CerebralDebris

Charlotte and I spent the weekend in Indianapolis, hanging out with our friends Gabe (my fellow Crispy Gamer developer) and Brett (his wife). We drove all over the place, exploring neighborhoods, making jokes, nearly running over small children … the usual, you know?

We visited many apartments and houses … mostly houses, actually. I think Charlotte and I are a little tired of living in buildings with tons of people. We focused especially on the village of Broad Ripple, which lies about fifteen minutes north of downtown Indianapolis (only about eight miles). It’s actually sort of similar to Park Slope in Brooklyn, where we live now, although smaller in scale (and with a lower skyline). It has a nice central area with restaurants, bars, and shops. Also a million, billion hair/nail salons, which also makes it seem very similar to brooklyn. The difference is that it’s immediately surrounded by quiet suburban neighborhoods, which is where we found the house that we’ve decided to move to. We’re an easy walk from groceries, food, shops and more … but without the crazy street noise that we endure in Brooklyn.

It’s a two-family, but it’s a real house, not a building. The front yard is tree-filled and shady, with a concrete walkway leading from the street to the front door. The back yard contains an old-school, barn-door-style one car garage, a huge brick patio, and various small gardens. There’s very little actual lawn, in the front yard or back, which makes me quite happy … lawn mowing is my second most-hated chore after washing the dishes!

Coming in through the front door, the house puts its best foot forward, offering a slate-floored sun room with a wall of built-in bookcases (above which there’s a nifty skylight and sleeping loft) and a bunch of large windows. Charlotte is already making plans to put her desk and computer in this area!

Attached, but separated by a half-height divider, is the living room. It’s very long and quite wide, big enough to fit all of our living room furniture and still have plenty of space for a dining room table with at least four chairs. I’ve never had an eating table, in my entire adult life, so this is a big step for me. Charlotte is ecstatic.

The kitchen in the back is … meh. It’s servicable and has lots of shelf space, but the cabinets are cheap wood and it lacks a dishwasher. In all, it kind of reminds me of a summer home kitchen, but it should be plenty enough for our needs, especially since I’m probably just going to nuke a lean cuisine for lunch, most days. The entrance to the basement is also found back there — it’s not finished, but it IS sealed and painted concrete, with a washer and dryer, so it’s both usable and not creepy. Always a plus.

Upstairs there’s a mediocre bathroom … but the landlady says she’s going to have some work done on it that should improve it significantly, totally changing out the ceiling and repairing some water damage on the wall. The two bedrooms are spacious and have a ton of closet space, not to mention plenty of windows. The light in the house, overall, is great … the only dim area is the living room, right where you’d put a TV, so even that’s pretty reasonable.

Overall we’re excited about the house. It’s got plenty of charm and character, without being delapidated the way many “charming” houses with “character” are. You can see all of the pics at my Flickr page.

Now we just have to manage to pack up all our stuff and move by the last weekend in June!

Status Updates

The Fatass Project: Unsure. Need to weigh myself. Probably not good.

The Asimov Project: Making me laugh every time I look in the mirror … which was pretty much the goal!