Once more, with feeling
Once again, I'm in NYC, this time looking for a place to live. I sent out several inquiries about places on bangitout, and have been organizing the replies.
The flight into New York was pretty uneventful. I had little notice about scheduling this trip, so I bid it out on Orbitz, and so I ended up on an American flight into LaGuardia. LaGuardia's always fun because you get to take a bus to the subway, and always have to have fare ready. But not this time! I found a newsstand selling MetroCards, and so I got my usual 7-day card. I used it on the bus, and rode to the subway stop.
I hauled my 40-pound suitcase up to the platform, and tried to get in. I swiped my card, but nothing happened. Huh? I went over to the MetroCard machine, and asked it for info on the card. It told me that the card was just fine. So I took it to the turnstile, and it worked. I rode to the 45 Rd stop, and transferred to the G. Well, “transferred” is a strong word. The stations aren't actually connected; you just walk from one to the other. So I lugged my suitcase down the stairs, then down into the station, and swiped my card. Nope. The closest booth was back on the 7, so I lugged the suitcase back up to street level, up again to the elevated track, and handed it to the attendant. He scanned it, determined that it was damaged (the last thing the card recorded was the bus trip), handed me an envelope, told me to mail the card in to the MTA, and sent me away. I purchased a new 7-day card.
I'm staying with my friend, Mordy, who lives in Far Rockaway, about a twenty minute walk to the station. So I took the A to the end of the line, walked there, and settled in.
Monday morning, I had to attend to some business that I'm not currently at liberty to discuss. Afterwards, I headed to OZ for Mincha.
Once prayer was done, I had to return some calls. I had appointments for apartments for Tuesday night, but only phone calls for that night. I called two guys, made arrangements to meet one, and left a message on the other. I hopped a bus to the first guy's place on 105 and Riverside. It's a beautiful apartment. The bedroom is large, and the living room is enormous. The guy was looking for someone to take over his lease in February, though, and the best I can do is March. He said that he had someone who was interested in February only, and that I could sign up from February on and then rent to this guy for a month, but that I'd have to do that quickly, as he had no desire to deal with a one-month rent on his own. Being the first apartment I'd seen, that was moving way too fast for me, so I declined for now.
As I left, I got a message from the second guy to make it over before he left at 7. So I walked down to the subway, swiped my card... nothing. What the heck?! Great, a bus trashed two cards of mine. I didn't feel like sending it back to the MTA or getting yet another card. But I remembered that, before, asking a MetroCard machine for the status of a card seemed to restore the first card to health for one use. So I tried that, and I got through. So, for the rest of this trip, I have to visit the machine before each use.
The second apartment was more normally-sized, and far more centrally-located, but on the 16th floor, which isn't so good, especially on Shabbos. The real problem, though, is that the renter hadn't yet quit his job. So he thinks he's out on March 15th, but he's not sure how his boss will react, and whether he'll be required to stay. But I can't schedule my life around uncertainties. Oh well. I got a bite to eat and then headed home.
This morning I found my way to the city and wandered to the Apple Store. Nothing like a warm place, bathrooms, and wireless internet. Then wandering the streets. Did you know that Bryant Park has free WiFi? Thanks, Google!
And that's where I stand now. I'm hanging out at Makor waiting for Mincha, and praying that the apartments tonight work better.