Jackie D's Search for Habitation

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

It has been a little bit of a busy week… but you know that’s how G’s do it. During the week, I went apartment hunting with Jackie D to help her try to do the impossible… which is find a reasonably sized one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco for under $3,000 a month… preferably under $2,000 but let’s not get too crazy. This IS San Francisco that we’re talking about. The city were the average selling price of a home went up over 30% this year when the national average was 1.4%. F**king insane… For what I pay as my share with three roommates in a townhouse… The Wingman pays less than HALF for a six-bedroom on acreage in Utah.

 

Anyway, we checked out a few places… and they were mostly in the Tenderloin the first few days… and they were pretty ridiculous. About 400 square feet studios… for about $1,800+ a month… and not exactly the finest amenities… and crackheads abound on every single block in that area. We were still optimistic with the search… but yeah, she was definitely looking into the roommate thing for a moment... and then on Friday, she luckily found a place that was half-decent... and "only" $2,300 a month... so yeah, she jumped all over that a few hours before she flew back to Philly. YAY!!! I'm excited for her... and I think she is too... but she's also running numbers in her head... I can tell. So excited for her return!

 

As for my apartment, the bathroom is still being redone… in fact, now COMPLETELY redone like even under the floorboards and everything since they found a bigger leak problem… so I should have it back by the end of next week. Fingers crossed… and in the meantime, all of my stuff is now in about a third of the space since the workers need to be able to walk entirely through my bedroom to access the bathroom… but yeah, it should be even better when they’re done. Allegedly they’re going to jack up the shower head to suit my six-foot-eight frame… but we’ll see if they even raise it to accommodate your average six-footer. Before it was… I don’t know… Asian influence? So yeah, fingers crossed.

 

Saturday, Izzy & I had some homebrewing duties to tend to… starting with the transfer of our future aware-winning Honey Amber Ale to the secondary fermenter…

 

Fancy bubbles from cleaning secondary carboy...

Mmm... look at that gorgeousness...

and the beer color...

How does it get that color?

This is the sediment taken out during

primary fermentation

Cleaning activity...

Then, since we had an open primary carboy, why not fill it up with our next batch - Blood Orange Hefeweizen!!! Based on a recipe from Dogfish Head Brewery’s owner in a Popular Mechanics article, it sounded pretty interesting… and since we were able to pick up some blood oranges in Watsonville last weekend, and the rest of the ingredients at homebrew shops, so decided to give it a try. The recipe is obviously pretty similar to our first batch of Bavarian Hefeweizen that we made in November… but with the addition of blood oranges into the wort & fermentation for a different colors & taste components… as well as about double the hops of our Bavarian Hefeweizen.

 

However, due to a few factors, we were simply NOT feeling it... and it wasn't essential... so we decided to not make the new batch & then we spent the weekend dogsitting for Izzy's aunts because... well, they have a teenage daughter who could do it but... she was busy... by being there 90% of the time... except when she went to Target... allegedly... let's face it, she's a teenage daughter who just doesn't want to do anything. Good for her. Regardless, we had fun anyway. We did squeeze the blood oranges from last week & got some zest... so it'll be well preserved for next week's batch to be brewed.

 

Now we will soon have the Oktoberfest Lager, Honey Amber Ale AND Blood Orange Hefeweizen doing their thing… and they should all be ready in time for our next big party. What is the party you ask? Why… it’s $TEVE-TOBERFEST!!! What is that? Well, it’s going to be my 33^rd birthday celebration… complete with ample beverages (like the 15 gallons of previously mentioned beer that I currently have fermenting& about 20 more gallons in other kinds of booze ready for drinking), some oompah music, Falco, and Izzy & I are going to try to make some amazing German foods like pretzels, spaetzle, some legit brauts and all that kind of stuff too. There will also be the triumphant return of… DAS BOOOOOOOOT!!! Details will be coming soon… but prepare thy selves for Epicness!

