Miscellany updates

I've been using the Google toolbar at work to block pop-ups on that insidious piece of software called Internet Explorer, and along with allowing me to search google directly from the address line, it also allows me to blog any article that I see that I think is worth blogging. Which is kind of cool and convenient, because the old method required me to come to blogger, log-in, and then blog the article. I know, I know. In the old days, you had to write your own blog software.

I haven't been writing much lately and in an odd way, I'm not missing it. This is a completely weird feeling to have, just because I used to feel lost when I wasn't writing. Now I'm just in one of those long blah spells where the muse just won't cooperate and I have little to no story ideas and even less motivation to get the writing done. I was sad about it earlier, but now I realize it's wrong to force the muse. She'll come back when and if she wants to come back. So, yeah, no updates on writing projects any more -- the WiP list just stresses the muse out.

For Memorial Day, I plan to just laze around and, among other things, renegotiate my lease. If I can't get my lease renegotiated, most of Saturday will be spent trying to find a new place. I'm inclined to stay right where I am, but when my renewal letter arrived yesterday, they had raised my rent by $70. I did the math -- even with moving expenses (and I plan to use Move for Free), it'd be cheaper to find another place in the same neighborhood. So I'm going to call the complex this morning and ask them to reconsider -- I think they're more afraid of losing me as a tenant than I am to move.

BTW, the apartment people are very insidious also, with their renewal letters. I went at the beginning of the month to talk about renewal and they said they couldn't talk until I got my letter. So I waited and waited and yesterday, as I was leaving work, I told my boss that I was running out of time -- 60 days notice would have to be given this Sunday if I decided to move. Well, then I came home to find the letter stuck on my door. Which gives me less than a week to negotiate and see what else is available in the neighborhood. Part of the problem is, I was misled into thinking that my rent would be the same by the apartment people, so I didn't use this past weekend to go apartment shopping. Big mistake. They purposely, I think, did it that way so I'd be forced to pay the higher rent without knowing what else was going on in the market.

So this Saturday, I'll go and check out two or three places in the area and see what they're going for. It really comes down to how much the rent difference is between places. But I'm hopeful I can get these people to come down on the rent. This neighborhood is lousy with apartments and I know I can get a good deal just across the street. Wish me luck!