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I lived here for about three months, having taken over someone's lease when I moved out to Seattle. I moved out as soon as the lease was up.
Living here is a bit like living in a college dorm....
I lived here for about three months, having taken over someone's lease when I moved out to Seattle. I moved out as soon as the lease was up.
Living here is a bit like living in a college dorm. There are a lot of young people with loud music, everyone thinks he's a rich big shot because "OT8" (as they prefer to be called) push that yuppie image, and if you actually want help with anything, you'd better be prepared to talk to employee after employee, all of whom are friendly but unable to help.
Parking is adequate, the rooms are reasonable but cheaply furnished (cheap carpeting, cheap fake-wood laminate in the kitchen (which the employee who showed me the room tried to pass off as real hardwood), cheap linoleum in the bathroom). The public areas are decorated in a weird modern style (orange paint, lots of bare cement and perforated brushed aluminum) that's apparently supposed to be classy. Two flat-screen TVs, set to different channels and with the volume up, blare at the entrance to the elevators at all times.
There's nothing materially wrong with these apartments, though I should note that the price reflects more demand in this area than it does their amenities (move a few blocks out of first hill and save a few hundred per month). But more to the point, there's no sense of individuality; all the apartments, all the tenants, are just faceless identical units leased by a faceless management company.
And about that company: While I was a tenant, I was forced to move into a temporary, furnished (with the chintziest of chintzy IKEA furniture) apartment while electrical renovations were done to my apartment. This meant I got two and a half weeks of rent-free.
Upon moving out a short time later, still without that credit having been applied to my account (thus having to pay the full amount for my remaining month to avoid late fees), I was owed the balance for the "rent free" time plus my deposit--a balance that came to roughly a grand.
Needless to say (I wouldn't be posting this here if it all went smoothly), two months and many, many polite, impatient, and, finally, threatening phone calls later, I finally have my check. All because the employee who took down my new address miscopied it (despite my calling back to make sure they had the right address on file, and despite my calling back to see if the check had returned ("No, you should get it in a few days!")).
If you absolutely must live in this block (say, if you work at the hospital), you could do worse (like a cardboard box). But "OT8" are neither classy, homey, or nice. To paraphrase "Fight Club," One Thousand Eighth Avenue Apartments are filing cabinets for widows and young professionals. With crappy management.
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The Sharehouse (http://www.thesharehouse.org/) take furniture in the Seattle area, but they won't take stuff that's really old and grungy.
They also do pickup.
The Sharehouse (http://www.thesharehouse.org/) take furniture in the Seattle area, but they won't take stuff that's really old and grungy.
They also do pickup.
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I visited Dr. Rowland on a recommendation.
The hygienist who took my X-Rays was a bit silly (her bedside chatter was just plain weird) and she confided in me, while taking her time with one side...
I visited Dr. Rowland on a recommendation.
The hygienist who took my X-Rays was a bit silly (her bedside chatter was just plain weird) and she confided in me, while taking her time with one side of my face, that that wasn't her "good side" and that X-Rays are "harder than they look." I appreciated her candor.
The hygienist who cleaned my teeth was friendly and careful, but frequently seemed distracted by the bird feeder out the window, to the point of looking away while cleaning near my gums (painful!) and wasting my time when I was in a hurry to get back to work.
Dr. Rowland herself was also friendly and had a great bedside manner, but after glancing at my X-Rays, she confirmed that I had a cavity in one of my molars. Given the state of my oral hygiene (very good) and that I'd had no problems when I was at the dentist six months ago (a different dentist, of course), I decided to seek a second opinion.
The other dentist I went to said he saw no such cavities on the X-Ray (the dark crescent that I pointed out to him, the crescent that I remembered Dr. Rowland pointing out to me, unless I misunderstood her, he dismissed as "nothing but an artifact"). When he inspected my molars, he said the groove was a bit deep in my tooth, but he certainly wouldn't do anything about it, certainly, he said, he wouldn't drill it and put in a filling (the fix Dr. Rowland insisted upon).
Needless to say, I called back Dr. Rowland about this. The receptionist became a bit short with me when she decided I was impugning Dr. Rowland's diagnosis; I was apologetic and said that obviously I didn't know anything about dentistry, but what was I to do? I asked if she could have Dr. Rowland call me back and give me her advice, which she promised she would do, but I never received the call.
I'm not sure I'd venture to say this is anywhere near malpractice; I hope it is merely a bit of professional disagreement. However, having only been to Dr. Rowland once, and having previously never had any cavities, having had even Dr. Rowland's hygienist say everything "looks fine," I'm strongly disinclined to trust her diagnosis on this, and, as a result, far less than confident in her ability as a whole.
Your mileage, of course, may vary; the individuals who referred me to Dr. Rowland still swear by her.
6 Months Later: I just went in to my new dentist, the one who didn't see any cavities. He still doesn't see any cavities.
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