Tralfaz

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  • Apartment Living – Competitive Parking

    Apartment Living – Competitive Parking

    Life in a moderate density apartment complex is fun, and I mean that in the most positive way. The property management team does try to be fair, particularly around “parking“.

    Each unit has one assigned space. There is a “permit” (a mirror hangar) that looks impossible to counterfeit. And even if you could, the spaces are assigned, so each permit is numbered. We have one.

    Of course, most units have people living with more than one vehicle in them, so the quandary is where to park.

    There is no formal guest parking. No open slots in the lots to fight over. Cool, I guess. So it is on the street.

    Sidebar: Clearly the people in San Jose never fucking learnt to parallel park, or they just suck at it. Or both.

    During the day, it usually isn’t too bad, there are enough openings to get a decent spot. Starting around 6:00PM, it becomes brutal. Not enough linear feet + people who can’t park to save their lives = chaos. Some people leave acres of room before and after their car, and some insist upon jamming in close up. There are typically about 7 – 9 car spaces wasted by morons parking.

    After 10:00PM, you are definitely going to have to go well int o the neighborhoods to find free space.

    It doesn’t help that across the street are a series of duplexes virtually all with three garage spaces (split, 2 for one “master” unit, and 1 for the “rental”) that have been converted to additional rentals. That means that the small yards they have are now parking, and a lot of overflow into the street. Sigh.

    Street cleaning day is the 1st Friday of the month, and it does mostly empty the streets. For a few hours anyways. Then the chaos returns.

    The Office has a few reserved spots, and  there are 5 employee parking spots in the main lot. Of course, when the office is open, the residents do honor these reserved spots.  Until the office manager leaves, then BAM they are all filled. Strangely, the employee spots don’t get used (my theory is that we do have an on-premise maintenance person, and he is likely to call the towing company.)

    There is hope though. There are a number of “extra” spaces that can be “rented” for $35 a month. Alas, they are all taken, and we are on the waiting list for one of them when it frees up, and our turn rolls around.

  • Apartment Living – The Exodus

    Apartment Living – The Exodus

    While we have been here only a month, we have noticed an exodus of tenants. The residents are moving out in droves, hence the overflowing trash with household goods. I had wondered why there were so many people moving out, but hadn’t put much thought into it.

    A part of the puzzle fell into place when about a week before rent was due, there was a knock on the door. A letter from the management that stated no longer will tenants be allowed to pay partial rent, and to make up the rest during the month. By itself, this had me scratching my head. Rent was due on the 1st, and we pay on the first, budgeting accordingly.

    It never dawned on me that this wasn’t the practice in general.

    Last week, my wife saw someone leaving (moving out), and asked why and where they will go? Apparently it isn’t dissatisfaction with the property or the apartment, but the change in the allowance for partial rent submission. Additionally, there have been significant rent increases in the recent past.

    There is little doubt that we have many residents who are less fortunate, and struggle to make ends meet. Heck, you see that even in well kept single family home neighborhoods. But you have to live somewhere (unless you want to fall back to urban camping on Guadalupe Creek), and this isn’t too bad of a place to live. Rent for the area is pretty reasonable (and for us, the fact that they welcome our dogs is the winning factor).

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  • Apartment Living – Living with less space

    Apartment Living – Living with less space

    Having the shock of going from ~2,400 sqft to < 1,200 sqft is enough. While we never filled out last house, we had collected a lot of “stuff“. But there are things we have lost that hurt. Today, I will talk about kitchen space

    Both our houses in Arizona had ample counter space. In Tucson, they were fine Corien counter tops, with ample space for gadgets. But I didn’t need to keep the gadgets out, as we had massive amounts of cabinet space.

    Chandler was similar. Lots of places to tuck and hide things to keep the counters clean, and presentable.

    Add to that the large pantries, and life was good. You could stock up in a trip to Costco, or even goof and double up on things like condiments, or canned food. It didn’t matter, there was plenty of room.

    Not so in Apartment land.

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  • The Travel Log – carry on baggage

    The Travel Log – carry on baggage

    My work keeps me on the road a lot. I am a frequent flier, in and out of airports all over the country and the world. In the new world order, with domestic carriers trying to extract the most fees from fliers, charging for checked bags, has encouraged everyone to carry on their luggage.

