Narrowing it down

I took a second look at four places that had taken my fancy on the first time through. Three of the places held up to the initial reactions and one didn't. The three that are left are each quite different from each other, if falling into the same category.

The first is a renovated school building with super high ceilings (exposed beams) and super thick walls. The second place is large and feels divided into two areas the entry is more modern and the back area is typical loft. The third place is in the swanky development and is more quirky than the other two.

I hope to be able to decide pretty soon.

More home hunting

I'm using the term home hunting for a couple of reasons... The first is that I'm not looking for houses, I'm looking for condos/lofts. The second reason, is I'm not looking for something to tide me over for a little while, I want somewhere that feels like home.

I've never been good at making decisions based on cost benefit analysis when it comes to my own life. I'm much too conservative in my judgements and in many ways risk averse. But coming to Boston, starting with a new company... I wouldn't say it's risky, but it is definitely a deeper decision than my past moves.

One decision that goes into the move is deciding where to live. Rather than go the safe route and getting a house in the suburbs, I'm going to be an urban dweller. Living in the city is what made Boston so enjoyable to me. And I know that if I lived in the suburbs, I would just stay home all the time because it is convenient. Oh, and I'm going to get a lot more exercise since I'll be walking/public transport/walking to work, and likely walking to get meals (if I don't cook).

The home hunting itself is going well. Unlike when I was looking in California, here the problem isn't finding something I could live with, it's trying to decide which of the possibilities I really want. There are some I've eliminated because they just weren't right for me, but there are still a lot that are really wonderful and more I haven't seen yet.

More places to look at tomorrow and perhaps revisits to the ones that I've liked the best. Then I have to figure things out... How much do I like having a car, is it worth a few hundred a month for parking if I hardly use it? Balancing neighborhood versus living space, etc. But, surprisingly this decision isn't stressing me out, at least not yet.

Home hunting

I think I should start by saying that it's raining on my birthday! That isn't an exclaimation point of disgust, but actually one of enthusiasm. Real weather on my birthday, and not the same weather that had been happening for the previous two weeks. I'm sure next year, I might be bummed to have rain on my birthday, but this year, it's wonderful.

I started my home hunting today, and saw a half dozen or so lofts. It definately looks like I am going to be able to find something that will make me happy. Actually I saw two places that could definitely work for me. It's odd though, lofts have a weird feeling of being large and small at the same time. Small in that they don't have a lot of rooms, but large when I actually think about how much stuff fits comfortably in the space.

I'll probably post again tonight, after watching the Yankees game. Hopefully, I won't get attacked for wearing my Yankees cap.

Boston Lyrics...

I almost forgot... For those who don't know the song Boston my Augustana, it really kind of fits my move in a lot of ways. Not entirely, since he is singing about a girl moving to Boston, and she says it's somewhere no one knows her name, whereas I'm a guy and I actually know people here... But there are some things that really ring true

She said I think I'll go to Boston...

I think I'll start a new life,

I think I'll start it over,

where no one knows my name,

I'll get out of California,

I'm tired of the weather,

I think I'll get a lover and fly em out to Spain...

I think I'll go to Boston,

I think that I'm just tired

I think I need a new town,

to leave this all behind...

I think I need a sunrise,

I'm tired of the sunset,

I hear it's nice in the Summer,

some snow would be nice... oh yeah,

Made it!

It's been a long couple of days, and today was especially long, but I made it to Boston. That was after an inauspicious start to the day. Well, not quite the start, but the first leg of my flight. The day itself started much too early, after much too little sleep. But I dropped off the rental car and made it to the airport in plenty of time.

Then the benefits of first class flying really started becoming apparent. The checkin line was long, over fifty people. The first class checkin line was short, one person who was in the wrong lane. Then of course there is getting on the plane before everyone else.

But then there were some problems. I tried to raise the headrest so it wasn't poking me in the back, and the whole thing came off. I then made the mistake of asking the stewardess to help rather than just putting it back on myself. Apparently she's not allowed to do that sort of thing and they had to get a technician on the plane. But they had to call the technician anyway because some panel in the cockpit wasn't doing something properly. Eventually we started pushing back from the gate, only to quickly return. The left engine wasn't starting with the automatic starter so they had to get the technicians to use a manual starter. We ended up leaving about 40 minutes late, which wasn't so bad after having a drink (another perk of first class).

