X-Git-Url: https://codewiz.org/gitweb?p=wiki.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=MayBlog;fp=MayBlog;h=0000000000000000000000000000000000000000;hp=5d26eb2c8702eaddb7337055a4705d6859828ef7;hb=93c70a2e9b211662033c967a1178a0eb7968822b;hpb=20332db49d81018287a68bce389d75c6088e7207;ds=sidebyside diff --git a/MayBlog b/MayBlog deleted file mode 100644 index 5d26eb2..0000000 --- a/MayBlog +++ /dev/null @@ -1,773 +0,0 @@ -The story continues in [[April2008Blog]]. - -== May 2007 == - -=== Thu, 31th === - -==== News Feed ==== - -Today Rasky suggested that we could use an RSS feed to notify -about new articles in the blog. - -I wanted to fulfill the same purpose, but with a totally -different approach: use git-send-email to notify a mailing-list -and tell people: "hey, just subscribe to the list!". - -My version is surely too complicated because it employs -a chain of 4 different programs (pikiwiki -> git -> git-mail -> mailman). -But I like that it can be done without even touching the wiki -engine. - -A middle-ground solution could be using gitweb's own -RSS feed: - - http://bender.codewiz.org/wikigit/wiki.git?a=rss - -But as Rasky notes, this would send notifications -also for minor edits: real blog apps would only -bother you for new articles. - -So, maybe we should filter only changesets that -contain a new level 3 header... Hmmm... This -can't be done with gitweb, I'm afraid. - -We live in an era where we can make very cool -things with very little effort. I could hack -this versioned wiki engine in just 2-3 days -because I could pick the existing PikiPiki and -combine it with the existing Git versioning -system. - -This brings me to the point: the really hard thing -in software design is choosing the right ingredients -for your sausage. Because there are many ways to -bake a pizza, but only a few of them have the -quality of being tasty, healty, dietetic, cheap -or whatever. And usually, even a good design... -err... receipe requires you to choose a few of -these qualities you care more. - -'''Q''': What do you think is the most elegant way to -obtain useful notification from this blog? - -You can choose whatever technology to deliver some -kind of "notification". You can also use any -sensible definition of the words "useful" and "elegant". - - -==== Hop hop! ==== - -Today I typed ##cvs up -dP## to update Gnash from CVS. -And I got the prompt back in less than 1s. - -"Something must be broken!", I thought! In fact, it's -blazingly fast because we're just 2ms away from Savannah: - -{{{ -PING cvs.savannah.gnu.org (199.232.41.69) 56(84) bytes of data. -64 bytes from cvs.savannah.gnu.org (199.232.41.69): icmp_seq=1 ttl=58 time=2.31 ms -64 bytes from cvs.savannah.gnu.org (199.232.41.69): icmp_seq=2 ttl=58 time=2.21 ms -64 bytes from cvs.savannah.gnu.org (199.232.41.69): icmp_seq=3 ttl=58 time=2.00 ms -}}} - -And it's not even in MIT: - -{{{ -traceroute to cvs.savannah.gnu.org (199.232.41.69), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets - 1 passport-9-16.media.mit.edu (18.85.46.1) 1.756 ms 1.695 ms 1.845 ms - 2 amtgw.media.mit.edu (18.85.0.1) 2.230 ms 1.248 ms 1.150 ms - 3 EXTERNAL-RTR-1-BACKBONE.MIT.EDU (18.168.0.18) 1.409 ms 1.435 ms 1.374 ms - 4 EXTERNAL-RTR-2-BACKBONE.MIT.EDU (18.168.0.27) 1.391 ms 1.389 ms 1.426 ms - 5 207.210.143.109 (207.210.143.109) 1.428 ms 1.505 ms 1.414 ms - 6 207.210.143.138 (207.210.143.138) 12.756 ms 2.162 ms 1.998 ms - 7 ge-2-1-0-000.ar1.qcy1.ma.gnaps.NET (199.232.44.142) 4.879 ms 2.592 ms 2.485 ms - 8 cvs.savannah.gnu.org (199.232.41.69) 2.713 ms 7.476 ms 13.328 ms -}}} - -Boston sure has a very fast WAN backbone! - - -=== Wed, 30th === - - Ciao Berni!!! Te tu sei un grande, qui dalla OTE ti si saluta con affetto!!! - -Grazie ragazzi! Il sentimento e' reciproco! Uno di questi giorni -dovete proprio venire a bere una birra qua a Boston! - -==== More Graphics Headaches ==== - -Hehe, more graphics problems keep sprinkling: XorgGraphicsCorruption. -CosmicPenguin was kind enough to offload me of the graphics related bugs. - - -=== Tue, 29th === - -==== Tracking ==== - -And if you really have too much time on your hands, try helping me out on some of -these tasks: - - * XorgOlpcTasks - * http://dev.laptop.org/query?status=new&status=assigned&status=reopened&status=closed&owner=bernie&order=priority - - -==== Weekly OLPC Reports ==== - -If you're interested in our progess at the OLPC lab, we -publish weekly executive summaries here: - - http://laptop.media.mit.edu/laptopnews.nsf/latest/news - -This is the report that mentions me volunteering for -the project: - - http://laptop.media.mit.edu/laptopnews.nsf/2e76a5a80bc36cbf85256cd700545fa5/6709ac0696003ee3852572e00083567f?OpenDocument - - -=== Fri, 25th === - -==== 60 Minutes ==== - -In this episode of the popular American show SixtyMinutes, -our founder NicholasNegroponte reveals a lot of details -about the humanitarian role of the OneLaptopPerChild