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.
11 Babbo:Pregherò perchè tu possa ottenere quello che cerchi.
15 ==== International Dinner ====
17 FedericoLucifredi and his wife Irena were so kind to invite me at their place for a
18 fine dinner with appetizers, SirloinSteak (see pic below), several side
19 dishes and... Even a PinotNoir!
21 http://www.fairburysteaks.com/images/bci-sirloin-round-bone.gif
23 There were also Mauro -- Federico's colleague at Ximian -- and Irena's
24 friend who's a physics professor from Providence and could speak perfect
25 French and, surprisingly, even Italian!
27 What can I say? I think I got a pound or two that night, but it was
35 There's a cinema in building 26 @ EmAiTee, and it's cheap.
40 If you're curious, my room rent is $500 per month. Utilities,
41 forniture and DSL Internet access are included.
43 It's not cheap, but it's also not too expensive for Boston.
44 They told me that only Manhattan is more expensive here on
47 ==== CurriculumVitae ====
49 ...is almost ready. A friend told me that I'd better have
50 also a synthetic resume of 1-2 pages for the impatient.
53 Well, I said I'd be finished by last Monday, but then I
54 managed to slip past my own deadline visiting NewYorkCity,
55 moving in my current room and in other frivolous ways.
57 Now I have no excuses: the time has come. Next Monday I
58 ''will'' write my proposal. Seriously.
62 ==== Exchange Rates ====
64 Looks like I'd better convert all my money to dollars *now*:
66 http://www.x-rates.com/d/USD/EUR/graph30.html
68 What do you think about it?
70 Babbo:penso che $ continuerà a svalutare. Perderai soldi.
74 I forgot to tell you about the kewlest building in EmAiTee:
76 http://www.eecs.mit.edu/images/big-stata12.jpg
78 See also: http://www.eecs.mit.edu/stata-link.html
82 After a long time, I finally get to (ab)use MIT's wi-fi and
83 barf my short-term brain buffer into my BrainDump.
85 Tonight we went to an Irish pub next to Kendall, where I got
86 to know a few more Ximian employees. I got rumors that
87 the famous kernel hacker RobertLove would be there, so after
88 a while I turned to the guy next to me and asked: "Is
89 RobertLove really going to come?". And he replied: "Speaking."
91 Another guy told me: "Hi, I'm BAHB". "Pardon?". "BAHB!".
92 "What???". Federico promptly helped me out: "Ha detto che si
95 The beer was good. I discovered that a BlueMoon is the
96 nearest approximation of a WeisseBeer I can find here,
97 and I'm not at all displeased by its taste.
101 My landlord has recently switched DSL provider and Internet
102 doesn't work any more: the sync light on the modem flashes.
103 It seems that crappy ISPs are a common disease in the States
106 Yesterday, he called for service and, finally, they told him
107 they would send a tech today from 8AM to 18PM. They refused
108 to be more specific. And so I've agreed to wait here to let
109 the guy in... I care about it for myself too!
113 By the way, today I'm exactly 150 pounds (use GoogleCalculator
114 to get it to SI units).
116 150 pounds = 68.0388555 kilograms
122 They told me Roxbury is quite an infamous suburb of Boston.
123 And my first impression confirms that: shops are uglier,
124 parks and streets are somewhat dirtier (but not as much as
125 in NewYorkCity!) and, most importantly, some of the neighbors
126 look creepy. Especially in the night, streets are crowded by
127 people with criminal faces and many homeless.
129 You know I'm not the type who's easily scared off by a bunch
130 of zombies, but I'll feel much better when I'll drive a car.
134 I've finally settled in my room. There's no need to describe the house
135 in detail, as it's the most typical colonial design: two floors plus
136 basement, front and back yards, sliding windows, wooden floors
137 everywhere. You've come to know them very well from the movies.
139 Today I went to the mall to gather the essentials: a blankets,
140 a pillow case and some bath towels. The bed is comfortable and
141 I was quite tired already, therefore I fell asleep early in the
142 evening and kept on until 8 AM.
144 '''WARNING: TIME WARP OCCURRED'''
148 '''WARNING: TIME WARP IMMINENT'''
152 Alberto: Attento a convertire € in $ perchè € si sta apprezzando,e quindi $ svalutando rispetto a €.
154 Belle le foto scovate da Massimo. Have a good stay in Btn.
156 Massimo: Bernie, you taught me: http://www.google.com/search?q=100+USD+in+EUR
159 Massimo: Since Bernie could not give us any picture, I had to use flickr: here they are!
161 http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=bernardo+innocenti
163 Piro: what in the heaven is RMS doing dressed like a camp tent? :D
167 ==== BankOfAmerica ====
169 I went to BankOfAmerica and opened a bank account. I went there wearing a yellow T-shirt
170 and a weary pair of jeans. In the beginning, they referred me to a young guy who quickly
171 tried to offer me a student's saving account. When I queried for interest rates, credit
172 cards, and dollar/euro conversion rates, they finally realized that I was going to move
175 When I've shown them my balance, they immediately switched me to a very polite girl who
176 took all the time to explain me everything in detail until after their closing time and
177 recommended me to open *3* different accounts to get a rate of 4.80% with no fees!
178 I totally hate when people judge you by your wealth, dressing, or other stupid status
179 symbols, but maybe a bank is the only exception where it makes sense to do so.
181 Banking appears to be far, far simpler here. I already feel like I know
182 everything while in Italy I still can't read most of the paperwork I get from
185 Batt: Or maybe american bankers are so skilled that you are happy while, in truth, they have stolen your money forever :-P
187 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.
191 ==== Good News, Everyone! ====
193 '''After a long struggling, I've finally found a room!'''
195 And I'll be moving in *today*! But I'm writing on Thursday the 3rd, actually (aren't you thinking fourth-dimentionally yet?).
197 The room is nice and comes with some forniture, including a desk. It's on the second floor
198 of a house where the landlord lives with her wife and a very friendly puppy.I like it
199 that way: all those houses shared by students I've seen so far tend to become unmaintained
200 and dirty quite quickly, while this one is a real house with a fully operational kitchen,
201 bathroom and even a clean back garden!
203 My landlord is Armenian, but have been living here in Boston for a long time. My first
204 impression is he's a very nice person, honest and easy going. I haven't met his wife yet --
205 she'll be back on Sunday.
207 I'm afraid the house is a bit far away from MIT, in southern Boston. But that won't
208 be a problem as soon as I buy a car. There may even be a chance to rent or buy the
209 car readily from my landlord's son.
211 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 :-)
214 '''Camy''': the landlord lives with '''his''' wife
216 ==== Do You Speak English? ====
218 Some of you will be pissed off by this change, but I'm starting to make
219 some international friends here and none of them could read Italian.
221 Writing in English is also what I need to improve my writing skills.
222 For the few of you who barely know English, some more reading surely won't hurt!
224 [[http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbender.codewiz.org%2Fwiki%2FMayBlog&langpair=en%7Cit&hl=en Google Translator]]
227 As always, I'd very much appreciate being told about any mistake I make.
229 ''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!''