Happy Solstice!

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

Happy Solstice!

In other news...

Noelle and I are buying a house (!) in  (part of Boston), MA.  The
current proposed closing date is Dec 26.  The house itself needs a bit of
work (electrical, settling, etc.), so we won't officially be moving in
'til later.  We're hiring contractors to do the repairs.  If anyone has
any recommmendations on how to deal with contractors, please e-mail me.
Also, if anyone has any recommendations on home/house repair/maintenance
books, please e-mail me.  Our new address will be:

robert & noelle
.
 

We will be getting a box right after closing (it's already been
allocated for us).  I haven't called NYNEX about phone service yet, so we
don't have a number yet.

Noelle has a job doing medical records coding at Franciscan Children's
Hospital, about a 10 minute walk from our house (one of the main
incentives to moving there).  Unfortunately, I work in Woburn, MA about a
30 minute drive from our house.  I am determined to try to find a good
commute method: public transit, carpooling, or vanpooling.  My work place
is a start-up that does parallel computer software products and also does
machine learning stuff.  The company was founded by Thinking Machines
people.  C & C++ are the main languages used and, although I don't prefer
programming in such primitive languages, it is interesting work right now.
The main Unix that the company runs is Linux (yeah, I know, Linux isn't
supposed to be called Unix, but...), so I can keep my standard development
environment at home and work.  Yey.  (Pretty amazing that I'm still able
to successfully avoid Windows, huh?)

Once we moved into our house, we're planning on contacting some Child-Free
Network people whose names were given to us when we were living in
.  Hopefully, this will be a friend-making opportunity since
we know few people here in New England.  I'm also planning on joining the
Boston Vegeterian Society, the Bicycle Coalition of Ma, and the
Boston chapter of Zero Population Growth.  Noelle will probably get
involved in the Cohousing communities in Cambridge.

Surviving with snow is definitely going to be a different experience.  I
haven't had to deal with that in 14 years, really.  Luckily, Boston has a
progressive policy when it comes to public transit.  A Whole Foods (Bread
and Circus) is about 5 blocks away and there's a coop (Harvest Co-op) in
Allston (where all the hippies seem to hang out at) right on the bus line.
So, continuing my veganism may not be too difficult.

If you lose this message and you want to contact me, remember that you can
always look me up on the following places:

http://www.yahoo.com/search/people
http://www.whowhere.com
http://www.switchboard.com

The contact address is my work address -- I never give out my home
address.  (Use advanced search since my name is so common.)  The
information in these listings will always be kept up-to-date through any
job changes.

If any of you is in the Boston area and want to visit, please call me at
the number below.

Bye!