project: - - http://bender.codewiz.org/wikidata/60_minutes_2007-05-20.avi - -The part about us starts approximately at 1/3 of the show. - -You may also find the last part interesting as it specifically -addresses the controversial problem of private medical centers -trying to save on assistance to homeless people. Marco, you -should see it! - - -==== GreenishBitmaps ==== - -'''Warning''': This article is rated PG0xF00F, parents discretion *not* advised. - -I've been struggling for the last few days on a the damn X server. - -In the RedHat builds, we're still using a pre-release of 1.2, -labelled 1.1.99. Now, we need to leverage some upstream work -for input rotation that is landing on the Xorg tree right now. - -Backporting is not an option, and we want to stay up to date -anyway. We'll soon be moving to Fedora 7 anyway. But even -the just-released 1.3 that will be in Fedora 7 is not enough, -because it has been branched some time ago, we must work -from the tip of the git tree, which of course has become -very unstable recently. - -I've been fighting all the week against all sort of bugs -and build problems and, believe me, it's a very energy -consuming exercise. - -The funniest thing I'm still trying to track are -these GreenishBitmaps that nobody else except me -is seeing. - -It's probably a miscompilation of some kind, but I've -long ago ran out of obvious and less obvious ideas to try -and I'm now far in the land of impossible things. - -All this time I've been in contact with a few X -hackers on IRC, including the author of the AMD -driver, but even them couldn't come up with a -magical solution. - - -==== Chat Line ==== - - Bernie, I'm Easy... - -'''Bernie''': Hello Easy!!! It's good to be chatting here in the blog! - -I saw this two photo some row below... - - But all those OLPC at the roof, what doing?? Only for furnishing or for specific utility?? :) - -'''Bernie''': Hehe... they're part of the WirelessMesh, for testing -purposes. An hispanic guy called Miguel (not the same of De Icaza) -sometimes fiddles with them. He's lucky because he's very tall. -I'd need a ladder :-) - - The office is very beautiful and the Apple Cinema Display is really very big... - -'''Bernie''': Yeah, that's the personal screen of my boss/team-leader ChrisBall. -It's 30". One day or another I'll bring here my 24" wide-screen from home. - - Do you have some new news about your new work?? - -'''Bernie''': Sorry for not updating the blog... I've been *extremely* -busy. I will do it shortly... Promised. - -=== Sat, 19th === - -==== Trip to work ==== - -I still couldn't solve the problem of getting to work -quickly. I can't afford to waste over 2 hours every -day like this. - -By now, I've tried any possible solution: - - * Car: the office doesn't have a parking lot and there's - no way to park within one mile from KendalSquare for less - than $18/day. Monthly fees start from $250. - - * Bus: I need to commute in Dudley and take line no. 1 to - MassachusettsAvenue, then walk 15 minutes to KendalSquare. - - * Bus + subway combo: The red line would get me directly - to KendalSquare, and there are several routes to get there, - but all of them require commuting at least twice. The - monthly link pass costs $75. - - * Car + subway combo: there are some cheap parkings next - to the terminal subway stations where you can leave your - car for $5/day. Unfortunately, to get there I must - travel in the opposite direction. And the whole thing - will cost $75 + $5*30, about the same of the monthly - parking fee. - - * Taxi: Costs $11-$14 * 2 every day, which makes the - monthly parking cheap in comparison. - -And even worse, the red line stops running at midnight -and bus no 1 at 1AM. Which forces me to leave from -the office very early (for my standards). - -If you want to play with the possibilities, I just -discovered that the transportation company has a very cool -web service that would have saved me a lot of time: - -{{{ - http://www.mbta.com/rider_tools/trip_planner/default.asp - From: 66 Maywood st., Roxbury MA - To: Kendall/mit Station, Cambridge -}}} - -At the end of the day, the ultimate solution is moving -closer to the office or at least close to the red line. -Maybe I could afford to spend $600 for a room, but I -don't feel like moving right now. I already have enough -things on my hands. - -''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'' - -==== Awful Weather ==== - -Today it's raining lightly. Yesterday I took an extra shower -in the evening :-( - -The WikiPedia was definitely right: weather in Boston can -change very rapidly. Must remember to buy a raincoat like -RichardStallman's and keep it in my backpack. - - -==== What Next? ==== - -{{{ -1. Get employed at OLPC -2. ??? -3. World domination! -}}} - -Just joking, but the truth is that I still need -to face a lot of new challenges now. - -My next problem will be improving my