I have looked at 4 places in the last few days, and have another 4 or 5 to view this week.
- a very small, but pretty cute 1-bedroom in "lower Rockridge" - this was really more like "upper Oakland," and was at 60th and Telegraph. Not a bad neighborhood by any means, but really just 3 or 4 blocks from where I would ideally like to be. And it was small. And $1100 a month. And small. There was laundry included, and basic utilities as well, but the layout of the place was odd and narrow and rectangular...the living room was just an odd shape. The kitchen was excellent though, and it's not on my "definitely not" list yet.
- a small, but sorta cute 1-bedroom in Oakland, at Shattuck and Alcatraz. Definitely not my ideal neighborhood, but at $999 with all utilities included, I had to check it out. The kitchen was WAY too tiny for me (literally barely enough room to open the fridge or oven door), and my suspicions about the neighborhood turned out to be correct. Bars on the windows--no thanks.
- a very interesting studio on the North side of the Cal campus, up by LaVal's and Top Dog. Lots of charm, interesting wood detailing, and the kitchen wasn't bad. The walk-in closet wasn't quite big enough to fit a bed though, and I'm pretty firmly set on not having my bed in the main-living-room area. Also, there was a murphy bed that looked really old and not like it worked, and the manager said if it didn't work, they wouldn't fix it because the repairman was too expensive. Not a good sign if you ask me. Too expensive at $1100 a month, and the manager also said the neighbors like to party. I need to live farther from campus.
- a nice-ish studio on Dwight, between Dana and Ellsworth. The building is a little funky, but the studio itself was good. There were actually two units in the building, one had a closet that might conceivably fit a bed (score!), but had a shoddy kitchen, and the other had a closet that would be too small, but a nice kitchen. Neither was really worth it to me, though, since they were in the almost $1,000 range.
Tonight is the Ben Folds concert! Wahoo!
Life is pretty good right now.
congratulations, m'dear.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! I've heard such wonderful things about the perks of working for Google.
ReplyDeleteCongrats! It's great that your JobSearch2007 is now complete, and you were hired by one of the best employers in the US. You can now enjoy all those famous Google benefits like free snacks:)
ReplyDeleteIn one of your previous posts you said you had applied for four positions. So which one did you take?
I had originally applied for 6 or 7 actually...all Administrative Assistant positions, in different departments within the company. The way Google works is that they have one department that handles all Admin hires, so basically, I was moved along towards whatever Admin job was available by the time my applications were filled out, I had taken the Admin test, etc.--I ended up in the Engineering/AdSense department.
ReplyDeleteCongrats! I just stumbled over here from english major's blog & am excited to find so many PF blogs from ppl in situations similar to mine.
ReplyDeleteMy gf and I are planning a move to SF in Dec. (I'm a comedian, she's a sculptor... it's a better area to pursue both of these pipedreams than the midwest.)
So, quick question if I may ask a current resident: Are there any neighborhoods in the Bay area we should absolutely, positively stay away from?
Sorry for the lengthy comment, looking forward to keeping up with the blog. Thanks!
Hi Janine,
ReplyDeleteI'd be happy to talk with you about the various neighborhoods in the Bay. Drop me an email at kimskitchensink@gmail.com and we can chat about it off-comment-posts.
Kim