7 I still couldn't solve the problem of getting to work
8 quickly. I can't afford to waste over 2 hours every
11 By now, I've tried any possible solution:
13 * Car: the office doesn't have a parking lot and there's
14 no way to park within one mile from KendalSquare for less
15 than $18/day. Monthly fees start from $250.
17 * Bus: I need to commute in Dudley and take line no. 1 to
18 MassachusettsAvenue, then walk 15 minutes to KendalSquare.
20 * Bus + subway combo: The red line would get me directly
21 to KendalSquare, and there are several routes to get there,
22 but all of them require commuting at least twice. The
23 monthly link pass costs $75.
25 * Car + subway combo: there are some cheap parkings next
26 to the terminal subway stations where you can leave your
27 car for $5/day. Unfortunately, to get there I must
28 travel in the opposite direction. And the whole thing
29 will cost $75 + $5*30, about the same of the monthly
32 * Taxi: Costs $11-$14 * 2 every day, which makes the
33 monthly parking cheap in comparison.
35 And even worse, the red line stops running at midnight
36 and bus no 1 at 1AM. Which forces me to leave from
37 the office very early (for my standards).
39 If you want to play with the possibilities, I just
40 discovered that the transportation company has a very cool
41 web service that would have saved me a lot of time:
44 http://www.mbta.com/rider_tools/trip_planner/default.asp
45 From: 66 Maywood st., Roxbury MA
46 To: Kendall/mit Station, Cambridge
49 At the end of the day, the ultimate solution is moving
50 closer to the office or at least close to the red line.
51 Maybe I could afford to spend $600 for a room, but I
52 don't feel like moving right now. I already have enough
55 ''Have you considered to put a bicycle in your combo? You may replace a 10 km walk with it and open up new combinations (and ways to get wet...) -- PiroPiro''
57 ==== Awful Weather ====
59 Today it's raining lightly. Yesterday I took an extra shower
62 The WikiPedia was definitely right: weather in Boston can
63 change very rapidly. Must remember to buy a raincoat like
64 RichardStallman's and keep it in my backpack.
70 1. Get employed at OLPC
75 Just joking, but the truth is that I still need
76 to face a lot of new challenges now.
78 My next problem will be improving my communication skills.
79 After one month of full immersion, I can still barely
80 understand people talking quickly to each and I clearly
81 express myself using an inadequately poor vocabulary and
82 too slowly in some cases.
84 These things will improve over time, while my strong
85 Italian inflection is likely to remain forever. If
86 only I could find one, I'd attend to a course to
87 correct my diction now. Actors do them.
89 Another crucial problem I need to solve quickly is
90 getting a visa that allows me to work here permanently.
91 There are many possibilities, but none guaranteed to
92 succeed. For now, I'm not thinking about it: my
93 employer knows better than me and will help as much
96 Last but not least, my job is not easy and requires a
97 good amount of commitment. All my colleagues are extremely
98 smart and more experienced than I am. So I need to work
99 twice as hard to keep up with them.
101 A very nice workplace and very interesting assignments helps.
102 And, most importantly, I know that what we're doing here is
103 going to have a huge impact on the world.
105 '''Andrea Grandi''': Your words give me no hopes for my future :(
107 '''Bernie''': Are you planning to come here? Cool! :D
109 > All my colleagues are extremely smart and more experienced than I am
111 More than you? It's not a place for me then :D
113 '''Bernie''': It's worth trying even if you currently think you're
114 not up to the job. It's a very valuable experience even if you
115 end up returning to your home country for some reason.
117 '''Rasky''': But can you get a perm visa even without an university
118 degree? I thought that was absolutely out of question... I knew that
119 people without a degree could just get some 1-year temp visa.
126 Here are some more pics of MyOlpcDesk.
130 ==== Office Space =====
132 Here are a few pictures of the OlpcOffice!
134 ==== Hack Hack Hack ====
136 I've been assigned a problem with an invalid serial port baud
137 rate after resume from software suspend.
139 I started investigating the hard way, until ChrisBall pointed
140 me on IRC to talk with the KernelHacker DavidWoodhouse, who
141 obviously had a solution in a few seconds. Unfortunately,
142 it didn't work as we expected and MitchBradley of OpenFirmware
143 joined the conversation to help.
145 Having all the subsystem gurus available to fix your bugs makes
146 things a lot easier... Hehe, I think I like it ;-)
148 And so tomorrow I'll get back to work on a MandelBug with the Xorg's
149 driver for the AMD chipset. When XVIDEO is enabled and you
150 rotate the display with XRANDR, sometimes the X server crashes,
151 sometimes it just hangs and sometimes it survives with a corrupted
152 display. And the bad news is that gdb also hangs.
154 How will I fix this? Easy: I'll go looking for the driver authors
155 first thing tomorrow and beg them to send me a fix :-)
157 By the way, lately I've been hanging regularly in #olpc on FreeNode.
158 My nick is _bernie. Come over to see what's going on!
163 ==== All Night Long ====
165 At 9PM, I'm still here and plan to stay as long as I can :-)
167 <please link to the song "All Night Long" here>
170 ==== Buried In Work Already ====
172 '''WARNING''': Technical AbraCadabra ahead!
174 Today I met most of the team members and bothered a few of them,
175 starting from DanWilliams who helped me debug a problem with a
176 simple mesh networking scenario involving three laptops.
178 Today I've also been assigned some work from ChrisBall, who also
179 helped me out with many small things such as a dead battery,
180 accessing the serial console, etc. I'm currently adding a
181 KernelDebugger command to display the ModelSpecificRegister's
184 But it seems like I will also refer to RedHat's ChrisBlizzard
185 to be assigned more work. We talked about optimizing the
186 video driver for the AmdGeodeCpu, getting the resistive
187 tablet to work and maybe adding "tapping" support to the
190 As you know, I like it even more when I'm allowed to ramble
191 through a zillion different things like this!
194 ==== Sneaky Preview ====
196 I'm writing this from within the OLPC headquarters. I came today for
197 a second interview and to get a few tasks assigned to me :-)
199 I have no time to be more specific. Will tell you the details a little later.
204 '''TODO''': will tell you later
208 '''TODO''': will tell you later
211 >MUM< creepy mummy virus it's taking control here.... :-) WRITE SOON OR IT/SHE WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING!
212 ==== Quite a Trip ====
214 Today I'm leaving the safe and familiar BostonCity to boldly go where I've
217 The current plan is to drive south to ProvidenceCity, BrdigeportCity, NewYorkCity,
218 PhiladelphiaCity, BaltimoreCity and, finally, WashingtonCity. Maybe I'll even
219 push myself down in FloridaState to go see the SpaceShuttle!
221 I could use a GPS. I've seen a few TomTom's, but $299 seems way too
222 much to me for a talking map. Maybe I'll buy a traditional map for
225 Ah, and I will sleep frugally, of course. Hostels and motels when I find
226 them. So, over the next few days I'll be lucky if I have intermittent
227 Internet access and, consequently, I won't probably be able to sync the
233 '''Babbo''': Ma fino ad oggi con quali danari hai vissuto dato che sei partito con 10€ liquidi?
235 '''Bernie''': Ho prelevato i soldi dall'ATM... con il bancomat delle poste! E vedo dai movimenti
236 sul conto che hanno applicato un buon cambio e nessuna penale strana.
240 Today I finally rent a car. It's a SaturnIon, a brand and model I never heard
243 http://www.edmunds.com/media/seo/500/2006.saturn.ion.jpg
245 I felt very comfortable driving all over Europe: Italy, Swiss, Spain, France,
246 Germany, Belgium, and even Greece... But, for some reason, I was quite afraid
247 of driving a car here in the States.
249 Maybe it's because the road signs are somewhat different and there are a few
250 subtly different rules, such as turning right on red, not parking in front
251 of hydrants, etc. Most probably, it's because I've seen way too many movies
252 where people get stopped by police and thrown in jail quite easily!
254 Well, so far everything went very well. I mean, except for parking. Parking
255 in downtown is easy if you're willing to pay $10-12 for a few hours.
256 It's a big pain in the ass otherwise... The best way I've found so far
257 is to park near a minor T station and then get the T to downtown :-(
259 And, of course, the car has AutomaticTransmission, which I managed to learn
260 quickly: the trouble comes when you switch the other way around ;-)
262 Ok, today I've driven all around Boston just to get used to it. Tomorrow
263 I'll probably dare getting on the highway to see around.
266 ==== Business Visa? ====
268 Today I've re-read detailed information on the
269 available US visa options:
271 http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1262.html
273 Looks like a ''B-1'' Business Visa would do. To get one,
274 I should go to a US ambassy, and ambassys are usually
275 located abroad. Instead of returning to Italy, maybe
276 I could get an appointment in MontrealCity, which is
277 near to the border and also an interesting place to see.
284 Yesterday I applied for this great service: http://www.zipcar.com/ .
285 Isn't it a good idea? Costs less than renting a car and is almost
288 <rasky> http://www.carsharingfirenze.it/ :)
290 Today I walked to their offices to give them my documents
291 and get the magnetic card. They said they will enable it
292 first thing tomorrow *if* the "insurance risk declaration"
293 I got from Italy suffices.
296 ==== Simple shopping ====
298 Consumers must be very simple minded here. First, most
299 shop names are simply dumb: '''Pay Less''', '''Save-A-Lot''',
300 '''Big Deal''', and so on.
302 ''Sounds very '''meno tasse per tutti''' to me... -- PiroPiro''
304 Second, they try to subtle deceptions such as: "take 2 for $24.xx",
305 and, next to it: "take 3 for $21.xx", Which of course is
306 impossible. It's a trap! The little figures placed
307 exactly where you would expect to see the cents, are
308 indeed a small notice: ''EACH''.
310 Today I bought a dozen of razor blades ($1.50), a
311 bottle of shampoo ($1.50) and shower gel ($1.50).
312 But I spent $12 for adjusting the two pair of
313 trousers I had bought a few days ago in the mall!
314 $12 ''EACH'', I mean.
317 ==== Bad Neighborhood ====
319 Walking home alone in the night, I may encounter some ''bad'' guys:
321 http://bender.codewiz.org/wikidata/text/FunWithWeapons.jpg
323 Better be careful :-)
328 ==== Veni, Vidi, ???? ====
330 This morning I shown up at OneLaptopPerChild's headquarters. It's again next to KendallSquare,
331 in OneCambridgeCenter.
333 JimGettys was very kind: he took me to LegalSeaFood for lunch, repaired my ExOh's keyboard (two
334 keys were dead) and introduced me to the team members.
336 They left me with the usual Hollywood formula: "don't call us, we'll call you".
337 But in this particular case, I felt they were sincere :-)
339 I hope to be soon a member of the OLPC core team!
344 ==== Alea Iacta Est ====
346 As promised... Yes, indeed. Everybody please cross their fingers.
348 Babbo:Pregherò perchè tu possa ottenere quello che cerchi.
350 Camy: Mannaggia a voi due ( Bernie e Alberto ) siete cosi..."teneri". Come ho già detto tante volte a Bernie, è fortunato ad avere un babbo cosi! Lo so, lo so che non c'entra nulla con lo stile di questo blog, ma io sono cosi, impulsiva e Bernie lo sa e mi perdonerà.
351 A dire il vero anch'io sto in ansia per lui :-) speriamo bene...
353 Bernie: Via, non fatemi venire il magone voi due :-)
357 ==== International Dinner ====
359 FedericoLucifredi and his wife Irena were so kind to invite me at their place for a
360 fine dinner with appetizers, SirloinSteak (see pic below), several side
361 dishes and... Even a PinotNoir!
