Interesting Stuff

So, to relight the pilot lights on my stove, I believe all the Roberts Management Company needed to do is send someone out with a pipe cleaner to clean the internet^M^M series of tubes and then relight my pilot lights, and I’d guess that would take 10-15 minutees. Instead, they decided to replace my entire stove. I now have a brand new Frigidaire gas stove and oven, with electric starters (and therefore no need of pilot lights), and it seems to work. This solution certainly works, but it was more hassle for everyone and much more expensive for them. but I’m not going to complain any more. Companies can be so silly at times!

I’ve lived in this apartment for 2.5 weeks. This entire time, my stove has not worked (I’ve been making a lot of soups and other microwavable stuff). The gas seems to be flowing to it, but the pilot lights are out. I’ve tried to relight them. The building manager also tried to relight them, and then called the apartment management company to get a repairperson out here. They said someone would fix this on Friday, August 18. That didn’t happen, but I then went up to Mountain View for a week so I couldn’t follow up more quickly. In the meantime, my building manager claims to have called the main office at least 5 times and personally visited the people in charge of repairs, trying to get my stove repaired (and apparently to get something like this fixed in another tenant’s apartment). This morning, I went to the main office to ask about this, and was told that it would be fixed by this evening. Well, it’s still not fixed. This evening, I read California Civil Code Section 1941.1 and a couple related sections, and it looks like I could take the Roberts Management Companies to small claims court if this goes on much longer. I don’t want to bother with that, but it’s something I’m beginning to look in to.

This apartment has a fantastic location, it’s huge, and except for the stove everything is very well kept up: when I moved in, it had new paint (required by law) and brand new carpet. The entire building is now in the process of being re-stuccoed and the main gate and intercom system are being upgraded. It is wonderful, except that for the life of me I can’t seem to get a working stove. How frustrating! I’d gladly trade the new stucco, intercom, and carpet for a working pilot light.

OK. Despite the overwhelming amount of stuff I still need to find homes for, I really like my new apartment. It is by far the nicest/biggest one I looked at, and I think it would be a good deal if I were renting it for $100/mo more than I am. People should stop on by sometime and hang out.

My apartment building is the one in the center, the leftmost of the two with long skinny courtyards in the middle. I’m in the northernmost corner of the building, with a balcony that looks out onto the alley.

On a related note, IKEA is absolutely amazing. Last week, the only furniture I owned was a bookshelf, a lamp, and a chair. I now have a fully furnished apartment, and most of the furniture even matches! It’s pretty sweet.

Everyone here seems quite friendly, though I haven’t met many people yet. Oddly enough, about half the tenants in this building seem to have names that begin with J (I’ve met Joanne, Jacky, Jay, Julie, J’nai, Noor, Niko, Belaji, Gary, Beatrice, Susan, and Kathleen. I’m not sure how many other people live here).

Santa Monica is beautiful and sunny most of the time, which is pretty cool. I’m also within walking distance of a bunch of stores and restaurants and the bank. It’s a wonderful apartment in a lovely place. I really can’t ask for more.

Later today, I will hopefully have a summary of DEFCON, but I should get back to cleaning/unpacking.

Well, I spent Spring Break in Santa Monica and the surrounding areas looking for an apartment. Although I didn’t get one (none of the landlords know whether they’ll have apartments available in June, let alone August), but I’m feeling a lot more comfortable about the whole thing. Yes, there are some very expensive parts of Santa Monica, but there are some surprisingly affordable places as well. I met with a friend of an acquaintance who lives there, and he gave me some invaluable information about where to look for available places, and which areas to avoid. and after looking over budgeting stuff, it looks like I’ll be able to afford such a place and still save some money for when I’m piss-broke in grad school. I’ll head out there again a couple weeks before I move out, and rent one then.

and yes, my mom (who flew out to look for stuff with me) and I didn’t get along as well as possible, but it was much better than I expected. She seems to slowly be starting to realize that I can make my own decisions, and she’s beginning te treat me like a person instead of a child.

If you’re ever in the area, go to the “Bistro of Santa Monica” for dinner. They have a live jazz pianist and absolutely fantastic food! Dinner is around $15 per person, which is surprisingly affordable for the quality of the food and the general atmosphere of the place. It’s on the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and 23rd Street.

I know I haven’t posted news in quite a while, and rather a lot has happened. I’ll (hopefully) get around to doing that sometime soon.