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We Have a Domicile Wednesday, July 5, 2006 | 11:25PM

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We returned from our preliminary trip to Atlanta on Monday morning after finding an apartment just outside of Buckhead. It was important that we live near the SCAD-Atlanta campus so I didn’t have to commute far to school, and it turns out I can transfer to a store that has yet to open that is also very close.

While the trip was great (and I love Atlanta now, btw), once we returned, I got sick. I think it was some kind of stomach virus because I pretty much had something disgusting exiting every realistic oriface… or at least that’s the most pleasant way I can put it. Needless to say, I missed work on the 4th of July, and thus missed out on getting time and a half. Of all the days to be sick.

So Atlanta is a gorgeous city with some beautiful neighborhoods and houses, and some not-so-beautiful neighborhoods and houses. It seemed that in our, albeit limited, search for a place to live, the further South we traveled, the less appealing the neighborhoods were. Granted, there were some very nice houses in the Southern neighborhoods, but they were often surrounded by what can only be described as shanties. And I’m not exaggerating… there were literally houses that were falling apart, and then you’d drive just up the street to a renovated 50s-style house on the market for $300k. It was an odd experience.

So once we started looking up North and finding that most houses were not going to be affordable in the areas we desired, the search began for apartments. It’s going to be tough downsizing from 2300 square feet with a two car garage and fenced backyard to an 1100 square foot apartment with a tiny balcony and a den/study/office that doubles as a 2nd/guest bedroom and only one bathroom. Still, we’ll save money and be extremely close to everything. I’ve wanted to live inside a big city for awhile.

Atlanta itself is purported to have less than a million citizens (which I find hard to believe), but the metro area supposedly contains 4 million+. It’s pretty evident when you’re on the Interstates. But as we found on the wonderfully curvy, hilly backstreets, you can avoid the majority of traffic and still get around pretty well. The main problem with those curvy roads is that it’s impossible to predict where they’ll connect.

For instance, say you miss a turn into a neighborhood on Street A, so you turn on Street B a block down because you figure you can see what all Street B has to offer, then connect on Street C and hit Street A on the way back. Unfortunately, Street B might be a mile long, and by the time it hits Street C, you’re probably a mile from Street A and Streets D-F are in between and not marked as so. It’s a confusing scenario, and it’s meant to be because that’s exactly what happened to us… on numerous occasions.

While we were there, we drove a rental car which was supposed to be a Chevy Aveo—the cheapest, manualest, least-automaticest, worst car Alamo had to offer—but instead ended up with a Chevy Malibu Maxx. Granted, the name is awful (anything with dos equis is something I must refuse to buy out of principle) but it was an awesome ride. Everything automatic, power everything, V6, four doors, etc. We expected a 3-cylinder and instead got remote start. Unfortunately, I didn’t discover this until we were driving to the airport, which just served to tick me off rather than fascinate me. (We could’ve used it so many times!) It turns out there was a reason the Alamo guy tried to convince us to “upgrade”.

So now my official date to leave The Great State of Texas™ is July 21st. The schedule is as follows:

• July 19 - last day at work
            pick up Ryan Mo at the airport parking lot in Houston
• July 20 - load the moving truck
            leave for the in-laws’ place in Dallas
• July 21 - early, leave for Atlanta
            arrive in Atlanta early evening, begin unloading
• July 22 - finish unloading at apartment, then storage room (for excess)
            return truck, then relax
• July 23 - chillin’ like villians
            Mo’s flight to Houston leaves around 6:30pm EST
• July 31 - Stacy leaves for Atlanta
• August 1 - Stacy arrives in Atlanta to a fully set-up and clean apartment (HA!)

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DBain | Friday, July 7, 2006 | 5:54AM

« Oh, Atlanta | Main | La Vida Brinca »