Since it’s been over two months since I started my new job, it’s probably not really a surprise to you that I’m pretty much completely moved in and situated in my new apartment. But I figured that before I gave you a tour of the new place, I might as well tell you a bit about how I got here.
By the time I finally decided to accept the job, there were only two weeks left before the company wanted me to start working. One of those weeks was already booked up between family commitments and participating in Colin and Anna’s wedding in Richmond, so things were pretty tight as far as the apartment hunt was concerned. (By the way, I made a post about that - Hunting High and Low). But I eventually found a place on the Tuesday before I was set to start, and I was pleased to find out that their lease periods started on Wednesdays. Unfortunately… because the place I’d agreed to rent still needed to be treated for bugs, repainted, and have the floors refinished… I wasn’t going to be able to move in until the following Wednesday… two days after my start date.
So once again, my friend Mitch was nice enough to let me stay at his place. I mean, the company had offered to put me up in a hotel, but Mitch had already offered and I knew I’d appreciate having somebody to hang out with as I was trying to get back into the swing of being a working man. Plus, the cheapest reasonable hotel was $300/night and I figured if I could save the company $1000 that would look pretty good come performance review time.
Mitch’s building has a rooftop pool, for those moments where you really urgently have to cool off.
So Mitch and I had a good time those nights, even though I had to get up extra early in the morning so I could make sure I had enough time to deal with any potential Orange Line delays. This all culminated on Wednesday, when I got the foolish idea to move in before work started. Now, this idea actually started with some sense – the most direct way from Mitch’s place to mine is on I-66, and pretty much all of that road is designated HOV-2 during rush hour. Therefore, if I wanted to move in after work I’d either have to do a round trip to Mitch’s and back after 7pm or I’d have to find a place to park downtown, which in addition to being very expensive also didn’t make me very comfortable considering that I had all of my stuff stored in my car. SO I decided that the way I’d prefer was to get up at 5:15, drive there in 25 minutes (it’s easy when nobody’s awake!) and try to do all my moving between 6am and 8am. And so I did.
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| One car-load really doesn't take up much space. |
Now, even though my studio apartment is pretty small, I wasn’t able to move in anywhere close to everything in my car. But I tried to take enough stuff that I’d be able to get by until I could rent a truck and con some of my family into helping me lug heavy furniture around. This led to some interesting compromises, very few of which do I have pictures of.
It’s not set up in this picture, but for the first few weeks of my new digs I was staying on my old cot with inflatable air mattress that I got in 2005 for use at the Boy Scout Jamboree. It’s still plenty comfortable, although it’s a bit squeaky and just barely long enough for me.
My all-purpose horizontal surface is temporarily a card table. Since I don’t have my docking station or external monitor, that’s just as well for now. Although I kind of wish I had a table cloth since the surface of the table is very stick-to-able. But in order to keep the desk/dining functions separate, I do have not one but two folding chairs! Oh, the luxury.
I did bring my TV from college along with me in the first trip. And hey, because my new cable company is surprisingly awesome I had a technician in my apartment hooking up my cable and internet service within 20 minutes of getting home from work on the day I moved in. I even brought a TV cart along with me, which by virtue of the fact that it’s on wheels it makes it very easy for me to point the TV at whatever seating area I happen to be using. Since the room is pretty shallow, this means there’s a 90+ degree range from my dinner table over to my recliner, so it’s nice to actually be able to point the screen at your chair.
So things were set up pretty well back then. Although in the kitchen, I must admit that there was (and still is) a bit of a shortage of counter space, so I had to make some impromptu box furniture. For instance, when I got tired of bending over to use my microwave, I put it up on a stack of boxes. Granted, the stack of three boxes was eventually crushed under the weight of many a bowl of frozen veggies, so I don’t really recommend using boxes for legitimately heavy things.
However, I can whole-heartedly endorse the Oversized Cereal Box Trash Can.
Stay tuned for more about how I actually got the apartment set up with legitimate furniture and a real bed. Hint: even with hand-me-down furniture, it’s still surprisingly expensive.
