13 posts tagged “apartment”

Behind my building there is maybe 30ft of wilderness before the next row of houses. Yet in spite of this seemingly minuscule patch of land I routinely ( as I do now ) see herds of deer making their way to and fro.  One weekend our parking lot was invaded by wild turkeys.  On Friday night I frightened a stag and it galloped into the dark and out of sight.  I live 5 mi. from downtown Pittsburgh and at most 2 mi. from East Liberty, how did they get here?!?

Sanity restored as well.  Since I already formatted my computer once today I'll just format again and finally install Ubuntu.  I'm tempted to find a scrap box on craigslist and turn it into a server, but it's not worth the money and effort to drag a tower up this damn hill.  I can dream though!

There are some Eee PCs on craiglist.... :3

Maybe Verizon will decide to actually start my DSL service today, that would be nice >:[

Should have a tech on site tomorrow.  I only have three more episodes of The Wire left before I start to go [more] crazy. 

Maybe Verizon will decide to actually start my DSL service today, that would be nice >:[

The move to Pittsburgh went well. In the end I packed way too many pillows and clothes and had to lash my bike to the roof of my car but nothing got damaged or lost.  Despite my best efforts I had to leave my Bari and Winter Clothes in Norwell, but I should get them over Thanksgiving.

So on to the good:
My apartment is in almost pristine condition
The building is quiet
There is bus service to the rest of the city

the bad:
I live near the top of a very long, steep incline
The location isn't convenient to anything
The convenient buses stop around 10PM on week nights
It's pretty slummy at the bottom of the hill ( see below )

We'll see how this year plays out, but in all likelihood I'll move to someplace closer to classes or work, wherever they are.  I'm going bike shopping tomorrow which will free from bus dependence until it gets excessively cold or otherwise bike unfriendly. 

On the subject of getting mugged:  contrasting demographics ( i.e. poor vs. $$$ ) seem to occur every other neighborhood.  Where I live ( Stanton Heights/Morningside )  is a high density residential area with a lot of single family homes and vertical lawns.  Travel a few blocks south on Stanton Ave. and houses are boarded up and things take a turn towards Detroit.  A block or two further south and you hit Whole Foods, Trader Joes and a Trek outlet.  I can only hope that the Whole Foods will starve the proletariat out leaving me to enjoy buckwheat noodles and shade grown fair trade organic coffee in peace.  The key to my survival will lie in my ability to navigate ley lines of old money, a skill that I have been honing since my childhood in Norwell.

My parents and I took a short tour of the city and got lost up Mt. Washington.  I've found that this tends to happen when you get on the wrong bridge.  I felt like vomitting the entire time due to the cliff several feet from the car.  This entire region is absolutely insane.  There is not a single flat space of land other than the golden triangle and yet a good percentage of it is covered in buildings.  At the top of Mt. Washington people build using stilts such that almost their entire houses are hanging in the open air.  That certainly is the extreme, but almost every street is at some sort of knee liquefying incline.  It is hard for me to understand how everyone here can still be fat and disgusting.  If these whales would only drink some Jamba Juice they would become the conservative foils to San Francisco's bra burning hippies.

Tired.

I now have a place in Pittsburgh in the Highland Park area ( about a mile from the park itself ), best described by Urban Dictionary:
"As the least dirty area of Pittsburgh, Highland Park stands as an example of pure middle class living. With plenty of hot bitches and scary people to keep the neighborhood exciting, Highland Park represents Pittsburgh well, combining a welcoming atmosphere with a dangerous nightlife."
Not bad.  It's a large place with central heat and air with laundry in the building for 635/mo.  My only complaint is that the stove is electric, but this is only an annoyance. It's about 3.5 miles from School, which is about the distance from my current place to Central Sq. 

As for the rest of trip... it was as ill conceived as any other trip I've personally planned. Three of the four flights were delayed. My rental was a Chevy HHR, a concern because the Pittsburgh infrastructure involves merging five times a minute, scaling mountains every other block, and very tight roads.  The perfect environment for an underpowered, overbuilt American(?) car.  The HRR is a sack of gahbage from any perspective and I took that personally.

Speaking of American cars, my trip involved a stop over in Detroit.  Two comments from someone who has never been: clearly, and appropriately designed for cars.  Second: the signs at the airport all had Japanese translations, which goes to show just how American our American cars are.  The Northwest terminal had an EKUSUPARESU TORAMU to help navigate the 80 or so gates. Or perhaps it's nothing more sinister than Northwest routing all of it's Japan routes through one of its major hubs.

The flight home was delayed by a monster storm, the type that conjures images of sculpted men with beards committing fratr/patri/matricide and then topping it off with some incest.  Impressive from a high vantage point and a safe distance.

I was supposed to drive to NYC today for a concert tomorrow but my left eye isn't really working.  This happens time to time.

He's talking about cigarettes, you see.

Pulling a round trip to Pittsburgh on Friday.  Wake up at 0330 and drive to Providence. Upon arrival to Pittsburgh my rental car will be waiting and from there it's smooth sailing to my first appointment at 1300. Then it's get back to the airport at 1800 or so and head home at 1900.  With luck I'll be back before the day is even over.

There is no possible way this could go wrong.

Still working out the details:

Last Day of Work: Friday, August 15th
Move to Pittsburgh: Monday, August 18th (?)
First Day of Classes: Monday, August 25th

Going to confirm my status with the department tomorrow and figure out how to get forms signed remotely etc.  The most pressing concern right now is finding an apartment.  The University has a little structure to help grad students find housing and I may end up doing that if I get a decent price without much hassle.  I'm not really interested in flying down there to look at apartments, but it might come to that unfortunately.  From Providence it's a 30 hour round trip by train for $200, or a 12 hour round trip by plane for $160.

For people who have no clue what Pittsburgh even looks like here are some HQ panoramas (courtesy of gigapan ):

Downtown Pittsburgh seen from Mt. Washington

Living room collage

Lack End Table - black
Malm Bedframe - medium brown
Malm 4 drawer dreser - medium brown
Billy Bookcase - dark brown
Billy Bookcase Thin - dark brown
Kloffsta Table - oak veneer ( got this for only $99 because there was a hairline scratch on the side)
Lack Coffee Table - black

TV goes here --------------------v

There.