Out of Cheese

Almost three years ago now I moved from San Jose to Santa Clara, cutting my commute to work from about 25 minutes to a smidgen over 10 minutes and moving from an apartment to a new-ish townhouse.

The new place was great, with a few exceptions. First, while it was close to work, it wasn’t extremely close to, well, anything. There’s essentially nothing I can walk to, and nothing I can bike to which doesn’t involve biking along busy streets. None of my friends live around here, either. Second, it was rather loud. I’m not exactly a morning person, so it’s been frustrating to realize that if my window is open, I’ll be woken up by traffic around 8 a.m. Third, it’s somewhat small. Specifically, the living room is tiny, the garage is too small to comfortably fit my Honda Accord so I’ve always parked outside, and various other things are just a bit tinier than they should be.

For most of the past year I’ve been looking for a place within walking distance of downtown Mountain View or Palo Alto. I’m rather selective about what I’m looking for, and without a deadline to force the issue I could afford to wait for the right place.

Tonight I signed a lease for a townhouse that’s just a couple-minute walk from downtown Mountain View. It’s much closer to a lot of my friends (including being four doors down from the townhouse two of my closest friends live in), is a minute or two closer to work, has a much larger living room, and is in an area with a bunch of nice walking and biking paths. I’m rather excited.

I’m also rather busy and don’t really have time to move. Oh, well. Somehow I’ll figure out how to get everything over there two weekends from now. Maybe I can steal a trick from MirrorMask and get my books to grow wings and fly their on their own….