(no subject)

Yesterday we looked at two apartments.  In my mind, I'd already started ruling out one of them because it's just farther from public transit than I want to be.  But we'd already made the appointment to view it and I figured it couldn't hurt to look.  I freaking LOVED it.  Which totally bummed me out.  I had this huge mixed reaction because THAT is the space I want to live in, but not in that location.  I just know that being in a place that's not convenient to transit is going to make it impossible for me to love it.  So I'm really sad because I loved this place a lot.  And I liked the landlord a lot, too.  And it had a Mt. Hood view.  But it's just too damn inconvenient.

After that, we went to Beaverton to tour an apartment in a complex we'd liked but hadn't seen inside.  It was nice and the location is really great (on the MAX line, by a park, walking distance to SO MANY THINGS I LOVE), but the floor plans just don't measure up to what we saw in Gresham, and it's more expensive...sigh.  It's worth it to me.  I want to live there.  I'm sad that it's not the perfect Gresham place, but I know if I'd realized all along how far from transit it was, I never would've considered the Gresham place in the first place.  And now I just would prefer not to know it exists, you know?

I'm pretty well sold on this complex in Beaverton, but Z isn't, and I don't want to force him to compromise.  The problem, though, is that if we had infinity dollars to spend on housing, his ideal and my ideal would be fundamentally different.  So finding a place we both absolutely love probably just isn't going to happen -- we'll have to find a place we both like and then make it our own together.  Honestly, the place we're in now kinda sucks, but it's decorated in such a way that it feels comfortable and nice.  I think that looking at an empty unit doesn't really help very much to envision what it will be like when we're there.  And while we probably could've done more things with the Gresham place, I feel like we can still do great things with the Beaverton one, and anywhere we go will be better than what we've got now.  It's not that the Beaverton place is limiting, it's just not as totally awesome as the Gresham one.  And there's no Mt. Hood view.  Sigh.  I just think the everyday perks of the Beaverton location make it the strong favorite.  The Gresham perks are nice, but not nearly as practical, and the cons are too great for me to overcome, I think.  But I haven't completely ruled it out yet, because we did love that place...

But in the meantime, we're still doing some research on other possibilities.  I just don't know if anything exists that we'll collectively love more than anything we've already seen, at least not when you factor in the price.  Oh well.  I'm really hopeful that we'll have this decision made within the next week or so, because I'm leaving on the 3rd of March with no solid plans to be back here before May, and even those plans are far from solid.

Anyhow, I won't complain, because this is not a big problem in the grand scheme of things.  We're going to move somewhere, probably soon, and I'm definitely going to like it more than where I live now.  Which, even though I bitch about it a lot, really isn't terrible.  I just know we could do much better.  And I want to.

(no subject)

When someone says "I'll call you right back," how long do you wait before you assume they forgot?  You'd think they'd remember, since they're trying to sell me something, but I've been waiting by the phone for 20 minutes now.  Grumble.  It has been remarkably difficult to give these people my money.  (It's for my cousin's wedding gift.) 

Anyway, other than this very inefficient gift-buying process, today's been very productive.  I had been dreading a work call, because I knew I was going to get scolded, but the scolding never materialized.  There were constructive criticisms, but much friendlier ones than I had assumed were coming based on the email loops I've been in with my superiors lately.  But instead of 30 minutes of "you're fucking up way too much," it was 30 minutes of "you're doing a great job, but we need more of x, y, and z -- tell us how we can help you with that."  A pleasant surprise indeed.  Whenever I get requested for a work meeting, it feels a lot to me like the dreaded "we need to talk."  But it's always super friendly and cool.  So I need to get over my fear of these phone calls.  I have another one on Thursday.

I really fucking love my job.  All the worst parts of it are in my head.  The reality of it is that I get to read about exciting travel ideas every day, learn things about the world, and participate in some of these travels.  Who cares if I don't make any money?  Most people pay to live like I do.  I guess I sort of left things hanging about the big exciting thing I was hyped up about last week.  It's work-related, but not a promotion or anything like that.  Just a really exciting press trip.  But it's still not confirmed, so, bah.  It sounds like it's going to happen, but I'm not certain.  So I'm still excited about it, but can't spill the details just yet.

Alright, I'm calling this woman back.  Seriously, just take my money already!