Adjusting to the new environment: Joe arrived fairly late and so we just headed back to the room. Instead of making him take the hotel shuttle, I actually went to the airport and picked him up. I thought this was a huge accomplishment toward driving around!!
On Sunday morning, we walked over to Leann's for breakfast. I had dinner there one night, and thought it was okay. The breakfast was a bit better. We checked out of the DoubleTree and headed out.
My thoughts on the DoubleTree: It was fine, even comfortable. But I didn't love the cleaning staff. I wanted ice most nights for a drink - whether it was water or DDP. The first couple of nights, there wasn't a plastic bag for the ice bucket and the housekeeper never emptied the water. On Monday night, I think I had a different housekeeper. She did empty the bucket and gave me a bag. But, that was the last time. The room was really dusty - like on top of the safe in the closet, and the closet racks. I guess most people would't notice that, but I had washed some sweaters and need to hang them to dry. So, I took a washcloth and ran it along the closet to make sure it was clean. It was not. Also, I spilled some water on the coffee maker and when I cleaned it up with a washcloth, it also looked like it had not been cleaned in a while. However, Joe noted that the sink had a slow drain and that the toilet seat was loose. Maintenance came in and fixed those things on Day 1 and did a great job. Plus, the staff was very nice.
After breakfast, we set out apartment shopping again. My list of places to look at was mostly open houses. Some were timed (from 11-1) and some were not. Our first stop was Burlingame. The place was okay, but Joe noticed a burned down building right behind the building the apartment was in. From there, we went by and took pictures of buildings that were not open, but had nice looking apartments in them (at least from the pictures on Craig's List) and then stopped at another open house in San Mateo. Joe and I both really, really loved this place in San Mateo. It had been completely re-done and it was really nice and in a really quiet neighborhood. It was tiny, but I still really liked it. The only thing that kept me from signing up for it then and there was that the landlord wanted a year lease. My hope was truly to find a shorter-term lease so that Joe and I would not be locked in to something long-term while we figure out where he is going to work and what we want to do as far as buying/renting. The place next door had a 2-bedroom for the same price. It was a lot bigger (although I wasn't that concerned about space), but it was quite a bit dumpier. We didn't like that one. From there, we checked out the Crestmore. Their 1-bedrooms were pretty big, but they had no personality - something that Joe didn't really get (at least I'm pretty sure). Our last stop was Parkmerced in San Francisco. Rachel had given me the name of this place, which is close to her house. We went there and a leasing agent showed us several units. This property is HUGE. Most of the "townhouse" units are old military housing. Then, they also have 3 high rises. I liked both, but Joe didn't like this place at all. At. All. And, they only had 1-year leases, so I didn't feel the need to push it.
At the end of the day I was starting to feel a little defeated. I hate it when I have an idea in my head of what I want, but I can't find it. What really started to hit me was that I was running out of time. I have 30 days of temporary housing and then I'm on my own. And, at $200/night, I don't want to be staying at a hotel long term.
After apartment shopping, we decided it was time to eat again. There's an Irish pub on Broadway in Burlingame I had seen and I thought we could check it out. But, it turns out that they only have drinks, no food. So we wandered the block and ended up at Joe's Diner. It wasn't too bad, but I can't say that I have found any place to eat that I love yet.
After dinner, we headed to San Mateo to check into the Extended Stay where I would be spending the next 3 weeks. The first room they gave me was a smoking room. So, I went back down to the desk and asked to be moved. At first she said she couldn't change me at all. Then she said she might be able to change me sometime during the week. Finally, she ended up giving me a non-smoking room after I was about to leave. The room was awful. I don't usually complain, after spending 30 minutes in the room, Joe's throat was burning and my eyes were watering. It was horrid. Plus, I went on their website and typed in the same type room I had, non-smoking and it showed available for 3 weeks. WTF? That did not give me a good feeling and I even cried a little. First the whole apartment shopping, then this horrid room. It was more than I could take.
Work: Work continued to be fine, fortunately. I'm learning a lot and still have a long way to go. But, everyone has been really nice and once I got past the teary-eyed feeling when Joe left on Monday, I did okay. On Friday, we had an offsite meeting with Peter (Virgin America's CFO), where I learned that things are not so hunky-dory in the finance department. But, I'll just leave that at that.
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