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Nzucker leaving the NYC area


Alpha5

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$1300 - $1800/month for a 1 BR is pretty cheap by NYC standards... of course for the rest of the country, they would get a palace for that price...

I'm not sure I'm in position to pay that (especially the higher range), or at least I would have to wait to move until I save up some money by living in Dobbs at home for a few months. I know people paying that much in Midtown for a decent-sized one bedroom, so it seems as if it's a lot for Brooklyn. I may have to investigate places in Cypress Hills as I was mentioning...not a great area, but MUCH cheaper than Astoria, Williamsburg, Crown Heights, etc. I was looking at rent in Williamsburg and I couldn't find a place that was under 1600 for a one bedroom. I would like to limit rent to 1000-1100/mo because I'm working on a teacher's salary, and if I have to put the money down now, it's going to be difficult as I earned very little doing the training this summer ($2500 stipend for 10 weeks, which covered food, gas, trains, supplies, entertainment, but not much saving). I had a job last year that started at $19,000 salary plus room and board, and I'm also only 24 years old, so I have a little money saved, and some invested in stocks and bonds, but not that much.

I think my best move now is just to look at cheaper areas like Cypress Hills and see what I can find. If I can grab a place that's like $950/mo, I'll do it. If not, I'll wait a couple months, save up my paychecks, and jump for something in Astoria, Crown Heights, etc. I don't want to burn too much of the money I have invested in savings bonds and the stock market in rent payments.

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I'm not sure I'm in position to pay that (especially the higher range), or at least I would have to wait to move until I save up some money by living in Dobbs at home for a few months. I know people paying that much in Midtown for a decent-sized one bedroom, so it seems as if it's a lot for Brooklyn. I may have to investigate places in Cypress Hills as I was mentioning...not a great area, but MUCH cheaper than Astoria, Williamsburg, Crown Heights, etc. I was looking at rent in Williamsburg and I couldn't find a place that was under 1600 for a one bedroom. I would like to limit rent to 1000-1100/mo because I'm working on a teacher's salary, and if I have to put the money down now, it's going to be difficult as I earned very little doing the training this summer ($2500 stipend for 10 weeks, which covered food, gas, trains, supplies, entertainment, but not much saving). I had a job last year that started at $19,000 salary plus room and board, and I'm also only 24 years old, so I have a little money saved, and some invested in stocks and bonds, but not that much.

I think my best move now is just to look at cheaper areas like Cypress Hills and see what I can find. If I can grab a place that's like $950/mo, I'll do it. If not, I'll wait a couple months, save up my paychecks, and jump for something in Astoria, Crown Heights, etc. I don't want to burn too much of the money I have invested in savings bonds and the stock market in rent payments.

You would want to be as close to forest park as possible. The area near atlas park is pretty nice.

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I'd rather commute from Westchester than live in a crappy cheap Brooklyn neighborhood. That "cheap" rent doesn't even include electric and sometimes even heating! Save up as much as possible now that you still can because before you know it you'll have many extra expenses coming up.

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You would want to be as close to forest park as possible. The area near atlas park is pretty nice.

Good to hear that Forest Park is nice. There are a series of apartments going for 950-1000 month on Highland Boulevard, which borders the park and then moves into it. I've seen photos of the apartments online and would be interested, so I'm going to walk by as I have two days of professional development August 29-30 in Cypress Hills. I'd love to be near some green space, and that's a great price for an apartment in NYC. If I like the apartment, I will be talking to the landlord and trying to get a lease signed for October 1st so I only have one month of commuting from Dobbs Ferry. At that point, I'll be settled in school, have some extra money, and be ready to move onto my own place.

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I'd rather commute from Westchester than live in a crappy cheap Brooklyn neighborhood. That "cheap" rent doesn't even include electric and sometimes even heating! Save up as much as possible now that you still can because before you know it you'll have many extra expenses coming up.

