Animal attack

Yesterday, when I woke up at about 4pm, my day started rough! Here's my rough go of it:

Reese was stressin' about finishing her portfolio so she can student teach. We had to see a house at 7pm. I needed to go running. I also needed to eat, which I have little time for as it is. The job I applied for seems to be stuck in limbo. All of this accompanying my usual gripes about the price of gas, the mileage I put on my car driving to Pittsburgh every day, and tending to the needs of five kittens.

Then, after I realize I can't afford the house we just looked at, I come to the conclusion that my "new job" is moving further and further from my grasp. I haven't heard ANYTHING from either Human Resources or my would-be new boss in WEEKS. I was under the impression that they were filling the position starting Monday, October 23. Who knows, anymore.

So I've pretty much drug myself down about as far as I can go before I head out to work at 11:15pm. Midnights... bummer... Anyway, I must have walked back and forth to my car about a half dozen times to get things I had forgotten on my way out the door. After I finally get in the car and head out, I put on some old ass relaxing tunes and make for work.

Its dark out. I rarely speed in my car. Its brand new, and its not like it was built for speed anyway. I'm literally less than a mile away from work when a deer jumped off a hillside and lands on the very front of my car. Ugh. It didn't do much damage, just popped the grill out and left a thumb-length crack in my plastic bumper cover. Nothing great, but I'm still pretty pissed. I baby that car, and still I end up with a beat car.

Lookin' forward to tomorrow when I can just relax and figure out how to fasten my grill to my car without sending it to the shop for another few weeks. Rough day!

Haunted Housing & Sweet Tea

I feel my house hunting experience is finally winding down. You won't believe how much money I've spent on gas over the past few weeks just trying to get to these places. Its a damn shame, and much to my chagrin, gas just went up another ten cents! PHOOEY! Is it just me, or does even the price of gas seem possessed by some foul being? Must be this time of year...

I've learned that the new McDonald's Sweet Tea is the real-life equivalent of Tomacco. There must be several pounds of sugar stirred into each brewing jug. Reese has been on a Sweet Tea kick lately and I tried some for the first time just the other day and MAN, what a piece of work that stuff is! DIABETICS BEWARE! The real trouble with this stuff is that it is quite addictive. It was quite a displeasure to drink, but I couldn't just stop with a sip. I had to keep drinking that disgusting excuse for tea until I had realized I'd become a junkie in a mere matter of minutes. This crap is no joke. I'd strongly recommend drinking a great quantity of water soon after drinking one of these disasters, lest you succumb to kidney failure.

Oh, one last "bonus bit 'o bullshit": Hardee's (creators of the Monster ThickBurger) is going to release a 920 calorie breakfast burrito complete with 60 grams of fat. I read this article yesterday that called this corporate irresponsibility "food porn". HAHA! This leaves me with one question: where do I go to download this burrito?

The hunt continues

Yesterday, Reese and I checked out a couple more dwellings.

The first place was a well-priced apartment, in a prime location. In a word, the place was "quaint". It wasn't the bare-bones deal you'd find in lesser neighborhoods; not by a stretch. In the same regard, the place wasn't in the echelon of Parkside Estates either. It was a fine, mid-level, quality apartment. Actually, it reminded me of my very first apartment. Not too suave, not too rustic. Some things are nice about it. The washroom is huge, and all appliances are new. Other things aren't so nice. The bedrooms and living room were quite small.

While driving from those set of apartments, we came across an ad in a newspaper for a three bedroom house for rent in the Cecil/Bridgeville/Southpointe area. First off, I had no idea that such an area even existed. After all, I worked for a year in Cecil township installing residential waste systems. I know that town like the back of my hand. I was surprised. okay? The house is pretty big, well laid out and roomy. Its got a garage, an ideally sized yard, finished basement and a down-to-earth landlord. Its certainly the priciest of the structures we've looked at thus far. That didn't prevent us from filling out a rental application on the spot, though!

So now I'm toying with the idea of either living at Parkside Estates or this Cecil home. I know I want a house, but I don't want a house I can't afford. I'd rather not do the whole apartment thing again, if I can avoid it. However, the luxury that Parkside offers goes pretty much unmatched by these other places. We've got a few more to look at, hopefully by tonight. With any luck, we'll arrive at a well-thought-out, mutual decision shortly thereafter.

The hunt

God I love October. Nothing more to that other than the usual halloweeny, seasonal stuff. Oh, and my birthday. I damn enjoy this time of year.

Househunting!

So Reese and I looked at a townhouse and a set of apartments yesterday. The townhouses were located in Bridgeville and MAN did they suck! They were small, overpriced and brimming with hidden fees. They even went as far as to go out of their way to say "And you can even put a grill out on your patio, so long as you can provide proof of rental insurance." Who the hell says something like that!?!? Seriously, neither me, Reese or my mom inquired about putting a grill on this deck-ish patio. The property manager just kind of "offered" that bit of information. WEIRD! Overall, the community was nice enough, I guess. They were renovating the exteriors of the townhomes, which was okay, but that didn't warrant the damn near $1100 a month they estimated I'd be dropping on it. Remember this name, and quickly forget it: Springhouse Communities.

On a whim, we decided to check out the luxury apartment campus called Parkside Estates in Canonsburg. We'd originally planned on scheduling a showing with them for later in the week, but we were in the area. We caught the property manager at 4:50pm, but he was more than happy to show us an apartment. These were MUCH nicer than the townhouses we saw earlier. The floor layouts are only a single level, but they are very, very spacious. The prices are very reasonable, and the community has everything that I'd need --- especially a running trail. These apartments are definitely on our short list.

The search will continue through this week. We're going to look at another townhouse as well as a few houses in the Canonsburg / Bridgeville / Carnegie area. Expect results soon.