Happy Day of Mothers

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

 

It’s been a pretty busy workweek… but yeah, nothing that you’d really be interested in hearing about. Mother’s Day is just around the corner (like 26 hours in some time zones) so hopefully you’ve all got them taken care of. See… this year, I took a notion that my mother taught me. See… flowers, chocolates, balloons, plush animals, all of that stuff are pretty great & the ladies love ‘em… and the companies that sell those things know that… so they’ll make offers that seem fantastic this time of year… and then casually triple the prices with delivery, taxes, special timing fees & what have you… which is great for them… but that’s my pocket book. Besides, if my mom only knows that I love her & care for her because of a teddy bear with a balloon tied to his wrist holding chocolates and leaning against a vase filled with a few dozen tulips draped in baby’s breath, then apparently I’m not doing my job the other 364+ days per year.

 

As I’ve said before on this blog… basically every day should be Mother’s Day… and Father’s Day for that matter… at least for those deserving. That’s why I texted her today (I was at work, otherwise I would’ve called) and just told her that I felt she is the greatest mommy & grandma EVER!!! No offense to any mothers and/or grandmothers out there reading this… but face it, she’s pretty f**king awesome. You have to admit that. Luckily, she replied with “That’s all I need for Mother’s Day!” Which is good… but I have a huge box of chocolates ready for the next time she comes to visit… and hopefully I’ll get to see her in Utah again soon. I do miss her… but then again, that’s why I call her at least once a week… and my dad too. Now it’s just a matter of them answering their damn phones… old people, am I right? Just kidding mama… Happy Mother’s Day!!!

 

On another note, I found out recently that two of my roommates (Batgirl & Nurse) will be moving out in the next few weeks. Batgirl is taking the summer off school & heading back home for a bit… while Nurse is moving into a house with her boyfriend. Honestly, I get the feeling that the third roommate may be moving out soon too… but she hasn’t officially let it be known or anything, just a hunch. What does that mean?

 

• End of an Era - The streak of over two full years with the same three random lady roommates is coming to an end. It’s actually a pretty remarkable run from what I gather in this city. Usually it’s nomadic hippies moving in & out every few months… but we got along pretty well… and now it’s just “the next stages of life” happening all at once. Or maybe it’s something to do with me & they’re just not telling me. I doubt it though… I’m pretty f**king awesome… because I got it from my mama.
• Future Roommate Interviews – There should also be an abundance of potential roommate interviews once again. Remember the last time… with Jackie D & I interviewing the possible stripper Red… and a few others? I’m looking forward to this cross section of modern San Francisco & hopefully finding some great roommates. I’ve been pretty lucky thus far in that regard.
• Random Thought - Wait a minute… Jackie D is going to be visiting… hmm… maybe she’ll want to be a part of the interview process… or at least get a little tipsy with me while their conducted like last time. Heck, if she’s looking to move back to the Bay, she could even get her old room back. This may work out rather well…
• Dude Roommates? – Obviously I’m open to the idea of guy roommates, but I’m also a huge fan of the “Three’s Company” thing that’s been going on the past few years… especially since it’s “Four’s Company”. It’s really Pixie’s call since she’ll be sharing the bathroom with whoever become our new roommates… but yeah, could be pretty awesome. Drinking buddies? Workout buddies? Somebody else who will touch the trash or kill spiders? Who knows?

 

Anyway, that’s just a real quick recap of what’s going on with me… hopefully you all have wonderful Mother’s Day weekend plans. I’ll be spending it with Dizzy (shocker, I know…) but we are doing a quick trip out to Sacramento for her friend’s birthday bash & then we always have other adventures along the way. Wish us luck! Have a great weekend everybody!!!

Boobies Must Be Warm At All Times

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

I HAVE A PLACE TO STAY IN LAKE TAHOE!!! Long story short, after checking out over a dozen places, and finding out a few others were for ski leases only, and after finding out others were already rented out, and calling on a bunch of roommates opportunities, and finding out that some apartment places have waiting lists more than a year in advance, the place that I ended up going for was found just driving around a neighborhood that I was interested in that was convenient to my new job. Basically, it's as close as I can get to my new job without being independently wealthy. First though, do you want me to go over some of the other options? Maybe teach ya a little bit about the area that I'll be living? No? Well, I'm gonna show you a few pictures anyway, just because I'm really excited about this...and I feel like I should share the majesty of the North Lake Tahoe, Truckee, King's Beach, Northstar area with you...so that maybe you'll come visit...especially you ladies during those long, cold winter nights. By the way, did I mention that I have a fireplace? And the starlight is almost blinding there?

