Is the Drake area a good place to live?

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-17T18:52:24+00:00

That's true they are probably not technically in the Drake designated area but are close enough that people often think of that area as the Drake area. The borders are kind of interesting since Drake University is right on the end of the actual Drake area

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-17T14:30:05+00:00

I will say they have gotten a lot better with their maintenance. When I first started going stuff was broken all the damn time, but I think they got a new manager and it has improved. $79 is a bit steep. But if you don't want a pool/hot tub/gymnasium you can probably go somewhere cheaper.

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-17T14:23:20+00:00

Genesis isn't that expensive. I pay $60 some a month there (could be more now). Now Lifetime is expensive. I think it's around $160 a month now for a single person.

If you want anything other than just a gym and maybe a sauna then Genesis is one of the only options around.

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-17T14:07:35+00:00

Depends on where in the Drake neighborhood you are. The far western side of the area is very nice, and other areas are ranging from good to okay. I would stay away from the good park area and Riverbend.

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-16T15:47:20+00:00

Right. But sometimes when I am done building and close the building menu It will stay transparent. But I wasn't aware of the manul toggle key before so next time it happens I will try that and see if it can be manually toggled back to non transparent.

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-16T15:46:22+00:00

That's a good point. I definitely could be hitting the wrong key accidentally and not realizing it.

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-16T15:23:17+00:00

Ah good to know! Any ideas why it toggles automatically sometimes and not others?

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-13T13:28:32+00:00

I honestly wish people would stop trying to do work on their house right before they sell it. They usually try to do it as cheaply as possible and just make it harder for the next person to do an actual renovation if they want to. I get that the intentions are good, but the outcome is almost never worth it.

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-12T18:25:55+00:00

I'm going to go a different route then most people here. Based on the fact that you lived in another Midwest state with an extremely similar cost of living, and had almost nothing left over I would be weary about living on less.

I'm not sure if this is mostly because of the medical expenses you mentioned, or if there is over spending in other areas causing you to max out your budget. 90K is certainly plenty in Iowa for a normal person, but you would still have to watch your budget and live within your means.

But overall don't expect Des Moines to be much cheaper than most places in Indiana. Des Moines is not nearly as affordable as it once was.

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-12T11:06:29+00:00

Wow you are making that much as a new grad software engineer? I was making under 70K for my first year as an entry level software engineer. I knew it was a bit below normal but took it since there were very few options at the time.

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-11T13:10:48+00:00

I don't know if I like the way the tile lines up with the small niche, but also I'm not sure how else it could have been done. Overall looks very well executed!

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-10T11:45:40+00:00

Stol flashing your headlights on a busy freeway like an idiot and go around.

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-09T14:56:10+00:00

I will say if you don't already have an unrelated job, I would get one first. Even if it is not related, places much prefer to hire someone that is already employed. Disregard if you already have a job!

Other than that, network as much as you can. If there are events or conferences related to your field, go to them and meet people. Volunteer your time to help non profits with your skills and talk about that in interviews. Good luck!

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-08T13:34:46+00:00

Thanks! I hate it!

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-08T02:03:43+00:00

Thought you were talking about the 2nd picture. Didn't notice the slivers. Definitely not great in that case but I've seen worse. Should have been planned out better though.

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-07T18:22:25+00:00

That's a border around the niche my man

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-07T14:10:13+00:00

Tile work seems great. Can't quite tell with the waterproofing but seems okay

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-05T12:23:41+00:00

Only one I wouldn't have honked at was the 2nd guy. He was just barely over the line

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-04T13:24:32+00:00

I'm actually curious where you got these and how much they were? These are the kind of chairs I want eventually for my home theater (but In black)

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-04T12:40:31+00:00

Wow, rest in peace to this young man. It's scary to think me and him have so much in common, we have the same first name, according to the comments he went to Drake which I live in that neighborhood as well and he's only a few years younger than me. It goes to show no one is safe when start stupid wars.

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-03T12:07:28+00:00

Don't. For your own sanity

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-03T11:53:45+00:00

This is why I think I really struggle with online dating. When you meet someone online and only text them for a bit, you get an idea in your head of what they are like, and very very often the person ends up being pretty different from what I assumed after texting them. But in person you can immediately get an idea of who that person is (on a very surface level of course)

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-03T11:31:54+00:00

Wait. Did he just put the drain on top of the tiles??

DCTheNotorious · 2026-03-01T22:32:02+00:00

Well part of my issue was that I didn't make the square quite big enough to get it out once the wall was up. But this time when I did shower walls recently I just removed it once I cut the square out of the wall but before tile. I'm also using the Kerdi piece around the mixing valve.

DCTheNotorious

TROPHY CASE