363 http://www.fairburysteaks.com/images/bci-sirloin-round-bone.gif
365 There were also Mauro -- Federico's colleague at Ximian -- and Irena's
366 friend who's a physics professor from Providence and could speak perfect
367 French and, surprisingly, even Italian!
369 What can I say? I think I got a pound or two that night, but it was
377 There's a cinema in building 26 @ EmAiTee, and it's cheap.
382 If you're curious, my room rent is $500 per month. Utilities,
383 forniture and DSL Internet access are included.
385 It's not cheap, but it's also not too expensive for Boston.
386 They told me that only Manhattan is more expensive here on
389 ==== CurriculumVitae ====
391 ...is almost ready. A friend told me that I'd better have
392 also a synthetic resume of 1-2 pages for the impatient.
395 Well, I said I'd be finished by last Monday, but then I
396 managed to slip past my own deadline visiting NewYorkCity,
397 moving in my current room and in other frivolous ways.
399 Now I have no excuses: the time has come. Next Monday I
400 ''will'' write my proposal. Seriously.
404 ==== Exchange Rates ====
406 Looks like I'd better convert all my money to dollars *now*:
408 http://www.x-rates.com/d/USD/EUR/graph30.html
410 What do you think about it?
412 Babbo:penso che $ continuerà a svalutare. Perderai soldi.
414 ==== StataCenter ====
416 I forgot to tell you about the kewlest building in EmAiTee:
418 http://www.eecs.mit.edu/images/big-stata12.jpg
420 See also: http://www.eecs.mit.edu/stata-link.html
424 After a long time, I finally get to (ab)use MIT's wi-fi and
425 barf my short-term brain buffer into my BrainDump.
427 Tonight we went to an Irish pub next to Kendall, where I got
428 to know a few more Ximian employees. I got rumors that
429 the famous kernel hacker RobertLove would be there, so after
430 a while I turned to the guy next to me and asked: "Is
431 RobertLove really going to come?". And he replied: "Speaking."
433 Another guy told me: "Hi, I'm BAHB". "Pardon?". "BAHB!".
434 "What???". Federico promptly helped me out: "Ha detto che si
437 The beer was good. I discovered that a BlueMoon is the
438 nearest approximation of a WeisseBeer I can find here,
439 and I'm not at all displeased by its taste.
443 My landlord has recently switched DSL provider and Internet
444 doesn't work any more: the sync light on the modem flashes.
445 It seems that crappy ISPs are a common disease in the States
448 Yesterday, he called for service and, finally, they told him
449 they would send a tech today from 8AM to 18PM. They refused
450 to be more specific. And so I've agreed to wait here to let
451 the guy in... I care about it for myself too!
455 By the way, today I'm exactly 150 pounds (use GoogleCalculator
456 to get it to SI units).
458 150 pounds = 68.0388555 kilograms
464 They told me Roxbury is quite an infamous suburb of Boston.
465 And my first impression confirms that: shops are uglier,
466 parks and streets are somewhat dirtier (but not as much as
467 in NewYorkCity!) and, most importantly, some of the neighbors
468 look creepy. Especially in the night, streets are crowded by
469 people with criminal faces and many homeless.
471 You know I'm not the type who's easily scared off by a bunch
472 of zombies, but I'll feel much better when I'll drive a car.
476 I've finally settled in my room. There's no need to describe the house
477 in detail, as it's the most typical colonial design: two floors plus
478 basement, front and back yards, sliding windows, wooden floors
479 everywhere. You've come to know them very well from the movies.
481 Today I went to the mall to gather the essentials: a blankets,
482 a pillow case and some bath towels. The bed is comfortable and
483 I was quite tired already, therefore I fell asleep early in the
484 evening and kept on until 8 AM.
