and so begins the great virtual apartment hunt

Yesterday I e-mailed five prospective landlords and explained my situation: I'm relocating, I own a dog, I want a one bedroom, I won't be there until mid-July to check out the digs, but if you send me some photos and don't sound like a total d-bag, I'll send you some money.

Seriously, how much more can I love the Internet. It makes things like the great virtual apartment search 2008 possible. It also helps that I've lived in my fair share of shitboxes, so as long as the rats are not visible in the photos they send, I'm down.

This morning we helped some friends move, so coupled with the apartment search I have new beginnings and change on the brain. Of course there's always the truck issues, and going up and down and up and down the stairs in sticky July, and the part where you find yourself standing in a mostly-empty-but-not-yet-cleaned room looking at old magazine subscription cards and bobby pins and used dryer sheets all over the rug, and goodbyes. But there's also that undercurrent of excitement and the first night in the new place, mentally categorizing the night sounds, and the figuring out what will go where. And the tentative first weeks of your new routine and cooking in the kitchen and deciding whether or not the shower has enough pressure.

But of course, before that are summer nights down on the Terrace and watching the sailboats:







And afterwards, a few glass boots of Franziskaner Weiss. A fitting conclusion.