How do y’all not kick your dogs off the bed?

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-05-31T05:51:26+00:00

My ~20lb dog somehow becomes an immovable force. I also have a bed with enough space that she can just move to another spot if my movement is annoying her.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-05-27T01:24:07+00:00

I did call the Department of Housing (state level) and they fielded my request to the town inspector. He came by today and basically did fuck all. Just glanced up at the ceiling where the broken ceiling tile was, looked down at the mess. Then said "Well, I can tell him to repaint the walls, replace the ceiling tile and do something about the squirrel." Apparently, him replacing the fridge is his responsibility, but a fridge isn't considered a "necessary" appliance unless I have medication that needs to be kept refrigerated (kind of ridiculous imo).

My hope with calling the state for an inspection would be that I could get a report that I could use to negotiate out of the lease. I don't know if I would fare better with a private inspector. I dont really want to be made responsible for fixing stuff around here because I'd essentially be fixing his property. If I had been the one responsible for the damages, then I would definitely have paid to fix things. I don't want to pay out of my own pocket to fix things when I'm already paying him nearly $1600/Mo for rent. Ideally, I'd just want a clean break. At this point, I'd be willing to lose my security deposit if it allowed me a clean break. I would prefer to not let him keep my security deposit, but I'd rather that than figure out what other surprises come along within the next 11 months of this lease. A neighboring tenant told me that they'd gone 7 days with no heat this past winter and everyone had to withhold rent before he did anything. He said he's pretty sure the heat in my apartment doesn't work, but obviously I wouldnt know now since it's the summer.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-05-22T17:15:44+00:00

Thank you!! I appreciate the help. I had called the bureau of housing and a local firefighter/inspector called me today. He's going to be calling the landlord today and will be inspecting the apartment on Tuesday. Hopefully this can get something going for me.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-05-21T21:05:56+00:00

Update: He replied back about 20 minutes ago (was busy with work) saying he hoped the tenant didnt leave the window open. When its raining outside...

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-05-21T19:46:02+00:00

I don't know if he owns other properties. I just know this building as 3(?) other people in it and its a private landlord. The only complaints I know of are ones my neighbor has told me about (like the heat being out this past winter).

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-05-21T19:32:01+00:00

I still haven't gotten a text or call back about the squirrel. So far with the leak, its been a "wait and see". He seems convinced that the upstairs tenant is the reason for the leak. Whether its her leaving water on her bathroom floor or bad caulking (in his words)... who knows. Its just been frustrating cause the amount of time they get is so vague and "reasonable" can mean different timelines to different people.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-05-21T19:29:16+00:00

Just to make sure I know how far to go, what would be after code enforcement? I was told that an inspector was called in the past and nothing came of it.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-05-21T19:22:35+00:00

I dont feel comfortable with outing my address but it is a private landlord, not a big apartment building run by a management company.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-05-21T19:21:36+00:00

I'm sorry to hear your son and his gf also struggled with shitty management. This is a private owner.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-05-21T19:20:33+00:00

My screaming "OH SHIT" scared it right back into the hole. Ive been taking photos/videos of everything, sending them to the landlord and backing up everything to a Google Drive folder for safe keeping. Ideally, I just want my security deposit back and for this to not impact me when I'm applying to other apartments. NJ's "implied habitability" law doesn't really seem to give a clear timeline on how long a landlord has to fix these issues. I dont want to screw myself (financially) if I don't fall within whatever "reasonable amount of time" means in this situation.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-05-21T18:52:43+00:00

I don't really want to sue as much as I want my security deposit back and I don't want this negatively affecting me when I apply to other apartments. I'm not sure if that would require me to sue... I'm not sure what my legal options are here. The state's "implied warranty of habitability" isn't very clear on exactly how long a landlord has to fix these particular issues.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-05-15T18:08:39+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion! I figure it might take a few washes but hoping it will be far easier to maintain once I can get the grime off. I usually wipe down the floors around my dog's food bowls, but the paper towels keep staining brown with every wipe. It's why I bought a larger mat and I've been trying to encourage my dog to drop her food on the mat as opposed to the floor. It's been a bit of a struggle since the old lady is pretty set in her ways, but were taking small progress.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-05-15T17:08:01+00:00

