Alec's New Pad

I'm completely moved into my studio apartment downtown. It's about a ten minute walk to work from here. The car is still doing great. I'm down to a third of a tank, but I've covered about 550 miles so far, averaging about 50 miles to the gallon. Saori and I have been going on night drives around the city, just cruising, listening to music, and exploring. Its nice, and different, having my own car for once.



New Apartment

New Car!

I have a new car!

It's a 2007 Prius, about as green as you can get. Silver with gray interior. Sally picked me up this morning and we went to the credit union for all the paperwork. Then they gave me the key and told me to enjoy. Sally took some photos. All the DMV stuff the credit union took care of, so that was great. My plates will be mailed to me soon, and I've got a temporary plate.

It's incredible. I have my own car. This isn't a bicycle. This isn't mom and dad's old minivan, or as nice as it was, Sally and Jonathan's SUV. I drove it home, took Saori for a quick spin, then drove downtown (on surface streets to break it in, freeways are too fast) where I finished the paperwork on my new studio apartment. Got my keys and the gate clicker. Then I got a call from the glasses place and drove back to Tempe to pick up my new eyeglasses.

Afterwards, I swung back by the apartment and picked up Saori and drove up to Scottsdale for some ice cream. We returned in the afternoon to pick up my roommate Sal and drive him to the airport. He's going to spend the next two weeks in Europe with an old professor of mine, traveling to Amsterdam, Paris, and Barcelona to study architecture, interior design, and urbanism. Lots of luggage space in the Prius and the back seats fold down nicely to get a lot of space.

To start the car is radically different. I have a smart key which means, when I get within a foot of the door, the car unlocks automatically. As long as I have the fob with me, I don't even have to stick it in the dash. I just push the On button, and the car turns on, throw it into reverse, and then back out, aided by the backup camera monitor. It's really cool. When I park, I just push the park button, and then turn off the car by pushing the on button again. There's a button on the handle of the door which locks the car again after I get out.

Turning radius is great, sensitive brakes, and very easy to drive. Not sure how fast it can accelerrate, but I didn't buy it to race. The guide recommends against fast accelerations and stops anyway until I get it broken in.

Welcome to the world, Mr. Perkins!

I've realized the other day that I feel like I'm in a new studio. This one just happens to be getting set up for my next phase of life. I'm working simultaneously on getting a credit card, a car, car insurance, and a new apartment, and playing with projected income and outflows. It's a totally new world for me, as only a person without a shred of credit to his name can attest to. I've gone to several dealerships, come close to signing on a car deal, joined a credit union with $25, and am currently working with their car purchasing agent to get the best deal possible on a car.

I feel a bit like an immigrant: there are new rules, new currencies, lots of beaurocracy and paperwork, and a new language to learn: prepayment penalties, 401k plans, bodily injury liability, FICA, etc etc.

It's a daunting new world, but I'll learn it and it will soon become just the mundane minutia of life. As stressful as buying new cars is now, my first apartment was the same way. Now, I actually enjoy apartment hunting. Finding the best deals, the best floorplans, proximities, etc.
Back to work.

Hunting and Gathering

Well, I think I've attended the last of the graduation parties.
Yesterday I went to breakfast at Harlow's with Saori and her mom, and then we drove up to the top of south mountain to get a view of the city. In the afternoon, I started working on getting a car. I drove to the Scott Toyota on McDowell to no avail. I spent twenty minutes, inside and out, trying to get someone to talk to me. A dozen employees, some with other potential customers, walked right by me, and though I tried to get their attention, glossed over me. It's embarrassing. Do I have to get on desk, or drive over one of them for a little service? As I recall, Scott Toyota gave Mom and I a really sleazy impression when we went car shopping there a few years back. I seemed to recall them trying to give us a price nearly a third higher than the other Toyota dealers in the valley. Anyway, there are other dealerships, so I'm heading there next.

This morning I went and visited a few apartments downtown. None of them are very nice, but they're decently clean, and very well located. The one I'll probably go with is a studio that runs $470 a month with utilities included. It's about three miles from work, so I'll be able to bike pretty easily. There was a nicer one with lots of greenery closer to work, but all they have are more expensive one bedrooms. I'll look at my planned budget again and see.

I scrounged up my old blog entries I'd published on my old website, and on Xanga while I was still on that, before I switched over to Blogspot.com. I took all the entries I had between September of 2003 and May of 2007, reformatted the text to look the same, and printed it all out and had it wirebound. The resulting book is about an inch thick, with every page filled, double sided. I titled it Four Years at Arizona State University and Abroad. I wanted a hardcopy record from my time at ASU.