Bon Terra Apartment

I am looking to move to another apartment that is a bit closer to work so I can take the bus straight to Willows building.  I have found a great apartment that sits in the heart of Redmond Town Center but it is a bit pricey.  The apartment is called Bon Terra.  Below are some notes that I have after talking to one of the managers at the condo.

Fees
$500
Non-refundable fee.

$36
Application fee.

$250
Refundable fee.

Rent Prices (as of 3/29/2008)
$1400
1+ den and 1 bath on 3rd floor.  Comes with one parking space in basement including remote control to garage.  A typical 1+den and 1 bath is about 930 sqrt in size.

$1600
2x2 on 2nd floor.  Comes with two parking spaces (tandem) in basement including remote control to garage.  2x2 is about 1092 sqrt in size.

Important Notes

• Renter is responsible for paying their own W/S/G, electricity, and gas.
• There are four floors in the apartment, the basement is used for garage.
• The first floor is level to the ground, so you won't be freezing in the winter.
• There are limited guest parking spaces.
• Close to a lot of buses, available transportation to Seattle Downtown, Willows (Bus #253), Building 118 (Bus #545).
• Rent prices for 2x2 range from $1550 to $1650
• No exercise room
• No swimming pool
• Closed on Sunday
  
  

Leaving Safeco

One word, curiosity.  I have made a choice to move forward with a new adventure where I can be in an environment that fits me, and environment where I am able to explore, learn, think, and break "stuff".  I'm not saying that Safeco is not a place where I am able to do that, but it has its many limits and right now, Safeco and I are not meant for each other. 

I figured out the first month of my work was not the picture that I envisioned after graduation, but I wanted to challenge myself and gave it more time to see if things would speed up and get better.  However, I did not find fun, and I did not find a dynamic environment at Safeco, but I mostly found a lot of road blocks that stopped me from learning, thinking, and most of all, exploring.  I realized that being a software developer, things can be pretty tough when you're paid to think exactly what they want you to think and being different was something that I felt Safeco has a difficult time with.  I failed to see that Safeco really takes the time to keep their talents on board.

Safeco is perhaps not the right fit for me from the beginning, something I realized even from the interview process.  I already sensed a little bug in me when they never asked me any technical questions during my interview, but instead, I did get a lot of HR questions that I felt was rather unnecessary for a software developer position.  As a college student, I accepted the offer and moved on with my life because it was a job offer while I was still in college.

Now that I have completed my one year of service at Safeco, I am finally moving on to something more exciting.  I went to five job interviews, and received three job offers, all three came from great companies.  Now the hardest part of all, must decide one company.

Install AJAX for Visual Studio 2005

This blog entry documents my steps on how to successfully install AJAX Control Toolkit for Visual Studio 2005 with .NET Framework 2.0.

1. Visit the AJAX Control Toolkit download page located here
2. Download the AjaxControlToolkit-NoSource.zip and extract it to a location on your hard drive.
3. Load up Visual Studio 2005, create a new website by clicking on File->Web Site and select "ASP.NET AJAX-Enabled Web Site" under the "Visual Studio installed templates"
4. On your Toolbox window, right click on it and select "Creat Tab"
5. Give your tab a name, I called it "AJAX Control Toolkit"
6. After the tab is created, right click on it and select "Choose Items"
7. The "Choose Toolbox Items" window will pop up. Click on "Browse" and navigate to the AJAX Control Toolkit folder that you extracted from step 2. There, you will find the dll at ..\SampleWebSite\Bin\AjaxControlToolkit.dll. Double click on it and you should be all set to use some of the cool AJAX controls!