    This wouldn’t be a problem if people had reasonable sized bags, but alas they push the envelope and try to use luggage that is way too big.

    Of course, there are gauges to size the bags, and filter out the bags that are too large. Alas, they are virtually always ignored.

    Until this trip. On my flight out of SFO, an oversold airplane, the gate agents became the bag nazi’s. Every bag they let in, had to fit in the gauge. Yay!

    Of course, suddenly everybody in line gets the squirms.

    For far too long, people bring too many bags, and bags that are oversize. Pushing the limits of luggage storage in the cabin, all to save $25. It used to be that carry on bags were the pro travelers, with truly small bags, who could do 3 nights and 4 days out of a tiny bag, now people are trying to haul body bags down the aisle.

    I wish the gate agents would be this militant all the time.

    And your personal bag isn’t a second full sized bag (and trying to sneak a backpack too is criminal)

    For the record, I virtually always check my bag. Even as an early boarding elite passenger, I prefer to not drag my luggage across the airport.

  • Apartment Living – Maintenance

    Apartment Living – Maintenance

    There is one benefit of leasing an apartment (or even a house) that I was looking forward to: Your landlord is responsible for all the routine maintenance. No longer if the plumbing springs a leak, or a drain clogs, or a hot water heater dies, do I need to call a repairman or roll up my sleeves and get it fixed. Woo hoo. Or is it?

    Alas, there are downsides. We have had a couple of minor issues, and one major issue. The minor ones were simple things (a broken door knob, and some irrigation issues at our old temporary place, and a broken built in microwave).

    I suspect that if there was something urgent, the maintenance team would be very responsive, but anything else will take some time.

    After living here for less than 2 weeks, our Microwave broke. Just stopped working. Checked the breakers, checked the outlet, alas, it was dead. Sigh.

    Called the office. The next day their maintenance man came and tried the same things I did. No luck.

    Sidebar: He claimed that it was “Brand New” and that it was installed just before we moved in. Total bullshit, as the plastic facade has been scrubbed with something like a 3M green scrubbie… Nice try to guilt us.

    They ordered a replacement (the brand is Hotpoint, not a typical brand), and it would take a week to arrive.

    Sigh

    Friday it arrived, but it was too late for them to replace it. So it will be Monday between 9:00 and 11:00AM.

    It sucks to not have a microwave.

    If it was at my house, where I owned it, I would have gone to Lowe’s and bought a new microwave the next day, and replaced it myself.

  • Apartment Living – Competitive Laundry

    Apartment Living – Competitive Laundry

    Continuing on in the vein of apartment living adjustments, this episode will be about the laundry situation. As the units do not have hookups for washers and dryers, we have four laundry rooms spread across the campus. Open from 9:00AM until 10:00PM, they are convenient oases for those needing to do laundry.

    Of course, there are wrinkles.

    First – machine hogs

    The doors unlock at precisely 9:00AM, and by 9:00:32 all the washers are full and running. The early crowd gets in and monopolizes the rooms.

    This drives my wife nuts, as she walks down with our laundry in a basket to find all the machines occupied, even when she is early (for her).

    Second – broken machines

    The MachinesAs the tenants aren’t the owners of the machines, they often are out of service. Perhaps they overfilled it, and ran it too full, or perhaps it is just time for something to break. Regardless of the root cause, far too many of the machines are inoperable.

    There is of course a phone number to call for service, and tenants can call, but most do not. In fact I would say that virtually none of them will call. They seem to assume that the property management team will track and report the non-functioning machines. But since they do not do their laundry, unless someone complains, they do not know to call.

    My wife has reported broken machines in three of our 4 laundry rooms. Finally they are being fixed. Hopefully, that will reduce the contention for the machines.

    Rays of light

    One thing that is cool, is that instead of needing a fistful of quarters, the machines use smartcards that are rechargeable. No need to make a special trip to the bank to buy rolls of quarters.

    Summary

    Life in an apartment is interesting. Having lived in condo’s and houses for the last 15 years have insulated me from some of the frictions that are in normal lives. So it is good to experience the other side.

    I am just hoping that we can afford a house when our lease is up here and we can move into something that is more permanent.

