I know it's been a while, but I really haven't had that much to write about nor have I had an Internet connection to post those thoughts with if I did have something to say. However, I will detail the apartment hunt for you. Starting this past Saturday, Katie and I started searching for some apartments. We went all over Aurora, North Aurora, Geneva, Batavia and St. Charles looking for anything worthwhile that wouldn't cost an entire paycheck. Needless to say the ones that cost less looked worse than my DeKalb apartment and the ones we really liked nearly required a loan from the bank. After that day, Katie and I were ready to throw in the towel. We were exhausted and just didn't want to bother anymore. But, we went out the next day and focused on the Fox Valley Mall area just to see. The first complex sucked. Not horrible, but it wasn't one of those places we would necessarily feel safe in. The second place wasn't bad despite being owned by the same company that owned one of the most overpriced complexes from the day before (not to mention being the one with the smallest available apartments). Our spirits started to lift a bit. Then we found the creme de la creme. I don't mean that it was the most beautiful apartment in the world, but it was very nice with a somewhat reasonable pricetag. Good layout, good location, good price, good amenities. Although I'm sure we'll look at more places just to compare, I'm sure this one will remain in the running for quite a while. Thus, Phase I of The Great Apartment Hunt.