The Chickens Have Hatched!

On Monday's post I made a small mention about having a final interview on Tuesday (yesterday) and that I didn't want to expand until I knew more. As the old adage goes; "Don't count your chickens until they've hatched".

Well, yesterday, I had my final interview and in the late afternoon I received a phone call letting me know that they were offering me the job.

Since I do like to keep a few things to myself, I will tell you that the position is exactly what I was after, a Compensation Analyst. The company has over 10,000 employees, is traded on the NASDQ, they are in the business of transportation, and unfortunately not located on my beloved island (Manhattan). The details such as my actual start date are still being worked out, but I have officially accepted the position.

The benefits are decent, and I have a few huge perks which I won't go into, but lets just say that I will be able to travel for pleasure quite easily now. The only real downside... The commute... They are located in the city, but I will have a 45-50 minute commute door to door, although it is on a single train that I catch three blocks from my apartment. I was spoiled by a 7-10 minute, 8 block commute when I lived in Chicago, but at least know the iPod on my iPhone will get a good workout. And maybe I will begin to read again.

This makes for the final major piece in completing my move to New York City. Although there are lots of small gaps that remain to be filled in, and I am sure new larger gaps will appear as time goes on... The hardest of the hard is now out of the way. Now if I could just find a place to unpack all the crap I moved into my apartment...

I will post more as I know more.
Cheers!

How Monster Earns it's Name

(If only all Monsters were as cute as this laptop sleeve.)

Something I haven't written about here is the fact that I am currently unemployed with no source of income. My job ended at the end of May, and my severance ran out last month. I am living off of savings at the moment, although I have decided that I will give in to my pride and file for unemployment this week. To be truthful, I haven't spent the entire last five months looking for work; I took some time off to enjoy the fact that I simply could do such a thing. And during that time off, I've accomplished a few small little things... such as sell my home, pack up my life, move it 793 miles to a storage locker in Brooklyn, crash at my BFF's place for two + months (for which I am eternally grateful), experience the realities of finding an apartment in Manhattan, landing a tiny apartment in Magicland, and then moving in. Like I said, a few small little things.

As far as job-hunting, I have been working on it... My resume is all spiffed up, I bought a new suit, I am active on Monster, I have met with half a dozen headhunters, and been out on a few interviews. (In fact, I have a final interview tomorrow, which I will expand on should it turn into something. I don't count my chickens until they have hatched.) Now that I have the apartment, and can finally settle in, I can focus much more on the job hunt.

As fantastic as it would be to live a carefree life doing nothing but artistic endeavors, I accept certain realities and do what works best for me... The corporate gig. I enjoy the benefits, the stability of a consistent payday, along with a good 401k matching plan far too much to risk living from paycheck to paycheck. I could certainly never work on a commission basis; I simply couldn't handle the stress of not knowing how much income I would have from month to month. I have enough drama in my life as it is, thank you.

My career goal is pretty specific; I want a position within the compensation/benefits area of an hr department at a sizable corporation, focused on comp analysis or the administration of comp plans. That is what I want, I am qualified to do it, it actually interests me (I know, pretty geeky huh?), I know that I can earn a decent living doing it, and as long as it's a good work environment, I won't hate going to work each day.

The last time I was looking for work, Bill Clinton was President (good times, good times indeed), newspapers were a primary source of job leads, and to apply for a position, you would fax your cover letter and resume from the corner store. Now a days, when looking for a job in the modern world, one must accept that by far the best way to get your name and resume out there is to post it on Monster (and CareerBuilder, but they're pretty lame). Now, Monster did exist back in the days of dial-up, when I was last looking for work. But times were much simpler then... The economy was swimming along, you could meet people at the gate at the airport, and the country was nearly debt free. Unfortunately, in the intervening years, as we have given up privacies and freedoms, signing up with Monster has resulted in severe side effects. Doing such an action now results in long lasting repercussions.

