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[fox]

So okay.  DCfolk.  Here I come.  I'll be in Cleveland for a bit at first, of course; my mother made a special point of reminding me that she'd been looking forward to having me at home for a while and thus she hoped I wouldn't go haring off the minute I landed.  However -- I will need a job and also a place to live.  With this in mind, please do me the great favor of letting me know if you know anyone who's hiring for a job you think I'd like.  (Everyone on my flist who's in the DC area knows me well enough to know what that sort of job is, I think.)  Also, if you happen to hear of an apartment you think I could stand living in.  I've got craigslist on the speed-dial, but it never hurts to have more people paying attention.

Comments

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

bayleaf just posted about a local apartment. (She is a curler -- I suspect she joined up while you were away.)

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

I've met bayleaf. Hmm -- Pentagon City area +; roommate, -. But thanks for the tip!

[sanj.livejournal.com]

I'll keep my ear to the ground, of course.

But I just want to say how impressed I am that you're moving right ahead on this. "Tough" is an admired trait among my people. :)

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

Well -- not that I don't enjoy a good wallow, of course, but see earlier post re: sinus headache. So, you know, on balance, what else am I going to do?

While we're on the subject, do you know this neighborhood? http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/apa/176713646.html (http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/apa/176713646.html) Any thoughts (other than 'omfg tiniest kitchen ever')?

[ellen-fremedon.livejournal.com]

Well, the Long Branch library is over near Carroll and Flower; I vaguely know the area. It's sort of on the border between the nicer parts of Takoma Park and the Salvadorean neighborhoods of Silver Spring.

I think if you were going to have a car, it would not be a bad place to live. But it's too far from the Metro to walk, and the Ride-On buses are pretty much just commuter lines; the evening and weekend service is patchy. So if you're going to be living car-free, I'd look for something closer.

[jgesteve.livejournal.com]

A) Where are you looking to live?
B) What are you looking to spend?
C) Will you be reacquiring a car?

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

a) In order of preference: Virginia (the reasonable bits, i.e. Arlington, Alexandria), Maryland (the reasonable bits, i.e. accessible on the red line), Virginia (the unreasonable bits, i.e. Tysons-y kind of stuff). The District and the unreasonable bits of Maryland (i.e. closer to Baltimore than to DC) are tied for Only If Necessary.

b) As little as possible, of course, but for a clean place in a decent building in a decent neighborhood.

c) I learned last Christmas that my brother has been planning all along that when I return I will reclaim the car. (As well as my furniture.) So, hey. Given that he's Mr. Hotshot Summer Associate this summer, he can probably afford to get his own (and prefers to). Score. So, on the one hand, I will be able to drive when necessary; on the other, the place will need to include parking (see above re: District OIN). If I'm living alone -- which is not a requirement, but all the people I'd be willing to live with either already have a full complement of roommates, or have cats (or live alone themselves and don't aim to acquire a roommate), and I do prefer to live alone -- I don't think I'll be able to go any lower than $900/month, and then only if I'm lucky.

Other criteria include absolutely not being in a basement, and ideally not being on the ground floor; and I prefer to rent from a company rather than from an individual, but that's not a deal-breaker, particularly if the individual owns a condo and therefore there's some sort of association to handle maintenance issues and I won't have to depend on the landlord himself to do it. I don't need huge amounts of space, and I don't require a bedroom door -- studio is the same as 1BR to me -- but I think my place in C'ville was less than 400 sq.ft., and that was just too damn small. My place in Ballston was closer to 800, and that was crazy too big for me (although I liked it). My place in Shirlington was about 650, and it was just about right.

This (http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/apa/176706503.html) is probably more apartment than I need. This (http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/apa/176535276.html) could be fantastic, but I don't know a thing about Laurel. (devilvern? flt? A little help?) Ditto this (http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/apa/175802449.html), though that's getting toward the top of my comfortable price range (she said, who has no job). Also this (http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/apa/175117986.html"). See how a person's thinking about the curling club can lure her away from the safety of NoVA, which she knows? Eep! I'm not really kidding myself that this (http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/apa/175086800.html) will still be available tomorrow, much less when I'm seriously thinking about moving (August?). In any event, I'd want to get one of you -- you, datlowen, esti626, etc., people who are aware of my standards [g] -- to check the place out before I took it, if I couldn't do it myself.

I've also been thinking, since now I'm talking about coming back for keeps instead of just until I do the next thing, of buying a place. But obviously there's no way I can go applying for mortgages until I have a job to balance the $85K or so in student loans I'm sitting on. Next year, perhaps.

[flt.livejournal.com]

Hey, both of those locations in Laurel can be reasonably okay.. depends on the place itself of course.

I'm a big fan of living nearer to curling.. and Laurel is wonderful for being easy access to DC, Baltimore AND the Annapolis areas for jobs. It's a good location.. come and join us. You can pick from 4 different counties! (I've lived in Laurel, Howard County.. and we live in Laurel, Anne Arundel County now)

I was also going to mention the bayleaf post - quoted below for fun - but I see that I've been beaten to it..

"One of my coworkers is moving out of her one bedroom w/ den/1 bath (that she and her roommate use as a 2 bedroom) across from the Pentagon City mall in Virginia. Short commute to downtown DC via Metro. Their rent currently is $1500, which includes utilities and free fitness center w/ pool. Additional $10/month for parking. Cats (or maybe any pets under 25 lbs) are allowed."

I've already asked if there are pets in residence.. because I recall you ate allergic to at least dogs, and maybe both cats and dogs.

[flt.livejournal.com]

and by "ate" - I mean are.. I doubt you have recently eaten either dogs or cats.

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

Taking two comments at once, no, I have never eaten a dog or a cat, in fact. I've also never eaten a horse or a cockroach, and these are the four animals to which the allergist who performed my long-ago scratch tests told me I was allergic (in descending order: cat, dog, horse, roach; also most of the grasses, most of the trees, a lot of the weeds, and a fair number of the molds and dusts -- I am one allergic child, helas). I wonder if I could come up with a complete list of animals I've eaten. Probably not, because the fish and the birds would do me in. Mammals should be easy, though -- cow (and calf), pig, sheep (and lamb), bison. ... I really think that might be all of them. Or else I'm just having an incredibly vacant moment, and someone will say "dude, haven't you ever eaten _____?" and I'll go "d'oh!"

If-n-when I start seriously considering a place in Laurel, can I deputize one of you to check it out and tell me a) if the neighborhood is good and b) if the place is up to snuff?

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Where do you want to live? In the city? In the inner suburbs? Further out?

I mean, I'm out aways, but the rent is doable and the second bedroom is free (for the moment).

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

See above (http://darthfox.livejournal.com/620472.html?thread=1834424#t1834424). If you've got space where a person could crash while looking for a) a job and b) a place of her own, and if you haven't got a cat, then hey, I may come knocking on your door any day now. :-)

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

I think I'm on the edge of 'reasonable' Maryland. I'm not directly on the Red Line, but it's only a 15 minute trip by car, about 20 by bus, and there is a MARC train station only a mile from my place. There is no cat, because the pet deposit here is rather high and I don't have time for a pet (and I prefer dogs anyway).

There are two problems -- the apartment complex counts anyone who stays more than 7 days in a month as a roommate, and wants them on the lease -- and I've got a lot of craft supplies, and have been recently pressured into converting the second bedroom into a studio space to free up storage for my parents.