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I'm Moving and need help
LoserForHireX
Philosopher KingThe AcademyRegistered User regular
Philosopher KingThe AcademyRegistered User regular
So I currently live in California, but I will be moving to Albany NY in a little over a month. I've got a few places that seem like good prospects for living, but the landlords are very unwilling to rent sight unseen (only slightly more than I am willing to rent a place sight unseen). However, I don't know anyone in the Albany area (because I live across the country), so what do I do?
I've thought about flying out and looking at places for a day or so, but I don't think that's something that I can afford.
I've thought about flying out and looking at places for a day or so, but I don't think that's something that I can afford.
"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to give into it." - Oscar Wilde
"We believe in the people and their 'wisdom' as if there was some special secret entrance to knowledge that barred to anyone who had ever learned anything." - Friedrich Nietzsche
"We believe in the people and their 'wisdom' as if there was some special secret entrance to knowledge that barred to anyone who had ever learned anything." - Friedrich Nietzsche
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Ideally, though, you would fly out beforehand, scout places, and get things set up before you move. Do you have someplace to keep your stuff if you just fly out there and start looking for a place to live?
If this is for work you should contact your HR department for help. For schools they should have a housing office that can help.
These places are always hit or miss, but it should just be temporary.
I have not lived anywhere other than california. I'm as aware as I can be about the climate and personality of the place that I'm going. So I'm going there with full knowledge of what I'm getting myself into.
Thankfully, I don't have much in the way of stuff. I'm actually going to be moving out there with nearly everything I own, and then having the rest shipped from my parents house. So I'll have everything that I need to get by on at least a temporary basis.
I am moving out there for school. I'm going to be at SUNY Albany in the graduate program for philosophy. Their housing website didn't seem to have much there for me. Largely because I wasn't going to be living on campus (because if I do I can't qualify for resident status my second year and oh my god how expensive).
The only problem with living in one of the towns surrounding albany is that I'm not certain that I'm going to have a car when I get there. It's looking more likely right now that i wont, and that I'll have to try to get a car once I arrive. It might be soon after, it might not. So I don't know if it's really feasible for me to live in a place like Troy (which does seem to have remarkably low rent). I was slightly disappointed in the rents that i've seen, since they don't seem to be any lower than where I am now (Sacramento).
"We believe in the people and their 'wisdom' as if there was some special secret entrance to knowledge that barred to anyone who had ever learned anything." - Friedrich Nietzsche
*When people say that "it's cold" or "it snows," they're not talking about Lake Tahoe, or Shasta; they're talking something closer to Pluto. You can get 48" of snow in 36 hours, and they won't even consider closing the schools; temperatures reaching -40 Fahrenheit aren't unusual; -65 gets closer to "unusual," but not "unheard of." You won't see that on the weather tables, because they don't count fucking wind chill. Wind chill is fucking bullshit, and not counting it makes Upstate appear habitable to human beings.
*You will experience 80mph winds. And if you hear the words "wintry mix" on a weather report, mentally replace them with "weather from hell."
*Winter does not start in December and end in February; it starts in October and ends in late May/early June. It snowed for my schools' graduation all four years I was there (which is in late May). I live in Seattle now, because it's sunnier than Rochester ever was.
*There are approximately four weeks of good weather every year: two weeks of spring, and two weeks of fall. The rest of the year is either cold as fuck, or hot and humid as fuck. 90 degrees at 60% humidity is so much worse than 110 degrees at 0% humidity, especially since it doesn't cool off at night.
*If you bring a car, do not plan on keeping it for very long, as it will get fucking destroyed by the salt they put on the roads there. Also, make sure you buy a bottle of anti-freeze, and one of those combination ice-scraper/brushes, and keep it in the back seat, not in the trunk.
Commuting into Albany is never pleasant as you are fighting all the state employees to get downtown. I would look at something inside of Albany. I live outside of Albany itself so I am not that experienced with what neighbor hoods you should avoid.
Personally I would avoid the Hamilton street and Quail street area as it is full of parties.
Well, that stuff, and an xbox.
The things I'm not bringing are all my books and a few assorted other things.