In spite of my best efforts to minimize the crap-storm that comes flying back at you when you sign up with Monster, I spend several minutes each day fielding phone calls from recruiters trying to get me to set up interviews for jobs doing anything but what I am looking for, as well as deleting the sometimes dozen or so spam emails telling me about all sorts of opportunities to earn big bucks part-time while working from home. Here are a few examples of actual emails...

I could work in the Healthcare Industry and earn a $1,000 a month:

Hello Devyn,
This is Jackson Andreea, assistant staff manager from Top Healthcare. I had the pleasure of reviewing your recent resume posted on www.monster.com, right now we have open vacancy in your local area. Your education and experience really interested me. As far as I understand, you are most interested in customer service area. Today Top Healthcare has a vacancy in your state. We are a company based in Europe.
We receive orders from US and we need a representative to process the payments due to the delays in clearing checks in Europe.

-Flexible program: two hours/day at your choice, daytime and evening time
-Work at home: checking e-mail and going to the bank
-Monthly salary: $1,000 per month
-Commission: 10% of every check that clears, instantly cash in hand that you will deduct from the cashed amount.

I could be a Children's Hair Stylist:

Dear Devyn,
The qualifications and experiences you've listed on your resume prompted me to contact you regarding an available position we are attempting to fill for a client. Pigtails & Crewcuts is looking for a Stylist and I feel that you may have the attributes they are seeking.
When it is time for a haircut, it is time for Pigtails & Crewcuts. Why go to an ordinary salon or barbershop? Make it fun! They don’t just specialize in children; they cater to them. They have specially designed chairs and movies that play throughout the salon. At the end of the client’s experience get a lollipop and pick a prize from their treasure chest. They strive to make every visit exciting for children and relaxing for parents.
Pigtails & Crewcuts is always looking for qualified individuals who are creative and patient with the younger set. Part time and full time employment opportunities are available for stylists at this time. Did we mention that Pigtails & Crewcuts stylists are paid hourly, how great is that? They have everything you need; just bring your scissors and a great attitude.
If you are interested in joining Pigtails & Crewcuts as a Stylist, please click the link below and fill out the online application.

Or I could simply front for the Russians:

Hello Devyn,
My name is Vladimir Ivanov. As EroPayNow’s Corp top manager I am in charge of our performance control and further business development in the US. I am also involved in advising and attracting new employees. I have reviewed your resume on www.monster.com and believe you have a good chance to receive the position of a Financial Manager. Please read below for more information on our company.
EuroPayNow is one of the leading developers of complex payment solutions targeted at facilitating funds transfers from various regions of the world including those which are difficult of access. We have a great number of companies and businessman who refer to our services to expedite their funds flow. Having highly qualified and trained couriers all over the world allows us to successfully eliminate incompatibility of various payment systems and make transfers cost effective. The company has its headquarters in Moscow, Russia. For more information please visit official site of the company: www.europaynow.us

This is but a small sample of how my personal and private information is being made public with no thanks to Monster or CareerBuilder. And quite honestly, I don't like how my name, and home address are so very public that spammers in Russia (the global top spam producer) now have a direct line to me. I find it pretty disturbing (although not nearly as disturbing as the thought that people actually respond to these hoaxes, thereby fueling them to send out more).

Fortunately, I was smart enough to obtain a free New York area phone number from Grand Central that isn't my home or cell number, so when they call, they aren't calling my actual numbers. Unfortunately, I didn't think to create a special job-hunting email address for Monster and CareerBuilder until a week after I first uploaded my resume. Even with my real email being up for only a week in July, I still have crap coming into my regular in-box, although most of the crap-storm now comes into my job-hunting in-box.

I haven't even mentioned the barrage of crap trying to trick me into signing up for a degree from the University of Phoenix, or some other educational opportunity every time I log onto Monster. Or the constant feed of ads placed on the sight.

There are other options for job-hunting to be sure (Craigslist being one), but the reality remains that in order to get your name out there, you need to rely upon Monster and it's ilk. It has ultimately been Monster that has garnered me phone calls from legitimate recruiters. Whether I like it or not... That is how the game is played now.