Yeah, I'm not sure what the 950/mo includes. I know some people with forced air heating have to pay separately for what their apartment consumes, and that can become VERY expensive. I've never actually rented an apartment before: Middlebury College was all on-campus housing, then I worked for 4 months at a restaurant job in Montana that included housing, then I moved back home for 8 months for Winter 10-11, and then I worked at a boarding school last year which obviously included my apartment and 3 meals per day. It's a new experience for me, and I'm just beginning my search. I would love to move around mid-October so my stint of commuting isn't too long, but I get enough time to settle into my job and get some money saved. I have a close relationship with my parents, but I do get the feeling they would rather I move in the next couple of months to free up space in our tiny house, to eliminate noise in the early morning since my mom is retired, and so that I am not under pressure to drive to work with an early start time.

I wonder how quickly I can get a lease signed. I would be formally searching late August just before Labor Day, hoping I can find something in a reasonable time frame. I also would rather live in a more suburban, spread out area like Cypress Hills because I prefer to bring my car and be able to park. Places like Fort Greene and Downtown Brooklyn have very limited street parking, and the lots are excessively expensive.

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I don't want to have to drive 8 hours for mountain snows.

Most of the larger cities in California (San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles) are only 4-5 hours from the Sierra Nevada, not 8 hours. Also, the LA area has the San Bernadino mountains, which often receive ample snow in the winter. I believe chains are actually required on many of the passes out there, so it's not necessarily hard to get to snowy areas.

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Most of the larger cities in California (San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles) are only 4-5 hours from the Sierra Nevada, not 8 hours. Also, the LA area has the San Bernadino mountains, which often receive ample snow in the winter. I believe chains are actually required on many of the passes out there, so it's not necessarily hard to get to snowy areas.

Sure but earthlight is going to southern California. The pictures posted are a hell of a drive from there. Even at 4-5 hours it's not exactly worth it anyway. That's like one of us driving to Lake Placid to see snow.

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Sure but earthlight is going to southern California. The pictures posted are a hell of a drive from there. Even at 4-5 hours it's not exactly worth it anyway. That's like one of us driving to Lake Placid to see snow.

I agree that it's much more enjoyable to have snowfall where one lives; to me, a snowfall in Dobbs Ferry, my hometown, is worth like three times the value of a snowfall. I guess I romanticize it because Westchester is where I grew up...some of my best memories are of the Blizzard of 1996, having snowball fights with friends while we dug out my dad's car slowly. Then I remember the lean years when I was in middle school, and the return to glory when Dobbs Ferry saw 60" of snow in 02-03, my freshman year of high school, the first time I couldn't walk across the golf course to school because there was simply TOO MUCH snow.The constant listening for snow days during high school when we had the super-clippers of 2004, the bomb in Jan '05, and then hanging out late during the weekend storm of Feb '06 when we got 20" and Central Park broke the record. And I recall the late night drive home from Middlebury VT on the eve of the 2/25/10 Snowicane, driving my old Mazda 250 miles on snowy roads because I knew an historic storm might hit my beloved hometown. And, finally, the perfection of 12/26/10-2/3/11, the best stretch of winter of my life, right here in Dobbs Ferry.

It always counts more at home!

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Sure but earthlight is going to southern California. The pictures posted are a hell of a drive from there. Even at 4-5 hours it's not exactly worth it anyway. That's like one of us driving to Lake Placid to see snow.

And it's not an easy drive, nor cost effective from a time perspective. Once overcoming the congestion in the LA area, the distances are vast (the drive from SF to LA which I have taken on Interstate 5, the most direct route, took over 8 hours), and to gain elevation once in the mountains, the roads are treacherous with numerous switchbacks, as is typical in the West. At least here, provided the roads are clear, it's not that difficult to reach points north or west of Albany.

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And it's not an easy drive, nor cost effective from a time perspective. Once overcoming the congestion in the LA area, the distances are vast (the drive from SF to LA which I have taken on Interstate 5, the most direct route, took over 8 hours), and to gain elevation once in the mountains, the roads are treacherous with numerous switchbacks, as is typical in the West. At least here, provided the roads are clear, it's not that difficult to reach points north or west of Albany.

The terrain just east of LA and San Diego, however, is mountainous and often receives snowfall in winter. You don't have to go to the Sierra to see white in California. Also, the drive from LA to the southern parts of the Sierra, like Mammoth, is not nearly as far as the drive from LA to San Francisco. I don't know if Earthlight will have a car, however.

