Moving to San Diego soon, looking for some advice/thoughts

[mbillie1]

So OOT, I am fed up with living in Binghamton, NY. I've recently gotten on somewhat mediocre to bad terms with the rest of my family (who live around Albany for the most part) and I am no longer enrolled in the college here, so I am going to move. I have considered moving to NYC and that is still a distinct possibility, but my ultimate goal is San Diego. I have a friend who lives there now who has been helping me apply for various jobs so I can land on my feet when I get out there. The thing is, I don't have a 4-year college degree yet so I'm not looking at anything baller. $35k/year would be probably pretty good. Question #1: is it possible to transfer all of my credits from a 4-year school to a 2-year school and convert them into an Associates Degree? This sounds way too good to be true so I imagine that this is not possible, but if it is I will do it.

Some relevant background on me: I am extremely low-maintenance. I can easily survive with TV, internet and a bed. I currently don't have a place in my name (staying with a friend and splitting his bills) but his lease is up at the end of May. I can find lease-free housing for another few weeks after that, probably if I end up staying here any longer than late June though I will have to sign a lease or stay in a hotel or something. I currently have like, no money saved. I have a car though, which is a major bonus. I also have all of my meaningful possessions ready to throw into my car so I can drive out to San Diego. Assuming I can get a job lined up, how much money do you think I need to stash up before I go out there? I am thinking about $4K, mostly to cover rent+deposit on an apartment and food, gas and various other startup costs until I get checks from work. Is this an absurdly low number, or could I get by at first with less?

Also, does anyone know off the top of his or her head what a good, easy place to get a job in San Diego is? I have work experience, type around 90WPM, am familiar with any normal computer software (Word, Excel, etc etc), some college and 3-4 years of work experience with references. Ideal working conditions for me are as follows:

Inside (AC)
Not physical labor (eg desk work, data entry, office bitch work, etc)
Having a chair (no I'm not fat, I'm 5'10" 150lbs but still, I like to sit)

I plan on driving out to San Diego as soon as I can accumulate/borrow (my rich step sister may be getting an email soon) around $4k. I am not the pussy type of person who would get bored or depressed driving for days. I love road trips and I could easily survive the drive with red bull, cigarettes and snickers bars. My car gets awesome gas mileage (around 40mpg highway). I have estimated the total travel costs (assuming it takes 3-4 days and I crash in my car for one or two of the nights) to be $350-500, mostly gas. However I completely just made that number up.

Here's a Google Earth screenshot of where my friend lives. He said he could get help me find a place nearby and has emailed me a few potential places to live.



My biggest questions aside from places to work are like, what's the cable TV situation like out there? What are the available providers? How are utilities for a 1-bedroom or studio apartment? How much is reasonable to pay for a halfway decent 1-bedroom or studio apartment, without getting fleeced?

Also, I realize San Diego is much more expensive than Binghamton. But the weather here kills me. This place is poor and rainy and miserable. The fast food in San Diego is spectacular. I have one of my best friends living there who can help me out once I actually move out there, but at the moment I am looking for preliminary advice. Obviously I will provide a trip report with pics once I leave. My timeframe for leaving is basically now to 4 weeks from now, as soon as I can save/earn/gambool what I feel is a comfortable amount of money to head out there. If I get offered a job (I've applied for a few, though suggestions and advice are much appreciated) I might make it even sooner.

Oh, just FWIW I have kinda bad credit, not awful but not great, so getting a cash-advance isn't really an option. I have enough credit to get a place to rent, but I'm not going to get a $10k CC balance or anything.

All advice is greatly appreciated, as well as comments on the overall unpreparedness of this endeavor. But honestly, life's more fun when it's spontaneous. There's absolutely nothing keeping me in Binghamton now, so I see no reason to keep living in such a hell-hole when I could go see what's out there in CA and not get snowed on in April.

Thanks in advance,
Mark

[edfurlong]

Poor people can live in San Diego?

[Bulbarainey]

dont know much about numbers for moving out and stuff, but i did live in north county san diego and was all around town a lot for about 12 years... imo the place to party trashy style is pacific beach. loose hoes, cheap drinks, no need to dress up at all. the only thing i think that is negative about the whole SD area is the motivation factor of the average person. people there tend to be kinda lazy, most my friends can barely handle a 40hr work week, and even the honors kids i knew arent graduating with their 4yr degrees until next year, and they shoulda been done 2 years ago.
i think part of this is the general lack of 'ballerness.' yea there are some major ballers in sd, but on the average, you dont see a whole lot of the new hot [censored] in cars and stuff on the road, or a lot of people living in real nice places, or pursuing high paying careers to the same extent as LA or LV.