Forgotten and Taken

Yesterday I experienced one of those moments where a quick decision was in order, but I felt frozen in my ability to make one, which has resulted in this post. As anybody in the city yesterday can attest, it was pretty wet outside in the morning with a consistent drizzle. I needed to head to Brooklyn to take care of some business so I caught C Train at 14th Street.

When I boarded the train, the car had about 20 people on it, including a businessman dressed in his fancy suit and tie sitting across from me. At the next stop, West 4th Street, most of the people left the car, many of which walked across the platform to board the A Train which pulled in to the station at the same time (The A Train runs express). The gentleman in the fancy suit got up and made his way to the A Train across the platform, at that moment, I saw that he left his umbrella behind. I had such a split moment to call out to him to alert him of his umbrella sitting on the bench across from me, but instead I froze. Seconds later the doors closed, and both trains left the station. I sat there with only about three people on the car thinking to myself that I should have taken action, and now this poor gentleman is going to get to his destination and come up the the street with no protection from the rain. When the car reached Spring Street, it completely emptied out, and I sat there riding in the empty car thinking about what I had done. Riding to Canal street alone, I pondered the situation, thought about the realities of Lost and Found at the MTA, and knew there was no chance that he would ever see his umbrella again. I felt sadness and guilt for not taking action, real guilt. But then as the train pulled into Canal Street, I decided I had to not beat myself up over it and let it go.

At Canal Street, the car remained empty until a brief moment just before the doors closed when a nicely dressed woman got on the train. She looked at the umbrella then sat next to it. Having decided to move on, I felt compelled to pull my camera out and take a picture of the emptiness (above) of the train car, which is somewhat rare at 10:45 AM on a weekday in Manhattan. It was as I was taking the picture above when the woman across from me noticed what I was doing and immediately said "This doesn't happen often, does it? I can see why you want to capture it". I looked over at her, smiled and nodded. She picked up the umbrella and began looking at it. She then said to me "Do you need an umbrella?" I replied "No thanks, I have one in my bag". She then promptly looked it over again (it was a pretty nice one), and then put it in her bag, even though she was already carrying her own umbrella.

I immediately though, you thief! That's not yours to take!

I was truly shocked for a moment. While I had no idea what I expected to actually happen to the umbrella, it hadn't even occurred to me that somebody would come along and take it for themselves. Perhaps some of the reason I felt that way was because I had seen the actual owner. Or, perhaps it was because I continued to feel as though I should have done something. Then I thought about times in the past when I have encountered items left behind, and how I reacted.

I remember several years back, coveting a lovely stripped scarf at The Gap, but being on a tight budget, I had to pass it by ($30.00 is a lot of money to me for a scarf). A week later, walking along a downtown street (in Chicago) after a snow storm, there was the same scarf hanging on a fence. It looked as though somebody dropped it, and then somebody else picked it up and put it on the fence to be found. I could tell by the mud on it, it had been there for hours, and thought to myself... Now I get to have that scarf I couldn't afford. I took it home, washed the mud from it, and then every time I wore it, I felt a tinge of guilt because I couldn't help but think that somebody was wandering up and down the street looking for the scarf. I ended up not wearing it after a couple of weeks, and later it wound up being donated to charity.

I am not saying that the woman was wrong for taking the umbrella, if she didn't take it, somebody else would have. Or, it would have ended up with tens of thousands of others in some lost and found somewhere. But for myself, I know it is not a choice I would make. Like that scarf, I would always know it really wasn't mine.

I didn't write this post to be all uppity and moral, because I have had my fair share of failings in life. But I do find it interesting that I can observe how I feel about something when such a quandary arises. I also know that I shouldn't feel guilty about not speaking up when the gentleman left his umbrella behind, it all happened so quick, I just froze. While I cannot be responsible for everybody else, that doesn't mean that I shouldn't try a little harder.

Oh, and about that woman that took the umbrella... I felt a tiny bit of schadenfruede in the matter. After crossing under the East River and arriving at High Street in Brooklyn, she realized she was no longer in Manhattan and panicked to jump off of the train so she could catch a train back. I hope she enjoys her new umbrella.

A Sea of Cardboard in an Ocean of Joy...

