~Off Topic Thread~

[no name 1]

Welcome to LA maven! Do you feel like a lucky little lady in the city of light? House looks AWESOME.

Thursday for drinks works for me - where is the econolodge? My only problem is that himself has the car this week and I have been taking the bus to work.

Your point? The fabulous garlic fries are by your work!

well, you know, I don't want people to make arrangements all around moi!

Well, we are working, Maven is not.

wow, congrats dev. A big slap on the back for you!!

Now, LA ladies, be sure not to have too much fun before I get there, k?

Thanks! I'm pretty pleased.

I got a raise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And a new title.

GO ME!

Excellent news! I got a really good raise last month but did not get the title change which I was told was "in the bag."

Not the worst problem but when your boss says things like "german-speaking belgium" I really begrudge it.

Poiteen, I don't know your skills/qualifications/career goals but I may be able to point you in the direction of a few people - I don't know if that helps!

Yay for raises in this bad economy. We shall drink to it Thursday!

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Okay ladies, when and where shall we meet? I'm on Vine, between Melrose and Waring. I will be taking a cab so I may drink. Man, I need one. Another day trying to figure all of this out. We have pretty much decided against the Filipinotown place after all. Waiting until August is a pain in the backside. Also, no garage or workspace for the boy makes him unhappy, so it really was a no after all. I have been dicked around all day by the cat wee house agent. I wanted to check it out again, but they have been pretty horrible about calling me back. And when I did get back in touch successfully, they were trying to railroad me into making a decision -- if I brought all my paperwork right then I could fend off other potential tenants. Hello? Your house smells of wee.

So...we went out to Burbank today. I am a little shocked to say I like it out there. We saw a house which ticked all of Bruce's boxes, but I wasn't keen on the carpeting. I am prepared to live there, but now the agent isn't calling back! And we have another viewing tomorrow evening in Toluca Lake in another Seventies-tastic house. And the boy is feeling unwell to top it all off.

Dev and Robin, I am depending on you to give me liquor.

Edited to add: oh, and congrats on the raise and title, dev!!!

Edited July 9, 2008 by elmcitymaven

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

You arriving in LA and finding the perfect house straightaway in one day did sound a little too easy. I had a nightmare time - especially since I had no credit after 10 years away. I looked at the perfect place in venice - 2 bedrooms for $1600. I tell will take it offering full deposit, full month rent, letter of employment and references. The landlord is like "oh I am showing it to other people as well." I am thinking to myself, here I am a gainfully employed young professional with impeccable references and I am not good enough? Is it my shoes? My foreigner husband? It was most strange.

Burbank is not bad, though wouldn't be my first choice. I don't know it particularly well though. On the SFV side I like parts of North Hollywood and Sherman Oaks. Have you thought about downtown? There are some cheap rents to be had there, though you would sacrifice having a yard. It's more like city living.

I will put my thinking cap on for a good location for these drinks though will bow to Dev's superior knowledge on such matters.

[no name 1]

You arriving in LA and finding the perfect house straightaway in one day did sound a little too easy. I had a nightmare time - especially since I had no credit after 10 years away. I looked at the perfect place in venice - 2 bedrooms for $1600. I tell will take it offering full deposit, full month rent, letter of employment and references. The landlord is like "oh I am showing it to other people as well." I am thinking to myself, here I am a gainfully employed young professional with impeccable references and I am not good enough? Is it my shoes? My foreigner husband? It was most strange.

Burbank is not bad, though wouldn't be my first choice. I don't know it particularly well though. On the SFV side I like parts of North Hollywood and Sherman Oaks. Have you thought about downtown? There are some cheap rents to be had there, though you would sacrifice having a yard. It's more like city living.

I will put my thinking cap on for a good location for these drinks though will bow to Dev's superior knowledge on such matters.

I looked for months but I wanted a Westside place that could let me have a dog. I found plenty of apt/small houses in Silverlake/Glassell Park/Eagle Rock though.

These LA rental peeps are VICIOUS - worse than NYC. At least NYC is fair about it. Do carry a credit report with you though - it will help. Pour over Westside Rentals & craigslist. It should be getting better soon, as it's almost mid month.

