Saturday, August 7, 02004
Well, it's a wonderful sunny day here so I went off and bought a condo.
I've actually been looking for a few weeks now, and for a few months before that I was seriously considering leaving the Washington area altogether. There were a few full blown panic attacks last October/November where I walked someplace I hadn't been in a while and found whole blocks demolished and new buildings going up. These haven't been mentioned here before, and they won't likely be again. But in the end, the need to settle down and become native won out.
The condo is in the Fairlington neighborhood along Walter Reed, though not in Fairlington proper. I'm within walking distance of Jefferson Memorial hospital, and a short bike ride to the artifical Shirlington 'downtown' district, with it's adequet movie theatre and tiny branch library. The W&OD bike path is right across the street.
It's about three miles south of my current apartment. I just checked my Northern Virginia gazetteer, and my current place and new place are actually on the same page. It's probably closer to two miles. Regardless, this exta distance is probably going to translate into an extra fifteen minutes worth of commuting time in each direction. It would have cost me an extra $40,000 or so to be closer to the Metro and Route 66. It is about time I became acquainted with the Arlington bus system anyway.
I'm going to miss living right across from the Ballston Metro stop, but I never really used to Metro system enough to justify living so close. The extra rent I've been paying all these years for the convenience is like people who pay for an SUV on the off chance they may suddenly need to move furniture.
I almost bought a real house on a corner lot in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, but it was pretty small, and there was more land than house. The actual living space wasn't much larger than the condo I ended up getting. There was an old man currently living in the house and he followed me around as I was looking at the property. I couldn't help wondering where he would end up if I bought the place.
Posted at 07:54 PM EST [Link][Karma] [Comment]
Thursday, August 5, 02004
Hats off to Major Barbara, who with her drum and tambourine, is tracking the neo-carpetbaggers better than I could ever hope to.
Posted at 07:21 PM EST [Link][Karma] [Comment]
Sunday, August 1, 02004
The Billionaires support CACI.
Posted at 02:11 PM EST [Link][Karma] [Comment]