Well, it has been nearly a week since five hunky (OK, two of them were hunky) movers carried all of my boxes up four flights of stairs to my fifth floor abode. And, as you can see, I am still in a sea of boxes with a path down the center leading from my bed to the front door and bathroom. But I am also in an ocean of joy being in New York.

Many people downsize at some point in their lives... Usually when they are over the age of 70, and are going from the big family home to a townhouse. For me, it was going from an already small 530 sq ft loft in Chicago to a space half that size. It is but one of the many compromises I've had to make to live in paradise, and thus far, I have zero regrets.

I have actually never had the privilege to live in a lot of space as an adult, with the one exception of my first apartment in Chicago. It was about 800 sq ft. But I didn't live there really. I slept there for one year, boxes mostly unpacked, until I bought my first condo. Otherwise it has mostly been apartments under 600 sq ft in Seattle, Portland, and Chicago. I have learned that (for me) location matters much more than space. After living in the center of all that is Seattle (Broadway and Pike) for much of the 90's (and never living more than a mile from downtown), I thought it would be nice to be more residential when I moved to Chicago. I started in Rogers Park because it was inexpensive, pretty, and quiet, yet still near the lake. As I noted above, I never actually lived there. The neighborhood was so very block by block, gang bangers on the corners, hoods smokin' weed at the playground... I knew early on that I didn't want to stay there, and I never finished unpacking.

One year to the day, after arriving in Chicago, I moved into my first condo. A studio on the 29th floor of Park Tower, a high-rise on the lake in Edgewater. I bought the place because at night, I could lay my head on my pillow and look out at the Sears Tower, seven miles to the south. I thought I would be happy there. But within a year, I began to feel restless, and cut off from the world by being in the hinterlands. My neighborhood was pretty... Pretty boring that is. I even began seriously contemplating leaving Chicago. Until one day, less than two years after moving into my condo, I saw an ad for a loft conversion in the Loop with prices I could afford. Less than two hours after seeing the ad, I had signed a contract, and then waited 15 months for the place to be completed.

Literally from day one in my loft on State Street, I knew that location was indeed what was most important to me. I fell back in love with Chicago again, and spent the next three and a half years celebrating all that Chicago is. That is when I began to be serious about my photography, and when I started my first photoblog "Looper". I was in a relationship, and my career was going well. By all outward appearances, my life was the best ever.

Well, appearances can be deceiving, and as good as everything was... I still yearned for a life in NYC. I had put my New York dreams on the back burner for the past 20+ years, and it wasn't until this past April when my world began shake all around me that I realized no matter how good I had it in Chicago, it still wasn't New York. No matter how good a location the Loop was, it wasn't Manhattan. It was the crumbling of my relationship, being downsized at my job, and the fact that I was past the age of forty that made me realize it was now or never. Initially the decision to come here was made with my ex boyfriend, but I also knew that our relationship could not stand the test of time, and moving here with him would have only worsened my dissatisfaction. I knew that it was time to go.

As I wrote in my Farewell to Chicago post, "But while I owe so very much to you (Chicago), all along you have known my secret. You were not alone in my urban love; there has been another…", the yearning had always been there, I had just chosen to ignore it.

Word of advice to all you youngsters out there... Live your dream... even if it takes a really long time to get there.

Well, I wasn't expecting this post to get quite this deep... I started out writing about living amongst a sea of boxes, and look what it has turned into...


OK, back on task... For the record, my 274 square feet isn't the smallest place I've ever lived (for six months in 1989, I had a basement apartment on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle that was all of about 200 sq. ft. and all of about $200 a month), and I am pretty confident that my next place, whenever and where ever that may be, will be bigger... But for now and the foreseeable future, this is what I have. A big part of how I will make this work is that this place has character. The fireplace, beamed ceilings, arched openings, casement windows, and herringbone laid oak floor all add up to character you don't often find in such a place.