communication skills. -After one month of full immersion, I can still barely -understand people talking quickly to each and I clearly -express myself using an inadequately poor vocabulary and -too slowly in some cases. - -These things will improve over time, while my strong -Italian inflection is likely to remain forever. If -only I could find one, I'd attend to a course to -correct my diction now. Actors do them. - -Another crucial problem I need to solve quickly is -getting a visa that allows me to work here permanently. -There are many possibilities, but none guaranteed to -succeed. For now, I'm not thinking about it: my -employer knows better than me and will help as much -as possible. - -Last but not least, my job is not easy and requires a -good amount of commitment. All my colleagues are extremely -smart and more experienced than I am. So I need to work -twice as hard to keep up with them. - -A very nice workplace and very interesting assignments helps. -And, most importantly, I know that what we're doing here is -going to have a huge impact on the world. - -'''Andrea Grandi''': Your words give me no hopes for my future :( - -'''Bernie''': Are you planning to come here? Cool! :D - -> All my colleagues are extremely smart and more experienced than I am - -More than you? It's not a place for me then :D - -'''Bernie''': It's worth trying even if you currently think you're -not up to the job. It's a very valuable experience even if you -end up returning to your home country for some reason. - -'''Rasky''': But can you get a perm visa even without an university -degree? I thought that was absolutely out of question... I knew that -people without a degree could just get some 1-year temp visa. - - -=== Thu, 17th === - -==== More Pics ==== - -Here are some more pics of MyOlpcDesk. - -=== Wed, 16th === - -==== Office Space ===== - -Here are a few pictures of the OlpcOffice! - -==== Hack Hack Hack ==== - -I've been assigned a problem with an invalid serial port baud -rate after resume from software suspend. - -I started investigating the hard way, until ChrisBall pointed -me on IRC to talk with the KernelHacker DavidWoodhouse, who -obviously had a solution in a few seconds. Unfortunately, -it didn't work as we expected and MitchBradley of OpenFirmware -joined the conversation to help. - -Having all the subsystem gurus available to fix your bugs makes -things a lot easier... Hehe, I think I like it ;-) - -And so tomorrow I'll get back to work on a MandelBug with the Xorg's -driver for the AMD chipset. When XVIDEO is enabled and you -rotate the display with XRANDR, sometimes the X server crashes, -sometimes it just hangs and sometimes it survives with a corrupted -display. And the bad news is that gdb also hangs. - -How will I fix this? Easy: I'll go looking for the driver authors -first thing tomorrow and beg them to send me a fix :-) - -By the way, lately I've been hanging regularly in #olpc on FreeNode. -My nick is _bernie. Come over to see what's going on! - - -=== Mon, 14th === - -==== All Night Long ==== - -At 9PM, I'm still here and plan to stay as long as I can :-) - - - - -==== Buried In Work Already ==== - -'''WARNING''': Technical AbraCadabra ahead! - -Today I met most of the team members and bothered a few of them, -starting from DanWilliams who helped me debug a problem with a -simple mesh networking scenario involving three laptops. - -Today I've also been assigned some work from ChrisBall, who also -helped me out with many small things such as a dead battery, -accessing the serial console, etc. I'm currently adding a -KernelDebugger command to display the ModelSpecificRegister's -of the AmdGeodeCpu. - -But it seems like I will also refer to RedHat's ChrisBlizzard -to be assigned more work. We talked about optimizing the -video driver for the AmdGeodeCpu, getting the resistive -tablet to work and maybe adding "tapping" support to the -capacitive touchpad. - -As you know, I like it even more when I'm allowed to ramble -through a zillion different things like this! - - -==== Sneaky Preview ==== - -I'm writing this from within the OLPC headquarters. I came today for -a second interview and to get a few tasks assigned to me :-) - -I have no time to be more specific. Will tell you the details a little later. - - -=== Sun, 13th === - - '''TODO''': will tell you later - -=== Sat, 12th === - - '''TODO''': will tell you later - -=== Fri, 11th === - >MUM< creepy mummy virus it's taking control here.... :-) WRITE SOON OR IT/SHE WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING! -==== Quite a Trip ==== - -Today I'm leaving the safe and familiar BostonCity to boldly go where I've -never been before. - -The current plan is to drive south to ProvidenceCity, BrdigeportCity, NewYorkCity, -PhiladelphiaCity, BaltimoreCity and, finally, WashingtonCity. Maybe I'll even -push myself down in FloridaState to go see the SpaceShuttle! - -I could