We can meet you more towards your place if you want...? Our normal place is in Culver City - around Washington/Overland.

[no name 1]

n/m

Edited July 9, 2008 by illumine

[DairyFarmer 1]

I feel so fortunate of all the things we need to do we don't need to worry about accomodation. The farm has two houses on it and each generation moves to the house being vacated. So John has had a house for about 6 years.

Having said that there will be multiple sacrifices I will need in relation to work. Cause while we are not out in the boonies we are not exactly central to the finance industry.

[*julez* 124]

I got a raise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And a new title.

GO ME!

That's great, dev!!! Congratulations!!!

I guess the drinks will be on you, tomorrow, eh?

[Ban Hammer 13,206]

good morning uk

[DairyFarmer 1]

I got a raise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And a new title.

GO ME!

That's great, dev!!! Congratulations!!!

I guess the drinks will be on you, tomorrow, eh?

fantastic

[Laura+Tom 2]

Oh why must it rain?

Oh that's right, it's the UK.

[*julez* 124]

Oh why must it rain?

Oh that's right, it's the UK.

Raining here in Buffalo NY too! Torrentially, I might add.

That rain better let up when I'm in the UK July 21 - 27!

[no name 1]

I got a raise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And a new title.

GO ME!

That's great, dev!!! Congratulations!!!

I guess the drinks will be on you, tomorrow, eh?

TY!

I wasn't expecting such a big one....

I got a raise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And a new title.

GO ME!

That's great, dev!!! Congratulations!!!

I guess the drinks will be on you, tomorrow, eh?

fantastic

Thx!

[VisaJourneyLady 33]

Poiteen, I don't know your skills/qualifications/career goals but I may be able to point you in the direction of a few people - I don't know if that helps!

Any help is very welcome! LA is still looking big and scary to me right now

Oh why must it rain?

Oh that's right, it's the UK.

Raining here in Buffalo NY too! Torrentially, I might add.

That rain better let up when I'm in the UK July 21 - 27!

Sorry, but the forecast is not looking good. The rain has one plus, the sun was making me forget how miserable the rest of the year is. I've had a good reminding over the last week.

[no name 1]

Poiteen, I don't know your skills/qualifications/career goals but I may be able to point you in the direction of a few people - I don't know if that helps!

Any help is very welcome! LA is still looking big and scary to me right now

Robin is connected! I am not so much (in your field) but I can try...

Did you find an apt yet?

Edited July 9, 2008 by illumine

[Jeraly 4]

Oh why must it rain?

Oh that's right, it's the UK.

Rain? What's that?! We had some clouds this morning - it wasn't properly sunny til near 10am!!! AND at 9.30 it was only 98f. Had to stop myself from pulling out my winter clothes

Have had an interesting evening. It is Jeremy's first closing shift since I moved and pretty much everything has gone wrong. Things started out nice and chilled playing on the PS3. I come into the living room (if you can call a room filled with clothes, boxes and cases that) to go online and the internet won't work. I try the wireless and wired connections - nothing. Owel - Jeremy can sort it when he gets a chance. I lie down on the floor (tiles - mmm) to cool off and chat to my cat (as you do) and the phone goes. Expecting it to be Jeremy I pick up right away and it is Time Warner. Apparently we have a problem with our phone (we have vonage but got the phone package through TW as well as it didn't cost any extra). The guys can't find the apartment (it's the only one with no number) so can I go out to meet them. Sure. Did I mention that I had already got undressed and was wearing a rather flattering charity shop cotton kaftan, boxers and nothing else? Yeah. So I get dressed too.

I head out to meet them, bring them back to the house and make small talk while they fiddle around with whatever. They were nice enough, "fixed" the phone and manage to get the net back for me. Great. I check the phone when they are gone (they hooked it back to vonage for me) and notice it has an error message. After unplugging and plugging a variety of wires, I get the phone back so Jeremy can call later. The internet had stopped working again. Grr. But nevermind - I was going to just heat up my leftover Thai from the restaurant (Panang - yummy )and chillout with a glass of wine and some ####### tv.

