"A very baad maan. A very baad, baad maan."

Ahem. After going out to breakfest with the rest of the family at Walnut Cafe, where we ran into a mysterious character who seems to pop up everywhere, Bitscape got underway with the serious business at hand. Namely, finding a place to live.

Being a rank amateur at this, I started by going to Safeway to grab a copy of all the free rental mags full of ads. At the off-hand suggestion by one coworker yesterday, I decided to start my search in Rock Creek. I meandered around aimlessly in Tobias for a while, and looked in the mag until I found an interesting ad which featured apartments for rent, and journied to the appropriate address. Called "Horizons", or something like that.

Even though it wasn't a gated community, I immediately got the feeling of a gated community upon driving in. Went to the leasing office, and was greeted by a very attractive, polite, professional, and friendly young woman, who took me on a tour of the place. Extremely fancy. Everything about it screamed, "targeted at the young single yuppy demographic who has too much time on his/her hands and money to burn." Well, maybe that's a bit harsh, but the place was FANCY.

Big gym, indoor basketball court, tennis courts, a lake with paddle boats, beach volleyball, a spacious community center, a mini-theater which could probably seat a good 50 people (with dvd projection unit that made me drool), an on-site free dvd rental library (nothing to rival the Video Station, but still a bit on the unbelievable side), 3 swimming pools, and I don't even remember what else. Awesome view in all directions, ample playgrounds for those with little ones, and an amazing location. Just blocks away from the new mall, which (for me) means very very near to work. Oh, and the apartments themselves were nice too. :)

The rent prices quoted accurately reflected all of this. Even after discounts (which many places seem to be offering to offset the slowed economy), it was a couple notches above the top of my range. If I really, really wanted to, I could probably afford it if I were willing to sacrifice other things like buying dvds, eating out a lot, trying to pay off my debts ahead of schedule, and saving something in the bank. Actually, the thought was tempting. I thanked the tour guide for her time, took papers with info about it, and moved on.

My next stop... Hmm... I should probably parenthetically pass on what I found out this morning, but it's a bit too much for a parenthetic statement, so I'll just take a little tangent, and get back to the adventures in a bit.

Update: bouncing has found a place, and so has mom. This should probably be accompanied by another parenthetical statement stating that mom has decided that she wants to move into a place of her own, separate from dad. (This could even launch into another mega-tangent about how my parents did not always get along all that well for many years, but decided that for the sake of "the kids" (read: myself and bouncing), they would remain together until both of us became adults. Now, both of us are full adults, legally and otherwise, and about go to live on our own. Hence...)

A 4-way split. 4 people who have lived together for many, many years will now each be going separate ways. Sort of. You see, mom and bouncing both decided that they liked the same apartment complex, so they will each be moving into different places in the same set of buildings. They both strongly recommended that I also check it out, since the parent company of these apartments offers a semi-rent-to-own deal, in which something like 15 (or 20?) percent of your rent goes into a fund. If you later choose to buy a residence offered by one of their subsidiaries or partners, which span most of the nation, that fund goes toward a down payment. A nice deal, I suppose.

So anyway, meandering back from our tangent, and getting back to our story... After a bit more meandering around, I stopped to see this place bouncing and mom had both chosen. In all honesty, the fact that both of them were going to live there acted as a disincentive for me to want to get a place there. As much as I love my parents and brother (Do I feel a Kodak moment coming on?), I'd like to try having at least a little bit of space and privacy from them for a while. Living where they could simply walk across the courtyard and knock on the door at any moment does not qualify.

I found the attendant in the office, and he gave me a tour of a 1 bedroom spot they had available. Certainly more down to earth than those Rock Creek places. Quite nice, and perfectly within my price range. Very close to work. But I wasn't done looking yet. I noted that it would be a suitable place to come back to if I didn't find any better deals, and continued my search. (I also recalled that bouncing said he would be getting AT&T digital cable, which also offered a free trial month of their Internet service. High bandwidth, of course, is a big big plus.)

I took a pit stop at a local Safeway, bought some sugar water, and noted that my efficiency would probably be much greater if I could avoid doing so much zigzagging, meandering, and going in circles. Oh well. Such is the nature of the chase, at least when I'm at the helm.

The old saying is that 3rd time is a charm. Hmmmm...

(An unsubtle bit of foreshadowing, isn't it?)

Now starting to get this routine, I stopped in at another complex advertised in the mag, where I quickly found an agent who could help me, and I got to take a tour. While certainly not as insanely outrageous as the Rock Creek community I looked at, this place had plenty of amenities. A workout gym open 24/7 (which could really do me some good if I actually put it to use), swimming pool, spa, a cummunity clubhouse, and also featuring a free video rental library (I doubt they'll ever wean me from the grandeur of The Video Station, but we shall see).

The first place we looked at, up on the third floor, was the smallest (and cheapest) they had available. It was ready to rent immediately, and featured a washer and dryer included inside the apartment (excellent Smithers), a very spiffy kitchen, a nice bedroom, and a porch outside, nice and high. It spoke to me.

I asked about the availablity of high bandwidth. She said that they have digital cable, and if you want to get a dsl line installed, feel free. It is available. Woohoo!

I also took the tour through one of the larger models they had, but deep down, I already knew. The price, after factoring the discount they were offering, was well within my range (even before the discount, it would have been inside the upper end of my "range"). Nice features. Closer to work than where I currently live. Slightly farther from Boulder, but that's ok. (As a general rule, rental prices go down in proportion to the distance from the city of Boulder).

I filled out an application, which, if all goes well, will be approved by Tuesday. The agent indicated that I could name any start time I wanted from Tuesday onward, and the rent would be pro-rated for October, so I designated next Friday as my official move-in date.

And so, the wheels are indeed in motion. The site for Bitscape's New Lair has been determined. I can hardly wait! Much work to be done to prepare. Packing boxes, getting things organized, all that good stuff. But knowing me, I'll probably not do a damn thing until Friday evening anyway.

bouncing and I have made a preliminary deal in which we will split the cost for renting a truck next Saturday. My mom might be in on that too. I'm not sure. I don't know what the hell my dad's doing, or where he's going to live. Apparently, he doesn't either. (And I thought I was being a dillydallier. Hah!)

Well, that sums it up. Mission accomplished, for now. I think I'll veg out and watch a film pretty soon.