Urban living

As mentioned earlier, we're living this month in a lovely condo in Palo Alto Central, right next to the train station. I like to pretend we've rented a flat in a foreign country and are experiencing a different culture. Okay, it's not really that different, but it is sort of. It's very nice to be so close to everything, and so close to work. I walk either to or from work (or both) every day... I'll miss that when we move home. Kurt was initially worried that I wouldn't want to move back home, but although there are a lot of plusses here (like a gazillion restaurants within walking distance, Izzy's bagels just down the street (which has great coffee of all things), living so close to work, etc.) there are some downsides.

For one, we have never lived in an apartment or condo with a dog. Taking the dog out to do her business is not just a few steps out the door, but down two flights of stairs. And since there's lots of interesting stuff going on outside means it takes the dog a while to do her business. She's just not used to all the distractions! Living so close to others is also a challenge because the dog reacts to sounds in other apartments. We seem to have one neighbor who likes to get in very late at night and another early in the morning, and we have to hold onto the dog so she won't start barking. But she's slowly getting used to it.

There's also a lot of activity outside until pretty late at night. Since it's hot, we have been sleeping with the window open, so we haven't been sleeping as well as we'd like. I miss the quiet of our house.

All in all, it's a nice change of pace, but I'll be glad to get home in a week (which it looks like is where we're heading next).