I half dozed, half read, and half listened to music on the flight to Chicago. Yeah, that's too many halves, but I was multitasking. I just wasn't quite awake enough to read much, and not positioned so that I could sleep. But I didn't have to worry about someone slamming their chair into my knees.

The second leg of the trip was much better. I sat next to a nice woman who had herself just moved to Boston from San Francisco area. Although she's had a month head start. The steward and stewardess were very proactive plying me with drinks, and by the time we landed I was quite happy. I would have been happy even without the drinks though.

I'm starting to nod off, even though my body should think it is 7:40. But between the sleep deprivation, the long day of travel, the meal I just ate, and the soak in the hotel's hot tub...

So goodnight from Boston!

My bags are packed...

Actually, everything is packed, but I don't leave on the jet plane until tomorrow morning. Early tomorrow morning, at least by my current standards. 7:50 isn't really that early for a flight to the East Coast, but recently I've been sleeping until 9:00 or so. Or at least trying to. Trying to get any sleep actually, but more about that later.

Wednesday I got my couch out of storage. A bit of an adventure, but nothing too crazy. My couch wouldn't fit into my apartment because it was too big. So, I've had it in storage. Then it spent Wednesday night in my parking spot, while my car had to spend the night outside. What a terrible burden for my car.

Yesterday morning, bright and early, the movers showed up to take my stuff, and the tow truck driver came to take my car. What a fun day. It took the movers all day to pack my stuff and load it on the truck. And since the tow truck driver came so early, I was stranded at my apartment all day. Then the packers stayed all afternoon, and didn't get done until about 7:30. By that time the rental car company where I was going to pick up a car for yesterday and today was already closed, so I had a friend drive me to the airport to get a car there.

I got the car, grabbed some food really quickly and headed to Karaoke. It was a good time, even if it was so crowded I only got in three songs. But I got to sing Wonderboy, which became my trademark song, and the Piano Man which everything always loves to sing along with. I also got to say goodbye to a last bunch of people.

It's odd, with all of the goodbyes I've been saying, I feel more popular than I thought I was...

Now, if only I can get some sleep. I haven't been sleeping well for a while now, and the past week or two has been terrible. A couple of times I was still awake well after 3am, and couldn't manage to sleep until 9. And now I'm going to be losing three hours with the cross country travel. Actually, since my sleep is dominated by the sun more than the clock, I'm losing even more than that because of how far west I currently am, and how far east I'm going to be.

I don't know if this quite counts as trivia, since I'm being a bit arbitrary about it, but moving from the Bay Area, Boston is the furthest major US city I could be moving to. Further than Miami, further than Alaska or Hawaii. Sure there are plenty of places in the US that are further, but not big cities.

Blah blah blah. This is turning more bloggy than mere travel updates. So for those just looking for info, I apologize. Although this will evolve into a blog (if I keep writing) in the coming weeks and months.

A funny thing happened on the way to lunch

So today was the going away lunch with the people I formerly worked with. It was a little strange having a going away lunch after already leaving, but it was only by a couple of days. Lunch was good, although some people weren't able to make it. But I did get a chance to pass out some of my personal cards. I had them made up so I wouldn't have to jot down email or phone number on the back of napkins or on corners of paper.

I'll be passing out more at the Blue Bonnet on Thursday. Karoake night and the last chance to really hang out with people from this area. Maybe I'll even get the DJ to say, "Wonderboy has left the building." For those not in the know, Wonderboy (by Tenacious D) is one of my go-to karoake songs, and a crowd favorite.

Anyway, back to the lunch story. When I got in my car this morning and turned it on, the engine coolant light came on. Again. A few months ago I took my car in because it was low on coolant and they couldn't find the leak. Now it's low again. So I had to drop it off at the dealership and hurry to lunch. I got there a minute or two late, and was still the first person there! The other guest of honor showed up like half an hour late. But I still enjoyed it.

Other news... The movers and packers are coming on Thursday and Friday. It is possible that both could happen on Thursday, but I am guessing that won't be the case. In any case, Friday night I'll check into one of the airport hotels so I can get to my flight Saturday morning. I splurged and went first class which my knees will thank me for later, and probably my back. Although my liver won't be so happy.

That's all for now... I apologize that these posts are getting less coherent.