"Help! NYC flats?" written by Tinypliny on estrip.org

04/10/10 10:33 - 40ºF - ID#51362

Help! NYC flats?

Okay, flat hunting in NYC for my brother has not been going so well. Thanks, (e:Heidi) for putting me in contact with Lisa! I have sent her an email.

My brother and I are visiting NYC to check out flats from Thursday to Sunday this coming week. It's making us really nervous. He needs to move to NYC in the second week of May. We have been looking at craigslist and nycdwellers.com for prospective places. Craigslist, NYC is like 100X dodgier than any craigslist I have looked at! Are we missing any good sources such as artvoice for NYC or something?

Do you know of any friends/contacts who are leasing out places in the range of $900 - $1500 a month? We have been told to hire a broker but I am inclined to take (e:lauren)'s advice and directly talk with people who are leasing their own places out.

Help!

Permalink: Help_NYC_flats_.html
Words: 152
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: i-tech

04/09/10 09:04 - 36ºF - ID#51359

My next computing solution...

Will definitely NOT be a boring old laptop or an ipad. Both lack the flexible stylus/tablet based solution I need. Though this is M$, you have to agree that the concept interface is pretty sweet.

Permalink: My_next_computing_solution_.html
Words: 38
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: whine

03/27/10 02:46 - 43ºF - ID#51274

Dear upstairs neighbour,

If you are the one playing "metalcore"-ish music at full blast right now:

a) I resent the noise.
b) I am trying to write a grant here, and the signalling pathways are not getting any easier.
c) Your taste in music sucks. Bleh. Check out "Running Wild". At the very least, you will know how heavy metal can sound almost as good as baroque.
d) If you don't stop in the next hour, I may have to hotfoot it to the office or call the manager and be a pain in your existence.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrgh.

PS: The noise stopped. Maybe the neighbour reads (e:strip) or got tired of their own crappy music.

Permalink: Dear_upstairs_neighbour_.html
Words: 113
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: buffalo

03/24/10 08:39 - 39ºF - ID#51260

Non-driver's State ID: Experiences?

For some complicated reasons that I cannot control, my passport will be in NYC and I will be here in Buffalo for a whole of 20 days. This is creeping the wits out of me right now. Remember that island poll where your flat burns down and you are allowed to take just one thing? (e:tinypliny,49243) Well... I am revising my answer big time. I think I will be glad with just my passport.

Mainly, because of this lot...

And so, I need to get my non-driver state ID before my passport goes away on its AWOL tour. I think I have all the documents now - I checked the DMV site.

Has anyone here ever applied for it? How long does it take? Any pearls of wisdom for getting this thing with the least amount of disruption to a particularly busy workday?

Permalink: Non_driver_s_State_ID_Experiences_.html
Words: 145
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: science

03/23/10 07:50 - 37ºF - ID#51249

11th hour thoughts...

Permalink: 11th_hour_thoughts_.html
Words: 2
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: flat hunt

03/21/10 11:24 - 37ºF - ID#51243

Flat hunting in NYC

So how does one hunt for a cheap flat in NYC without having to share it with a gazillion others??

And no. I am not moving but my brother is. We are looking to find something in the range of $1000 to $1500/month. We have been told to stick to areas around Harlem or Brooklyn and ignore the rest of the boroughs.

If you know of anyone renting out a flat - you cannot find a better tenant than my brother (Yes. I know. I could be saying that just because I am related but it's true).

Thoughts or tips, anyone? Former/current NYC dwellers or Buffalo denizens with NYC contacts?

tinypliny writes at 12:38:24 03/23/10 - Comment #55447: my him?! Things are really going downhill at this time. aargh

tinypliny writes at 12:37:20 03/23/10 - Comment #55446: Ya'll are THE BEST!!!! I am swimming in tips. Thanks! I am planning to go and hunt with my him next month. I think hunting is a lot more fun when you have two heads.

As they say, two heads are better than none. That was excellent film, btw. Cheap tomatoes are even better than two heads.

hodown writes at 10:32:33 03/22/10 - Comment #55425: You can get something in Queens for that amount. Also look at Inwood in upper Manhattan. Stay away from the Bronx. Brooklyn is mega expensive (more so than Manhattan) these days. Hoboken is also going to be more expensive. I'd look in JC, but stay near downtown, nothing further in.

lauren writes at 09:37:24 03/22/10 - Comment #55424: All I can say is GOOD LUCK!

Ok. I can say a little more :)

When Felly and I were looking down there, the one thing I noticed a lot of is beware of places that are being advertised/shown by second parties who are not the owner. They often will charge a separate fee on top of the rent just because they showed you the place. If you are willing to pay the fee, they might be helpful, but I am sure you can do it alone as well.

Also, although we never made the final step of actually going down there, I think that is really what you have to do. Find a day or two and get ready to make tons of phone calls and go all over the city if you need to. There is nothing like a seeing an apt. and a neighborhood for yourself to get a real feel for how it will be to live there, what stores, markets, etc. are around and how close it is to public transportation and cheap tomatoes. :)

Finally, you might have to show proof of current employment, income, etc, depending on the place. I was surprised (and annoyed) to find that many places won't rent to people who are just moving to NYC for the first time. So make sure your brother can prove that he is gainfully employed.

