The Week Ahead
First, the The Thomas Crown Affair I watch is the new film with Pierce Brosnan. I've never seen the old Steve McQueen version, but I'd like to watch it. Many people seem to think the new film is much better than the old film. We'll see.
As for the week ahead, it's going to be pretty normal until Thursday. I leave for Pittsburgh at the crack of dawn and will be there until Sunday afternoon. I've been told I'm not allowed to come back to Texas until I've found a place to live there. Not being allowed back in Texas generally doesn't seem like a problem, but I do have some things to wrap up here before venturing off.
Finding somewhere to live turned out to be incredibly difficult the last time I was there. The streets around CMU are crowded with houses and apartments for rent, but the landlords are private owners, and they tend to not allow cats, not renovate their property, be rude, and do other undesirable things. I must have Dorian with me, and he will absolutely not stand for living in a run-down house where the landlord turns up without notice.
Unless I find a diamond in the rough, I will probably end up with an apartment in an apartment complex that is professionally managed. Given what I have already seen, I like this idea much better than the idea of renting a privately owned house. The problem, however, is that most of these apartment complexes are not particularly near the campus.
Parking near campus is abysmal, but that's OK since I'd rather take the bus, anyway. The bus routes are strange, though, and there's really no easy way of getting from downtown Pittsburgh to CMU on a bus. Maybe I can look a bit closer at the bus routes while I'm there this weekend.
The Pittsburgh Port Authority does not have an automatic trip planner on their web site, so I have to analyze the bus routes "by hand." I've never really had to do this before, so it's going to take a while to assimilate all of eastern Pittsburgh's bus routes.
Anyway, I don't foresee any huge problems in finding a place to live in Pittsburgh; I just don't want to be disappointed in where I live for the 18+ months that I'm there.
Ramble off.