We're back!!! Lots of damage, but not as much as we were afraid of. WHEW! The cats were fine, I'm finally picking up the fish from Dave's parent's house, and all is finally falling into place.
The short version of our trip:
Dave and I both got jobs at the studio! The Publisher wanted to hire me, but even after three interviews, they still couldn't decide on where to place me, and I needed an answer that trip. After seeing the studio and meeting the people there, I feel like I made the right decision. We also found an awesome apartment across the river in Jersey City. The building is a converted pencil factory. How cool is that?!
The long version of our trip:
Leaving Florida at 5am was brilliant! We spoke to a woman at a rest stop in Virginia that had driven from Palm Beach (three hours south of Orlando) to flee from the hurricane, and she had left over 24 hours before we did. She said it took her 6 hours to get out of the state of Florida!
We had a fun drive to Long Island to stay at Dave's Aunt and Uncle's house (thanks, Sue and Paul!!!), and we rode the train to the city for the first few days. The train costs $40-50 round trip for two people....and the ride one way was over an hour long (2 hours long during peak time!). Waaay too tiring for us, already being under pressure to get things done. It was the afternoon by the time we got into the city, and after 11pm some nights getting home!
Between the businesses being closed during the week of the Political Convention and then Labor Day the following Monday, the studio had to push the interview back until Thursday. The Publisher ended up calling to set up another interview while in route to the city (whew!), so I set up a date around the same time. We decided to make the most of it and look for apartments even though it was sort of backwards, but we only had so much time to look...
We took the train over to Astoria (Queens). I had heard it was really cool there...There were some fun stores, but the neighborhood wasn't that nice. The more we walked, the less inspired we were. Then after Dave stepped in dog crap in the middle of the sidewalk, we decided it was a sign. Maybe we were walking in the wrong direction? We were tired and walked back to the train station.
We took a train and then a subway over to Hoboken (NJ). ...WOW! What a cool place to live! Row houses of every color, hilly streets, people outside walking everywhere...Cool pubs and cafes...a little over-trendy, but very cool. A little like Thornton Park...a tiny bit less like the people who eat at
HUE down the street from our apartment in Orlando (If you don't know what that's like, get this: "HUE" stands for "Hip Urban Eatery". Yeah- BLEUGH. They even claim it's "Big City Dining", ha!). After walking through the colorful Sesame Street looking...streets, we decided to look in Hoboken.
We picked up a local paper and saw some decent priced listings through a broker. Normally, a broker charges a fee of something like a 12 percent of your yearly rent, usually equaling out to $1,500 or more, but maybe we'd find a place where the apartment owner paid the fee, or there'd only be a small fee. At worst we'd get a good idea of what's what in the area. We called the broker, and after a whole crazy, insane but fascinating story that you'd have to hear in person, we eventually ended up looking Jersey City as well. When we saw the apartment, we were totally hooked! We put down a $100 deposit to hold it for a few days and held our breaths for jobs.
Without getting into details, after two interviews and much negotiating, I ended up accepting the studio over the publisher. A little less money, but I was happier with the environment and the people seemed very cool. They were interested in Dave's past financial work experience, and contacted him yesterday for a job as well! He'll be helping out in finance, but also learning coordinating and art buying. I'm so happy for him!
My parents greeted us when we came home on Saturday night; the power in their area (Palm Beach Gardens) was to be out until later in the week. It was my mom's b-day on Monday anyway, so we celebrated by eating out every night and shopping a bit. They left yesterday, and they're cleaning up the yard, the pool, and everything else. They were hit pretty hard. Thank GOD Ivan went around us! I don't think anyone in Florida could take the mental stress.
I had a "tiff" with my boss upon returning, but gave my two weeks. I wonder if I'll be working through to next week? I don't really have anything to work on!
Our move-in date is set for October 4th. We're waiting to get the offer letter from Dave's new boss so we can get our names on the lease. TWO WEEKS before we move. CRAZY!
Anyone want to buy a 46 gallon bowfront freshwater aquarium, fish and all?
