The Homestead Act
Random Thought- Is anyone else mildly annoyed by those random words and codes you have to type in whenever you try to buy something (eg. tickets) over the internet? It's not having to type in the random words that bother me, but how illegible they make the letters. I can hardly ever read them, and over half the time I end up typing in the wrong letters to verify that I'm not some automated ticket-buying robot. Do they have to make it so difficult that even the honest buyers get thwarted?
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So far the whole "Move Devil to NYC" experiment has gone well. Mom was sad about giving him up, but because he sprayed inside the house, he was never allowed in the house and she hardly ever saw him. He was either in the backyard during the day or put out on the front porch at night for the last year or so. And Emily was concerned about how an older cat like himself would adjust to a new and foreign habitat. He seems to be adjusting and doing just fine so far. He's eating, drinking, and doing his bizness on a regular schedule, and he's acting like the same old Devil we all know and love (minus the spraying, thank God.) Ever the attention hound, he follows me around the apartment wherever I go, hangs out on the sofa and futon, drools profusely when he purrs, and lightly claws my hand whenever he thinks I should pet him.
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My experience so far in my new apartment has been less than grand, but I didn't expect it to be hassle-free, so I haven't been taken aback by anything. We finally got heat in the building three days ago. Not that no heat bothered me too much, I like a crisp temperature and hate that dry feeling of an over-heated room, but it's nice to know that heat's available should I ever want to turn it on. Truth be told, it was a relatively warm, mild month, so it was never an issue.
What has been an issue is the lack of hot water. Nothing's worse than waking up at 7am and having to take a shower with bitterly chilly water. Every once in a while the hot water will kick in, but more often than not it comes on cold and stays cold. I've done most of my bathing at the gym because of it, but it would be nice to have the option to shower in your own apartment. Heck, I'd just like some hot water to wash my dishes with in the sink!
It's been a full month and still Keyspan hasn't been able to turn the oven/stove gas on in my apartment. I've relied on and gotten by so far with my microwave and trusty Foreman grill, but that's getting old real fast. The Super came by the other day to check out the stove and discovered that it wasn't even plugged in! Now a plummer has to come this week to connect it, and then Keyspan has to work their magic to set up a meter and/or make sure it's connected to one. It's been a frustrating riggamarole, as I was told the apartment would be done when I moved in October 1st.
There are some things I simply can't control. The kids (there are a bunch, or maybe they're small in number but make up for it with volume) who live on the first floor are pretty noisy, and use the hallways and stairs as their play area. The walls and doors in my building are paper-thin and about as sound proof as a Wheat-thin. You can hear evrery little step from the hallways like Savion Glover's out there doing a tapdance on the steps with their loose metal brackets.
My 3rd floor neighbors sure do love their salsa and merengue music, and they like it LOUD, with extra, extra BASS. Unforunately, their stero system must be right up against the shared wall in our living rooms, and when they pump the volume up on that baby, I literally FEEL every note. I can deal with the music good enough, but the bass is the real killer. After 15 or 20 minutes of it, I'll get a headache out of nowhere. The only place to go to escape the wrath of the vibrating bass is the front bedroom, but that will soon be occupied by my new roommate by week's end. They don't play the music late at night during the week, but any other time is fair game. It woke me up at 9AM on a Sunday!
There's nothing I can do about it, though, other than learn to live with it or get out of the apartment as much as possible. It's not like I can knock on the door and ask them to turn the bass down. Being the new guy in the building and quite the outsider in my neighborhood, somehow I don't think that would go over too well. I thought that maybe I could sound-proof the door a bit better and block off all the cracks and openings, but how much would that really help? I thought about investing in some sound blankets, like the ones they use on movie sets to block noise while they're filming, but that would be expensive, impractical, and far from aesthetically pleasing.
No visitors to the new homestead yet. Not being in Manhattan or in a neighborhood with things to do and places to eat or hang out in, it's not really a big draw for visitors at the moment. I'm still working on getting Nick to come out and see it since I moved in, but he's a very busy guy and in no hurry to trek out to Brooklyn. I think I'm going to try to have a housewarming party sometime in November, but I fear that A.) I wouldn't have many people to invite to begin with, and B.) those who were invited wouldn't bother coming due to my geography. Well, I will throw one regardless some night, and whoever is motivated enough to make the subway trip out here will come.
