iro iro

My laptop died uneventfully last week.  I shut it down and returned to find the disk drive dead.  It’s really been a long time coming. A few of its shortfalls: the battery died, it overheated all the time and I had to reinstall Windows twice over the past year.  So, it’s about time for it to retire.  So, with voices all around me praising Mac, I got a Mac Pro today! It’s beautiful and I’m still trying to figure out all of the things I might do with it.  I also got an iTouch because of my handy-dandy student ID, I hope the reimbursement goes through.  The new toys are fun to explore!  For iTouch, I downloaded apps for graffiti, Yelp, wi-fi finder, chat and texting tools. So if you randomly find my text with random numbers, that would be why.  At the same time, all these social tools and constant connectivity makes me wonder about how safe my whereabouts and passwords are…

I went to DC over the past few days and visited about nine places in order to find an apartment. It was difficult. In a couple of instances, the room was very small but in a great location. In other instances the room was great but the location sucked. For example, there was this one large bedroom with a sunroom attached.  The sunroom had a freaking bathtub and I really enjoyed my short convo with the guy who lived there. I would love to live in that room, except the neighborhood had very little going on-no restaurants, sort of far from the Metro station, etc.  

What I ended up deciding on, and which I hope goes through, is to share a 2 bedroom apartment with a girl named Caitlin. She’s a 4th grade teacher and likes to cook and smokes hooka occasionally.  She also has an adorable little black dog named Plum, so cute and I look forward to playing with it.  Crazy thing is her last roommate also worked for the Census Bureau but later joined the Peace Corps.  

The room is small, about the size of the room I resided in my first year at Pitt, but it’s big enough.  It’s located in Columbia Heights, a “transitioning” area with lots of new development. It’s a 10 minute walk to shops like Target, Payless, Marshalls and the Metro, and a 20 minute walk to bars and restaurants in Adams Morgan.  It’s also only a 25 minute Metro ride to where I’ll be working. I like the fact that it feels alive.  I think the room is sort of expensive, but DC overall is expensive and I’ve been super spoiled by cheap rent. I hear stories of random crime and attacks, but I have also been recommended to live here by people I’ve talked to at the Census.  Overall, I think it’s a pretty good choice. 

I can’t stress enough about how I want to live in a place that feels “alive.” Some of the places I looked at just felt sort of despairing. I don’t want to come home from work and feel like I live in suburbs yet.  There could be years of suburbs ahead of me in the far future.  At the same time, I gotta admit that I’m already thinking of ways to prevent my new Mac from being stolen. 

Another concern I have is how I will save money when I start working. I guess I cannot know precisely how much I will spend until I get my first paycheck and start spending, but I will be sorely disappointed if I cannot save.  Gotta work on that. 

So late/early. I should sleep now.

I’ve been browsing Craigslist for possible living situations in D.C. and it is soooo expensive.  A good one bedroom runs about $1300, an efficiency for like $1000-$1100.  Therefore, even though I would really love to live alone, I am looking at roommate living situations that could potentially be cheaper.  

Pros of Living with Roommates

1. Cheaper
2. Someone who’s knowledgeable about the area already
3. Don’t need to buy new furniture

Cons

1. I would feel less “adult-like”
2. Roommates are not necessarily friends, I’ve come to learn
3. Have to worry about wearing clothing and such

Pros and cons of living alone: The opposite of the above.

If I could find a place for $1000, I would like to live alone. 

Problem described below was solved and I got Grade 9. :) 

As you all know by now, I got the offer for the Census job, but I haven’t actually officially accepted the offer yet.  They only offered a grade 7 pay, versus the grade 9 pay that I was expecting. From all of the research that I have seen, most people with a Masters degree start with grade 9.  It’s a big deal because it’s a $9000 dollar difference, which makes the difference between just getting by versus maybe saving some money in DC.  Granted, I have decided that I will accept the job even if it’s a grade 7, but hopefully they’re not reading this and will offer me a grade 9.  HR will call me back on Tuesday on this.  I don’t feel that I expressed myself very well to the HR person because I had just woken up when she called, and I should prepare so that I can make a better case for myself in case they do not upgrade me and waffle.  It’s weird to be in the position of negotiating a price for myself.  Though it really wasn’t much of a negotiation, I just asked the lady if I should be a grade 9 because I have a Master’s degree. She paused, and said, “Well here it says grade 7, let me call the managers.” Then she called me back and said she had put in an “enquiry” and that she’ll get back to me.  Meh meh. If you have tips on how to negotiate this, please let me know.

I am at my parent’s place for the weekend. NYC tomorrow…

I tried to sketch a picture of myself but stopped because I looked too much like a 10 year old in my sketch. *tears

Yesterday I sketched an easy picture of Halle Berry. Don’t ask me why, it was random. 

I am sketching pics because it’s something mindless but also sort of productive to do. 

Hair is hard to depict.

Edison put in his diary, “Why would personalities in another existence or sphere waste their time…playing pranks with a cable?” 

-From Spook, by Mary Roach

Haha.  I don’t know if it’s because my love of reading has diminished or if my love of Mary Roach has diminished, but I feel like this book sort of just runs on and on. I am forcing myself to finish it. 

There are a lot of things that I do not know about in this world. For example, how to eat a quince…

http://www.ehow.com/how_5120699_eat-quince.html

Bored. Restless. Unmotivated. 

I want/need to exercise but I cannot bring myself to do it. 

The reason I picked up Tofurky Sausage at Trader Joe’s is because I’ve been gradually reducing my meat consumption and thought I’d give it a try.  Besides, Italian sausage with toasted tomatoes never sounds bad. 

My conclusion: It’s like tofu gone bad. It’s lame substitute for the real thing and I’m never going to become a vegetarian. There are three more sausages left, maybe I can do something to make it taste better?