I actually don't own any furniture, which is pretty badass
Than:
That's about what I expect. I think that I'm as ready as I can be for it.
"We believe in the people and their 'wisdom' as if there was some special secret entrance to knowledge that barred to anyone who had ever learned anything." - Friedrich Nietzsche
Well, I did exaggerate, but only slightly. When you're at that point in your life where you'll probably be bouncing from apartment to apartment (or dorm/trailer/campground/etc.) every couple of years/months, your life will be infinitely easier if you can fit everything you own into your car simultaneously. I figured this out by stupidly dragging a two bedroom apartment worth of stuff and furniture around with me for almost ten years.
Second, listen to Thanatos. Listen to him. He is wise. "Wintry Mix" is not fun. And I lived in Maine for 5 years. I've moved to New Zealand and everybody is complaining about the cold. the coldest night down here (its winter now) has been about 30F.
Third, find a real estate person to help you out. I know it sounds silly, but they can be a big help. especially if you provide info about your situation and budget.
Fourth, good luck! You're picking a great time to move! But Winter is Coming
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
Buy a shovel, and put it in your trunk. Have another in your apartment.
Buy 2 ice scrapers, That way when you break one with your windows only 1/2 scrapped you aren't fucked.
Cat liter can help you get traction if you're stuck in some snow. Its much better than salt or sand.
Try to avoid street parking, spending an hour plus shoveling out your car from the plowing is a shitty start to the day.
Understand windchill: Every so often during a cold snap, local tv reporters will take a cub of boiling water, throw it into the air, and it will come down like marbles. I've seen people break their headphone cables because they are so cold they lose ductility.
Heating where ever you live will be expensive. Stuff like plastic wrapping windows will only seem silly till you get your first gas bill.
Driving in snow is 1 part luck, 2 parts experience, and 3 part patience. Drive slow, break slow, leave huge gaps to break in, turn into the spin.
4 wheel drive is helpful, but not helpful enough to let you break any of those rules.
Be good with doing inside things nearly exclusively. In December the sun will rise after 7 and set before 4:30.
There's a certain sick mind that can love this kind of weather.
I cannot echo the plastic wrap on the window thing more.
Oh and snow really makes fantastic insulation. If for whatever reason you end up living in a trailer or something with leaky windows and no heat, do your best to build the snowbanks up around the house. The mean temperature inside will raise by at least a degree or two. Swears.
Keep a bag of kitty litter in your trunk.
If you get to a hill that you can't seem to get up, wait. pull your car over, put on your hazards and wait. Eventually the snowplow will come by and if the driver is not a dick, he will help you back up to behind him and let you follow him up the hill. If he's a dick, then he'll just bury you in his wake.
Not that i'm bitter or anything.
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
For reference, I'm in the Western New York area (Still Upstate though, anything north of Westchester County is Upstate New York
The weather is not THAT bad. Yeah, it gets hot and humid midsummer, and cold and snowy midwinter. Spring and Fall though are generally pretty awesome; that's generally when we go to places like Letchworth because it's so very nice.
However I have never ever seen it get down to -40. Ever. Maybe if you're in the Adirondacks. Lowest I've seen is -20. And it gets there RARELY.
Wind chill however is fucking horrible: get a thick relatively wind-proof winter coat that ideally covers a large portion of your body. Bonus points if it's goose down. Get good boots, preferably waterproof. Get a big heavy pair of gloves for outside, and a lighter pair for driving. Bonus points if you can wear your heavy outer gloves over your light driving ones. Multiple pairs of socks, if you're really worried throw on another pair of jeans.
Snow shovels etc. seems to have been covered, but in addition to having sand/kitty litter in your trunk getting a bag of ice melt couldn't hurt either.
Snowflakes the size of my god damned hand. It's like I'm living in Norway.
Oh yeah, the kitty litter? Make sure it's non clumping, or else you'll make it worse.
Definitely make sure whatever place you move into has decent insulation if you're paying the utilities - it was not at all uncommon to have $150+ winter gas bills when we got stuck with a drafty+thin insulation place in Rochester, and i'm sure prices are even worse now.