Maybe my neighbors will decide to crank up their music/bass while everyone's over. Then it would officially be a party.
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So far the whole "Move Devil to NYC" experiment has gone well. Mom was sad about giving him up, but because he sprayed inside the house, he was never allowed in the house and she hardly ever saw him. He was either in the backyard during the day or put out on the front porch at night for the last year or so. And Emily was concerned about how an older cat like himself would adjust to a new and foreign habitat. He seems to be adjusting and doing just fine so far. He's eating, drinking, and doing his bizness on a regular schedule, and he's acting like the same old Devil we all know and love (minus the spraying, thank God.) Ever the attention hound, he follows me around the apartment wherever I go, hangs out on the sofa and futon, drools profusely when he purrs, and lightly claws my hand whenever he thinks I should pet him.
-------------------------------
My experience so far in my new apartment has been less than grand, but I didn't expect it to be hassle-free, so I haven't been taken aback by anything. We finally got heat in the building three days ago. Not that no heat bothered me too much, I like a crisp temperature and hate that dry feeling of an over-heated room, but it's nice to know that heat's available should I ever want to turn it on. Truth be told, it was a relatively warm, mild month, so it was never an issue.
What has been an issue is the lack of hot water. Nothing's worse than waking up at 7am and having to take a shower with bitterly chilly water. Every once in a while the hot water will kick in, but more often than not it comes on cold and stays cold. I've done most of my bathing at the gym because of it, but it would be nice to have the option to shower in your own apartment. Heck, I'd just like some hot water to wash my dishes with in the sink!
It's been a full month and still Keyspan hasn't been able to turn the oven/stove gas on in my apartment. I've relied on and gotten by so far with my microwave and trusty Foreman grill, but that's getting old real fast. The Super came by the other day to check out the stove and discovered that it wasn't even plugged in! Now a plummer has to come this week to connect it, and then Keyspan has to work their magic to set up a meter and/or make sure it's connected to one. It's been a frustrating riggamarole, as I was told the apartment would be done when I moved in October 1st.
There are some things I simply can't control. The kids (there are a bunch, or maybe they're small in number but make up for it with volume) who live on the first floor are pretty noisy, and use the hallways and stairs as their play area. The walls and doors in my building are paper-thin and about as sound proof as a Wheat-thin. You can hear evrery little step from the hallways like Savion Glover's out there doing a tapdance on the steps with their loose metal brackets.
My 3rd floor neighbors sure do love their salsa and merengue music, and they like it LOUD, with extra, extra BASS. Unforunately, their stero system must be right up against the shared wall in our living rooms, and when they pump the volume up on that baby, I literally FEEL every note. I can deal with the music good enough, but the bass is the real killer. After 15 or 20 minutes of it, I'll get a headache out of nowhere. The only place to go to escape the wrath of the vibrating bass is the front bedroom, but that will soon be occupied by my new roommate by week's end. They don't play the music late at night during the week, but any other time is fair game. It woke me up at 9AM on a Sunday!
There's nothing I can do about it, though, other than learn to live with it or get out of the apartment as much as possible. It's not like I can knock on the door and ask them to turn the bass down. Being the new guy in the building and quite the outsider in my neighborhood, somehow I don't think that would go over too well. I thought that maybe I could sound-proof the door a bit better and block off all the cracks and openings, but how much would that really help? I thought about investing in some sound blankets, like the ones they use on movie sets to block noise while they're filming, but that would be expensive, impractical, and far from aesthetically pleasing.
No visitors to the new homestead yet. Not being in Manhattan or in a neighborhood with things to do and places to eat or hang out in, it's not really a big draw for visitors at the moment. I'm still working on getting Nick to come out and see it since I moved in, but he's a very busy guy and in no hurry to trek out to Brooklyn. I think I'm going to try to have a housewarming party sometime in November, but I fear that A.) I wouldn't have many people to invite to begin with, and B.) those who were invited wouldn't bother coming due to my geography. Well, I will throw one regardless some night, and whoever is motivated enough to make the subway trip out here will come.
Maybe my neighbors will decide to crank up their music/bass while everyone's over. Then it would officially be a party.