Open House on Sunday, Sept 8, from 2-4 p.m.

THE IMPORTANT STUFF:

I am looking for a fellow dog lover/owner to share my beautifully remodeled 2-bedroom/1-bath home in East Palo Alto. You get one bedroom; I get the other; the rest of the house is shared totally equally. The three main attractions of my home are: 1) Very dog-friendly (including big dogs, restricted breeds, and multiple pets) 2) Unbeatable location for the price, and 3) Lovely, just-remodeled home.

1. Dog-friendly
   Pets: I'm really a dog person and, although Benji loves cats they don't seem to love him. It will work best if you are bringing dogs. I really admire people who save pit bulls and such and thus I am not going to put any restrictions on breed, size, or number of dogs. This is where I'm really hoping we'll be on the same page. As long as you promise, contractually, to be responsible for your dog(s), I am very flexible on what dogs can live here compared to an apartment complex.
   I am also really looking for a roommate who wants to share dog responsibilities. That is, if one of us goes camping or stays away from home for a night, the other person will feed all the dogs. I am anti-kennel, and I hope that we will mostly be able to cover for each other in providing our dogs with a great home life.

2. The location: is very convenient to Facebook, Stanford, and the 101 freeway (which quickly gets you to other Silicon Valley destinations, like Google). I am one mile from Facebook and three miles from Stanford. It takes me from 10-15 minutes to drive to Stanford every day, depending on traffic. If you're a Stanford affiliate, we could probably carpool.

3. The house:
   Completely remodeled this year and it shows. New kitchen, bathroom, floors, paint, and landscaping. Beautiful little lawn out front and awesome big tree in nice private backyard. Your room is sunny and quiet as it has a big buffer from the street. Our neighbors on both sides are nice. The sprinkler system is automatic so plants should stay looking great. Once I get some patio furniture and a grill, we will really be in style.

Your rent is $1095. Internet and PG&E split two ways. Deposit negotiable, depending on pets and references. Looking to sign a 1 year lease, but open to allowing you to sublet for the summer if you need to.

THE DETAILS (if you're still interested)

About me, your roommate:
I am thirty years old and a first-year medical student at Stanford. I have spent the last decade wandering the world - visiting 30some countries, learning little bits of tons of languages, and rock climbing abroad. I speak fluent Spanish after living and teaching in Ecuadorian indigenous communities for quite some time. Most recently, I had a stint as a high school teacher before convincing Stanford to let me back in, this time for med school (did grad school there back in '07). I have an adorable terrier mutt that I brought back from Ecuador. When I'm not studying, I hope to be climbing and learning French, but the start of med school has been pretty intense. When I grow up, I want to be a surgeon.

RULES, ETC:

Overnight guests: . . . are welcome. If they become live-in significant others, we might need to talk about rent/bills because that's not exactly the situation that I'm hoping for, but it's flexible because life happens. It's ridiculous the amount of Craigslist ads I see that require you to have no overnight guests. I don't expect you to be a priest or a recluse! Have the aunt and uncle out for a week or bring your girlfriend over on weekends. It's your home, too. You are renting half a home, not a room. I've lived in enough places where I felt confined to my room or felt like I couldn't have people over, and I don't want that vibe in OUR house.

Kitchen: Full, 100% privileges. None of that "only until 10 p.m." or other silly rules. Use what you want. I eat anything. There's no "vegetarian" frying pans you aren't allowed to use or anything.

Noise: I'm an insomniac. In all likelihood, I'll be up later than you. The only small warning I have is that, once I am asleep, I am a very light sleeper. If you want to get TV (I don't have it now), for example, I would hope you'd keep it to your room after I go to bed, which is probably well after midnight. If I have big medical school things to worry about, I will be very sensitive to noise when I am studying or sleeping. Basically, this might be an issue if you plan on running an impromptu recording studio out of your room. Earphones solve noise problems quickly. Just don't be a jerk, and things will be a-okay.

Cleanliness: I am NOT a clean freak. That said, I don't leave rotten food smeared across the counters for a week. I am more of a "clutter and dirty laundry pile" type of person, and I will try to keep the clutter to my room and out of the common area. If you attempt to do the same, it should work fine because I am not very demanding when it comes to things being tidy but really hope to keep the kitchen, living room, and yard in a nice state.

The neighborhood: It's East Palo Alto, which is NOT Palo Alto. Start with Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Palo_Alto,_California and go from there. Crime is way down compared to the old bad rep, and If you don't plan on being a criminal yourself, you should be fine. However, if the news or information about the town scares you, please don't waste our time. Move on to something in a different neighborhood. Please respect that I only have time to respond to serious requests. I am happy to talk with you about East Palo Alto, neighborhood dynamics, social justice, and gentrification if you like, but it's too long for this ad.

STILL READING?
So, hope to see you at the open house. Email me for the address. If you think you're really interested, it would help if you send me a bit about yourself first too so that I'm not overwhelmed by people that are really just window-shopping on Sunday. Also, if you are super-excited but can't make it to the open house, shoot me an email with your situation.