onefixedstar (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
onefixedstar) wrote2004-08-26 12:11 am
onefixedstar) wrote2004-08-26 12:11 am
Finding a place to lay my head and other loose ends
With only slightly more than a week to go, I decided to give up the search for the perfect apartment and go with one of my fall backs. It's a decent apartment on the whole: a two-bedroom apartment located in an old mansion that's been converted into a low rise building. The rent is more than Roommate-To-Be is paying now and less than I'm paying. It's a decent size, with good light, on-site laundry, and a shared balcony. The bedrooms are on opposite sides of the apartment rather than side-by-side, which offers a nice psychological separation (something we may need when we're sharing both an apartment and an office on campus). The best part is that it's in the Annex, only a five minute walk from my department. I think that will make a big difference in a lot of little ways. More home cooked meals because I'll be able to go home for supper and then back to the department to work; more brunches with the friends who also live in the area and aren't inclined to take a twenty-five minute hike before breakfast; and easier access to the athletic centre, which I'm going to need since I'm losing my fitness room.
On the downside, the apartment is a bit rundown, there's practically no storage space, and the kitchen appliances are all ancient. I'm hoping to finish up the paperwork tomorrow (fortunately they've decided we don't need anyone to co-sign after all--just letters from our banks and the department) and get a move-in date so that I can begin facing the fully justified mockery that will be heaped upon me by various rental agencies and movers at the thought of someone trying to arrange a move so close to the end of the month. (I would have done it earlier, but I was clinging to the hope that I'd be able to find a place that would let me move in before Sept. 1st, thus allowing me to move out and move in all in one day. In fact, I'm still clinging to that hope, because the current tenants are graduating students who will probably be gone before the last day of August.)
In no particular order:
1. Last week's pre-inspection of my apartment went well. The supers commented that they rarely see apartments in such good condition. Of course, that isn't stopping them from charging us to have the carpets cleaned. Coincidentally, the cost of that is about equal to the interest they owe us. Funny how that works out... (Actually, I doubt they planned it that way. But I will bring it up.)
2. I finished marking the deferred exams this morning. The average was low, but the median was about where it should be. Overall, the students did better than those who wrote the regular final. The exam consisted of two essay questions, each worth fifty percent of the test or twenty percent of their final grade. I don't envy them the stress of that situation.
3. Since one task always replaces another, I'm now involved in planning the orientation for the incoming graduate students. I think I'm going to be talking to them about the role of the Graduate Student Union, which means I probably ought to find out what they do. One might think that after a year of attending Council meetings as the department rep I would already know this, but one would be wrong. The problem is that the GSU--reasonably enough--holds its orientation for new council members in September, but the Graduate Sociology Student Association doesn't elect the rep until October. It's a bit of a conflict.
4. I'm currently watching a Buffy fan video done in pop-up style to The Divinyls' "I Touch Myself." Yes, I realize that I'm going a bit fannish, but it's clever.
5. The flood of emails from students who are upset about their participation mark appears to have abated. Hopefully that means everyone is now satisfied or resigned. Or possibly they've just decided to take their complaints to the professor instead.
6. We rejected the nice apartment I mentioned in an earlier entry because we decided that coming up with the equivalent of three months of rent right now was unrealistic for a couple of students. It's too bad, though, because it would have been a great space for entertaining.
7. I got a gmail account from the one brother not on LJ. He reads this periodically, so, thanks!
And that's probably enough for one post.
On the downside, the apartment is a bit rundown, there's practically no storage space, and the kitchen appliances are all ancient. I'm hoping to finish up the paperwork tomorrow (fortunately they've decided we don't need anyone to co-sign after all--just letters from our banks and the department) and get a move-in date so that I can begin facing the fully justified mockery that will be heaped upon me by various rental agencies and movers at the thought of someone trying to arrange a move so close to the end of the month. (I would have done it earlier, but I was clinging to the hope that I'd be able to find a place that would let me move in before Sept. 1st, thus allowing me to move out and move in all in one day. In fact, I'm still clinging to that hope, because the current tenants are graduating students who will probably be gone before the last day of August.)
In no particular order:
1. Last week's pre-inspection of my apartment went well. The supers commented that they rarely see apartments in such good condition. Of course, that isn't stopping them from charging us to have the carpets cleaned. Coincidentally, the cost of that is about equal to the interest they owe us. Funny how that works out... (Actually, I doubt they planned it that way. But I will bring it up.)
2. I finished marking the deferred exams this morning. The average was low, but the median was about where it should be. Overall, the students did better than those who wrote the regular final. The exam consisted of two essay questions, each worth fifty percent of the test or twenty percent of their final grade. I don't envy them the stress of that situation.
3. Since one task always replaces another, I'm now involved in planning the orientation for the incoming graduate students. I think I'm going to be talking to them about the role of the Graduate Student Union, which means I probably ought to find out what they do. One might think that after a year of attending Council meetings as the department rep I would already know this, but one would be wrong. The problem is that the GSU--reasonably enough--holds its orientation for new council members in September, but the Graduate Sociology Student Association doesn't elect the rep until October. It's a bit of a conflict.
4. I'm currently watching a Buffy fan video done in pop-up style to The Divinyls' "I Touch Myself." Yes, I realize that I'm going a bit fannish, but it's clever.
5. The flood of emails from students who are upset about their participation mark appears to have abated. Hopefully that means everyone is now satisfied or resigned. Or possibly they've just decided to take their complaints to the professor instead.
6. We rejected the nice apartment I mentioned in an earlier entry because we decided that coming up with the equivalent of three months of rent right now was unrealistic for a couple of students. It's too bad, though, because it would have been a great space for entertaining.
7. I got a gmail account from the one brother not on LJ. He reads this periodically, so, thanks!
And that's probably enough for one post.