y.st./source/pages/en/weblog/2016/11-November/15.xhtml

<?php
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$xhtml = array(
	'title' => 'Thirteen days',
	'body' => <<<END
<img src="/img/CC_BY-SA_4.0/y.st./weblog/2016/11/15.jpg" alt="Spiller Apartments" class="weblog-header-image" width="811" height="480" />
<p>
	<strong>Current countdown:</strong> 13 days to find a place to live
</p>
<h2 id="general">General news</h2>
<p>
	Glitchedpuppet is <a href="http://floraverse.com./comic/oneshots/540-notice/">taking a break from story updates of Floraverse</a>.
	It sounds like small, non-story updates will take place during this time, perhaps to keep the website from becoming stagnant or forgotten by some.
	In any case, this time off has been prompted by the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States.
	It&apos;s a huge tragedy for anyone that cares about human rights and decency.
	Trump&apos;s unleashed wave of racism, sexism, and xenophobia is nothing to scoff at.
	It appalls me that there were enough people in this country willing to vote for that monster that they actually made it into office.
	Trump didn&apos;t get the popular vote, but they got enough votes for our broken electoral college system to let them win the election.
</p>
<p>
	I&apos;ve decided to break up my journal entries into sections, starting today.
	Why? Well, it started out with my wanting to section off my apartment-hunting activities, making them a sort of &quot;reoccurring segment&quot;, but I quickly realized that many facets of my life can be categorized like that.
	It&apos;s probably pretty cheesy to create sections like this in what has become a personal journal, but it helps me cope with the stress.
	Currently-planned sections include <a href="#general">general news</a>; a section on whatever doesn&apos;t fit into other categories, <a href="#university">university life</a>; a section on my progress through school, <a href="#apartment">apartment-hunting</a>; a section on exactly what the name implies, and include.d; a section on the $a[PHP] class/function/constant library that I&apos;m working on.
	Include.d is officially on hiatus for the time being though, so that section won&apos;t debut for a while.
</p>
<p>
	My <a href="/a/canary.txt">canary</a> still sings the tune of freedom and transparency.
</p>
<h2 id="university">University life</h2>
<p>
	<span title="Principles of Business Management">BUS 1101</span> is not the right course for me, but the fact that I&apos;m only taking one course right now couldn&apos;t possibly be timed better.
	Finding a new home is going to be a struggle, so I need the extra time available because of this.
	I might drop down to a single course for future terms as well, as I try to make ends meet, but I wasn&apos;t aware that I&apos;d need to do that when this term began.
	It just goes to show that some things that seem not to be going well can actually work out in your favor.
</p>
<p>
	I decided that today, I needed to finish on my <a href="/en/coursework/BUS1101/Leadership_Entrepreneurship_and_Strategy.xhtml">essay</a> and leave finishing my discussion responses for tomorrow.
	There should be plenty of time tomorrow for that somewhat trivial task.
	I didn&apos;t actually find the time to completely finish the essay though.
	I think, and sincerely hope, that I have time to complete everything that remains before I head to work tomorrow.
</p>
<h2 id="apartment">Apartment hunting</h2>
<p>
	I also went out to check out three apartment complexes.
	My first stop was Spiller Apartments.
	They don&apos;t look too bad, but you can tell that they&apos;re a little unmaintained.
	In other words, they&apos;d be a place that would provide me much-needed shelter, but might be within my price range! Unfortunately, I couldn&apos;t find a main office (or any office) there.
	I&apos;m not sure how one is supposed to go talk to the people running the place.
	My second stop was in vain.
	I thought that there was an apartment complex there, but it was Village Inn, which is clearly an inn and not an apartment complex.
	On my way back, I noticed that the complex that I was looking for is probably across the highway.
	I&apos;ll have to go check that place out later.
	Lastly, I stopped at NorthWood Apartments.
	They don&apos;t have any vacancies, their cheapest options cost \$820 $a[USD] per month including utilities, and they require that residents make at least two and a half times the rent price.
	I could afford the rent, I think, but I don&apos;t make \$2050 $a[USD] per month - I barely make over the rent cost, assuming that I make as much now as I do when I last worked at that pizza place.
	I can&apos;t say that it&apos;s been an overly-productive day on the rental front, but I&apos;ve rules one place out, which is a start.
	I tried some online apartment searching last night, but I didn&apos;t really get anywhere.
	I couldn&apos;t find any websites that actually listed prices, and price is one of the biggest factors in my decision right now.
	Today though, I stumbled upon an <a href="http://www.apartmentguide.com./zip/97477-Apartments-For-Rent/?sort=sortpricelow-asc&amp;page=1">apartment-listing website</a> that actually <strong>*does*</strong> list prices! That&apos;s not what I was looking for, but I&apos;ll take it.
	I was looking for Spiller Apartments&apos; website, assuming that they have one, so that I could figure out how to reach the people running it.
	This is better though! I put in a request for more information about the 733 Mill Street complex, which supposedly has one room available, and it&apos;s only \$520 $a[USD] per month.
	Hopefully, later in the day, I received notification that the website was unable to send my message via email to the people that would be able to tell me more about the apartment.
	I&apos;ll have to go in-person later to check it out.
	It looks like their main office is at 525 Harlow Road in Springfield, not at the apartment complex, so I need to be sure to head to the correct location.
</p>
<p>
	That lead led me to another though.
	That property is managed by Emerald Property Management, inc., who has their own website with an <a href="http://www.emeraldpm.com./home_rentals">apartment listing</a>.
	That particular apartment isn&apos;t listed, but many others are.
	They also have a second website for some reason, with <a href="http://emeraldpropertymanagement.net./?page=rplistings">different listings</a>.
	I submitted a request on the latter of these two websites for more information about a studio apartment at River View Apartments.
	After submitting the request though, I read the <a href="http://www.emeraldpropertymanagementinc.com./tenantdocs/2012_EPM_Application.pdf">rental application</a>, which says that my income needs to be three times the rent.
	Again, I don&apos;t make that much.
</p>
END
);