But even at that, moving from my 530 sq ft loft in Chicago (which was a small place by most peoples standards) to a space half the size has presented a very long list of challenges. Not the least of which, what to do about my furniture. As I stated in a previous post, I was not able to bring my sofa, desk, bookcases, or my side tables to the new space. I am selling them off out of the storage locker over the next couple of weeks.

I have come to accept that it will be at least three months until I have "installed" myself into this tiny space (it will never really be completely finished, but I expect to be at least 80% of the way there by the end of the year). I have ordered a murphy bed from a company in Indiana and it will be here around Thanksgiving. I have planned out storage, storage, and more storage. I am getting rid of stuff that I really don't need with each garbage pick up day (no worries, garbage day is a scavengers payday here). I am mounting the LCD above the mantle on the fireplace. I am adding new bookshelves, and am searching for the right small sofa (love seat really). In the meantime, I will just have to accept that I will be living in a sea of boxes.

Fortunately for me, that sea of boxes is located in the best location I could dream of, and I can say that for the first time in more than a dozen years, a sense of joy is returning to my life.

Ten Days of Verizon Hell...

(Updated: See bottom of post.)

Today is day ten of my "The customer is the least important part of the equation" experience with Verizon Telephone. On Tuesday, October 2nd, I waited five hours for the UPS man to deliver my Verizon DSL modem and was anxious to get it set up and running in my new empty apartment. It was going to be nearly two weeks until I had furniture so I figured, at least I will have my internet. So I thought...

As I have written over the past week, I have had nothing but empty broken promises from Verizon to fix my phone and DSL problems. Every day they promise it will be fixed by the next day, and the next day it isn't. Finally after more than twenty phone calls speaking to computers, customer assistants in Bangladesh, and finally a local person, I was able to, after nine days, get a human being to come to my home to help figure out the mess.

That was yesterday. My repairman, Lou, was the first nice intelligent person I came in contact with. I will admit that I had a person scheduled for Wednesday from 3-7, but couldn't gain access to the basement after 5pm, so I cancelled and rescheduled for yesterday. That said... Lou and I went down to the basement (where I discovered my entire apartment is on a single 20 amp curcuit, ouch!) and he went to town working on my phone connection. The wires date back to 1934, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was between my building and the mythical "Central Office" I keep being told of when I call (Just where is this "Central Office"? Is it even an office at all?). After about half an hour of futzing with the wires, he tells me that he will have my regular phone working correctly within an hour (did I mention that I have had intermittent dial-tone for the past ten days?) and he will put in a ticket to have my DSL fixed by late afternoon.

Finally... I feel that I may be getting somewhere. Sure enough, he called me on my home phone within the hour and told me that it had been rerouted and was working correctly now. He also told me he put a ticket in to have my DSL rewired and it should be working within a few hours.

Wishful thinking... At 4:45 Lou called to let me know that he checked on my DSL and the inept folks at "Central Office" had closed the ticket but did not make fix. (Why should I be surprised at this point?) He said he put another ticket in to do the same thing, and that it should be fixed by today. (Well Lou, You are a very nice person, but I have heard that same song and dance so many times over the past ten days, I am suspicious that it won't be fixed.) Being the nice person that Lou was (and the only person that seemed to actually care that I existed), he informed me that he would not be in today, but was going to leave notes of my problem for the person that was doing his job today. He also gave me his name (I will call him Steve) and direct phone number (a Manhattan #) to call and follow up on the problem.

So, I spent another evening at home with no TV or high speed internet watching You-Tube on my iPhone. A slow and arduous task, but short of reading, there really isn't much else to do on a rainy evening.

This morning at 8:15, I was jolted by the nasty ring on my $6.00 temporary telephone (My real one will be here this weekend), by an automated call from Verizon informing me that my High Speed DSL Service has been repaired and thank you for choosing Verizon. Looking over at my modem, I can tell you that... No, it has not been repaired. Again, I am not shocked by the inept folks at Verizon. When Lou gave me Steve's phone number, he asked that I wait until 10:00 to call to give him a chance to follow up with his notes. Well, after getting the automated call, I decided I was not going to wait, and called.

