403: forbidden

Today, zeightyfiv and I went to showings of four apartments in three buildings (was supposed to be more, but one landlord backed out on us). I took photos, zeightyfiv wrote the reports for our two currently-not-here future housemates. Hoping to have a response from both by noon.

Of the two most promising, one is a little bit far from the Red Line, and a little bit on the expensive side, but quite nice inside and out. The other is half a mile's walk to the Red Line (less as the crow flies), and has a large yard, but is on the small side and currently in the middle of heavy remodeling. If the group agrees to apply, I expect we'd have a pretty good chance at either.

For the moment, I've done everything I can. All that's left is waiting.

Checked out of the campus apartment this evening. Was complimented on how clean I left it, but it wasn't anything special for me. Just the same standard that I'd use if I had a deposit that I wanted back.

Now, I go fall over.

Okay, so. Last week I was told that my housing rate was adjusted to the correct one, and I should be recieving a refund for the amount that they overcharged me.

Today I checked my account and they've instead charged me more. Way to go. Are they getting training from Kafka these days?

When the fire alarm goes off at 01:30, it is not a drill. Get out of the building or you will thoroughly deserve the Darwin award that you'll eventually acquire.

Additionally, the longer you take to clear the building, the longer it will be before any of us get to go back to bed. This will not make you anybody's favorite neighbor.

No love,
- Me

I'd done a little in order to have a minimally functional apartment, but this morning ResLife delivered my bookcase! Getting the books put away gave me enough space for dealing with more akward items. The dishwasher is now in place (on top of a crate of packing paper), which frees up even more of the floor. I'm not sure the exponential trend will continue, but it's great while it lasts.

[Edit, 19:15 - If I were to consolidate the partly-filled containers that are left this evening, I'd end up with ~5 18gal bins. But they're mostly holding the stuff that's going to take some thought to find a place for.]

Refrigerator was delivered to the new apartment this afternoon. Movers shifted the beds (two being moved out of the new apartment, one being moved in). Due to their supervisor being underinformed, they weren't able to return the one that was supposed to go back to the warehouse. But now that it's sitting in the apartment I'm vacating, it should be Somebody Else's Problem. The movers also said they'd need another work order to swap the couches and the soonest that would go through is tomorrow, so zeightyfiv and I decided that we weren't going to wait on bureaucratic garbage, and moved them ourselves. The only major furnature item left is the bookcase. Since it was provided with the old apartment, and the new apartment doesn't have one, I'm waiting on word from the manager about whether I can take it with me or whether ResLife will be providing one.

Problems outstanding in the new apartment:
* No bookcase [Edit: ResLife has ordered a bookcase for me; awaiting delivery. 1/13/10 - Done]
* Unused, open aperture in kitchen sink housing - needs a cover [Edit: Done]
* No curtain rod in shower, awaiting clarification about whether this is my responsibility, or ResLife's [Edit: New shower rod delivered]
* Damaged tiles on bathroom floor, awaiting repair by facilites maintenance [Edit: In progress 1/7/10 15:00 Done, wait 3-4h for caulking to dry]
* My belongings are either all in boxes, or still in the old apartment [Edit: have started to unpack. 1/13/10 - Down to volume equivalent of ~5 18gal bins]
* Bathroom fan doesn't work, awaiting replacement motor [Edit: 1/12/10, fan replaced]
* Need to move my showerhead from the old apartment (Requires a pipe wrench, which I don't have. Time to make an investment?) [Edit: Done by maintenance]
* Paint splatter in shower, needs to be scrubbed off
* Heater produces only lukewarm air, most likely cause is sediment in the pipes [Edit: Pipes flushed, and the bedroom half of the apartment now has heat. Still waiting on repairs to the system serving the living-room half of the apartment. 1/12/10 - Have borrowed a space heater from the office, for the duration.]
* One of two bulbs in the kitchen lighting fixture is burnt out [Edit: Done]
* Oven grunge. Eew. This is ResLife's responsibility.

