Monday, July 12, 2010

Pursuing housing

Those who follow this blog for a while now, might remember how I blogged about that it takes a car to get one. Back then, I decided not to pursue any housing yet. Now, 9 months of living in something much like a fancy hotel room later, I had gathered enough courage to try again...

And, with only a small list of requirement (affordable, spare bedroom(s), not too far from work, and at least a decent building quality), I stated looking online using Craigslist and Google maps. (btw, Do you know how annoying searching at craigslist is, without proper grouping or filtering? I ended up building something myself, if anyone is interested, let me know) Anw, the result was a small list of places I was more interested in. Some townhouses, some apartment communities, and even a single house. Next step, call all private owners of the townhouses (and the single house). Again, like with the cars, at least half was already gone, and the rest wasn't available to make an appointment with for that day.

So, with a small list of apartment communities and some help for experience and mental support, we set of for a little ride. (Have I ever mentioned how much of a requirement a car is in the States?)
The first, furthest away, was a small townhouse, cramped in, and had cow's heads to open the kitchen closets. And was the most expensive we intended to look at.
A little later, at another apartment community, when we arrived everyone was out, so we had to wait half an hour during which we visited a local supermarket and picked up a copy of an Apartment guide. Trying to kill time, we went through it, and picked some more potential apartment communities. Which was the best thing we did there, because after we returned and got our tour, we went to one of those, which was located just right, and had a nice pricetag. Except that by then, they were about to close, so we returned the next day for a tour. We liked what we saw, and I decided to stick with that one. We got an apartment number, of an apartment on the first floor, facing nothing but woods, thinking all was perfect, and not dissatisfied with how smooth this had gone so far, we left.

Then, about a good 1.5 weeks before the move in date, I got a phone call. Whether I could move in a little later, as they would need the time to clean the apartment. Trying to be friendly, I accepted the maximum move in date that was possible, giving them 1 additional day. Both sides happy.

4 days before the original move in date, I got another phone call. The current attendant canceled their move out...
They did have another similar apartment, on the 3rd floor, facing the parking lot, which I could get for the same price...
Really? ...
Alternatively they had a slightly different and (90 Sq ft) smaller apartment, on the 2nd floor, and facing the woods, in a different part of the community.
Right....
If I wanted I could step by and come and see both for myself, just, they would close in less than 30 minutes, and I was at least 20 minutes away, so, not really.
We did make an appointment for the next morning, and I ended up accepting their 2nd option.

Next, Insurance and Power.
Before I could move in, I had to get renter's insurance, and put the power on my name. So, I call Georgia power, ... only to be told that as I haven't lived in the states for 5 years yet, I need to go to one of their offices in person.
Right...
Then let's try insurance. Actually, kudos to Nationwide, the guy I got on the line was very helpful, very patient, and very detailed and complete in his explanations. Only to have to call me back 5 minutes after we ended our phone call, because Nationwide stopped their insurance in Georgia... :(
But after some internal call he made, he transferred me to their Progressive department, with whom I finally was able to set up my insurance.

The next day I went to set up my power at the Georgia power office, what, I have to say, wasn't a bad experience. Well, AFTER I was able to find the place... Google first sent me to the wrong end of the street. Minor drawback, they could not set up paperless billing yet, and the first bill will come in the mail after about a good week, at which time I know I will not be able to check my mail for a while. (Thank God for friends!)

All swell, end swell? Not quite yet...
That same day I put the power on my name, I go to get my apartment's keys, and have the move-in inspection. So, while signing all the papers, suddenly all power goes off, and stays off. A big accident down the street had taken out the power lines.
So, suffices to say, the move-in inspection was only a partial one. With half the place to dark to be able to see any issues. Luckily, they were very fair 2 days later when I had gone back in with enough light, in accepting my list with additional point.

I still need to get that first power bill. But (knock on wood) so far it seems that the housing mainly provided me with another good story to tell. (And maybe some additional/higher deposits :) )

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Internet Outage

Today, the Internet in our office went down.
It made me realize, you don't know how "connected" you are, until the Internet goes down;
No ability to search for some quick information
(including when the semi finals start)
No skypecall to colleagues, friends or family
No access to company data
No emails (as it uses an online mailclient)
No mental support via FB
No news sites, blogs or twitters
No nothing!
How did people survive before "The Internet"????