Steve wasn't completely aware of the problem (He had just gotten into the "Central Office") but said he would work on it and I should have it fixed by tomorrow. At this point I very nicely explained to him that I had been told that it would be fixed "tomorrow" more than ten times in the past ten days, and it appears that Verizon has a different definition of what "tomorrow" means. Apparently it isn't the same as it is for the rest of the planet. I then explained that while I have no ill will toward him, it will be fixed today. No questions, just fix it. He said he would see what he could do.

So, as I sit here at 'sNice, having my coffee and Irish cut oatmeal, I am developing a deeper understanding of why people can go postal. Fortunately for the incompetent folks at Verizon, I am not the kind of guy that would do such things. Their service is absolutely inexcusable, and once it is finally up and running, I will then have to call and battle for credit for the down time. Of course, they won't reimburse me for the minutes I had to use on my cell phone, or the $6.00 I spend on a coffee or latte and a snack, each time I have to haul my laptop to 'sNice. (The WiFi may be free, but sitting there without making a purchase is lame.) That amounts to well over $30.00 of which I will not recover, no thanks to Verizon's stupidity.

Hopefully, I will have good news to share soon, and I can finally move on to other topics (like the job interview I had this week).

EDIT: I am happy to report at 3PM Friday, I finally have DSL Service in my home. I only had to make two additional phone calls, and pull the "Let me speak to your supervisor" trick again (it didn't help last week), but finally it worked, and I am online. Now that it is here, it is pretty damn fast for DSL... See for yourself:

Verizon Still Sucks, Now With Extra Unpleasant-ness

Its Monday night, and lo and behold my phone has no dial tone again. I have called customer service at least a dozen times on the past week, and all I get is promises that it will be fixed and shallow apologies for my inconvenience.

It makes no sense, I had phone and internet for one day, and now no Internet for a week, and only occasional phone service. What is more frustrating is that it is nearly impossible to talk to a person, and when you call, all you hear is prompts telling you to log on to their website for further help. As if I can...

I will write more later... Blogging from my iPhone is tedious at best.

Verizon Sucks and I am Pissed!

I am writing on my iPhone because Verizon has screwed up both my phone and DSL service. I don't want this site to be nothing but a bitch fest, but sometimes one needs to unload a bit. So here goes (it will be short since I am henpecking on my phone)...

I placed my order for phone and DSL service last Friday and was pleased that my phone was hooked up by Tuesday. I even had my DSL modem on Tuesday, and after an hour of futzing, I managed to get my Internet up and running.

Then yesterday, when I got to the apt, the Internet was gone. I called and they are sending me a new modem (I am actually waiting for UPS to deliver it now).

OK, so I am moderately annoyed at this point... The thought of not having Internet for even a day is an absolute horror. So, as I sit here waiting for Mr UPS (I am assuming a he, but I could be wrong) I decided to make a phone call.

No dialtone! I used the phone yesterday, what happened overnight? I had a friend email me customer services phone number and found out there is a problem with the line. Now after waiting all afternoon for my modem, I have to wait for a repairman in the morning.

So to put mildly, I am pissed at Verizon. Of course when all this is
done, I will have to call and demand a credit for the service I am
paying for and not getting. I think whenever a service provider screws
up, they should credit you double the down time.

I will post again when I have service. Thanks for reading my bitch post.

UPDATE: Saturday evening... Still no DSL Service, I am updating this from a cafe. I am keeping my fingers crossed to have service by Monday.

UPDATE #2: Verizon is still sucking.... Three more phone calls, it is Monday morning and still no service. This after being told it would be fixed by yesterday. Fortunately, I have a nice vegetarian coffee house nearby, 'sNice.

Still Settling In... The Thought, That Is

I still find myself in a state of somewhat disbelief and a bit giddy about the new place. After all it only just a single piece of the puzzle that makes up my life in New York dream. but it is a gigantic piece, and one that will affect all of the rest of my New York dream. After all I just couldn't imagine that dream from (insert any place other than Manhattan below 59th St). This is what I came here for.

I still have to figure out how to get all my stuff in there (and then do it), and settle in... And oh yeah, I still need to get a job. I suppose once all my stuff is in there, and I have emptied the boxes, I will be able to actually allow myself to "settle in" in my own head.

