gonewest

IMG_1359.JPG, originally uploaded by lordjoe.

Amy and David are out here in San Diego paying me a visit before my upcoming move to Seattle. Here is a link to the photo set. I will probably upload some more photos to the set over the next few days.

Update 2006-02-19: Additional photos uploaded to the photo set.

I have been seriously considering a [hopefully 3-6 years temporary] move up to the Seattle area this summer. As much as I love San Diego and southern California in general, there is a high premium for living here and because of that I am not able to pursue another love: playing the salty sailor and putzing around in a comfortable sailboat.

Now, thanks to an annoying notice from my apartment complex, I will be rushing to move in early March.

My original intention was to wait several months before moving so that I could enjoy at least part of another summer in San Diego. I received a lease expiration notice the other day, however, informing me that if I do not renew for another year (with the usual small increase in rent) and switch to month-to-month instead, they will jack my rent up by $400. Oh, and there is also the added insult that, while they “strive to maintain the highest level of customer service,” they don’t consider themselves to be liable for anything they do that damages my property but will, if I damage theirs, sue my ass off so I have to now provide proof of at least $100,000 in liability insurance before I can renew my lease (OK, so they didn’t use those exact words, but I am plenty smart enough to know what that notice meant).

The rent I pay now isn’t too bad considering the area that I am in, but the month-to-month rent would be higher than what I paid for my last apartment which was a very nice place in a very new building in what was likely the very best spot in downtown. To pay that kind of rent here in Pacific Beach for a 30 year old building that still has asbestos in it (I have a copy of the signed notification letter to prove it), even for a month or two, is simply outrageous and an obvious attempt to force me to make a long commitment to them or get out — so I’m getting out ( :-r to you, Avalon).

Technically, there should not be any problem in arranging for the move up to Seattle by my lease expiration date; but there are many details to handle and with work and other things going on, I don’t have much time to waste. Thank goodness for apartment hunting sites like HousingMaps, ApartmentGuide, and Apartments.com to make pre-screening apartments easier and travel sites like my newest discovery (thanks Amy), site59 to make planing a last minute hop up to Seattle to close a deal [hopefully] less expensive.

There was a magnitude 4.6 offshore quake today roughly 70 miles from San Diego. It was strong enough for everything that was not very heavy in the apartment to shake for perhaps 30 seconds but not to knock anything over.

Here is the map and here is the notice, both courtesy of the USGS.

IMG_1238.JPG, originally uploaded by lordjoe.

There’s nothing like sun and sea spray to brighten up your mood. Here are some random pictures taken at the tide pool area at Point Loma today.

Still testing flickr. Here is a link to a quick photo set I made of a visit to the San Diego Zoo last year.

Well, another 4th of July has come and gone. I didn’t do much for it (had a lot of work to try and catch up on) but I did find a good seat for the fireworks display that Sea World put on.

For the last four or five years, I spent July 4th in my old apartment in Memphis with nice views of downtown and midtown. While the apartment was not especially close to either of the two main fireworks displays, it was nice to have a few friends and family over to grill out and catch a nice, if distant, view of the shows.

I had set aside some time this evening to catch the fireworks show at Sea World and left the apartment at about 9:00 pm to walk over to Ski Beach at Mission Bay for a good view of the show at the water’s edge. On the way there, I could see four other shows going on: one at Pacific Beach, one at Mission Beach, and two Downtown. According to this link, there were almost 20 different fireworks displays throughout San Diego county — that’s a far cry from the two or three that Memphis puts on each year, but then this city is much larger.

I thought about riding my bike over to Ski Beach to save some time, but since I don’t have a light, I figured I shouldn’t be out on the streets with it at night. Silly me, the streets were full of both pedestrians and bicycles tonight and I didn’t see anyone riding with lights. Well, that’s not quite true, I did see one bike with a light — but it was being ridden by an older, overweight guy like myself. I guess the moral of that story is that bike safety is not cool.

There was a magnitude 5.6 earthquake near Anza, CA this morning at 8:41 am. It was strong enough and near enough that the bookcases and other furniture shook here in my apartment in Pacific Beach — not nearly enough to knock anything down or do damage though.