Moving into Halstead Tower

From humble beginnings, with only an air mattress in the master bedroom,

To movers chuckling that I wouldn't have enough space, and still about a third of the boxes yet to come into the guest room,

and me starting to think they were right, from the looks of the main room,


I started unpacking the hundreds of boxes and flattening them in a pile in front of the couch.

And this is where it's gotten me a week after the movers left. I hate that things have to get messy before they get clean when you're moving in someplace new. That stack of boxes is nearly three feet tall!

Packing

There are now five people in our condo packing everything we own. I'm going to live out of a suitcase for a week or more, and Ap's going to live at a friend's house for a few month's. Seems weird to be displaced already, even though I'm not leaving till Sunday! Oh, and there's a possum that refuses to leave the outside closet again. Hopefully he'll be gone by tomorrow.

Good Bye Sherman

A 1991 Chevrolet Caprice Classic Station Wagon is no longer a member of our family. For 17.5 years it's served us well, and today, at 132,477 miles, it moves on to another owner. Strange, but I'll actually miss that car - that piece of family nostalgia - even though I ended up cursing it more than loving it these past few years. Hopefully my new Mazdaspeed 3 will be as steadfast and durable as Sherman has been for me since 2000.

Halstead Tower!

For better or worse, we're going with my initial impressions and living in the Halstead Tower on King Street for at least the first year of our tenure in the DC area. It's on the 13th floor, has a nice view, many very bourgeois amenities (as Janaina puts it,) and is very close to my job. It's easy enough to move in a year if we decide we hate it, or need a more central location. It's now time to focus on finishing out the Houston condo. Egads I'm stressed. I haven't slept more than 5 hours a night since Sunday, have been up for 18 hours today already, am 4 30th floor balcony beers (yay Yeungling!) past the end of a day that saw me looking at 15 different apartments from 7 locations, have been on the phone for more than four and a half hours solid (recharged my cell battery twice today) with apartments, AP, mom, local friends, work, my real estate agent and various others, and still can't get my sorry self to bed. Still lots to do, but at least one big decision is made.

Bring on tomorrow.

Fairlington Condo

Video Walkthrough.

Google Maps

Here's a map of the locations of 3 of my favorite apartment possibilities so far (plus CNA.) Clicking on the markers should give a few details and links. You should be able to bring up the DC metro map overlay as well, to give a better idea of where things are.

Halstead Tower Video

3 minute video of 13th floor 2/2 in Halstead Tower

Halstead Tower
Floorplan C3 (mirrored) - 1149 Sq.ft.
13th floor


Kitchen
Master Bathroom


2nd Bedroom

Main Room

Main Room / 2nd Bedroom

Family! Graduation!

Lots to update, little time. Matt's been here since Monday - Awesome. I love it when he visits, even though I can never think of super kick-ass things to do in Houston. Still a blast. Emily, Mom, and Papa came in on Thursday, increasing the family awesomeness quotient at least threefold. Yesterday was the Doctoral hooding ceremony, which was nice, short, and indoors - the first relying on the second two. Today the graduation ceremony held in the main academic quad was blessed with glorious cloud cover that managed to reduce the excessive sweating inside full academic regalia to a sustainable level without causing severe dehydration. That's always a plus. Now we're off to lunch and better things in the future. Hooray for family and Graduation!

On a more somber note, My grandmother passed away yesterday after a long and full life. She had been personally ready to go for quite some time, but was still sharp as a tack and fun to talk to even only a few weeks ago, when last I spoke to her. She will be missed dearly, even though distance didn't let us see each other as much as I would have liked.

Plane Nonsense

Was a bit tired yesterday on the flight home from Detroit, and felt like writing a bit in my slightly altered mind-state. It was nice to wake up and go to sleep in the same city, but all the travel in between was a bit much. I mean, I was on a plane yesterday longer than I was interviewing. Anywho, enjoy. Or don't. I only wrote it for me, really.

Thirty Thousand Feet

Soaring like kings
or maybe sardines,
for a fare
cloudscapes from above
become commonplace.
The wonder is there, in the back
of my mind, craning
to get a better view
and drink it all in
with an unending draught
of amazement.
Who would have thought
a thousand years past
- or maybe only enough that
you still had trouble tying
your shoes –
that such wonderful sights
would someday be ignored, or worse –
forgotten even as they appeared –
in favor of everyday things
brought from below
to keep us grounded. Travesty?
Maybe there’s more lost
than appreciation
to be gained and spent
on aesthetics, when perspectives
can be changed for a charge
to heights as lofty
as this.
Still,
it’s too easy to forget
that aircraft grade alloys
are just dead weight
but for ground-level nuts
and bolts.
Can I find a balance
on the wing?

Biker Gang

Our biker gang is kinda small at the moment, but we're focusing on quality before quantity.

Sugar mama.

April is officially my sugar mama. She decides that the old setup just won't do, and enlists my help to buy some new stuff. Here's a quick before and after.

Before: 27" Daewoo CRTV, Aiwa receiver (w/ only 2 composite inputs working.)


Reciver Comparison: Onkyo on top, Aiwa below

After: Onkyo TX-SR605 receiver, Samsung 50" plasma HDTV, Xbox360
Woot! Surround sound and a huge HD screen make me never want to leave the couch! I'm never going to graduate!!! (oh, and rock band, too. did i mention rock band?)