And again, good luck!

zobar writes at 07:41:26 03/22/10 - Comment #55420: Vaya con DiÃ³s. I lived in the Lower East Side at Orchard near Rivington, but only because my cousin already lived there; and she only lived there because of some kind of rent-control situation. That was a pretty good neighborhood, but it was gentrifying at the time [1999] and I'm sure it's crazy expensive now.

Hoboken and some areas of Jersey City are also decent places to live, and though not as happenin' as Brooklyn, approximately as convenient. Other areas of Jersey City are shitholes.

- Z

tinypliny writes at 12:11:41 03/22/10 - Comment #55415: wow, that was quick! Thanks, (e:heidi)! :)

(e:James), he will be working in Manhattan (I wonder. Do people in NYC ever work anywhere else? Maybe it should be called Workhattan or Man!Cruelwork - okay, okay. bad joke) He is very good at running everywhere, taking extreme routes and extremely comfortable with the subway. He wants to sell his car though - so anywhere that requires a personal car is out.

I don't think he really has any preferences for any nationality neighbours. His current neighbours are, clockwise (German, Chinese, Russian, German, Thai, Japanese, Brazilian (I think...).

oh - and he doesn't want to pay a lot for tomatoes.
If your insane contacts know any places, I think their insanity is fine with him.

And he is looking to move early 2nd week of May.

heidi writes at 11:47:42 03/21/10 - Comment #55414: My bff Lisa lives in a 1 bdrm in Spanish Harlem for something in that range - I've asked her to connect with you.

james writes at 11:47:12 03/21/10 - Comment #55413: It depends on where he will be working. There are less expensive, good neighborhoods in parts of the Bronx and Queens (which has a ginormous Indian population if that is any appeal).

My contacts in NYC are all bat-shit insane, so I am pretty useless.

Permalink: Flat_hunting_in_NYC.html
Words: 110
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: tourism

03/16/10 09:53 - 37ºF - ID#51203

Your response is required by law...

This came in the mail today...

I am looking at this envelope with such weird emotions. It feels crazy that I am being counted as a part of the population here, in a completely foreign country.

I know it's not like I am getting electoral franchise or anything, but it seems like a momentous thing to be doing. In some small way, I am going to be part of this massive census - a detailed stock-taking of human resources in a country that is half-way across the planet from where I was born.

I reckon, it's a routine government-initiated statistical exercise to many, but to me, today, it's a source of wonder - in black and white.

tinypliny writes at 10:48:20 03/20/10 - Comment #55383: HAHAHAHAHA I have talked to a lot of people and I would say you have a pretty good life. LOL

drew writes at 03:43:14 03/17/10 - Comment #55338: Wow. I literally laughed so hard I cried.

jenks writes at 02:29:25 03/17/10 - Comment #55337: and this skit of christopher walken doing his census interview is classic. and hysterical. a must-see.
:::link:::

jenks writes at 02:27:13 03/17/10 - Comment #55336: I love that, despite the "REQUIRED BY LAW' being printed in bold right on the envelope, I saw about 5 of them in the recycling bin by the mailboxes in my building today. :/

james writes at 01:32:10 03/17/10 - Comment #55333: IN 2020 I plan on being a soldier fighting the spiders on Mars.

heidi writes at 01:21:37 03/17/10 - Comment #55332: In 1980, I was living with my parents and brother in Morris Run, PA.

In 1990, I was still living with my parents and brother but in Blossburg, PA.

In 2000, I was living with my gf Shelly and our friend Lisa in Laurel, MD. We got the long form and it was so confusing that I gave up filling out the form and someone had to come and ask us all the questions. We sat in the back yard with the census worker, offered her lemonade, and threw frisbee for the dog while answering questions.

In 2010, I'm living alone in Buffalo. Thankfully I got the short form.

Wonder where I'll be in 2020??

tinypliny writes at 12:15:32 03/17/10 - Comment #55328: Ooooh "For other reason": yeah, I was hatching a plan to take over this planet.

tinypliny writes at 12:12:10 03/17/10 - Comment #55327: Does Person 1 sometimes live or stay somewhere else?
Does spending a night at the office count?

They just want you to be spending your time at college housing or in the military or in jail either fighting for child custody or maybe in a nursing home as a seasonal residence - yes, they know, you get sick every other season and persuade yourself that you are going to die.

I'd say that is ONE sneaky question.

What happens to kids who are born in the night between Mar 31 and April 1, I can't imagine the stress their parents are going through now - totally agonizing whether to ignore their baby or fill it in as a Person 3 - clearly showing how little they care about it.

tinypliny writes at 12:03:21 03/17/10 - Comment #55326: LOL - I am filling it out finally after hours of staring at it and I can't believe this. They let you fill your own race in. I am so tempted to say I am from Gallifrey.

And apparently, all the countries in Asia are now separate races but Europe doesn't get a country-by-country break up. Hee Hee.

zobar writes at 11:31:37 03/16/10 - Comment #55325: You're one of us now. <-:

Last time around I felt annoyed that I was being cens'd in Rochester. It was totally accurate - the student population there is huge but stable - but I felt I should have been representing my peeps instead.

- Z

Permalink: Your_response_is_required_by_law_.html
Words: 119
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: eating in

03/14/10 01:57 - 38ºF - ID#51186

According to Wordle...

I am a tea fanatic.