I won't be actually moving in until a week from Saturday, but I plan to start staying there on an air mattress in the next couple of days (Stefan wants his apartment back). A few harsh realities have begun to settle in... First and formost is that I cannot keep most of my furniture. I had expected that I wouldn't settle for an apartment under 350 sq ft, and I got rid of all of the furniture that wouldn't fit before I left Chicago. Well, location trumped space, and I have always been about location. So, I will adapt to my 274 sq ft. As for all my furniture I brought from Chicago? I have no place to put my book cases and don't really need them with the built in shelves, My beautiful stainless steel desk is too big, and while my sofa may technically fit, it would look as though it were wedged in. As for my bed, I am going to invest in a Murphy Bed because I cannot accept living in a bedroom. I don't want to see the bed unless it is time to use it.

I am not quite sure how I am going to get rid of the excess furniture just yet... I will probably leave them in my locker, and sell them via Craig's List. The only furniture I am moving will be my Aeron Chair, my rug, my mattress, and coffee table. That and about 140 boxes of which I will have lots of other things to sell and get rid of. But they will be easier to sell off from the apartment rather than schlep to the locker in Brooklyn for each transaction. I plan to use the proceeds to defray the cost of replacing my sofa and buying the Murphy Bed. I am also going to do an Ikea trip to get a desktop and one of those small fold up tables and two chairs for dining.

I have thus far spent about six hours at the new place (part of it waiting for the UPS delivery of my DSL modem) measuring, thinking, and figuring out how I am going to make it work. It will... I feel pretty good about that.

The Hunt, Part VIII (Beyond my Wildest Dreams)...

Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that I would be able to move to New York City and get an apartment in Magic Land. If I had been told back in April, when the first serious plans to move to NYC began to form, I would have never believed it.

On Friday, I signed a lease and got the keys to a 274 square foot rent stabilized fifth floor walk-up studio in what is arguably the most important cultural neighborhood in North America, the West Village. This is significant in more ways than can ever possibly be described here, and to be honest, I am not sure where to begin.

I guess, I can begin by explaining how I got a rent stabilized apartment in one of the most coveted neighborhoods on the planet. After working with Camille, Maria, and Marcus (not their real names) for nearly two weeks, viewing a total of twelve apartments, missing two good ones only by minutes, and waiting six days for an application to never be approved, I decided I needed to branch out and look at other options. On Thursday morning, I expanded my parameters on Craig's List to include apartments as high as $1,700 (from my previous limit of $1,600). I figured, if it was the right place, I would be willing to pay more for it. Suddenly a whole new wealth of listings appeared, many in areas which previously had little to none listed.

It was while doing this new search that I found a rather an ad describing a quaint little rent stabilized studio on Horatio Street in the West Village. The ad went into great detail about the apartment and painted quite a lovely picture. The ad was so wordy, it was a bit intimidating, but my curiosity was peaked and I called. I spoke with the broker who made it clear that this was not a fancy place, and that I should keep an open mind, and that I can see it at 2:00pm.

I arrived in the neighborhood early and walked around in stunned amazement at the idea that I might be able to live in very neighborhood that Jane Jacobs lived in when she wrote "The Death and Life of Great American Cities", the most important book on urban studies ever written. (Its #39 on the National Review's list of the 100 best non-fiction books of the 20th century.)

Sarah (not her real name) arrived on time and lead me up four flights of stairs to an apartment that was tiny, yet amazing. I knew within seconds that at a rent stabilized price of $1,630, I wanted this place, and thus began the application process. As I was filling out the application, Marcus called and said he had a nice studio ($1,740) on W 16th street and 7th Avenue, and could show it at 3:00pm which was about half an hour away. I told him I would be there (still not knowing the situation at this place) and continued to fill out the application. At this point, Sarah called Sylvia (not her real name, but a very fitting one) the landlady and began to read off what I had written on the application. In a surprise twist, it turned out that the rent was actually lower than advertised. The real rent is $1,527 a month (yes, you read that correctly). It was listed with a higher rent to show up in querries over $1,600 on Craig's List. So after a few minutes, Sylvia checked my credit (it's golden), and took down a few more bits of info... She asked if I was straight (I'm not), she likes the gays and told me I would fit right in... and I got the apartment. Sylvia told me to come to their offices in Midtown on Friday morning to sign my lease and pick up my keys.

