yardie's Profile

My previous apartment was a 3rd floor walkup in a 150 year old building. Walls were solid and 1-foot thick but the floors was refurbished wood and some places the floor sank a few centimeters when you walked over it. It was really bad in my sons room and we ended up moving him into the dining room to appease the downstairs neighbors. We were new parents and bumping into things at 3,4,5am wasn't helping our relationship.

Our new place is perfect for kids. The upstairs apartment has been empty for years and our downstairs neighbor is a busy supermarket. Because of this all of our son's friends want to come to our place, all the time. We found out, the hard way, there is no home improvement to be done on sunday or after 9pm.

I guess it depends on the electrical code. Mine won't allow anything 120V+ anywhere near the tub or the sink. You can have outlets off to the side as long as its 3feet away or more (I think).

Unless this is a demo unit for show, or the locality doesn't care about energized devices falling into the tub, someone is playing fast and loose with the code.

BTW, you can get around this buy using low voltage (12VDC) lights and electronics. But I can't imagine how a 30-inch screen uses 12 volts.

$400!? When I was growing up these were popular with scavengers, drug dealers, suspended drivers, and kids with boomboxes. Oh yeah, and old people. I'm sure these can still be found at an estate sale or pawn shop for less than $50.

Unless these things are made of aircraft aluminum or carbon fiber no way are they worth $400

My previous apartment had 10ft ceilings. A nice haussmannian with impeccable mouldings. It made the small rooms look very narrow. It got too hot or too cold. It required more lighting.

It was a great place but the height of the ceilings did nothing for me. I'm sure someone with a large book collection would appreciate the additional storage an extra foot brings. I've seen plenty of homes with bookcase ladders; something that I've only ever previously seen in libraries.

The Velib system is very good. I don't use it that often and prefer to take the metro or walk unless I miss something. Velib is actually a program between advertiser JC Decaux and the city of Paris. The company pays for the bikes and the city grants exclusive access to its network of billboards. Unlike other sponsored bike programs, you'll notice there aren't any ads on the bike itself. It's because the ads are on city owned billboards.

In the beginning they were popular to steal but the novelty wore off, the bikes are heavy, and they are worthless to anyone but the city.

This is part of a much larger program. The mayor is rebuilding streets for only one way traffic, this opens the extra space for wider sidewalks and bike lanes. The only people complaining are commuters who drive to the city. But for city dwellers the decrease in traffic and wider sidewalks is greatly appreciated.

Month to month can be great. But check the terms. In a previous apartment my rent would increase $300/mo if I didn't renew. It could also increase at anytime because the M2M was based on current market rates, and not what you signed at the last renewal.

This was 2006, at the height of the property/rent bubble when rents only ever increased.

If you're good with DIY and basic electronics you can get lights from Dealextreme for less, with many more. Example this 96-led light string http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.7556 is $15. LEDs are cheap so spending $40 for 20 LED is just robbery.