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The terrain just east of LA and San Diego, however, is mountainous and often receives snowfall in winter. You don't have to go to the Sierra to see white in California. Also, the drive from LA to the southern parts of the Sierra, like Mammoth, is not nearly as far as the drive from LA to San Francisco. I don't know if Earthlight will have a car, however.

True, but the problem is that the most reliable snowfall there is in the Sierras where at least you have some major interstates, i.e. 80. And I don't know about you, but I get terrified when I'm driving up a mountain on the outside lanes of switchbacks at almost 90 degree angle turns without guardrails. Then add to that, wet, icy or snowy surfaces.

Curiously, I find it easier to drive down - I guess then because my foot is on the brake and I feel I have more control.

http://maps.google.c...ifornia&t=m&z=9

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Sure but earthlight is going to southern California. The pictures posted are a hell of a drive from there. Even at 4-5 hours it's not exactly worth it anyway. That's like one of us driving to Lake Placid to see snow.

Hey! I drive to Lake Placid every winter, jerk. J/k

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I can see driving a few hours for a day or weekend ski trip, but taking a 8+ hour round trip just to see the white stuff seems unrealistic. Most of us have pretty busy lives here, so I doubt we'd be able to set aside a whole day to go drive somewhere to see snow. Plus, it's no fun (to me) having to leave the immediate area to see snow. It's all about experiencing the snowstorms IYBY, waking up to snow covered surroundings in the morning, etc. I wouldn't be able to accept the fact that my house would never receive snow.

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Hey! I drive to Lake Placid every winter, jerk. J/k

Haha I've been there myself a few times in summer and winter. Actually I went in early August 2004 where the NE had an incredibly cool air mass in place and I woke up to lows in the upper 30s on two nights!

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I can see driving a few hours for a day or weekend ski trip, but taking a 8+ hour round trip just to see the white stuff seems unrealistic. Most of us have pretty busy lives here, so I doubt we'd be able to set aside a whole day to go drive somewhere to see snow. Plus, it's no fun (to me) having to leave the immediate area to see snow. It's all about experiencing the snowstorms IYBY, waking up to snow covered surroundings in the morning, etc. I wouldn't be able to accept the fact that my house would never receive snow.

If you're living in Cali for an extended period of time, a weekend trip to the Sierra would certainly be worth it. In the summer, it would be great to camp out there and hike...in the winter, maybe rent a cabin and go skiing. They don't see consistent snowfall but when the PAC jet is strong, places like Mammoth can see feet and feet pile up. Winter 11-12 wasn't very kind to the Sierra, if I remember correctly, however. We have a cousin out in Sacramento, and he always told me stories about skiing and hiking trips to the Sierra. When we visited him, we ran out of time to go into the mountains...but I've been to many of the big parks out west including Yellowstone, Glacier, Grand Tetons...and then some of the lesser known ranges like the Wasatch/Uintas, Wind River Range, Humboldt/Rubies etc...Great places all of them.

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Guest Pamela

I'll be spending the winter in southern california

Amended version...with apologies to A. Hammond:

Got on board a westbound seven forty-seven

Didn't think before deciding what to do

Ooh, that talk of opportunities, TV breaks and movies

Rang true, sure rang true ...

Seems it never snows in southern California

Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before

It never snows in California, but girl, don't they warn ya?

It pours, man, it pours

I'm out of work, I'm out of my head

Out of self respect, I'm out of bread

I'm underloved, I'm underfed, I wanna go home

It never snows in California, but girl, don't they warn ya?

It pours, man, it pours

Will you tell the folks back home I nearly made it?

Had offers but didn't know which one to take

Please don't tell 'em how you found me

Don't tell 'em how you found me

Gimme a break, give me a break

Seems it never snows in southern California

Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before

It never snows in California, but girl, don't they warn ya?

It pours, man, it pours

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Haha I've been there myself a few times in summer and winter. Actually I went in early August 2004 where the NE had an incredibly cool air mass in place and I woke up to lows in the upper 30s on two nights!

If i ever come into any money, i will own a house up there.

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