I won't be able to do that until at least lunch time. I was getting really worried about recieving an offer. Now I'm worrying so much more. I hope they can offer me enough money so that I can afford to live there and actually take the job. However most worries are good worries. Where am I going to find an apt, if I'm going to keep my truck, how am I going to move all my crap down there, am I going to like it in the city... oh man I'm getting excited. Ok can't get too excited because I still don't have anything concrete yet but... oh my god I need to get out of this job so bad I can't help it.

Ok thats all for now stay tuned...