LA nurses!

Hello all,

I'm moving to LA this march to start my first nursing job (yahoo) and I could use some advice.

1) I'm looking for a place to rent and beyond Craigslist I'm not sure what resources there might be. CL is being a bit sketchy with some of the ads being scams or people just trying to get my contact info. Are there any other websites that are a bit more trustworthy? I'm not looking for much, just a cool roommate or two that's reasonably close to work.

2) This one is sort of job specific. I'm going to be working for the VA and they've got a really LONG hiring process. I don't mind really; they've got to check their candidates after all. But are there any VA nurses out there would can give me an estimate on how much longer it's going to be for them to send me the "firm" offer? I was told last week that HR has all of my employment information and is looking it over. I've got my salary quote and the start date but am still told that nothing is for sure until HR contacts me. This is a bit of a pain since I can't give any potential renters/roommates a solid yes or no. It would nice to at least be able to give them a timeframe.

3) Since this is a VA new nurse program that I'll be doing, any advice on what skills/information that I can brush up on so I'm more prepared when I do actually start?

Thank you in advanced for any constructive replies!