3 '''Tip:''' as always, start from the bottom and proceed bottom up to keep time flowing in one direction.
7 ==== Alea Iacta Est ====
9 As promised... Yes, indeed. Everybody please cross their fingers.
14 ==== International Dinner ====
16 FedericoLucifredi and his wife Irena were so kind to invite me at their place for a
17 fine dinner with appetizers, SirloinSteak (see pic below), several side
18 dishes and... Even a PinotNoir!
20 http://www.fairburysteaks.com/images/bci-sirloin-round-bone.gif
22 There were also Mauro -- Federico's colleague at Ximian -- and Irena's
23 friend who's a physics professor from Providence and could speak perfect
24 French and, surprisingly, even Italian!
26 What can I say? I think I got a pound or two that night, but it was
34 There's a cinema in building 26 @ EmAiTee, and it's cheap.
39 If you're curious, my room rent is $500 per month. Utilities,
40 forniture and DSL Internet access are included.
42 It's not cheap, but it's also not too expensive for Boston.
43 They told me that only Manhattan is more expensive here on
46 ==== CurriculumVitae ====
48 ...is almost ready. A friend told me that I'd better have
49 also a synthetic resume of 1-2 pages for the impatient.
52 Well, I said I'd be finished by last Monday, but then I
53 managed to slip past my own deadline visiting NewYorkCity,
54 moving in my current room and in other frivolous ways.
56 Now I have no excuses: the time has come. Next Monday I
57 ''will'' write my proposal. Seriously.
61 ==== Exchange Rates ====
63 Looks like I'd better convert all my money to dollars *now*:
65 http://www.x-rates.com/d/USD/EUR/graph30.html
67 What do you think about it?
72 I forgot to tell you about the kewlest building in EmAiTee:
74 http://www.eecs.mit.edu/images/big-stata12.jpg
76 See also: http://www.eecs.mit.edu/stata-link.html
80 After a long time, I finally get to (ab)use MIT's wi-fi and
81 barf my short-term brain buffer into my BrainDump.
83 Tonight we went to an Irish pub next to Kendall, where I got
84 to know a few more Ximian employees. I got rumors that
85 the famous kernel hacker RobertLove would be there, so after
86 a while I turned to the guy next to me and asked: "Is
87 RobertLove really going to come?". And he replied: "Speaking."
89 Another guy told me: "Hi, I'm BAHB". "Pardon?". "BAHB!".
90 "What???". Federico promptly helped me out: "Ha detto che si
93 The beer was good. I discovered that a BlueMoon is the
94 nearest approximation of a WeisseBeer I can find here,
95 and I'm not at all displeased by its taste.
99 My landlord has recently switched DSL provider and Internet
100 doesn't work any more: the sync light on the modem flashes.
101 It seems that crappy ISPs are a common disease in the States
104 Yesterday, he called for service and, finally, they told him
105 they would send a tech today from 8AM to 18PM. They refused
106 to be more specific. And so I've agreed to wait here to let
107 the guy in... I care about it for myself too!
111 By the way, today I'm exactly 150 pounds (use GoogleCalculator
112 to get it to SI units).
114 150 pounds = 68.0388555 kilograms
120 They told me Roxbury is quite an infamous suburb of Boston.
121 And my first impression confirms that: shops are uglier,
122 parks and streets are somewhat dirtier (but not as much as
123 in NewYorkCity!) and, most importantly, some of the neighbors
124 look creepy. Especially in the night, streets are crowded by
125 people with criminal faces and many homeless.
127 You know I'm not the type who's easily scared off by a bunch
128 of zombies, but I'll feel much better when I'll drive a car.
132 I've finally settled in my room. There's no need to describe the house
133 in detail, as it's the most typical colonial design: two floors plus
134 basement, front and back yards, sliding windows, wooden floors
135 everywhere. You've come to know them very well from the movies.
137 Today I went to the mall to gather the essentials: a blankets,
138 a pillow case and some bath towels. The bed is comfortable and
139 I was quite tired already, therefore I fell asleep early in the
140 evening and kept on until 8 AM.
142 '''WARNING: TIME WARP OCCURRED'''
146 '''WARNING: TIME WARP IMMINENT'''
150 Alberto: Attento a convertire € in $ perchè € si sta apprezzando,e quindi $ svalutando rispetto a €.
152 Belle le foto scovate da Massimo. Have a good stay in Btn.
154 Massimo: Bernie, you taught me: http://www.google.com/search?q=100+USD+in+EUR
157 Massimo: Since Bernie could not give us any picture, I had to use flickr: here they are!
159 http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=bernardo+innocenti
161 Piro: what in the heaven is RMS doing dressed like a camp tent? :D
165 ==== BankOfAmerica ====
167 I went to BankOfAmerica and opened a bank account. I went there wearing a yellow T-shirt
168 and a weary pair of jeans. In the beginning, they referred me to a young guy who quickly
169 tried to offer me a student's saving account. When I queried for interest rates, credit
170 cards, and dollar/euro conversion rates, they finally realized that I was going to move
173 When I've shown them my balance, they immediately switched me to a very polite girl who
174 took all the time to explain me everything in detail until after their closing time and
175 recommended me to open *3* different accounts to get a rate of 4.80% with no fees!
176 I totally hate when people judge you by your wealth, dressing, or other stupid status
177 symbols, but maybe a bank is the only exception where it makes sense to do so.
179 Banking appears to be far, far simpler here. I already feel like I know
180 everything while in Italy I still can't read most of the paperwork I get from
183 Batt: Or maybe american bankers are so skilled that you are happy while, in truth, they have stolen your money forever :-P
185 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.
189 ==== Good News, Everyone! ====
191 '''After a long struggling, I've finally found a room!'''
193 And I'll be moving in *today*! But I'm writing on Thursday the 3rd, actually (aren't you thinking fourth-dimentionally yet?).
195 The room is nice and comes with some forniture, including a desk. It's on the second floor
196 of a house where the landlord lives with her wife and a very friendly puppy.I like it
197 that way: all those houses shared by students I've seen so far tend to become unmaintained
198 and dirty quite quickly, while this one is a real house with a fully operational kitchen,
199 bathroom and even a clean back garden!
201 My landlord is Armenian, but have been living here in Boston for a long time. My first
202 impression is he's a very nice person, honest and easy going. I haven't met his wife yet --
203 she'll be back on Sunday.
205 I'm afraid the house is a bit far away from MIT, in southern Boston. But that won't
206 be a problem as soon as I buy a car. There may even be a chance to rent or buy the
207 car readily from my landlord's son.
209 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 :-)
212 '''Camy''': the landlord lives with '''his''' wife
214 ==== Do You Speak English? ====
216 Some of you will be pissed off by this change, but I'm starting to make
217 some international friends here and none of them could read Italian.
219 Writing in English is also what I need to improve my writing skills.
220 For the few of you who barely know English, some more reading surely won't hurt!
222 [[http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbender.codewiz.org%2Fwiki%2FMayBlog&langpair=en%7Cit&hl=en Google Translator]]
225 As always, I'd very much appreciate being told about any mistake I make.
227 ''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!''