Happy Equinox!

[http://www./~robert (Red Hat Linux User)]

Happy Equinox!

Now, for the update on things.

We finally have a home phone.  So, in addition to me voicemail phone number
you can call us directly.  Note that you
may have to let it ring a number of times before getting through because,
when my computer's using the modem, it takes a lot to convince it to release
the phone line.

We've stumbled into buying the house from Hades (Satan's abode, perhaps).
It has bazillions of problems and we'll be lucky to sell it for the worth
of the land that it's on.  Basically, the initially home inspection was
not detailed enough.  And, because they take too long to get, I didn't
have enough time to get a general contractor to look it over before the
purchase was finalized.  Also, we were too desperate to actually get the
house because its location was ideal for Noelle's commute.  Oh, well.
Property's a gamble.

So, I've been spending almost all of my free time working on repairing the
house.  Ugh.  The biggest problem is the kitchen.  To date, we haven't
cooked in the kitchen.  It's cold and it smells bad.  I've been slowly
working on both.  It looks like we're going to have to live with it, at
least the cold.

As it turns out, I never hired a contractor.  I actually had a general
contractor come over and he said that there were number of things done to
the house which were done without a Boston building permit.  This
instantly thrust me into a Catch-22: if I hire someone to fix it, they may
be forced to issue a violation if something is not within code
(apparently, plumbers do this).  So, I either fix it myself and continue
the tradition of non-compliance, or I hire a professional, get all the
violations, and fix it the right way.  The problem is that the
non-permitted items are big:  raising of the roof and the building of the
finished kitchen in the basement.

I have joined the Boston Vegetarian Society, the Ma Green
Party, and MassBike (they changed their name).  Noelle and I both joined
the Harvest Co-op (a food market).  I will also be attending the Greater
Boston Zero Population Growth meeting next Monday.  I've been getting
involved in RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) Action.  (I am not in an RSI
Support Group right now, but maybe I will later.)  All this, and Noelle
and I are still unpacking and organizing!

It seems that most of the people I know are on the bus (or, at least one
bus in particular).  I hope that that won't be the limit of my human
interaction.  Anyway, I currently take 3 buses to get to work -- an
express bus to downtown, a normal bus to Haymarket Square (northern
Boston), and another express bus to Woburn.  It takes 1.5 hours typically
with about 15 minutes of that waiting for a bus.  I haven't figured out a
way to bike to work (Woburn is pretty far and I can't take my bike on
either the bus or on the Green line); I'm doubtful.  Needless to say,
since I'm on the bus so much, I try to get as much done during the commute
as possible.  For example, I'm writing this message on my palmtop on the
bus right now.  (Unfortunately, my palmtop doesn't run Linux: I'm planning
on getting a palmtop that will be able to later when things have settled
down a little bit.)

I ordered a "No Kidding!" start-up kit.  No Kidding! is an idea for a
social group of people who can't, don't, or won't have kids.  I'd like to
organize this, but, again, I won't be able to begin this project 'til
things have settled down a bit.  It will probably help Noelle and I find a
few friends to hang out with.

It's strange living so close to my siblings and parents.  I probably have
met them more in the past 6 months than I have in the past 14 years; it's
weird having your brother stop by on the weekend.  And Boston life
is...well, Boston is great except the people.  At first, I thought it was
that people became assholes (or as my father says, "Massholes") just when
they got in their car.  But I now realize that there are many Bostonians
who are just plain jerks, automobiles or not -- probably 10% on the whole.
I have been slowly remembering what it was like growing up in
Ma, about all the bad and uncomfortable times and all the
jerks.  I never experienced really mean people and jerks while on the west
coast. There, people are less interested in stepping on other people to
get ahead and just putting other people down to make themselves feel
better.  And because of this, I have concluded that I don't want to die
here (or live here for that matter).  I think I want to live on the west
coast again; not right now, but eventually.

Anyway, if you want to visit, give a call.  We're in  (a district
in Boston), MA and we won't be moving any time soon.