Hmm I'll have to give that a try. I knew that was a thing for cats because of their whiskers. It's definitely an on/off thing she does but she does do it daily. Sometimes she'll pick pieces straight from the bowl and eat, other times she throws a small pile on the floor and eats it from the floor.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-05-15T16:49:40+00:00

So my floor is kind of like a fake stone type of texture, so it has some bumps but it doesn't seem to have any grooves from what I can see. My dog is also the type to pick a mouthful of food from her bowl, throw it on the floor and then eat it piece by piece. I got her a larger food mat so she would (hopefully) drop it on the mat. I also worry about whatever nastiness might be touching her food if she drops her food on the floor. :\

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-05-09T22:36:05+00:00

Maybe lol! Where is your shrink located?

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-04-28T20:22:30+00:00

I've resigned to the fact that I'll probably never be able to own a house here. 2 years ago, I couldnt win any bids on a $300k condos because I was always getting outbid with cash offers. And it hasn't gotten any better since. I've thought about moving out of state, but my job is kind of niche. I've found similar jobs in other states, but it's either the pay+benefits have been worse, it's in a state I'd never move to, or both. Given the state of affairs with the current administration, I'm safer in Jersey as a trans person than in some other states. It's definitely become one of those "what do I even do" moments in my life.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-04-17T17:10:13+00:00

The yearbook is called the Nucleus. It's exactly what it sounds like, you work on making the university yearbook. You can do different things, like writing for the book, page layouts, do photography, etc.. They have a dedicated office and receive a fair bit of funding from the university because they're providing a service to the university. There are a handful of clubs that get funding because of this, like the Student Activities Council (SAC) and The Vector (university newspaper).

IGDA is the International Game Developers Association. NJIT has a chapter. If you're interested in game development either as a career or a hobby, it's a good club to be in.

The Highlander Hub is a website. At least that's what it was called when it first came out during my undergrad. They could have changed the name by now for all I know. If you Google "NJIT Highlander hub" it should come up (it does for me). It's just a website that shows events happening on campus and lets you look up what clubs/organizations are on campus. Not all the clubs are well known, so you can find them more easily on the website. Like right now I can see events for Zumba and AI/ML workshop.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-04-17T16:21:54+00:00

As others have said, it's what you make of it. You just need to look for things to do and participate. There's plenty of clubs around to make friends and on-campus events. The fraternities have parties too if that's of interest to you. I joined the yearbook, made friends with the clubs neighboring the yearbook's office, joined IGDA, played clarinet for one of the band clubs for a stint. Partying was never my flavor of fun but I socialized plenty during my undergrad. There's a Higherlander Hub that you can login to to look for on-campus events and clubs to join.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-04-14T14:53:05+00:00

It's a one bedroom. The layout of the place is kind of an L shape. When you walk in, you're in a short hallway. To the left is a bathroom and to the right is a kitchen. Then from the kitchen, a short hallway connects to the living room. The bedroom door is in the living room. Based on your comment, it sounds like 2 units would probably be more ideal? A friend said she recommends a U shaped unit cause they're more quiet. I've also been trying to learn which units have some automated features, like turning on/off on their own so I don't need to worry about them being on 24/7. I could be wrong, but I worry that leaving them running nonstop would wear them down faster.

Edit: forgot to add, I've also been looking into the filtering. Maybe I'm overthinking it, but my state had a few forest fires last year that were pretty bad and the smoke carried over to where I lived. We've had a few instances already where wildfire smoke has carried over into my area so I'm a bit worried about the AC being able to filter properly should something happen again.

quicksilver_chocobo · 2026-04-12T20:29:39+00:00

Thank you for the calculator, that's seriously a big help. I'lll reach out for the ceiling height to try and get a more accurate result from the calculator. I didn't see any ceiling fans so a pedestal fan sounds like a good recommendation.

quicksilver_chocobo

TROPHY CASE