A Welcome Change.

Got my housing packet info thingy in the mail yesterday, and received quite a surprise when I opened it. Back in the Spring when I applied I put down Manzanita Village, the brand new still being built at the time dorm area as my first choice, and San Miguel, the dorm I'd been in for three years running, as my second choice. When I got the initial acceptance of my contract, it showed me as getting a single again in San Miguel. I spent the next few months talking myself out of Manzanita, for reasons such as the possibility construction wouldn't be finished, major utilities or the internet might not be working, and reasons such as a greater distance from most classes, and the 217 freeway, as well as proximity to IV. Well, it turns out something got bumped along the way, and I ended up getting into Manzanita. There actually are a lot of pros to go with the cons, the largest of which is that of the 800 or so slots available in that dorm, only 400 will be given to freshmen, so there will be a lot more upper classmen there. I've dealt with freshmen for a while, and I'm pretty bored of them. Another plus is that everything will be brand new, assuming it's all done and working. I'll be eating at Carrillo instead of Ortega, which is the brand new dining commons that's been under construction for over a year since it was previously an eatery for those living in San Rafael. The description seems to say on a daily basis things will be "cooked to your order" so to speak, including stations like Mongolian Barbeque. My building is the closest one to the food, which should be nice. :)

So, for all your stalking needs, I recommend checking out the Las Encinas Quad in Manzanita Village at UCSB, and I'll even narrow it down to Arguello House. To be even more discrete, I'll complain about how I did end up on the first floor. The good news is my building is four stories instead of three like most of them, but of the 17 buildings in the Village, mine has the smallest number of people. That means 40 people in the building divied up over 4 floors. In comparison, just on my floor back in San Miguel, there was 25 residents, with 50 total being on my "unit hall" of my floor and the female floor below us. Seems like there will be a lot less traffic, with only 10 people or so living on each floor. I'm wondering how the exterior door keys will work, if it will be the same one for only Arguello House, or all of Las Encinas Quad, or all of Manzanita Village. Needing a different key for each building would be pretty lame. You'd think they'd at least allow you into the buildings in your quad. More good news from the phone usage front, they've gotten rid of the old stupid way of hitting flash then dialing *01 to answer call waiting, now only the flash key is needed. That was really annoying, because no one ever did it right. So starting September 19th you can start mailing me at my new address at school.

PO Box 15324, UCSB
Santa Barbara, CA 93107

And the countdown begins. I'm up early because I'm working back downtown at the place I was for today, I figure more spending money isn't a terrible thing since I didn't have plans today anyway.