Saturday, I flew into Reno (biggest little city in the world), picked up my G6 rental car and made way to hotel where I would spend the first night, the Hampton Inn Truckee. Nice place...and the staff was more than accommodating (and I'm pretty sure that the cutie at the front desk was checking me out a few times...and that may have played into it). When their business center computer was on the fritz, they let me use there's in the back-of-house office area to check on locations in the area. Also, the breakfast was pretty good too. I highly recommend them...especially since they don't have a whole lot of competition right there in the immediate Truckee area. Now, for a little background on the city of Truckee, California, located just off I-80 about thirty minutes west of Reno, directly north of Lake Tahoe. It's basically a small quiet mountain town with a Historic Downtown with a few restaurants, bars, art galleries located along the Truckee River...and train tracks run right along the main street, Donner Pass Road. There are also neighborhoods that range from trailer parks to low income housing to condos to luxurious log cabins to million dollar homes. The best part is though, you can hardly tell from how beautiful the surroundings are. I think there's only like 15,000 people in the city. Pretty small town feel and everything. This is my new home, or rather center of operations. I spent the day driving around town to get familiar with the streets (before the walls of snow come into play) and setting up appointments to check out places. Even saw one later in the day...but it would require me to have roommates...and was a bit out of the way. Here are some pictures...

First place, not bad...but needed roommates to afford

Oh yeah, that's diamond plated cabinets

The hot tub would've been nice...

Outhouses? Nope. Storage.

Sunday, I woke up nice & early, had a hearty breakfast and set out to find a home. My first few stops were in the King's Beach area. Now, King's Beach...is pretty cool. It's located on the northern shore of Lake Tahoe with, as the name would imply, plenty of beached recreation areas. The housing is...a little lower scale. It's not horrible by any means...but it's the more affordable area of town. It kind of looks like where there was once a campground with little individual cabins...that were converted into homes. A lot of small motels, A-frame homes, pretty basic homes...but like I said, it's affordable and located right on the northern shore. The one drawback really...was the steep drive up Northstar Mountain that I would have to do everyday (ala Parley's Canyon to get to Park City) whereas Truckee has a more horizontal approach. Here are some pictures...

Best thing about this area

The Beach is a few blocks away

This was a close one, favorite in King's Beach

Met neighbor Patty & her dog too

Then I was shown a few VERY small places

Later in the day, I met up with new Boss Lady B for the first time...and she's just AWESOME!!! She's a spunky, funny Kiwi who was really excited to get to know me, help me find a place, cooked me dinner TWICE, made sure that I had a clean bed to sleep in and...just AWESOME!!! She also had a black lab mix named Sadie...and she really liked me too. What can I say? B**ches love me. After meeting her & Sadie for the first time, I looked at a few more properties...and here are those pictures...

Saw two of the exact same layout but different prices

This one was on Northstar Mountain but

was furnished...apparently for an elderly couple

Monday, I woke up with a good feeling. I hadn't really found anything that was a sureshot for a new home...but I had more to see...and I just had a good feeling. You know how it is, right? Anyway, I continued my search...and stumbled upon a For Rent sign by a place on the list...and it proved to be intriguing. Anyway, here are the pictures...

Love that this sign was up at my new job

Now you know about the entry title

Sawmill Heights - Very small accommodations

Typically for temporary workers in the area

Affordable though...so it was high on the list

These next two pictures...are the entire studio

This one had an open layout...but a major 70's feel to it

Also, I'm not sure if this was supposed to be

storage or a loft for a twin bed...but it's the only window

Ready to see my new apartment?

Pretty standard kitchen

Nice, big living room...with a fireplace...

...and a BIG DECK!!!

The bedrooms aren't big...but big enough...and deck access

So basically, after all that research & investigation, I ended up going with a place that I just kind of stumbled upon driving around the neighborhood I was interested in. It just goes to show, it all happens for a reason. So I'm really excited to get over there and get started with my new job and my new surroundings. I'm absolutely going to miss Slick City...and my current job...and my family & friends who all live here...but I'll be visiting when I get the chance. I want to see my niece & nephew grow up. I want to see my mom, my dad, my brother, my friends, all of them...but I'm just needing to progress in this career of mine and, times being what they are, apparently I have to move to ski resort towns and hang out with snow bunnies. It's a rough life but somebody has to live it. Besides, now you all have a hookup in Lake Tahoe. Have a great day everybody!!!