Fall is the best time of year there personally, but spring really is not too bad also, at least if you're not somewhere that gets covered in bugs.
Definitely good advice on the clothing - and I can't agree more that you really should get waterproof boots and gloves if at all possible, shoveling or trudging through snow while also wet sucks hard.
If the roads are bad and you have the option to stay home, seriously consider it. BUT, there will be days when it snows an absurd amount and school/work will still expect you to be there - just take things slow, use your headlights, use your wipers, don't panic if you start to slide, and laugh heartily when you see someone with an SUV/Jeep stuck in a snowbank that went flying by at unsafe speeds earlier
With all that in mind...do enjoy the experience, it won't be a frozen wasteland all year
So this is my general area in New York.
These are the major snowbelts.
Admittedly we don't get as much as, say, Watertown, but we get quite a bit.
Albany? I'm sorry! Just moved away from there,
Whats your price range? Apartments are surprisingly expensive for the shitty quality you get in Albany.
Troy is a cesspool. But make sure you visit DeFazio's Pizza there.
Is it really that bad?
But if you minimize the amount of time you have to spend outside in the winter its not too awful.
I mean it's survivable but I hear stories of places like Virginia shutting down for a whole month because of 2 feet of snow. Bitch we get that in a week. Two winters ago when the DC area got slammed was our warmest winter in a while, but all that snow is usually what we get just from October to December.
But I don't wanna pull this thread too far off topic ...
I've seen pictures from Norway and they are about equal in terms of "holy shit what the fuck is happening?" Then you flip around to the summer and the warm air we get gets assraped again by the great lakes and your typical humidity is equivalent to being in the pits of some huge Greek or Russian guy in a steam room.
This is Upstate New York. Enjoy your stay for the 4-6 weeks of the year it's comfortable!
Off topic but it's interesting nonetheless!
Albany averages 64 inches of snow a year. most of it between Dec and March, but you don't get 1 inch of snow every few days, you get no snow for 2 weeks, then a foot. Also year to year and month to month can be a huge difference. You might have a really dry December, but then the jet stream shifts, and you get half the yearly total in 2 weeks of January.
Also it's somewhat people trying to cram a lifetime worth of tips and tricks on dealing with the bitch that is real winter into a single thread.
For example:
In winter if you let your gas tank get too empty and stay there, you start condensing water into the fuel, which can get into your fuel lines and freeze. Keep the tank full and there's less air space -> less condensing->not freezing your fuel lines.
You don't have to keep it topped off, the rule I use is to be at quarter tank or more, when I park it for the night.
I didn't learn this by reading my cars owners manual(doubt its even in there), but because I've lived in a cold place all my life. For the OP to learn this fun fact at a mechanic's for towing +parts+labor would suck for him.
Really good advice, actually. It's not something most people realize. There are also additives you can put into your tank to keep the gas from freezing.
Also, I would recommend driving in 1st or 2nd gear if the roads are getting bad. The reason for this is that you will have to do a whole lot less braking (and braking will lock your tires up, causing you to slide around like a mad man).
Summer, Autumn, Winter, Winter Hell, Mud Season, Blackfly season. Repeat.
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
Austin closed for three days in 2006 because of ice. Like 4 inches of it! Possibly 5.
Seasons here go: Spring, Tornados, Summer, Super Summer, Summer, Christmas, Spring.
Western Oregon goes: Summer, Rainy Season, Two Week Ice Storm, Really Rainy Season, Rainy Season, Repeat.
The classic seasons for Massachusetts: Winter, Roadwork. Repeat.
Note: I lived in an area where block heaters are needed on your car. That is bad weather, Albany isn't even close to that.
Mass is not that bad. It's Slush, Winter, Nice (note that this is only 2-4 weeks), Roadwork/WTFHot, Nice again.
Maine has Winter, Still Winter, Mud and Construction. NH has Winter, Still Winter, Mud, Lake/Construction and Fucking Leaf Peepers seasons.
My car has been encased in about 2 inches of ice approximately 5 times in the past 4 years.
my car is the 4th in the row, and this was Chicago, the drier side of the lake.