Stirring up the dust

As I said, I flew to San Jose last thursday in search of an apartment. I flew into SJC on wednesday evening and deplaned about 8PM. SJC is a small airport so you disembark on a rolling staircase and walk across some pavement into the terminal. I was greeted by a most unexpected sensation. The whole atmosphere reeked of wet dog. I looked around for the army of drenched canines but found none. The stench seemed to pervade the entire area because it smelled just the same at my motel. Must have been some kind of tree but I'm not sure, I'm still waiting for a horde of sopping mutts to overtake the city.

Bright and early I met up with Leo Hererra, the rental agent, and we set off in his dark-blue-but-almost-black Acura to the first location on his list of about 10. It was sort of a dive. It wasn't trashy or anything, but it just wasn't that nice. The next place was REALLY nice. Almost as old as the other complex, it was purchased 4 years ago by a company called Prometheus who gutted the entire place and essentially rebuilt it from original frame out. The rooms were nice, lots of fans, A/C, Cat5 wiring to a shelf in the closet meant for routers, cable modems, etc; pretty good location and whatnot, but it was a little to expensive. So we moved on. The next place was more decent than the first, but still not much to speak of. The next place was built in 1980 and looked like it. Sheathed in rust-colored diagonal cedar paneling, the interior decor was a jaundiced combination of brown, yellow, and orange. Blech.

So we went to lunch before checking out the rest of the properties. We decided to only visit two more since I had already been to one complex on the list and Leo told me two others were comparable to it. The last two, however, were worth visiting, in his opinion so I agreed. We had an interesting discussion over deli sandwiches about purpose in this life and the lessons you take away from it. Leo had been raised Catholic but is not now very religious because of it. The Catholic church seems to do that to a lot of people. Fortunately, the Spirit gave me some good things to say and I think it allowed me to show him that being a Christian is a lot more than going to church, and a lot less choking than people thing. Praise God. Some time before lunch he got a call from his wife: his mother-in-law was in the hospital having had a heart attack. I asked her name and said a quick silent prayer for her right there on the spot. Leo said thanks, his wife later said thanks after he talked to her. (It wasn't a heart attack after all, some kind of heart flutter.) Praise God.

We set off for the next property, a complex in Santa Clara called Mansion Grove. Built on the 30 acre estate of James Lick, a 19th century entrepreneur. In fact, his mansion, a historic site, is still in the midst of the complex. The same Prometheus company owns this complex and maintains it fantastically. It looks like a state park and there is a large grassy area surrounding the mansion along with picnic tables, a playground, and some basketball and tennis courts. They have 3 big pools and a fantastic workout and aerobics room (with a mirrored wall for me to practice poi/glowsticking in front of, yay). They also plan lots of activities like ski trips, pool parties, tennis lessons, etc. Needless to say I had pretty much seen enough by that time. The leasing agent was this leathery woman in her 50s or so with wiry blond hair and a candy cane disposition named Mary Jo Chesnut. Perfect.

The apartment they had available won't be ready until Aug. 9th, but after the discounts it's only $1070 a month, right in my range. It's on the third floor, so it has a vaulted ceiling AND a fireplace. It's got A/C, and it's pretty close to the main office. Due to the layout of the buildings, I have no neighbors to any side of me, only one below. Even Leo was somewhat surprised that it was available. Get this, it opened up 15 minutes before we got there. The guy was a client of Leo's and had to switch due to some mixup with his moving company. I don't think it was a coincidence. So we said hang on to it for a while because I wanted to see the other property just for grins.

The last place was alright. Looked very interesting, coated in vaguely pink stucco. Lots of small gardens, benches, and skyways. It had a very Mediterranean feel overall, but it was almost a little claustrophobic to me. The layout of the apartments was cool: an open kitchen with an upper counter that faced the living room and a large patio. Other than that, not too special, and it was 300 bucks more per month. Nevermind. I took the other place.

It looks like a splendid location. It's only a 6 mile jog down US101 to work, there's a shopping center comparable to U-Village across the street, and I live all of a mile from Paramount's Great America theme park. The only hangup is that it's almost directly in the flight path of SJC, but then, so are most of San Jose and Santa Clara. If you want my new mailing address, please email me. I should have phone hooked up soon, as well as cable internet.

For now, I'm still at my parents' house until I fly out Thursday evening. My current cell phone number will be active for a month or two yet so feel free to call me on that. I'm gonna be kinda lonely for a little while I think.