Well, it was a big deal, but we made it. We're officially in VA. We've got internet. We've got driver's licenses, and we've got all of our stuff inside and gradually getting organized. I wanted to say hello to all of estrip and encourage everyone to enter the contest for the J5 tickets. So far (e:Ladycroft) has set the bar high, but we'd love to see more entries!

More later, including photos!

This is just a reminder of my previous post ( this one ) about giving away our tickets to the August 24 Jurassic 5 concert in Buffalo. It's easy to enter -- just reply in a comment or email to one of these posts and we'll consider your entry. Any plea will be duly considered: Artistic or emotional arguments for why you should win will be especially valued, but who knows -- anything could win. We just want to give the tickets to the person who wants them the most, so we only ask you to display your love of J5 and/or desire to go to the show.

Well, Sarah and I found a place. It's a good place for a good price, but it's in the more suburb-y part of Alexandria. It's not quite living in East Amherst, but it's a little like living in a new development in North Tonawanda or something. Although, when I compare housing there to housing in Buffalo, I just have to laugh. Buffalo housing is so cheap and awesome. Plenty of rad old houses that have a world of possibility.

Our new landlord asked: So how do you feel about a 300% to your rent. And I asked if she knew of any cheaper 2bdr places available. We looked at cheaper places, but I have no desire to move into an apartment very much like what I would have expected in my undergrad years. (We saw this house some very nice hippies lived in, but it was split into several apartments with shared everything and not very clean or nice at all.)

Needless to say, we're right in our target area (1600 per month) and I told her that I didn't think it was possible to pay that much money for rent in Buffalo at all. I told her that I was pretty sure one could move into a mansion for that kind of money! hehehe



That's an image of the front. It's in the Kingstowne neighborhood/development in Alexandria, just south of the Beltway and a mile from the last top on the Blue line, which is four stops from PBS. So it should take me about 30-45 minutes door-to-door to commute. Not too bad. That's how long it takes me to get from my current house to North campus, but with no bus transfer!

We had only a few requirements, the primary one being a bit of grass for the dog to call her own. I guess I haven't written much about my dog on the site, but she's our little beast and she's getting older. I couldn't turn her back into an apartment dog after enjoying such a nice yard in Buffalo. It will be sad that she'll have to make all-new doggy friends. I'm not one of those people who refers to myself as my dog's "daddy" (in fact, I find that really really annoying) but I'd have to say that she's my fave animal in the whole world and I'd have to be REALLY starving in order to eat her (but all you other animals watch out!).

So here's Janis' little bit of grass:



And here's the small deck overlooking the yard/patio. It looks like I can put a BBQ on the patio, so that will be nice. I might be the only person who thinks the weather gets nice enough to BBQ in the winter... Apparently DC shuts down at the thought of snow, but I can't see cooking outdoors in weather like we saw there this weekend (which was a heatwave, granted).



Anyway, it's a lot different than our current location, but the landlord seems really nice and that's important. I've decided that I like renting from people who own only one other property and care about it a lot rather than somebody who is trying to support themselves or seriously supplement their income with rental properties. But more on that later.

In pennsylvania.

This is a test image from the new phone.