Double Journey

Just as an update to my last post. To show the bag that he didn’t have any hard feelings, my cat decided to take a nap and snuggle up next to it. Proving that we can all get along.m

I used to buy my cat lots of toys. I figured I was doing OK financially and that I might as well “spoil” my cat a little by buying him toys whenever I had the chance. Part of it was guilt because I knew I didn’t play with my cat nearly as much as I should. However, I soon learned that buying cat toys was a waste of money. My cat found ways to entertain himself with whatever was lying around. I think I first came to this realization when I tried to celebrate Christmas with my cat by buying him some gifts. He ended up playing more with the wrapping paper and ribbon than he did with anything I bought him. To prove my point, I took this video of my cat. Here he is with a plastic bag I happened to leave on the floor.

He rarely if ever enjoys playing with the toys I buy him from the store. He’s learned to entertain himself with bags, string, cords, leaves I drag in from outside, etc. The last toy I bought him, a self moving electronic gizmo with some sort of feather attached to the end of it, entertained him for about 5 minutes, and then was forgotten. Cost $20. This bag cost me nothing, and brought him the same amount of amusement.

I’m watching the Morning Show right now and they just put up a graphic of the weather throughout the country. They showed the northwest, including Seattle, to be in the 30’s and 40’s today with rain. I’m looking outside my window at the bright sun and blue sky. It is 70 degrees and it is only going to get warmer as the day goes on. Guess my cat isn’t the only person happy to be back in California

Yesterday we had a very nice, albeit typical, California day. It was in the mid to high 70’s for most of the day and even got to the point I turned on the AC just to cool the apartment down a bit. There was one person who was even more happy than me to be back in California. That would be my cat pictured above. One of the big drawbacks in living in a place like Seattle was that we just did not get much sun. To make matters worse, my apartment in Seattle did not really get any direct sunlight.

When you have a kitty that loves to sun bathe, that can be a problem. Now that we are back in Southern California and I have a southern facing apartment, kitty just loves to spend his day sprawled out and laying in the sun. Lucky for him he doesn’t realize how much more expensive it is to live here. Despite a higher salary than what I was earning in Washington, I’m really not saving more money. In fact, I’m probably saving less. We will see how it all equalizes as soon as my move in cost are gone and my girlfriend eventually makes it down, but for now, definitely not saving as much money as I was before.

So I finally found an apartment after a really long search. I didn’t hit all my criteria for finding a place, but I’m really happy with what I got. I looked at literally hundreds of listings and physically went to look at about 20 units. Reviewing my list here is what happened

1. They must take cats - They do. I have to put a deposit down, but that was to be expected.
2. Must have a dishwasher - It does. It’s even brand new and stainless steel.
3. Must have a washer/dryer IN UNIT - It does not. This was the big compromise. Just weren’t that many apartments that actually had washer and dryer in unit. Those that did, I was compromising a lot more for other things. This was more important to my girlfriend than it was me, but she saw the place and thought the laundry facilities on site were adequate.
4. I have to be able to get two parking spots - It has it, it is underground (i.e. covered) and they are side by side. Lots of places in the area have tandem parking, so this was excellent
5. Roomy - One of the bigger places I saw and I have a large amount of terrace space.
6. Clean and relatively new- Of all the places I saw, this was the nicest inside. It had granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances, and relatively clean everywhere else. I am VERY happy with this part of the criteria. The only drawback is that I will have to buy my own fridge, but that really isn’t that big of a deal.
7. Budget - Given all the above, you would think this was one of the more expensive places as I’ve only compromised on the washer/dryer. But here is the kicker. Of all the places I actually visited, this was the cheapest place. More on that in a minute.
8. In Pasadena - I’m in an excellent location, pretty close to things, and in the good part of town.

So given all the above, I have no idea how I got the place for only $1700. This is seriously below budget and much less than I would have expected to spend. I looked at a lot of places, and most of the one bedrooms were going for more than that. There were no two bedrooms going for that low of a price for sure. Add on the fact that there is a pool and a fitness center and I’m pretty happy with the place. So I keep thinking to myself, what am I missing? What detail would account for this place getting such a good deal. Is it one of those cases of it being too good to be true?

In a relatively short amount of time, I’ve become very high on the search “Save the Kitty” in Google. This of course refers to my earlier post about how donating to my site could actually save my kitty’s life. Well just to show you how bad things have gotten I present you with these two pictures.

This looks like a seemingly normal pile of large wrapping paper. But take a look inside

My poor cat has resorted to living in this paper bag because you refused to donate money to help him! It is the only shelter he can find from this brutal Seattle rain. Why won’t you help this kitty? Why do you want to hurt this kitty? Donate now and you can help help put a real roof over his head.

*Note - I’m somewhere on I-5 on my way from Seattle to L.A. This post and tomorrow’s are being blogged via Wordpress’ delay post feature. Be back next week with my thoughts on starting a new job!

Have to do the obligatory Thanksgiving post. This one is particularly tough, because in my current situation, I have plenty to be thankful for. In no particular order.

• I have great friends who support me and read this blog
• I have a wonderful girlfriend who supports me in everything I do
• I don’t have to keep a job I hate
• I have a cat that doesn’t care what day it is, he always wants turkey!
• I live in a world where what I’m trying to do on this blog is even possible

Hopefully the next few weeks will give me even more to be thankful for. I have thus far not really tried to make any progress on my doubling journey. This has been on purpose because It has taken me some time to set this site up and to learn all the things I need to learn to even have a chance at doing this. The amount of information available on setting up a website and generating traffic is enormous. The only topic on the internet that might have more information is how to succeed in short-term trading! Trying to do both has been daunting but fun.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! Get some turkey, watch some football, and think of ideas for me.

If it so inclines you, feel free to donate any money toward my cause. I’m not sure how effective it will be to try and raise money this way, but I suppose every little bit counts. I’m not opposed to either begging or manipulation. Like I said, anything that is legal is fair game. To that end, if it helps persuade you, here is a picture of my cat. Your donations will help pay for his very expensive food (he is on a strict diet because he has some health conditions). Remember, I’m out of work, so your donation can help put food pellets in this poor cat’s bowl. You can see just how hungry he is because he is searching in my shoe, which believe me doesn’t smell all that great, for some food. Do you really want this cat to go hungry? Do you realize by not giving money, you are killing this cat? You can help save this cat by clicking the “donate” button in the right column. or by clicking this button: