3 '''Tip:''' as always, start from the bottom and proceed bottom up to keep time flowing in one direction.
7 ==== Business Visa? ====
9 Today I've re-read detailed information on the
10 available US visa options:
12 http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1262.html
14 Looks like a ''B-1'' Business Visa would do. To get one,
15 I should go to a US ambassy, and ambassys are usually
16 located abroad. Instead of returning to Italy, maybe
17 I could get an appointment in MontrealCity, which is
18 near to the border and also an interesting place to see.
25 Yesterday I applied for this great service: http://www.zipcar.com/ .
26 Isn't it a good idea? Costs less than renting a car and is almost
29 Today I walked to their offices to give them my documents
30 and get the magnetic card. They said they will enable it
31 first thing tomorrow *if* the "insurance risk declaration"
32 I got from Italy suffices.
35 ==== Simple shopping ====
37 Consumers must be very simple minded here. First, most
38 shop names are simply dumb: '''Pay Less''', '''Save-A-Lot''',
39 '''Big Deal''', and so on.
41 Second, they try to subtle deceptions such as: "take 2 for $24.xx",
42 and, next to it: "take 3 for $21.xx", Which of course is
43 impossible. It's a trap! The little figures placed
44 exactly where you would expect to see the cents, are
45 indeed a small notice: ''EACH''.
47 Today I bought a dozen of razor blades ($1.50), a
48 bottle of shampoo ($1.50) and shower gel ($1.50).
49 But I spent $12 for adjusting the two pair of
50 trousers I had bought a few days ago in the mall!
54 ==== Bad Neighborhood ====
58 ==== Veni, Vidi, ???? ====
60 This morning I shown up at OneLaptopPerChild's headquarters. It's again next to KendallSquare,
61 in OneCambridgeCenter.
63 JimGettys was very kind: he took me to LegalSeaFood for lunch, repaired my ExOh's keyboard (two
64 keys were dead) and introduced me to the team members.
66 They left me with the usual Hollywood formula: "don't call us, we'll call you".
67 But in this particular case, I felt they were sincere :-)
69 I hope to be soon a member of the OLPC core team!
74 ==== Alea Iacta Est ====
76 As promised... Yes, indeed. Everybody please cross their fingers.
78 Babbo:Pregherò perchè tu possa ottenere quello che cerchi.
80 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.
81 A dire il vero anch'io sto in ansia per lui :-) speriamo bene...
83 Bernie: Via, non fatemi venire il magone voi due :-)
87 ==== International Dinner ====
89 FedericoLucifredi and his wife Irena were so kind to invite me at their place for a
90 fine dinner with appetizers, SirloinSteak (see pic below), several side
91 dishes and... Even a PinotNoir!
93 http://www.fairburysteaks.com/images/bci-sirloin-round-bone.gif
95 There were also Mauro -- Federico's colleague at Ximian -- and Irena's
96 friend who's a physics professor from Providence and could speak perfect
97 French and, surprisingly, even Italian!
99 What can I say? I think I got a pound or two that night, but it was
107 There's a cinema in building 26 @ EmAiTee, and it's cheap.
112 If you're curious, my room rent is $500 per month. Utilities,
113 forniture and DSL Internet access are included.
115 It's not cheap, but it's also not too expensive for Boston.
116 They told me that only Manhattan is more expensive here on
119 ==== CurriculumVitae ====
121 ...is almost ready. A friend told me that I'd better have
122 also a synthetic resume of 1-2 pages for the impatient.
125 Well, I said I'd be finished by last Monday, but then I
126 managed to slip past my own deadline visiting NewYorkCity,
127 moving in my current room and in other frivolous ways.
129 Now I have no excuses: the time has come. Next Monday I
130 ''will'' write my proposal. Seriously.
134 ==== Exchange Rates ====
136 Looks like I'd better convert all my money to dollars *now*:
138 http://www.x-rates.com/d/USD/EUR/graph30.html
140 What do you think about it?
142 Babbo:penso che $ continuerà a svalutare. Perderai soldi.
144 ==== StataCenter ====
146 I forgot to tell you about the kewlest building in EmAiTee:
148 http://www.eecs.mit.edu/images/big-stata12.jpg
150 See also: http://www.eecs.mit.edu/stata-link.html
154 After a long time, I finally get to (ab)use MIT's wi-fi and
155 barf my short-term brain buffer into my BrainDump.
157 Tonight we went to an Irish pub next to Kendall, where I got
158 to know a few more Ximian employees. I got rumors that
159 the famous kernel hacker RobertLove would be there, so after
160 a while I turned to the guy next to me and asked: "Is
161 RobertLove really going to come?". And he replied: "Speaking."
163 Another guy told me: "Hi, I'm BAHB". "Pardon?". "BAHB!".
164 "What???". Federico promptly helped me out: "Ha detto che si
167 The beer was good. I discovered that a BlueMoon is the
168 nearest approximation of a WeisseBeer I can find here,
169 and I'm not at all displeased by its taste.
173 My landlord has recently switched DSL provider and Internet
174 doesn't work any more: the sync light on the modem flashes.
175 It seems that crappy ISPs are a common disease in the States
178 Yesterday, he called for service and, finally, they told him
179 they would send a tech today from 8AM to 18PM. They refused
180 to be more specific. And so I've agreed to wait here to let
181 the guy in... I care about it for myself too!
185 By the way, today I'm exactly 150 pounds (use GoogleCalculator
186 to get it to SI units).
188 150 pounds = 68.0388555 kilograms
194 They told me Roxbury is quite an infamous suburb of Boston.
195 And my first impression confirms that: shops are uglier,
196 parks and streets are somewhat dirtier (but not as much as
197 in NewYorkCity!) and, most importantly, some of the neighbors
198 look creepy. Especially in the night, streets are crowded by
199 people with criminal faces and many homeless.
201 You know I'm not the type who's easily scared off by a bunch
202 of zombies, but I'll feel much better when I'll drive a car.
206 I've finally settled in my room. There's no need to describe the house
207 in detail, as it's the most typical colonial design: two floors plus
208 basement, front and back yards, sliding windows, wooden floors
209 everywhere. You've come to know them very well from the movies.
211 Today I went to the mall to gather the essentials: a blankets,
212 a pillow case and some bath towels. The bed is comfortable and
213 I was quite tired already, therefore I fell asleep early in the
214 evening and kept on until 8 AM.
216 '''WARNING: TIME WARP OCCURRED'''
220 '''WARNING: TIME WARP IMMINENT'''
224 Alberto: Attento a convertire € in $ perchè € si sta apprezzando,e quindi $ svalutando rispetto a €.
226 Belle le foto scovate da Massimo. Have a good stay in Btn.
228 Massimo: Bernie, you taught me: http://www.google.com/search?q=100+USD+in+EUR
231 Massimo: Since Bernie could not give us any picture, I had to use flickr: here they are!
233 http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=bernardo+innocenti
235 Piro: what in the heaven is RMS doing dressed like a camp tent? :D
239 ==== BankOfAmerica ====
241 I went to BankOfAmerica and opened a bank account. I went there wearing a yellow T-shirt
242 and a weary pair of jeans. In the beginning, they referred me to a young guy who quickly
243 tried to offer me a student's saving account. When I queried for interest rates, credit
244 cards, and dollar/euro conversion rates, they finally realized that I was going to move
247 When I've shown them my balance, they immediately switched me to a very polite girl who
248 took all the time to explain me everything in detail until after their closing time and
249 recommended me to open *3* different accounts to get a rate of 4.80% with no fees!
250 I totally hate when people judge you by your wealth, dressing, or other stupid status
251 symbols, but maybe a bank is the only exception where it makes sense to do so.
253 Banking appears to be far, far simpler here. I already feel like I know
254 everything while in Italy I still can't read most of the paperwork I get from
257 Batt: Or maybe american bankers are so skilled that you are happy while, in truth, they have stolen your money forever :-P
259 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.
263 ==== Good News, Everyone! ====
265 '''After a long struggling, I've finally found a room!'''
267 And I'll be moving in *today*! But I'm writing on Thursday the 3rd, actually (aren't you thinking fourth-dimentionally yet?).
269 The room is nice and comes with some forniture, including a desk. It's on the second floor
270 of a house where the landlord lives with her wife and a very friendly puppy.I like it
271 that way: all those houses shared by students I've seen so far tend to become unmaintained
272 and dirty quite quickly, while this one is a real house with a fully operational kitchen,
273 bathroom and even a clean back garden!
275 My landlord is Armenian, but have been living here in Boston for a long time. My first
276 impression is he's a very nice person, honest and easy going. I haven't met his wife yet --
277 she'll be back on Sunday.
279 I'm afraid the house is a bit far away from MIT, in southern Boston. But that won't
280 be a problem as soon as I buy a car. There may even be a chance to rent or buy the
281 car readily from my landlord's son.
283 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 :-)
286 '''Camy''': the landlord lives with '''his''' wife
288 ==== Do You Speak English? ====
290 Some of you will be pissed off by this change, but I'm starting to make
291 some international friends here and none of them could read Italian.
293 Writing in English is also what I need to improve my writing skills.
294 For the few of you who barely know English, some more reading surely won't hurt!
296 [[http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbender.codewiz.org%2Fwiki%2FMayBlog&langpair=en%7Cit=en Google Translator]]
299 As always, I'd very much appreciate being told about any mistake I make.
301 ''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!''