Well, I'm here
I moved into my new apartment on Thursday, although I must say that I'm using the phrase "move in" loosely. I basically brought only the stuff I could fit in my little Saturn ION, mainly clothes, an inflatable mattress, and a few other essentials (read: electronics). The rest of my worldly possessions will take at least a week to catch up with me.
I had arranged things so that the afternoon I moved into my apartment the ComCast would come by with my cable modem and the self-install kit. So I didn't have a bed, a couch, a television, dishes, or much of anything else... By God, I would have fast Internet. Or so I thought. Turns out that the cable internet isn't working. The Cable connection light on the modem isn't blinking rather than steady, so the problem is either with the cable or the modem. So I bought a TV to test the cable. Okay, I also wanted a small television for my bedroom, so I spent $90 and got a TV/VCR combo. It turns out the cable is fine, so either the Internet signal is attenuated (they're at different frequencies and have different power requirements as well) or the modem is defunct. I called up COMCAST and after they had asked me to try all the inane solutions which are in the startup manual and which I had already tried ten times, they promised to send someone by to fix it. I had to schedule it for Saturday, since I didn't want to have to take off work to get my cable fixed my first week. We'll save that for getting my furniture delivered at least.
Not to panic, however. This is Boston, and I live in a community filled with college students and young professionals. There are at least five wireless networks visible from where I am, three of which are unsecured. I don't like piggybacking, but it's not my fault that my cable modem is broken.
Meanwhile, I'm enjoying my first few days back in Boston. I went to my old church on Friday night, which had a free concert as part of Boston's First Night festivities. This concert featured fiddler extraordinaire, Hanneke Cassel, who is a member of Park Street Church. I bought a CD and got her autograph on it. I had met her once before, but I'd have been surprised if she remembered me. I did, however, happen to meet a couple of folks who did remember me, mostly friends from MIT's Graduate Christian Fellowship. It was good to meet them again. Some of them were considerably surprised that I was back in town. I haven't tried to keep it a secret, but I suppose I haven't really announced it.
One thing I didn't miss about Boston were the roads. I know I've commented on it before, but it really is awful. You come to an intersection where no fewer than seven roads come together. There's not one stoplight you have to go through, but three. You know you have to bear left, but is that at the second stoplight or the third. And God help you if you turn left, because then you're on the wrong road entirely, and when you manage to turn around to make another try (usually involving circling the block or else a clumsy three point turn on a side road--if you're really lucky, you find a parking lot with a stop light), you find that making a left turn onto the road you want is forbidden from where you are. Did this really happen to me? I'm hashing a couple of the times together, but I'm not exaggerating. Of course, what's almost as bad is that the street names change every few miles. This is, of course, due to the fact that the Boston area consists of a lot of little towns which grew up during the days of horse and buggy, if not plain walking. So it made sense that the road is called Lexington Street in Waltham and Waltham Street in Lexington (see, in Waltham it's the street that leads to Lexington, in Lexington it's the street that leads to Waltham). I'm not sure if it changes to Lexington Street again further out, but it wouldn't surprise me. I've found at least one other Lexington Street, but I wasn't quite sure where I was at the time.
I'll post a few pictures tomorrow, so you can see my living conditions. The place is nice, but my furnishings are not.
I had arranged things so that the afternoon I moved into my apartment the ComCast would come by with my cable modem and the self-install kit. So I didn't have a bed, a couch, a television, dishes, or much of anything else... By God, I would have fast Internet. Or so I thought. Turns out that the cable internet isn't working. The Cable connection light on the modem isn't blinking rather than steady, so the problem is either with the cable or the modem. So I bought a TV to test the cable. Okay, I also wanted a small television for my bedroom, so I spent $90 and got a TV/VCR combo. It turns out the cable is fine, so either the Internet signal is attenuated (they're at different frequencies and have different power requirements as well) or the modem is defunct. I called up COMCAST and after they had asked me to try all the inane solutions which are in the startup manual and which I had already tried ten times, they promised to send someone by to fix it. I had to schedule it for Saturday, since I didn't want to have to take off work to get my cable fixed my first week. We'll save that for getting my furniture delivered at least.
Not to panic, however. This is Boston, and I live in a community filled with college students and young professionals. There are at least five wireless networks visible from where I am, three of which are unsecured. I don't like piggybacking, but it's not my fault that my cable modem is broken.
Meanwhile, I'm enjoying my first few days back in Boston. I went to my old church on Friday night, which had a free concert as part of Boston's First Night festivities. This concert featured fiddler extraordinaire, Hanneke Cassel, who is a member of Park Street Church. I bought a CD and got her autograph on it. I had met her once before, but I'd have been surprised if she remembered me. I did, however, happen to meet a couple of folks who did remember me, mostly friends from MIT's Graduate Christian Fellowship. It was good to meet them again. Some of them were considerably surprised that I was back in town. I haven't tried to keep it a secret, but I suppose I haven't really announced it.
One thing I didn't miss about Boston were the roads. I know I've commented on it before, but it really is awful. You come to an intersection where no fewer than seven roads come together. There's not one stoplight you have to go through, but three. You know you have to bear left, but is that at the second stoplight or the third. And God help you if you turn left, because then you're on the wrong road entirely, and when you manage to turn around to make another try (usually involving circling the block or else a clumsy three point turn on a side road--if you're really lucky, you find a parking lot with a stop light), you find that making a left turn onto the road you want is forbidden from where you are. Did this really happen to me? I'm hashing a couple of the times together, but I'm not exaggerating. Of course, what's almost as bad is that the street names change every few miles. This is, of course, due to the fact that the Boston area consists of a lot of little towns which grew up during the days of horse and buggy, if not plain walking. So it made sense that the road is called Lexington Street in Waltham and Waltham Street in Lexington (see, in Waltham it's the street that leads to Lexington, in Lexington it's the street that leads to Waltham). I'm not sure if it changes to Lexington Street again further out, but it wouldn't surprise me. I've found at least one other Lexington Street, but I wasn't quite sure where I was at the time.
I'll post a few pictures tomorrow, so you can see my living conditions. The place is nice, but my furnishings are not.
A Personal post at
11:13 PM on Fri, Dec 31, 2004
