Apartment Search

Over the weekend I headed up to San Jose to search for apartments. I decided that it must be nice to sell a product that is in such high demand you can tell people that not only can they not see the product, they can't even see a model of the product before buying, oh and they're going fast so if you don't purchase now it may be gone before you come back! Oh, and it is crazy expensive.

I did end up finding a place, it's not the nicest or biggest, but the price is "reasonable" (and they had a vacant unit to show me). It is within walking distance from downtown Mountain View. Mountain View isn't a big town (about 65,000 people), but it has a bit of a downtown and it is not a long drive to Sunnyvale or Palo Alto. It also gives me a bit of a head start toward San Francisco compared to where I'll be working.

I didn't really think through the timing of the trip so Sunday everything was closed, but it gave me a chance to drive around and get to know the area. I went to downtown San Jose for the first time. I thought it was nice until a coworker pointed out that San Jose has 1 million people, more than San Francisco, so you'd expect a bit more than a couple blocks of restaurants as a downtown. I went to the Tech Museum in San Jose. It's basically a science museum, but more focused on man made stuff than natural phenomenon. Like most science museums it is more kid focused - and I think parts of it exist just so the engineers in the area can explain to their kids what they do.

The big excitement of the trip was on the drive back to the airport. The car seemed to be handling a bit odd, although it was a PT cruiser so I just figured it was the car's usual crappy performance. I got on the freeway and after a bit it started making a clear ca-chunck ca-chunck sound. So I took the next exit and pulled in to a gas station (yes I know the correct thing is just to get over to the side and stop driving, but it was a rental so I cared more about my comfort than the wheel of the car). When I got out I saw that a back tire was still on, but deflated and coming apart. I called up the rental car place and they sent someone to change the tire (yes, I probably could have done it, but wasn't really looking to find out). Anyway, nothing too big - although I was surprised, I thought that a tire popping would have more obvious symptoms - like a loud popping sound.

Today was the last day at work. Mostly just went around and said good bye to people (oh and got a little irritated because I found out that management made a decision I had warned about 7 months ago, but then reminded myself I don't have to care anymore). For those that worry what I might say - I was very positive with everyone before I left. I'm not trying to be negative, but it is interesting that when I joined the company it was 6 months to first implant and today I was informed that the new schedule has first implant 6 months from now, but I don't care because tonight begins my two weeks of unemployment!