The Big Move!

In September of 2002, Alexey and Tyler decided to move to Los Angeles! This is the story of making the big jump to a new life.

Tyler and Alexey's California Adventure

Click here to play in .wmv

Before and after pictures of:

MY OLD HOME IN WELLESLEY ....................................THE NEW HOME IN STUDIO CITY CA

So we decided to move away from home! It was a task which took Alexey and myself over a year to think of and plan. Sadly our ducks did not end up getting into a row, instead they ended up flying all over the place and never staying where they were asked to stay. So... We left Boston for our trip to LA in the afternoon on Monday September 23rd at 3:30 PM. Before we left, we had tons of work to do, including cleaning my old house and packing every last ounce of shit I could pack. Sadly, I had to sell my home theater and some other items, just to have enough cash to make it out to LA.

The moving truck arrived, on time and without a problem on September 22nd, the day before we left. It was a very nice day, as you can tell. Sadly, if we had known then what we know now, we might not have moved quite as much stuff and maybe would have even used a different company, but lets leave that decision for later.

 

This is about half our stuff, in fact its only my stuff. In reality, this picture would have been FULL TO THE RIM with boxes. But this shows the movers in progress. Its good to note that the boxes seen above are in GOOD shape, we'll see how they look when they arrive, which will be later on this web site.

 
One of my favorite pictures is this one. If you look closely you'll see two boxes on the ground. Look closer and you'll begin to see that they are orange and they are sideways. That's because they FELL off the back of the moving truck! That's right! FELL! Of course they were full of valuable goodies that can't be replaced, but that's OK, we are insured! I plan on using the insurance for all that its worth when the packages arrive!

After our movers came and went. We had the rest of the day off to do what we wanted. I don't remember exactly what I did, but it was probably saying good bye to a few friends before I walked out on them!

When Monday morning came around, there was a sense of excitement in the air, but nothing could prepare us for what happened next! We boarded an airplane and took off from Logan airport in Boston for a trip to Los Angeles, but was not ordinary trip, this ticket was a one way, we were staying and saying good bye to a life what we both choose to leave behind.

The arrival in LA was pretty much standard. Alexey and I were pretty much sea sick after spending 7 hours or so in a plane, next time, I'd appreciate the stops. We met up with Stacie and she drove us through down town LA towards what would be our new home at the Oakwoods, a high class joint for students and actors a like.

For more then a week, our job was to sit around at the Oakwoods and find jobs, find a home, find cars and most importantly, find where we belong in a city we did not know.

The Internet was our gateway to finding all we needed, but it was tedious work and was never fun. This is where both Alexey and myself were sick to death of hanging around and sleeping on the floor.

It was pretty much blind luck, but all of a sudden, one day we found a place that fit us well. It happened to be in a nice side of town, Studio City, and it was a very nice. We did not feel it was for us, but the rent was cheap, so we bit. Well, we bit hard and here we are.

The Place is very nice

After a bit of car searching, Alexey found himself a very nice 1992 Mitsubishi Eclipse 5 speed with some minor fixable problems for only 2200! I was very impressed and we bit immediately and drove it home!

Now for me, it was a bit more difficult then that: I wanted a truck! I looked and looked and nothing was catching my attention. I was running out of patients and money. Alexey was driving me around and the two of us were pretty upset that nothing was going well for my vehicle search. Then one day I was looking around and found the car of my dreams, a nice 1996 BMW 328si in very good condition and I offerred the dealer 9,000 for it as a joke. He laughed and was able to do 9,500! I thought he was joking, but he was not. A few days later, the paperwork was done and I had myself a wonderful car!

 

The Car:

Well to make a long story short, I decided to go all out on a car, due to the fact that I've never owned a car before!

This is a 1996 BMW 328i with some minor upgrades including:

  • UUC Motorworks Swaybars
  • Bilstein BTS suspension system
  • Einbach Strut tower brace
  • M3 Bushings
  • M3 Engine control unit and Vanos system
  • K&N Air Filter
  • Europad Aspestos break pads
  • M3 Drilled Rotors
  • Dunlop 8000 tires
  • Blaupunkt Toronto CD head unit

So basically, a fucking kickass car. By the end of 2003, it will be even more kickass!! WOOP!

So, The movers arrived the 31'st of October with our shit in hand! Of course they dropped several boxes off the back of the truck, including my monitor box, but thats OK, we are going to get our money back anyhow! It was 31 days since we had given them the OK to send our stuff and it had been 48 days since we had left boston! So, I guess they were a bit behind schedule after saying the max it would take to ship was 14 days!

AGRH!

 

This is the hallway leading to our apartment. Its the last door on the right, which you can't see! But you CAN see its an all external place, no cover for the rain, but it does not rain, so who cares?

In my honest opinion, I have the better room. Here is the door to my room and private bathroom to the left. Just incase you can't read the sign on the bathroom door, it says:" Employees only". This was something I wanted to put on my bathroom door so that people who did not belong in my house, did not feel that door led to anything else byt a closet! hehe..People who knew my Boston house might recognise the door layout, which is almost identical, besides the Vertigo poster.

Here is my room! Its me taking a picture towards my closet which has a mirror on it. Its a great room! Much more spacious then my room in Boston which kinda blew. This room WILL have posters all over the place when its done, but for the time being, its kinda plain. The pictures below illustrate the room in different angles, but due check out the video files, they are much more intresting to watch because you can really get a feel for how BIG the room really is when on video, rather then stills!