the apartment is ok in that it's spacious and has really high ceilings. it turns out that it's an authentic loft -- it was an actual warehouse at some point and they converted it to a building full of apartments. gopooh has always wanted to live in an authentic loft, but from this point on i'm vetoing any further lofts. this is mainly b/c of one thing: we have bugs! first of all it's hard to clean the ceilings b/c you need to stand on a ladder and use a swifter or smthg else w/ a long handle. and second of all, b/c it's an old building i think there are just more bugs; i heard that's a problem w/ the older buildings in nyc too. i absolutely hate all bugs. i scream and flail my hands like a 5-year-old whenever i come across anything that shouldn't be in an apartment. kinda like when i was living w/ my parents and a gigantic raccoon was climbing the window, but that's another issue altogether... also, the ceiling looks old and there's water damage visible on one wall of the exposed brick. they white-walled everything, but not that area. when we were moving in we met the painter, and he said he was the one who painted our place. so i asked him about the top corner that's stained yellow, and y'know what he said? he said that it's from years of damage, so they just don't paint it anymore. WHAT?! if it's old, then why not paint over it? and if it's recent, doesn't that mean there's sound structural integrity lost from the damage? huh. my dad was like "i guess you get what you pay for." thanks dad haha. but it's true. i mean, the apartment is $200/month cheaper than any other place we looked at in the warehouse district, even w/ the additional $75/parking space in a gated lot right outside the building. we wanted smthg cheaper since we don't know if i'll be working this year. and it IS only for a year. and it can't be all that ghetto judging by some nice cars in the lot. but still... i miss our plymouth home!!! on another note, i had an interview today, after 2 previous phone interviews when we were still in michigan. it went well -- now i have to interview w/ members of the medical institute before my appointment goes to the board of governors. what a long process. i thought only business ppl had to go through multiple interviews!
Thursday, June 19, 2008
we got gopooh a new car! he'd been driving a 1998 toyota 4runner, and we traded that in for a leased toyota rav4 w/ V6 engine. despite it being an SUV, it still has decent gas mileage. i think the listed numbers are 19 city and 26 freeway, which make it essentially the same as my pontiac grand am GT and a heck of a lot better than the 4runner's average 19-20 mpg! getting the lease was such a hassle, i gotta say. one dealer was quoting us $100/month extra. "for the life of him" he couldn't figure out how we were getting quoted lower numbers at other dealers; he thought those quotes were w/ an additional $2000 down, which they weren't. whatever, he seemed like a total sleaze to me, and i hated that he only talked to gopooh. hel-looo, we're married. he may drive the car, but who do you think has veto power, huh?! so we went w/ the nice dealer that gave us the best deal. come to think of it, i think i got my car from their chain of dealers 6 years ago too, also b/c they had the best offer. well our first choice was the light blue, but i'm guessing that they're going to find us a silver... since we saw a silver rav4 V6 at the overpriced dealer lot and the V6 isn't that easy to come by. it would serve that sleazy guy right if we got the exact same car from another dealer. heh.
Monday, June 16, 2008
this past weekend we were in florida for F's wedding. there were gaye holuds on friday and then the wedding itself on saturday. the events were around west melbourne, but we decided to stay 15 minutes away in cocoa beach. it actually worked out really well for us b/c we left early friday morning and got there just in time for lunch. ahhh what were we going to do w/ all our spare time? :p well luckily we got to spend quite some time on the beach, both walking along it and lounging around it. we bought these boogie boards for really cheap at a 'going out of business' sale and spent a few hours boogie boarding too. fun! (and of course gopooh brought his snorkeling set again, but found the water way too full of sand. poor him, he hasn't been able to snorkel since curaçao.) the weekend overall was very full of tradition and culture. it was cool b/c we'd never been to a bengali wedding, and will likely never go to another. it was definitely different, that's for sure. and it was nice to see F get married... even though we never officially met his wife. i know, it's weird to go to a wedding and not know the couple. but there just wasn't a good time to meet her. after all, at her gaye holud we didn't feel right introducing ourselves one second and then smearing paste on her face the next. and at the wedding they were sooo busy taking formal pictures w/ family. it was hard enough pulling F aside for some time w/ him! but anyway, we had a great time, and i don't regret for one minute our decision to go to florida instead of my graduation. :)
Monday, June 02, 2008
so this is my last month of residency. or more accurately, my last 3 weeks. (what could be better than using the last week as vacation?) whoo hoo! it's weird to think that in 3 weeks, i will be done. i've learned a lot but have been frustrated w/ the program a lot too. overall, i'd have to say that i'm glad my life took me this way but i'm glad to be moving on. mostly, it's weird to think that 3 weeks from today, gopooh and i will be signing our lease in cleveland. on the one hand, it's exciting to actually move out of michigan. but on the other hand, there are so many reasons why i'm not looking forward to this next year, w/ our home and friends in michigan topping the list. but, we're doing this for our future, so i'm prepared to make the best of it. we'll see how it goes!