Electric City: Going for Broke, Part zwei

This week I've been very anxious about tonight's trip to New York and apartment hunting. Tonight we -- Dobler, my mother and I -- are heading to NYC to view and hopefully rent an apartment. My mother is being very generous by driving us to the city so that we have the ability to stay overnight. Plus, she wants to be present to "check for things [we'll] overlook" like if the toilet flushes and if the microwave works. Initially I was a bit offended by her assumption that we would forget things, but then I admitted to myself that Dobler and I are young and naive, have never rented a real apartment, and would completely be swept up in the whirlwind of Manhattan real estate. We certainly don't need to be babied, but we do need guidance and a pacifier.

Leaving once my mother gets home from work tonight, we are driving to Chambersburgh, Pa., to pick up Dobler. Chambersburg is a little less than half of six-hour trip, so after we pick him up, we plan to drive another hour or more before staying overnight in some random Comfort Inn. We plan to be in the city by 9 or 10 a.m. Saturday, and at 10:30 we meet with Jay "The Studio King" (live and in person!) to view the only two apartments that one in more than a half dozen brokers could find us. Apparently the combination of a $900 maximum budget and the need for a fully accessible building -- elevator, no steps at the building's entrance -- is a nearly impossible order.

The apartments are in the neighborhood of Washington Heights, which is in Upper Manhattan above 155th Street and above Harlem. Yes, the only "affordable" Manhattan housing is above Harlem. The studio is on 157th and the one-bedroom is on 166th, and both are in an 80 percent Latino/Dominican area. Good thing I took those six years of German in high school. Also, if we do end up with one of these places, we'll be within blocks of New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, and that's a big advantage come pneumonia season.

I'm trying hard not to put all my all eggs in one basket, so to speak, but it's difficult when you only have two eggs. Nevertheless, at 1 p.m. we are meeting with Manhattan Apartments, who I hear are hugely impersonal but who also have a mega-database of apartments, to discuss additional nests. I've even heard talk of an $800 studio with utilities included. If this gem exists (probably with a damn stoop rendering it unacceptable), we just may have to ditch the Studio King, who I find to be very friendly and helpful, because, well, we're poor. But we'll see. If we don't find an apartment, at least it'll be a fun day in New York, with an evening spent dragging Dobler around Greenwich Village and Washington Square Park. Perhaps we'll even partake in some Thai food.