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On Apartments and Street Names in Boston
Apartment the first: Alex ($645/mo - 3 bedroom)
Pros: ceiling fans in every room and a nice shady location made this apartment very pleasant and breezy, even though we visited in a PUNISHING midday heat. There's a sunny front porch I'll never go on and a shady back porch I like the idea of. The room I'm offered is spacious, and the apartment is close enough to an orange line T stop that I might accidentally hit a train if I were pacing energetically, there's a convenience store a brutal twenty-second walk away. Alex is a great guy, very friendly and nice, and seems absolutely disinterested in going out boozing with his roomies or making best friendses forever! He also seems reluctant to have a cat but is willing to make compromises and okay a pet (despite their being illegal in the apartment -- the upstairs neighbor has a secret dalmation) if I'm set on one.
Cons: My room is the least attractive of the three, with no view whatsoever besides the sides on the next building, and a bit smaller. It's kind of expensive for a pre-utilities price. Alex is also talking about getting rid of cable, even though cable is what provides me with the Daily Show and Futurama and such. Coin wash.
Overall: My first choice so far. If I don't find anything nice by tomorrow night, I'm calling him up at 2:30 pm tomorrow and telling him that August 1, I will be there.
Apartment the second: Yvette ($595/mo - 2 bedroom)
Pros: First floor apartment, which is always better than attempting to get a bed, a desk, and a wardrobe up two flights of stairs, and furnished to boot. Only one roommate, and Yvette seems pleasant and friendly as well, with a very pretty European accent. I'd be able to move in August 1. Washer/dryer free.
Cons: The furnishings I'm looking at are kind of grody. Yvette is considerably older, and the apartment smells like dog. It's very shabby-looking despite being in Cambridge -- the shabbiest I saw while there. There might be some safety issues. No cable and no DSL unless I feel like paying for them on my own; Yvette was wishy-washy on whether or not she'd share the cost.
Overall: I really don't think so; not when I can have a much, much better apartment for $50/mo. Sorry Yvette.
Apartment the third: Scott ($600/mo - 4 bedroom)
Pros: According to the ad, all the utilities are included in the monthly rent. He was okay with pets and had close access to public transit.
Cons: HE'S A FUCKING MORON. We called him for directions, he told us, "Follow Commonwealth Ave until it turns into North Beacon St, then make a right onto Glencoe, and then a left onto my street." For twenty minutes we drove down Commonwealth Ave, through filthy, filthy rich neighborhoods that he was DEFINITELY not living in, and finally Commonwealth Ave, WAAAAY out from Boston, turned into... South St. We weren't going the wrong way either. We call him again. "Go to Rt 95, then get on the turnpike, then get off at exit 18" he told us like three times that this meant passing exits 15, 16, and 17, as if he thought we were idiots because his directions were wrong "and then make a right onto North Beacon St..." So naturally we spend another ten minutes going halfway back to where we started and there IS STILL NO NORTH BEACON ST. There is a North HARVARD St, EXACTLY where he said North Beacon should be, but still no Beacon. At this point we gave the fuck up, and when I hung up he was still trying to tell me that there was no North Harvard but a North Beacon, even though I had just passed it. He offered to run to a neighbor's house and get HIM to give me directions. Look, dude, if you don't know where you live, no one can get to your apartment to lease it.
Regarding traveling in Boston: You should be aware that when it came time to name the streets in Boston, they named them via scantron sheet where the questions looked like this.
Should Road 36C East be named...
A) Harvard St
B) Boylston St
C) Tremont St
D) Washington St
E) something else?
I swear to God every fourth street was a Harvard/Boylston/Tremont/Washington. At one point we were at the intersection of Tremont St and Tremont St.
So before you travel in Boston, be aware of which Boylston your party lives on. *sigh*
Pros: ceiling fans in every room and a nice shady location made this apartment very pleasant and breezy, even though we visited in a PUNISHING midday heat. There's a sunny front porch I'll never go on and a shady back porch I like the idea of. The room I'm offered is spacious, and the apartment is close enough to an orange line T stop that I might accidentally hit a train if I were pacing energetically, there's a convenience store a brutal twenty-second walk away. Alex is a great guy, very friendly and nice, and seems absolutely disinterested in going out boozing with his roomies or making best friendses forever! He also seems reluctant to have a cat but is willing to make compromises and okay a pet (despite their being illegal in the apartment -- the upstairs neighbor has a secret dalmation) if I'm set on one.
Cons: My room is the least attractive of the three, with no view whatsoever besides the sides on the next building, and a bit smaller. It's kind of expensive for a pre-utilities price. Alex is also talking about getting rid of cable, even though cable is what provides me with the Daily Show and Futurama and such. Coin wash.
Overall: My first choice so far. If I don't find anything nice by tomorrow night, I'm calling him up at 2:30 pm tomorrow and telling him that August 1, I will be there.
Apartment the second: Yvette ($595/mo - 2 bedroom)
Pros: First floor apartment, which is always better than attempting to get a bed, a desk, and a wardrobe up two flights of stairs, and furnished to boot. Only one roommate, and Yvette seems pleasant and friendly as well, with a very pretty European accent. I'd be able to move in August 1. Washer/dryer free.
Cons: The furnishings I'm looking at are kind of grody. Yvette is considerably older, and the apartment smells like dog. It's very shabby-looking despite being in Cambridge -- the shabbiest I saw while there. There might be some safety issues. No cable and no DSL unless I feel like paying for them on my own; Yvette was wishy-washy on whether or not she'd share the cost.
Overall: I really don't think so; not when I can have a much, much better apartment for $50/mo. Sorry Yvette.
Apartment the third: Scott ($600/mo - 4 bedroom)
Pros: According to the ad, all the utilities are included in the monthly rent. He was okay with pets and had close access to public transit.
Cons: HE'S A FUCKING MORON. We called him for directions, he told us, "Follow Commonwealth Ave until it turns into North Beacon St, then make a right onto Glencoe, and then a left onto my street." For twenty minutes we drove down Commonwealth Ave, through filthy, filthy rich neighborhoods that he was DEFINITELY not living in, and finally Commonwealth Ave, WAAAAY out from Boston, turned into... South St. We weren't going the wrong way either. We call him again. "Go to Rt 95, then get on the turnpike, then get off at exit 18" he told us like three times that this meant passing exits 15, 16, and 17, as if he thought we were idiots because his directions were wrong "and then make a right onto North Beacon St..." So naturally we spend another ten minutes going halfway back to where we started and there IS STILL NO NORTH BEACON ST. There is a North HARVARD St, EXACTLY where he said North Beacon should be, but still no Beacon. At this point we gave the fuck up, and when I hung up he was still trying to tell me that there was no North Harvard but a North Beacon, even though I had just passed it. He offered to run to a neighbor's house and get HIM to give me directions. Look, dude, if you don't know where you live, no one can get to your apartment to lease it.
Regarding traveling in Boston: You should be aware that when it came time to name the streets in Boston, they named them via scantron sheet where the questions looked like this.
Should Road 36C East be named...
A) Harvard St
B) Boylston St
C) Tremont St
D) Washington St
E) something else?
I swear to God every fourth street was a Harvard/Boylston/Tremont/Washington. At one point we were at the intersection of Tremont St and Tremont St.
So before you travel in Boston, be aware of which Boylston your party lives on. *sigh*
The raven flys at midnight.
Erm..I mean...Hypothetically, of course.
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