feh.

[unixronin]

Work's going well, but the rest of this shit is for the birds.  I spent far too many hours this weekend driving around trying to find an ATM at which it was actually possible to deposit my first paycheck.   I finally FedEx'd it priority-overnight to State Farm Bank in Bloomington, Illinois tod.... uh, well, yesterday, now.  I can now say with good confidence that there is not one ATM anywhere in the south bay or lower peninsula at which State Farm Bank customers can make deposits.  (YO!!!  STATE FARM!!!  If you wanna play this banking game, you need to JOIN A REAL ATM NETWORK!  This shit of "Well, we have an agreement with this branch of this bank, and that branch of that credit union" just doesn't cut it.)  I think long-term, I'm going to wind up switching our banking to a bank that actually has ATMs and a physical presence.  Washington Mutual is possibly a good contender.  Certainly not Wells Fargo again; we ditched Wells Fargo because it was starting to suffer from rampant runaway bank-fee inflation.  ("Those?  Oh, that one's the 'You didn't use an ATM this month' fee, and the next one is the 'You made a transaction at the counter' fee, and the last one is the 'You incurred a fee' fee.  We can charge you that one any time you incur a fee for anything.")

Finding a place to live is proving interesting, too, and not in a good way.  I'm about ready to just write off finding a room for rent -- there's way too many flaky people involved.  There's the guy who was offering a room he was in the middle of remodelling, and the guy who doesn't provide a phone number and doesn't answer email, and the crazy cat lady with the three layers of rugs on the floor that's hazardous for me even to walk on and who just won't stop talking.......  And we won't even start on all the thinly-disguised, or completely undisguised, "Looking for a free live-in mistress" listings.  Renting a room instead of an apartment might save money, but I question the cost to my sanity.  A one-bedroom apartment at least comes with a reasonably sound no-drama guarantee.

Comments

[ilcylic.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty happy with Bank of America, though of course they can't compare to Kirtland Federal Credit Union.

-Ogre

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I've heard way too many first-hand stories about BofA shenanigans to ever use them myself. Things like intentionally delaying when they actually posted deposits for up to ten days after the deposit, in order to generate NSF fees. I have one friend who was at one point simultaneously signatory to seven separate class-action suits against BofA.

[skellington.livejournal.com]

I don't know how the situation out there is, but here in Atlanta there are a bunch of "extended stay hotels" that are like $200 / week.

They are furnished and come with once or twice a week maid service, and usually a burner or two plus a nuker. Some have high speed internet access as well.

I don't know how much furniture and all you already have available, but it might be cheaper, easier, and more flexible than dealing with a furnished apartment and/or renting furniture for only a couple of months.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

See, that's back to one room for the monthly cost of a low-end 1BR apartment, with all the noise and drawbacks of hotels.

[skellington.livejournal.com]

Although it is cheaper (at least out here) than a furnished 1 bedroom apartment, and you don't have to worry about getting utilities connected and such.

And I don't know how long you're planning to be in there, so I'm not sure how an apartment lease fits into the picture.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Well, basically the expectation is to be in a apartment for a minimum of two months, up to a maximum of about twelve. And if it's significantly longer than two but less than twelve, I may switch to a 2BR unit and may also start getting some furniture shipped out from North Carolina.

[jilara.livejournal.com]

You'd have to provide your own bed/mattress etc., but there are some number of converted Victorians near downtown SJ that are basically room rentals for working people with limited funds. A friend lives in one. He gets a room and bath, and the kitchen, dining room, and lounge are shared areas. I've had dinner there, and hung around in the lounge, etc. many times. It's really fairly pleasant.
I can ask if he knows of any vacancies in the neighborhood, if you want.

[ehintz.livejournal.com]

Too bad the timings off... Just over a year ago we could've put you up... C'est la vie.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

Whoa, whoa, hold the phone... I leave town and you get a JOB??!!1!??

YAY!!!!!

*happydance*

If I'd known that was all it would take, I'd have done it months ago...

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Heh. :) If there's a connection, I'm all for it...