First impressions
There aren’t as many streetlights as there are in Toronto. Driving around in the dark, is well…dark.
Ever hear of a Michigan left? Sometimes you cannot make a left hand turn, so they replace it with a legal U-turn followed by a right hand turn. I guess it makes linear traffic flow better, at the cost of less space efficiency. The GPS also has no idea what to call these roads, so it just refers to them as ‘road’.
Mundane tasks
I arrived in Troy around 1PM today and immediately went to the doctors office to do a drug screen. This place looks like it does mostly physiotherapy related activities. On the form, there was a box specifically for drug screening, so I assume they do it quite often. There were a lot of blue collar workers at the office, and a few people who I suspected really did do a lot of drugs. I overheard a young guy say that he was there for the ‘hair test’, and that he worked for GM.
My drug screen only consisted of a urine sample. I was surprised that they didn’t also do a hair test, because the GM young guy said that he was here for a ‘hair test’. Is GM stricter on drugs? Did he get busted?
I then proceeded to the Somerset Collection Mall to try and buy a phone. It’s very nice, and extremely upscale. Somewhat comparable to Yorkdale, except Yorkdale is much flashier. They have conveyor belts to bring to between the different sections of the mall.
This mall isn’t anywhere near as busy as Yorkdale, likely because: (i) it doesn’t have any low-end stores, (ii) it only sells clothing/accessories/furniture, (iii) it isn’t connected to a subway station which attracts hordes of bubbletea-craving preteen girls.
I had problems finding a cellphone here. They had an Apple Store and Windows Store, but I just wanted a T-mobile/Verison/Sprint They just had designer clothes, and fancy furniture.
I saw a few Asian couples there. Heard some Korean, and some Mandarin . I’m not alone.
I hopped over to the Oakland mall, which the GPS predicts is 10 minutes away. It took close to 30 minutes in rush hour traffic to get there. Horray, city of driving.
I bought a Nexus 5 from a TMobile dealer. They have a $50 unlimited everything plan with no contract, so I bought the phone and prepaid for 1 month of service. Having a phone has made my life significantly easier. Prior to that I was lurking around Starbucks to leach their free wifi.
I’m staying at an air BNB, by a woman who teaches kindergarten in downtown Detroit. She says it really takes a special kind of person to teach that group. I like her. She’s really hospitable.
I misread an ad saying there is a Salsa night in Royal Oak. Apparently, it’s Wednesday night at Woody’s diner. There are actually quite a few salsa clubs in that area. I drove around the area and got a feel for the place. I like it much better than Troy. It has sort of a Danforth/Uptown Waterloo feel. It has a medium density of midrange shops, good number of bars and restaurants, and SIDEWALKS WITH STREET LIGHTING. I’ve heard that all the yuppies are flocking to the area. Since I’m going to be a yuppie, I might just jump on the bandwagon and get a place there too.
It was raining, so no pictures 🙁