== May 2007 == '''Tip:''' as always, start from the bottom and proceed bottom up to keep time flowing in one direction. === Mon, 7th === ==== Alea Iacta Est ==== As promised... Yes, indeed. Everybody please cross their fingers. === Sun, 6th === ==== International Dinner ==== Federico and his wife Irena were so kind to invite me at their place for a fine dinner with appetizers, SirloinSteak (see pic below), several side dishes and... Even a PinotNoir! http://www.fairburysteaks.com/images/bci-sirloin-round-bone.gif There were also Mauro -- Federico's colleague at Ximian -- and Irena's friend who's a physics professor from Providence and could speak perfect French and, surprisingly, even Italian! What can I say? I think I got a pound or two that night, but it was worth it! :-) === Sat, 5th === ==== Cinema ==== There's a cinema in building 26 @ EmAiTee, and it's cheap. I'm going tonight. ==== Cursious? ==== If you're curious, my room rent is $500 per month. Utilities, forniture and DSL Internet access are included. It's not cheap, but it's also not too expensive for Boston. They told me that only Manhattan is more expensive here on the east coast. ==== CurriculumVitae ==== ...is almost ready. A friend told me that I'd better have also a synthetic resume of 1-2 pages for the impatient. I think he's right. Well, I said I'd be finished by last Monday, but then I managed to slip past my own deadline visiting NewYorkCity, moving in my current room and in other frivolous ways. Now I have no excuses: the time has come. Next Monday I ''will'' write my proposal. Seriously. === Fri, 4th === ==== Exchange Rates ==== Looks like I'd better convert all my money to dollars *now*: http://www.x-rates.com/d/USD/EUR/graph30.html What do you think about it? ==== StataCenter ==== I forgot to tell you about the kewlest building in EmAiTee: http://www.eecs.mit.edu/images/big-stata12.jpg See also: http://www.eecs.mit.edu/stata-link.html ==== Fast night ==== After a long time, I finally get to (ab)use MIT's wi-fi and barf my short-term brain buffer into my BrainDump. Tonight we went to an Irish pub next to Kendall, where I got to know a few more Ximian employees. I got rumors that the famous kernel hacker RobertLove would be there, so after a while I turned to the guy next to me and asked: "Is RobertLove really going to come?". And he replied: "Speaking." Another guy told me: "Hi, I'm BAHB". "Pardon?". "BAHB!". "What???". Federico promptly helped me out: "Ha detto che si chiama BOB :-)" The beer was good. I discovered that a BlueMoon is the nearest approximation of a WeisseBeer I can find here, and I'm not at all displeased by its taste. ==== Slow day ==== My landlord has recently switched DSL provider and Internet doesn't work any more: the sync light on the modem flashes. It seems that crappy ISPs are a common disease in the States as well. Yesterday, he called for service and, finally, they told him they would send a tech today from 8AM to 18PM. They refused to be more specific. And so I've agreed to wait here to let the guy in... I care about it for myself too! ==== Weight ==== By the way, today I'm exactly 150 pounds (use GoogleCalculator to get it to SI units). 150 pounds = 68.0388555 kilograms === Thu, 3rd === ==== Roxbury ==== They told me Roxbury is quite an infamous suburb of Boston. And my first impression confirms that: shops are uglier, parks and streets are somewhat dirtier (but not as much as in NewYorkCity!) and, most importantly, some of the neighbors look creepy. Especially in the night, streets are crowded by people with criminal faces and many homeless. You know I'm not the type who's easily scared off by a bunch of zombies, but I'll feel much better when I'll drive a car. ==== Moving In ==== I've finally settled in my room. There's no need to describe the house in detail, as it's the most typical colonial design: two floors plus basement, front and back yards, sliding windows, wooden floors everywhere. You've come to know them very well from the movies. Today I went to the mall to gather the essentials: a blankets, a pillow case and some bath towels. The bed is comfortable and I was quite tired already, therefore I fell asleep early in the evening and kept on until 8 AM. '''WARNING: TIME WARP OCCURRED''' ----- '''WARNING: TIME WARP IMMINENT''' === Fri, 4th === Alberto: Attento a convertire € in $ perchè € si sta apprezzando,e quindi $ svalutando rispetto a €. Belle le foto scovate da Massimo. Have a good stay in Btn. Massimo: Bernie, you taught me: http://www.google.com/search?q=100+USD+in+EUR Massimo: Since Bernie could not give us any picture, I had to use flickr: here they are! http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=bernardo+innocenti Piro: what in the heaven is RMS doing dressed like a camp tent? :D === Wed, 2nd === ==== BankOfAmerica ==== I went to BankOfAmerica and opened a bank account. I went there wearing a yellow T-shirt and a weary pair of jeans. In the beginning, they referred me to a young guy who quickly tried to offer me a student's saving account. When I queried for interest rates, credit cards, and dollar/euro conversion rates, they finally realized that I was going to move a bit of money. When I've shown them my balance, they immediately switched me to a very polite girl who took all the time to explain me everything in detail until after their closing time and recommended me to open *3* different accounts to get a rate of 4.80% with no fees! I totally hate when people judge you by your wealth, dressing, or other stupid status symbols, but maybe a bank is the only exception where it makes sense to do so. Banking appears to be far, far simpler here. I already feel like I know everything while in Italy I still can't read most of the paperwork I get from my banks. Batt: Or maybe american bankers are so skilled that you are happy while, in truth, they have stolen your money forever :-P 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. === Tue, 1st === ==== Good News, Everyone! ==== '''After a long struggling, I've finally found a room!''' And I'll be moving in *today*! But I'm writing on Thursday the 3rd, actually (aren't you thinking fourth-dimentionally yet?). The room is nice and comes with some forniture, including a desk. It's on the second floor of a house where the landlord lives with her wife and a very friendly puppy.I like it that way: all those houses shared by students I've seen so far tend to become unmaintained and dirty quite quickly, while this one is a real house with a fully operational kitchen, bathroom and even a clean back garden! My landlord is Armenian, but have been living here in Boston for a long time. My first impression is he's a very nice person, honest and easy going. I haven't met his wife yet -- she'll be back on Sunday. I'm afraid the house is a bit far away from MIT, in southern Boston. But that won't be a problem as soon as I buy a car. There may even be a chance to rent or buy the car readily from my landlord's son. 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 :-) '''Camy''': the landlord lives with '''his''' wife ==== Do You Speak English? ==== Some of you will be pissed off by this change, but I'm starting to make some international friends here and none of them could read Italian. Writing in English is also what I need to improve my writing skills. For the few of you who barely know English, some more reading surely won't hurt! If you're real lazy, [[http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbender.codewiz.org%2Fwiki%2FMayBlog&langpair=en%7Cit&hl=en Google Translator]] is your friend. As always, I'd very much appreciate being told about any mistake I make. ''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!''