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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Settling into apartment life is interesting to say the least. There are benefits and detriments of course in the life. This episode I will be just have some random observations. The people We are lucky that all our neighbors are pretty friendly. We wave and say “Hi” and they all say “Hi” back. This is easy for us, as we generally try to befriend our neighbors wherever we...
I felt a little bad in my last post ragging on Comcast. Apart from their tech whiffing on connecting the cable last Friday, and the snafu’s until their technician was here on Tuesday, it really wasn’t their fault. Today, I have more awesomeness to report. We had far too much stuff in our small apartment, so until Thursday, I hadn’t even unpacked our Plasma TV. Naturally, I...
A week or so ago, I raved about the in store experience with Comcast cable, our tv and internet provider here (yes, I know their reputation, but what I am going to use instead, fucking AT&T U-Verse?!?) I connected immediately with a great customer service rep in their store, who set me up proper. One of the issues was that they needed to visit sometime the day after to hook up cable, as it...
My wife and I have embarked on a new journey. As we wait for our house to sell in Arizona, with the fear of destroying our down payment for a house in temporary housing, we have punted and signed a lease on an apartment. Fortunately, we found a place that was happy to have us with our greyhounds. Yay.
This series of posts will chronicle our time here, and the fun that it will surely entail.