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It’s tomorrow. You have a PayPal account?
If you’re in a hotel with a shower with soap and shampoo, you can do laundry by throwing a few clothes in the bottom of the shower, showering, rinsing the clothes out, wringing the water out, and then hanging them up to dry.
This is basically how I did all my laundry in grad school.
The light rail is a really good way to cross town. Was this not an option?
Policy dctates that they have to post the opening publicly. I “officially” applied today. HR acknowledged receipt of the app and has ordered the background check. There is every indication that tbe public post is a formality and they want me for the job.
On the housing front, the VA set me up with a shelter with an employment assistance program. So a bed, lock up for my bags, and a couple meals a day. Cash on hand sufficient for a few weeks mass transit use. Facilities here for hygiene and laundry.
Thanks for helpful advice and well wishes, Dopers!
Sounds like you’re coping well. Good luck and keep us posted.
I wouldn’t loan money to you. I would, however, stake a $200 buy in at a $1-2 NL table for you and split your winnings. Pretty sure that’s +EV for me.
Good to see you have a place to stay before you find something permanent. Keep us posted!
Are you local? My background check may take a few days. I actually applied for the poker room manager position at one of the rooms, but they took an internal applcant. I’d really rather the hotel job anyway, but I gotta have outs.
Is the SDMB game still going on at PokerStars?
Not local. The game is still on, but not too many players these days. Not unusual for a game to be cancelled.
So, did you ever figure out anything? Still without a place or what?
I am, perhaps not-so-strangely, compelled by this thread.
I think it’s a helluva thing doing what you’re doing. I was thiiiiis close to moving cross-country about 7 or so years ago (to Arizona coincidentally) but your situation right now scared me to the point of not doing it.
Please keep updating!
Sorry for lapse in updates. I’ve gotten some temporary housing assistance from the VA. It’s actually a far better situation than I could have expected, with meals and job search assistance. Hopefully, tbe latter will prove unnecessary. I consented to the background check on Monday morning. Hearing back tomorrow would be a pleasant surprise, but we’re probably looking at early next week.
These people have also been setting me up on appointments and driving me to VA offices, the hospital, etc. Apparently, my homeless status makes it easier to get services. Homeless. According to them, that’s what I am. I’ve been truthful with them about my situation and they say that if the only relatives who can put me up are over 1000 miles away and too poor to send me two weeks of hotel rent, that’s what I am.
Of course going home to no job and no prospects would only make things worse in the long run. Just need a roof and a bed. This job is so close. And even if it falls through, there are others here. I can’t believe the support here. While this facility is operated by a private non-profit, not part of the DoD, I can’t help but feel like a spouse who isn’t appreciated until leaving. The army was never this concerned about me when we were together. (Just to clarify, that’s a metaphor. My literal wife is great)
I will try to keep up with the updates, Dopers. Thanks again!
Great, positive news! I appreciate the update and am glad the veteran-oriented facility is coming through for you, as it should.
Just out of curiosity if you had to put pen to paper for those considering a similar move what would you estimate someone without support resources or relatives would need to spend in the way of cash or credit card outlays to survive for one month in AZ while a job selection/approval process played out?
Well, it’s been a pretty god damned rough month! Spent two days on a train; I’m 1000 miles from home; haven’t seen my wife in three weeks; lost my lodging due to drama in the family that puts the “F.U.” in “dysfunction”; and I was formally determined by the V.A. to be “homeless”.
On the up-side: the train ride was actually pretty enjoyable; having seen the area here, I don’t think simple inertia is a good enough reason to stay where we were; I’ve spent enough time by myself to know who I am in the absence of my wife and . . . I miss her terribly. She is my better half and being apart from her has banished from my mind any thought that I would want that to be a permanent state; the aforementioned family still has some measure of my sympathy for the struggle they wage with their demons, but my family doesn’t need to be anywhere near the fallout of that war; and being officially recognized as homeless mere days before finances made me literally homeless has made services available to evade that grim fate as a reality.