As for the other guys... (I did meet up with Marcus at 3:00 for that studio on 16th, but I informed him that I had put an application in on another place.) Ultimately, what they were showing me just didn't come close to what I ended up with. That said, I have nothing but good things to say overall about my experience with them. Marcus especially spent a lot of time working with me, he was very professional and I felt fortunate to have such a decent person on my side. (I will gladly give you their real information upon email request.)

So, now to the apartment itself (see pictures below). The building supposedly dates back to the 1880's, and was built with the typical four apartments per floor. The broker said it was a sailors flop house, which given that it close to the Hudson, there may be some truth to that. I did some checking online and found out that there were building permits issued by the city for renovation including electrical, plumbing, and such issued in 1934, which fits perfectly with the interior. My unit is on the top floor (the exercise will be good for me) in the back of the building overlooking the backs and backyards of the buildings on the neighboring street. There is little privacy but being on the top floor, I have tons of light and open sky to compensate for all the windows on the bottom half of my view (see pic above). I have a fire-escape running across the entire back wall which can be a mini terrace. There is a back garden for the residents to use. They keep the garbage cans back there as well so they aren't out front like most Manhattan apartment buildings. Only on trash day will I have garbage out front.

I have a non-working fireplace and lots of built in shelving, a decent sized clothing closet (3'x3', this is New York after all) and a pantry/linen closet. The bathroom is from the 1934 renovation and features the original 19th century skylight (which is fabulous!). The kitchen... Well it is quite petite. The 1934 kitchen is in the little nook and is about 40 inches wide. It contains a sink and a stove. The refrigerator is housed in a peninsula built more recently by a previous tenant (who also built all the shelves and cabinets surrounding the fireplace) along with drawers (another rare find) and more cabinet space. The floors are original 19th century and in pretty good shape (except for the typical rotten flooring around the radiator). There is definitely a tilt to the entire place, but that is to be expected for this old of a space, and it is not unmanageable (unlike the wonky place I saw last Wednesday). There is also a slope to the ceiling, but that is due to the roof being directly above. My biggest challenge is that I left an apartment that was twice the size, and now I have to squeeze myself into one of the smallest spaces I have ever lived in. I am quickly realizing that the only way to make this work is to sell off most of my furniture and scale down. It will take a lot of effort, but I can do it.

I noted at the beginning that the significance of this location cannot be described, I can tell you a few of the things that make it important to me. Proximity is perhaps number one on my list. I am next to everything. I have seven subway lines within a short walk, easy access to Whole Foods and Trader Joe's on 14th Street, restaurants and night-life to die for, easy access to sunset views along the river walk on the Hudson. Neighborhood-wise... I have within a short walking distance (less than one and a half miles) the following areas; (all links open in new window) West Village, Meatpacking District, Greenwich Village, SoHo, Chelsea, Flatiron District, and the East Village. Click on any of these neighborhoods and you can see why this place is so special to me.

When I made the decision to move to New York, I wanted to have an apartment in Manhattan that give me the opportunity to walk out of my front door with my camera and easily access all that is New York City. I was hoping for a place south of Central Park, and kept my eyes on Midtown East because I thought it attainable. Well, I got more than I bargained for and right now I feel like the luckiest person in the world. Thanks for coming along on my adventure, I can't wait to explore the neighborhood photograph it and report on it...

Here are the promised pictures of the new place.

My living-room, bedroom, dining room

Looking back the other direction you can see the kitchen in the little nook behind the counter.

The non-working fireplace.

The kitchen (needs some work).

The 1934 bathroom (also needs some work).

And finally another shot of the main room.

It is a tiny jewel box of a place, but location will always trump space in my book.