  • Competitive Panhandling

    Competitive Panhandling

    Unless you just arrived from Mars, odds are high that you have see the panhandlers working the off-ramps. It is a pretty simple scam. Look scruffy, carry a sign with a sob story, and make eye contact with the drivers waiting at the light. While there might be some seriously needy people, the vast majority of them are completely a scam.

    Oh, yeah, some will have heartbreaking stories, but take note of how many of the pan handlers look pretty well nourished. Hmmmm.

    Of course, "good" corners are popular, and that can lead to panhandler fights. Yesterday, on my way home, there were two groups of beggars arguing rather loudly, and threatening each other with knives.

    I guess there is competition in all human endeavors.

    (for the record, your donations are far better given to one of the organizations who help the homeless.)

  • Apartment Living – Communal Trash

    Apartment Living – Communal Trash

    The continuing saga of apartment living; today we will talk about the common trash area.

    The complex has three parking lots, and in each parking lot has a common trash collection area. Three large trash bins, and one recycling bin. One would think that would be sufficient capacity. And they would be, if all was normal.

    Fortunately, the pickup happens 3 times a week, so roughly every other day the trucks come.

     

    Almost as soon as the the dumpsters are empty, the vultures move in. First to fill up is the recycling. Unfortunately the tenants here when they move, often jettison unwanted furniture and appliances. Straight into recycling. So by noon, the bin is full. Then they move to filling the trash dumpsters.

    Alas, by late afternoon after the pickup, the trash bins look like the picture at the top of this post.

    Then two things happen. First, there are some pros that come by to dump more. I see the same green older Chrysler minivan dump furniture and appliances. Overloaded to the max.

    Second, the scavengers come. They pawl through the recycling looking for things with value (aluminum cans, metals for recycling, etc.) There are at least three different waves I see. Competitive recycling at its finest.

    Then within 2 days, it all begins again.

    I will say one thing, the maintenance staff of the apartment do a pretty efficient job of keeping it orderly, and as clean as possible. It is a daunting task.

  • Relocation: The Commute

    Relocation: The Commute

    Recap: I have been relocated to the San Jose area after living in Arizona for 11+ years. I grew up here, so I am not too shocked at what we have come back to. Today I will offer my observations of the commute, and the drivers, particularly how they have changed in the last 11 years.

    When we left California in 2003, we lived in a small condo in South San Jose, near 101 and Bernal Road. I was fortunate that I worked at Cisco then, and I was able to ride the Light Rail end to end. About 45 minutes, restful, and it was paid for by Cisco.

    Alas, I am not so lucky this time. We are not far from where we used to live, but I work in a pretty unaccessible spot by transit (well, not inaccessible, but it requires at least two bus legs and a lengthy light rail trip). Shortest travel time is 1:56, the most convenient connections is 2:17 in transit. And my employer doesn’t pick up the monthly pass.

    Bollocks

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  • Apartment Life – the less pleasant bit(s)

    Apartment Life – the less pleasant bit(s)

    I forgot how much “fun” it was living in close proximity with a wide demographic. That was brought back into focus last night around 11:40.

    The master bedroom is facing the street (boo) but it also is over the little patio we have on the back. At about 11:40, there was a bit of a family feud going on. Drunk Boyfriend was yelling at the kids. Something about not putting something else away or some such crap. Yada yada. Then the mother gets into it, and off to the races. It turns into a monster screaming match until almost 1:00AM.

    No physical violence, but enough 4 letter words and motherfuckers to peel paint.

    Sigh

    Reminds me of the Condo’s we lived in back in 2003. South San Jose near Bernal and 101. Not a bad place, and we owned (I don’t think there were too many rentals there).

    Our neighbor across the walkway was a single asian-american woman, real nice person when we talked to her. But she played the field. There were at least 3 boyfriends who would come and spend the night. And every Sunday morning there would be a fight. We used to call it “Sunday Morning Fights” and listen in while we were eating breakfast.

    This was different, yet it was the same.

    I have to remember that we are renting, and as such are transitory here. As is every other tenant.

    Still, I am saddened by the argument last night, and hope it doesn’t repeat. Alas, I will not be surprised to have it replay frequently.