Today has gone a little better. We looked at an apartment just two flights up from where our friends are staying, and it looks like it will work. TP was sold the moment we walked in and saw a poster of a hot 80s babe in a bikini playing a Flying-V guitar. JM was not so sold on the poster, and may have to find a beefcake to match, but also liked the apartment. Aside from a good thick layer of grime (the previous tenants were British; figures) (jm did not endorse that comment) and some unidentified condiments in the fridge, the apartment is just fine. Two big bedrooms, two bathrooms, a nice sized kitchen, and a good living room. Which means that we will be good to go when it comes to having people visit us. This means you, dear reader. Right now we are waiting for the landlord to complete the process of cleaning the place and re-furnishing all the broken stuff, so we hope to move in within a couple days.
We also took a cab over to the U of M library right near us. Turns out it’s a bit too far to walk and the bus service is unfathomable, but it’s just far enough that a cab will drive you and it costs only about a dollar. The library will suit my (TP’s) purposes just fine, and it appears that they will let me in as a guest researcher without having to pay any fees. It also happens to be near the U of M student canteen, meaning institutional-quality Malay, Indian, and Chinese food will be available for cheap whenever we want.
Tonight we plan to head out for a night on the town with the other Fulbright students who live in KL. Actually, three of the four of them live in this complex as well. It’s just a little slice of ‘Merica here.
In case you are wondering, we have seen the Petronas Towers. They are very pretty at night, but not so much during the day. (The Petronas Towers were the tallest buildings in the world until a couple months ago.) For some reason the towers don’t look that tall, though. We saw the Sears Tower this summer and thought that it looked much more impressive. At any rate, the Towers are cool, and we will have a view of them from our apartment. The neat thing about the design of the Towers is how they draw from Islamic architecture. So far, no sightings of Michelle Yeoh rappelling down the side of them, but we will keep you posted.
tompepinsky.com 
Jeff February 18, 2005
You’re eyes did not deceive you. According to greatbuildings.com:
“At 1483 feet (452m) tall, [the Petronas Towers was] the tallest building in the world at the date of its completion, measured to the highest point. However, the Sears Tower in Chicago still has the highest occupied building floor, more than 200 feet higher than the highest occupied floor of the Petronas Towers. Each of the twin Petronas Towers is 88 stories plus an additional architectural point (at 1242 feet), plus a tall spire to 1483 feet. Compare to the Sears Tower in Chicago, which is 110 stories, and the twin World Trade Center towers in New York, which were each 110 stories. Although these other skyscrapers were created with higher occupied floors, they are not considered as tall under the arcane rules used for rating the world’s tallest, according to which architectural spires count towards building height, but antennas atop a building do not.”
At petronas.com.my, I learned that Petronas is short for “Petroliam Nasional Bhd,” the corporation’s full name. Not to be confused with the patronus charm that saves Harry Potter’s hide on one or two occasions.
Jeff February 18, 2005
The spelling and grammar nazi would like to add that *Your* eyes did not deceive you, either.
Julie and Tom February 19, 2005
Ah, that would explain it. It’s a bit of a let-down when you see it. I (TP) also thought that the Eiffel Tower wasn’t as tall as I expected when I saw it. But the bridge across the two towers at the Petronas Towers looks pretty cool, and they do look really neat from a distance (i.e., from our apartment, eventually).