[mbillie1]

[ QUOTE ]
the only thing i think that is negative about the whole SD area is the motivation factor of the average person. people there tend to be kinda lazy, most my friends can barely handle a 40hr work week, and even the honors kids i knew arent graduating with their 4yr degrees until next year, and they shoulda been done 2 years ago.
i think part of this is the general lack of 'ballerness.' yea there are some major ballers in sd, but on the average, you dont see a whole lot of the new hot [censored] in cars and stuff on the road, or a lot of people living in real nice places, or pursuing high paying careers to the same extent as LA or LV.

[/ QUOTE ]

This has only reinforced my desire to move there...

[Shadowrun]

Good luck Mark with your endeavors.

[adsman]

Please make friends with this guy.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showth...=0#Post10252383

[omgitsmatt]

me you and tuffish can go to viejas

SD is turbo expensive. I paid $600/mo with 2 roommates and that was a steal. If you want to live by yourself get ready for ~1200/mo depending on where you want to live. If you want to live in La Jolla or near UCSD it'll be like 1400 for a single bedroom apt.

If you want to live further south by PB or in Mission Valley by SDSU you're probably looking at 1k/mo. This is obv for living alone. If you're looking for a roommate you're looking at more like 600-800/mo, depending on where.

btw EVERYTHING is more expensive here. I just paid $3.33 for gas, etc etc. Make sure you take that into consideration. I luckboxed my way into a nice job so I'm not stressing it too hard, but also bc I don't live in San Diego, I'm about an hour north.

[omgitsmatt]

[ QUOTE ]

i think part of this is the general lack of 'ballerness.' yea there are some major ballers in sd, but on the average, you dont see a whole lot of the new hot [censored] in cars and stuff on the road, or a lot of people living in real nice places, or pursuing high paying careers to the same extent as LA or LV.

[/ QUOTE ]

Might want to drive into La Jolla for a bit. $1m+ beachside condos might not look baller but believe me, they're there. There's a reason that <4 blocks separate a Maserati/Ferrari dealership, the Lambo/AM/Bentley dealership, and the Merc dealership.

TBQH though it's the same with any place. If you want to smoke yourself retarded in San Diego you def can (check out Garnet Ave.) but if you are committed and driven there's definitely places like UCSD and it's various institutions (Salk Institute, Scripps Aquarium, UCSD Med, etc) where you can pretty much do anything you want.

[XXXNoahXXX]

[ QUOTE ]

My biggest questions aside from places to work are like, what's the cable TV situation like out there?

[/ QUOTE ]

This made me laugh out loud. Nicely done.

[mbillie1]

[ QUOTE ]
me you and tuffish can go to viejas

[/ QUOTE ]

What's that? I'm preemptively down though, since I'm down with almost anything.

[ QUOTE ]
SD is turbo expensive. I paid $600/mo with 2 roommates and that was a steal. If you want to live by yourself get ready for ~1200/mo depending on where you want to live. If you want to live in La Jolla or near UCSD it'll be like 1400 for a single bedroom apt.

If you want to live further south by PB or in Mission Valley by SDSU you're probably looking at 1k/mo. This is obv for living alone. If you're looking for a roommate you're looking at more like 600-800/mo, depending on where.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was checking out 1bedroom places on Craigslist San Diego for 600-800, although they could be total dumps for all I know. I don't mind having a one-bedroom place, although $1k/mo is a little on the steep side.

One of my awesome skills that Binghamton has taught me is how to grimy my way into cheap stuff. I'll nose out a really cheap place to live, and I don't mind living in a so-so to fairly-dumpy place at first. The last 3 places I've lived here have been dumps, lol. As long as it's a dump with TV/internet and a bed I can deal.

[ QUOTE ]
btw EVERYTHING is more expensive here. I just paid $3.33 for gas, etc etc. Make sure you take that into consideration. I luckboxed my way into a nice job so I'm not stressing it too hard, but also bc I don't live in San Diego, I'm about an hour north.

[/ QUOTE ]

I dunno, gas in NYC is right around there, same with Chicago when I was out there last month or so. My car gets awesome mileage so I'm not too worried about that specifically. As for everything else, I mean I have all the clothes/cds/TV/computer/books stuff taken care of. Fast food is cheap and I can probably survive for months at a time on those Jack-In-The-Box 2 for $.99 tacos. Not to mention In and Out Burger, the thought of which is actually causing me to salivate.

Thanks for the advice, I'll let you know how my apartment-finding quest goes as it progresses.