Oh . . . and I got the job! I didn’t figure the background check could come back on the weekend, but just a couple hours before close of business Friday, I got a call from my future grandboss. I’ll start Monday. The pay is sufficient to maintain things at home, under my wife’s watchful and frugal eye, while I get a minimalist studio or one-bedroom apartment here. She’ll come visit once or twice and we’ll decide on a permanent home. GreenTeen and Hellboy will finish up the school year and all the Hellions will move out in the spring.
Thanks so much for the moral support, advice, good humor, and even offers of cash assistance, Dopers. It looks like the crisis is at an end, though it is humbling and frightening to have looked into the abyss of homelessness. What if I wasn’t a vet? What if I had been railroaded into pleading guilty to something I didn’t do to avoid the possibility of a conviction on a much harsher charge? What if I had a mental illness that prevented my acting rationally in the face of such a dire situation? In the end, it was a lot of lousy luck that got me so close to such disaster . . . but, once there, it was largely dumb luck, not some intrinsic personal virtue or inventiveness, that got me out.
To anyone out there who was willing to put me up in a hotel, send some cash, buy a meal, or lend any other support, I ask that you maintain your willingness to help and look for someone else who needs it. You certainly won’t have to look very long. Besides this missive, I’ve quite a few thank you notes to write and I’ll be throwing my efforts in to help those struggling as soon as I can.
Hey, Astro. It’s hard to say how expensive it would be. It depends a lot on how ascetic you can be.
Hotel rooms, barring any favors, special discounts, or other perks, pretty much start at $45-$55/night. IIRC, those are weekday rates. Weekends would be a bit higher. There is a hostel that can put travelers up for $27/night. But, they require an out-of-state ID. Haggard people with lots of luggage sleeping in public are not immediately assumed to be vagrants while in an airport.
Eating may most affordable at fast-food chains, though you would get a better cash to calorie conversion via a grocery store. Of course, that may require varying degrees of preparation, the access to which can greatly alter the equation. Depending on how much you can eat at a sitting and/or how long you care to linger, buffets are an option. About $9-$12 for Chinese place is pretty typical.
The public bus system is not a fast way to get around, compared to cabs. But, $6 allows you to ride all day and it’s obviously orders of magnitude faster than walking. The light-rail is well worth the money if you need to travel far, but if you have the time and every penny counts, you can get virtually anywhere solely on buses. If your situation is so dire that you’re actually considering it, be aware that the buses don’t run 24/7, so that $6 will not get you a place to sleep overnight. Couch-Surfing (as per the online site/community) is a fascinating option, but I put many requests out and mostly just got polite refusals. I did pay $20 to get registered, but it seems the best way to get approved is to be established as a good guest . . . which requires that you have been approved before. So, maybe a bit difficult to get started. Also, the community isn’t as big as it seems. Their profiles indicate that many members have not logged on in many months or even years.
Wi-Fi is available in various locations. Many coffee-shops and restaurants have it, so internet research, email, and other communication is actually pretty easy and essentially free, given you have a device.
Given the weather, if you can find a place to hang your clothes up to dry, you could wash them in a public restroom sink. I didn’t actually check into truck-stops, some of which I believe have showers. These were all things I was considering and I intended to hold in reserve enough cash for one last night’s stay in a hotel, should the job call, so I could rest in a real bed, shower, shave and press my clothes.
I just saw this thread and after reading thru it wanted to say congratulations to GreenHell on maintaining your cool, your dignity and your focus throughout. It was not “largely dumb luck” that got you out of your situation, it was largely your hard work and perseverance (and a little bit of luck, maybe). I’m glad that you merely looked over the edge of the precipice before finding a way back from it.
Also, mad props to those Dopers who participated in this thread and crazy mad props to those who were willing and able to go even further than just posting in the thread. Dopers are the best!
Tip: Go to your nearest gay bar (free food/housing easy to get). Or try a homeless shelter.
I also just noticed this.
Speaking of support, one way to get help with food is to check Saint Mary’s Food bank or others in the area. You can get substancial food packages with the basics and sometimes nice donated items. IIRC you can get help with delivery of the basics and other donated food at their locations.
As soon as you get a paper showing where you are staying or living, and with proper ID, you are good to get a very substancial amount of food 2 times in a month for free, your veteran status should help too.
Let me know if you need help with transportation some day.