use a GPS. I've seen a few TomTom's, but $299 seems way too -much to me for a talking map. Maybe I'll buy a traditional map for -$10. - -Ah, and I will sleep frugally, of course. Hostels and motels when I find -them. So, over the next few days I'll be lucky if I have intermittent -Internet access and, consequently, I won't probably be able to sync the -BrainDump. - - -=== Thu, 10th === - - '''Babbo''': Ma fino ad oggi con quali danari hai vissuto dato che sei partito con 10€ liquidi? - - '''Bernie''': Ho prelevato i soldi dall'ATM... con il bancomat delle poste! E vedo dai movimenti - sul conto che hanno applicato un buon cambio e nessuna penale strana. - -==== Car Rental ==== - -Today I finally rent a car. It's a SaturnIon, a brand and model I never heard -of before. - -http://www.edmunds.com/media/seo/500/2006.saturn.ion.jpg - -I felt very comfortable driving all over Europe: Italy, Swiss, Spain, France, -Germany, Belgium, and even Greece... But, for some reason, I was quite afraid -of driving a car here in the States. - -Maybe it's because the road signs are somewhat different and there are a few -subtly different rules, such as turning right on red, not parking in front -of hydrants, etc. Most probably, it's because I've seen way too many movies -where people get stopped by police and thrown in jail quite easily! - -Well, so far everything went very well. I mean, except for parking. Parking -in downtown is easy if you're willing to pay $10-12 for a few hours. -It's a big pain in the ass otherwise... The best way I've found so far -is to park near a minor T station and then get the T to downtown :-( - -And, of course, the car has AutomaticTransmission, which I managed to learn -quickly: the trouble comes when you switch the other way around ;-) - -Ok, today I've driven all around Boston just to get used to it. Tomorrow -I'll probably dare getting on the highway to see around. - - -==== Business Visa? ==== - -Today I've re-read detailed information on the -available US visa options: - - http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1262.html - -Looks like a ''B-1'' Business Visa would do. To get one, -I should go to a US ambassy, and ambassys are usually -located abroad. Instead of returning to Italy, maybe -I could get an appointment in MontrealCity, which is -near to the border and also an interesting place to see. - - -=== Wed, 9th === - -==== Zip Car ==== - -Yesterday I applied for this great service: http://www.zipcar.com/ . -Isn't it a good idea? Costs less than renting a car and is almost -as versatile. - - http://www.carsharingfirenze.it/ :) - -Today I walked to their offices to give them my documents -and get the magnetic card. They said they will enable it -first thing tomorrow *if* the "insurance risk declaration" -I got from Italy suffices. - - -==== Simple shopping ==== - -Consumers must be very simple minded here. First, most -shop names are simply dumb: '''Pay Less''', '''Save-A-Lot''', -'''Big Deal''', and so on. - -''Sounds very '''meno tasse per tutti''' to me... -- PiroPiro'' - -Second, they try to subtle deceptions such as: "take 2 for $24.xx", -and, next to it: "take 3 for $21.xx", Which of course is -impossible. It's a trap! The little figures placed -exactly where you would expect to see the cents, are -indeed a small notice: ''EACH''. - -Today I bought a dozen of razor blades ($1.50), a -bottle of shampoo ($1.50) and shower gel ($1.50). -But I spent $12 for adjusting the two pair of -trousers I had bought a few days ago in the mall! -$12 ''EACH'', I mean. - - -==== Bad Neighborhood ==== - -Walking home alone in the night, I may encounter some ''bad'' guys: - -http://bender.codewiz.org/FunWithWeapons.jpg - -Better be careful :-) - - -=== Tue, 8th === - -==== Veni, Vidi, ???? ==== - -This morning I shown up at OneLaptopPerChild's headquarters. It's again next to KendallSquare, -in OneCambridgeCenter. - -JimGettys was very kind: he took me to LegalSeaFood for lunch, repaired my ExOh's keyboard (two -keys were dead) and introduced me to the team members. - -They left me with the usual Hollywood formula: "don't call us, we'll call you". -But in this particular case, I felt they were sincere :-) - -I hope to be soon a member of the OLPC core team! - - -=== Mon, 7th === - -==== Alea Iacta Est ==== - -As promised... Yes, indeed. Everybody please cross their fingers. - -Babbo:Pregherò perchè tu possa ottenere quello che cerchi. - -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. -A dire il vero anch'io sto in ansia per lui :-) speriamo bene... - -Bernie: Via, non fatemi venire il magone voi due :-) - -=== Sun, 6th === - -==== International Dinner ==== - -FedericoLucifredi 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? - -Babbo:penso che $ continuerà a svalutare. Perderai soldi. - -==== 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=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!''