I've also had a long nap, and will probably get back to it after eating something.

How was your day?

Okay, slight exaggeration there. But for almost two weeks now, there's been a nontrivial leak somewhere in the plumbing. First we thought it was the under-sink, which had a visible slow leak. That was fixed easily enough, though, and the leak continued. But zeightyfiv and I noticed that it now correlates with using the shower.

Maintenance brought a plumber in today, and opened up the access panel in the wall behind the shower (which required moving both stove and refridgerator out of the way). We found that the drywall inside was basically disintegrating, due to grout in the shower being cracked and falling apart. That let water into the wall, where it leaked out mostly underneath the cabinets and behind the stove.

Now maintenance wants me to move into a different unit so that they can replace the drywall, shower tiles, and cabinets in this one. There won't be any movement on that today, though, because the apartment complex manager is stuck in an airport in Salt Lake City. So I'm in limbo, unsure of whether I should be packing or doing something else entirely.

If you have to stand next to the stove continuously in order to not forget that you're cooking something? Please do so, or refrain from attempting to cook. We have cheap gas ranges which offer poor control and have a nasty tendency to go out on any setting less than "high". If you walk away, you're either taking a chance on your apartment filling with gas, or your food catching fire. Both of which typically require the other 600-odd people who live here to evacuate.

No love,
- Me

My folks were adamant about moving my stuff in on Saturday, because they had other engagements Friday and Sunday. So we did that. Then around 17:00, after I'd gotten partially unpacked, the manager for the apartment complex pulled a cancellation on a studio apartment out of his hat. (Turns out he'd spent a chunk of the day calling people who hadn't checked in yet and pushing them for a decision on whether they were going to live here or not. 'cause if they verbally cancel, their "deposit" no longer reserves a space for them.) Fortunately for me, my folks had gone to help my younger sister finish moving into her dorm room, so the were able to help me move out again. Then my mother, grandmother, and I went out for dinner at the nearby sushi restaurant, while my stepfather went home to check on my youngest sister since she'd been home alone for a few hours by then. After dinner, I had a shower in my new apartment, and slept for 11 or 12 hours.

The new place has a lot going for it, even compared to the studio I was in last year. The air conditioner is really cold. The kitchen is a galley unit that isn't tucked into an alcove, so it has real cupboards, and even a little bit of counter space. The sink has a garbage disposal unit. The bathroom has a fan, so you don't have to leave the door open to air it out after showering. And while the shower is still tiny, it's tile rather than a plastic prefab unit. There's a real closet, with doors and everything. All of the walls are drywalled, not bare brick, so I can hang pictures (and probably clothesline, here soon) wherever I want. I have another apartment on only one side. On the other is the floor's common area, which I'm separated from by a brick wall. It had no furnature in it when I moved in, so this morning I was able to convince the community assistant to let me move the uncomfortable couch that came with the apartment out there. That gave me room to set up my folding table, instead. Now that I've got the furnature mostly arranged, it's time to put things away...

I'd really like a nap first, but that may not actually be in the cards. Not least because I set a bunch of stuff on my bed while I was rearranging the furnature.

"It could work great so long as no other people move in." - Oh, wait.

The third person showed up this afternoon. Her key goes to my side of the apartment and ResLife won't let her swap with the person on the other side who supposedly isn't moving in. They're locked out from making any changes to the database (aside from moving people into empties, of which there are none) until September 14th. This is supposedly a "feature".


ETA: I've discovered that the housing application fee has a similar legal standing to the deposit on a private apartment. The prospective resident has paid to reserve the space for the first few weeks of the term, even if they decide not to move into it. So there may be several empty units, but ResLife is not legally permitted to swap people around until the deposit expires.

In the mean time, the DRC has helped me to arrange for a quiet place to study, so I can be a little less stressy about those first few weeks.