486 '''WARNING: TIME WARP OCCURRED'''
490 '''WARNING: TIME WARP IMMINENT'''
494 Alberto: Attento a convertire € in $ perchè € si sta apprezzando,e quindi $ svalutando rispetto a €.
496 Belle le foto scovate da Massimo. Have a good stay in Btn.
498 Massimo: Bernie, you taught me: http://www.google.com/search?q=100+USD+in+EUR
501 Massimo: Since Bernie could not give us any picture, I had to use flickr: here they are!
503 http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=bernardo+innocenti
505 Piro: what in the heaven is RMS doing dressed like a camp tent? :D
509 ==== BankOfAmerica ====
511 I went to BankOfAmerica and opened a bank account. I went there wearing a yellow T-shirt
512 and a weary pair of jeans. In the beginning, they referred me to a young guy who quickly
513 tried to offer me a student's saving account. When I queried for interest rates, credit
514 cards, and dollar/euro conversion rates, they finally realized that I was going to move
517 When I've shown them my balance, they immediately switched me to a very polite girl who
518 took all the time to explain me everything in detail until after their closing time and
519 recommended me to open *3* different accounts to get a rate of 4.80% with no fees!
520 I totally hate when people judge you by your wealth, dressing, or other stupid status
521 symbols, but maybe a bank is the only exception where it makes sense to do so.
523 Banking appears to be far, far simpler here. I already feel like I know
524 everything while in Italy I still can't read most of the paperwork I get from
527 Batt: Or maybe american bankers are so skilled that you are happy while, in truth, they have stolen your money forever :-P
529 Massimo: Yahr yahr! He didn't realize they already got 4.80% of his balance from his pocket with a magician move! Yahr yahr! Anyway... 4-5% rate is not absurd in the US. It has always been almost like this as far as I can remember (maybe sometimes it was even 6-7%). It's useful for someone (like bernie), but tragic for someone who does not have any money and to buy a house with those mortgages it's almost impossible. Still, the US has got a very low rate in comparison with other extra-european countries.
533 ==== Good News, Everyone! ====
535 '''After a long struggling, I've finally found a room!'''
537 And I'll be moving in *today*! But I'm writing on Thursday the 3rd, actually (aren't you thinking fourth-dimentionally yet?).
539 The room is nice and comes with some forniture, including a desk. It's on the second floor
540 of a house where the landlord lives with her wife and a very friendly puppy.I like it
541 that way: all those houses shared by students I've seen so far tend to become unmaintained
542 and dirty quite quickly, while this one is a real house with a fully operational kitchen,
543 bathroom and even a clean back garden!
545 My landlord is Armenian, but have been living here in Boston for a long time. My first
546 impression is he's a very nice person, honest and easy going. I haven't met his wife yet --
547 she'll be back on Sunday.
549 I'm afraid the house is a bit far away from MIT, in southern Boston. But that won't
550 be a problem as soon as I buy a car. There may even be a chance to rent or buy the
551 car readily from my landlord's son.
553 I don't know the address yet. I should, but I forgot the sheet on the table when I went there. And I can't call my landlord either because I've stolen his cell phone by mistake also. Yeah, I reckon I mustn't a good impression, actually :-)
556 '''Camy''': the landlord lives with '''his''' wife
558 ==== Do You Speak English? ====
560 Some of you will be pissed off by this change, but I'm starting to make
561 some international friends here and none of them could read Italian.
563 Writing in English is also what I need to improve my writing skills.
564 For the few of you who barely know English, some more reading surely won't hurt!
566 [[http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbender.codewiz.org%2Fwiki%2FMayBlog&langpair=en%7Cit=en Google Translator]]
569 As always, I'd very much appreciate being told about any mistake I make.
571 ''Massimo: ok, let's start with those horrible contractions my poor eyes had to read: '''Won't''' and '''I'd'''. Hey Bernie! You already went back home from NYC. Ain't gonna play with ya 'nymore!''