I arrived at the hotel and found, for the first time, a front desk representative with a wicked sense of humour. I had seen this sense of humour before, but never up front. It was quite refreshing to say the least. I got to my room and set up, tooled around a fair bit, and then went to sleep. I went in for my pre-employment physical the next day, before my showings. The physical took a bit longer than expected, but it didn't change the fact that I had decided after booking showings in a certain area of town that I didn't want to live there at all. I ended up cancelling four showings in a row in order to get some extra time together with which to go check out what was at the time my dream car, a used 2008 honda civic with black exterior and leather interior. I made it to the used car dealership and discovered that nothing could be further from the truth. The honda had already been sold, despite being in the used car lot for flood damage, and most of the cars in the lot were declared total losses because of flood damage. Ten thousand dollars for a flood-water car? Seriously? Unfortunately I didn't get out of there quickly, as I spent a while on the phone while walking around the lot, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. I left as soon as I realized that none of the cars on this lot could be considered suitable for me to drive problem-free.
I showed up to the rental showing, and there was an elderly couple waiting at the door for me. The house was two floors, and in the top floor lived their son, a radiation technologist at some hospital, with his wife. On the bottom floor would potentially be me, with my two bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, and bathroom. The first problem I noticed about this place was that the kitchen had no fume hood. No vent over the stove, no exhaust to suck in all the smoke generated from frying and baking. This was distressing to me as I normally aim to cook almost all of my meals when living on my own. The lady mentioned "but there is a window right next to the stove," which, to me, meant absolutely nothing. I walked into the bathroom, and noticed the commode (throne, shitter, water closet) was flush against the wall. This would mean that anyone looking to do the necessary would have to sit at an angle. The tour continued to the bedroom where I came upon a stuck wardrobe door (stuck meaning the rollers wouldn't roll properly on the tracks) and that's when the man said that he was going to fix the door before I would move in. I then asked who handles any electrical or plumbing-related repairs in the house, and the wife immediately gestured to her husband and said that he handles them. This was the last utterly displeasing aspect of the visit. If someone rents out a living space, they should be prepared to hand over complex repairs to a team of professionals, instead of wasting time by messing with things themselves. Furthermore, what guarantee do I have that an aging man will show up promptly to the house when something is wrong? He may be a bit of a handyman, but so am I. That doesn't mean I'm going to volunteer to fix every single problem that occurs with my rental property, it doesn't make sense and I wouldn't trust myself to do so efficiently. If he's taken this long (i.e. not even when there's a showing) to fix a wardrobe door, how is this guy going to do when my lights go out and it's not a simple breaker reset?
I asked if they would consider putting in an exhaust fan for the stove, and the man said "Forget it", so I forgot all of it and left. The day seemed like one sad disappointment after the next, and I went back to the apartment and booked another day of hotel stay (I had come all the way to Pittsburgh and had managed to find neither a car nor a home). I then ventured out for a burger and, on the way back, happened upon a Honda dealership. I strolled in and could tell the difference in professionalism between this dealership and the previous "wire fence, flags around the yard" used car dealership to which I had travelled. These guys didn't deal in wreck vehicles and they didn't hand you an itinerary and leave you to your own devices with their inventory. These guys were professionals, and they paired me up with a salesperson who took me individually through almost every car in the lot. The man wasn't pushy at all, he just wanted to get a good idea of the type of car for which I was looking.
We stumbled upon a 2007 toyota camry with a clean title. I did a small amount of pre-test drive haggling and the price went from 12,900 to 10,815 (the "website-listed price") and then I went back to my apartment to talk to my Dad. I talked to my friends as well, and they told me they'd be able to find me a used honda for much less money and that I shouldn't try to spend too much on a car. My Dad had an entirely different assessment of the situation. He said that I needed to buy a car that was a good deal, not necessarily one that cost very little money, and that I needed a car fast and not just on the cheap. He put into perspective the paucity of free time available for me to use for shopping around before the start of my residency. My father is, at times, very frugal, but he is also the reason for which I will at any point in the future be any good with money, so I decided to heed his advice. I went back the next day, moaned and whined a bit, and picked up the car for 11,500 out the door. I booked a showing the next day for an apartment, and ended up signing for that as well. I picked carefully and I increased my expected rent, and the apartment was still quite a good deal for the area considering that the rent included water, sewage and garbage (which apparently aren't always covered for in Pennsylvania).
I travelled home a champion on Tuesday night. Today was spent mulling around in ikea looking for furniture for my place. Here are my selections:
I haven't yet found chairs that match with the norden which are also reasonably priced (I do not believe $70 to be reasonable for a chair). I'm looking for something that folds, is made of wood, and matches. Perhaps someone on here will be able to point me in the right direction.
In case any of you are wondering why I'm seemingly burning money on furniture here when I should be living with less, consider that there's only so much furniture that can be done without. Living without a sofa (or in my case a futon), for example, would negate the inviting of guests. Living without a gateleg table means wasting space by placing a permanent table in the room.
I finished my to-do list for tomorrow (or rather, whenever I wake up) a while ago. How much of it I get done tomorrow remains to be seen, but I'm certainly going to try. My senior advisor just e-mailed me back hinting at the possibility of being able to commute to work by bicycle. Perhaps it is sometimes okay to dream after all.
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