In the bedroom I put the tv on. I haven't ever turned the tv on myself but how hard can it be - it's just a tv, right? The power was on, fine. Now I just needed to find the cable channel. I use the up and down channel buttons on the tv. Nothing. Ok - so let's use the controller. I look down at the trillion buttons and try to decide which one to press first.

Now, I'm not a stupid person and figure there must be some kind of logic as to which button makes the tv come on. I start with the power button. Nope. Maybe the cable button? Tv button? Channel buttons? Nothing - absolutely nothing. I press the setup button and a variety of other tenuously logical choices. Still nothing. I try the help button. It doesn't help. In fact it did - you guessed it - nothing.

I start getting p*ssed (ok - you got me, I was getting that way long before I even pressed the so-called "help" button). I try to call Jeremy. No answer. Ok I was calling his cell and he was at work but still - he normally picks up. I leave a teary message explaining that I can't get anything to work and that I am just going to get an early night because I can't do anything I want to, rant rant rant. I head back into the bedroom and press some more controller buttons to no avail.

Jeremy calls as I am looking through the Yellow Pages to try and find his work phone number (you think I could find it?!) and I burst into tears. He patiently talks me through the internet, asking me what I have done, how I have done it etc. etc. I explain that it is telling me I have a connection but no browser windows will work. I told him that I had tried linux and windows, internet explorer and firefox. I'd tried rebooting, re-wiring, resetting and all manner of other re-s but nothing would work. Eventually he got me connected through the hard wire.

Next stop - tv. He asks me to dc the phone and plug it into the bedroom socket then call him back at work (he gave me the number which is now on the front of the Yellow Pages) so he could talk me through the tv bit. He said if there were any problems, to connect the phone back up to vonage and he would call back. I hook up the phone in the bedroom. You guessed it (or did you?) - it didn't work. So I hook the phone back up to vonage and call him back at work. In tears, obviously, as that seemed like the most sensible and adult thing to do. He makes me get the controller and talks me through what he wants me to try. I follow his instructions. Nothing - the tv still didn't work. Something for him to sort out.

But that's ok! I have the internet. Since we moved the sofa in, the path of the aircon is blocked which makes the living room really hot. But that's ok, he tells me, just dc the ethernet cable and connect to the wireless network - then I can go relax in the bedroom where it is nice and cool. I chill out a bit and hang up.

I dc the ethernet cable so I can relocate to the bedroom. The wireless network says that it is connected yet when I try and open any web pages... Yup - nothing worked. I hold back from screaming (opting for more tears instead) and call Jeremy back at work. At this point I am upset,not only because nothing is working, but because I am disturbing Jeremy at work when he needs to keep on top of things there. He remains calm and patient with me (which in a way made me feel worse), had me check the connection in linux and windows before we established that the wireless connection is buggered and he needs to sort it out.

So I hook all the wires back up and prepare to sit in the sweltering living room, hoping that the setting sun will bring a little bit of cool air with it. I finish my tantrum and decide I don't feel hungry so I stick the Thai in the freezer and figure I will have something snacky instead. We bought some breaded mozzarella sticks yesterday and I figure they will do just the job washed down with a (large) glass of red wine. I open the oven, discover we have a pan (w00t! I wasn't expecting that!) and carefully arrange the sticks on it. I turn the dial for the oven to 350.

I listen and can't hear anything. I turn the dial back off again. Turn it back to 350. Still nothing. So maybe it is like the stove and it has to be cranked to max, left for a couple seconds to ignite or whatever it does, then be adjusted to the correct temperature. I try it. Nothing. I leave it for a bit to see if it heats up. I open the door of the oven. Short of a now obvious smell of gas, nothing has changed.

So I have another hissy fit before deciding that sod it, even though there are no microwave instructions on the packet, anything can be microwaved. I stick the stuff on a paper plate (the plastic ones aren't microwaveable and the other stuff hasn't turned up yet) and nuke them for 2 minutes.

Ands you know what?

It worked.

Ok - so there wasn't a choir of angels singing hallelujah, no golden light appeared from the sky. In fact the cheese oozed out, sticking to the paper plate so I had to eat half of the plate as well. But the wine helped to wash that all down.

And that is the story of my evening. Now I am going to stop ranting and drink the rest of my wine. Bedtime starts when the bottle is empty. It's just been that sort of day.