I moved to Greater Boston

Tue Dec 3 20:02:44 EST 2002

This entry is likely to be modified, since I don't have some details with me at the moment. Mostly just specific times and dates of the move though.

I moved to Greater Boston. Arlington, 1.2 miles from the Alewife station, to be fairly precise, on Friday 11/8/02.

I didn't start packing until the day I picked up my truck, Thursday, 11/7/02. I spent $32 on 6 empty cardboard boxes with no handles. That felt horrible. I did actually leave on the day intended though, but fairly late.

Monster spent the whole trip on mine and pinkee's laps. He was very good, except a couple times when he really wanted to be on my lap at inconvenient times. We threatened to put him in the cat carrier in the back of the truck, and he started behaving. I'm very thankful for all the time I spent driving around with him.

95 (?, the road I spent the most time on) disappeared right after the Lincoln tunnel, seemingly right in the middle of New York City. Bouncing this 10' truck through NYC was not what I wanted to be doing. It sucked, and ended up killing my stereo receiver :(

But I ended up pulling out my GPS and laptop, and got going back in the right direction again. GPSes, especially with mapping/routing software, are awesome. And you can buy a handheld eTrex for less than $100 from Garmin.

I arrived at my new apartment at 5am. The keys were not left as described, so I called the landlord, left voicemail, and napped in the truck until he called back at 8am, then I crashed. I'm fairly confident I would have finished unloading between 5 and 8, if I had the opportunity, because we were hoping to get to the alt.polyamory convention that day, I think around 11am. Obviously, we didn't. I don't remember what time we did get there. But the next day I had to take a taxi to a long subway ride, to another subway ride, to a bus that didn't come so I had to walk the 1.2 miles (turned out that bus doesn't run weekends and holidays) to unload the freaking truck by myself. I am thankful it was only up one floor. Unloading Took about an hour.

I planned on, and especially selected my apartment in the hopes of, not bringing my car up from Philadelphia (and selling it or something). Life has gone fairly well without it, but I'm thinking about bringing it up. There's still the possibility of using zipcar - "the car for people who don't want one".

The poly con was neat. As I expected, lots of neat people. I really wish I had participated in some of the panels though - one of the more prominent things I learned, again I guess, is how bad I am talking to a group I don't know, at least about personal stuff. I had no difficulty announcing things in front of all of PLUG. I met a bunch of neat people there, and a couple who are local to this area I just moved into, which is cool.

One of the things I expected to miss most was Nocturne at Shampoo - a goth / industrial dance club event. I love to dance. The people there were really neat. Latex, vinyl, and fishnet are wonderful things. I asked a bunch of people for suggestions in the Boston area, and all of them basically just said "Manray". I've been there 3 times now, and while there are things that were better about Nocturne at Shampoo, I am very happy to have it. I have only been to Manray on Fridays, because the night owl busses only run Friday and Saturday, but I need to see what Wednesdays (Crypt) are like, because that's their goth / industrial night. Manray has 2 dance floors, compared to Shampoo's 3, and its total dance floor area is less than that of just Shampoo's main dance floor. A pleasant improvement is that the main floor DJ actually knows how to beatmatch. I have yet to notice a flaw in a mix. Although.. he needs to slow it down at the beginning of the night... always has the speed cranked up too high, making it harder to get on the dance floor. Manray is one of the biggest reasons I'm thinking about bringing my car up. I could then attend on Wednesdays, and I wouldn't have to worry as much about catching the last night owl bus on Fridays. One of the more frustrating things about Manray is figuring out how to get the $5 discount for creative clothing. There are things I've been wanting to get, but I haven't been too successful so far. This Friday I'm hoping Hubba Hubba will have plain glossy vinyl pants, and a fishnet shirt in my size in stock. And hoping it'll look okay on me.

I've wanted a king size bed for a while. I got one. A couple co-workers had suggested Big John's Mattress Factory, so I got it from there. It was easy enough to pick and order one, and they delivered it for $20. I think the price was probably reasonable, and I'm quite happy with the bed. The first night I slept in it, I slept 16 hours, I think from 4pm to 10am. This might have been partially due to the bed, but largely due to my attempts to adjust my sleep schedule, and possibly the recent move.

I want to get a bed frame. Characteristics I'm looking for: I think this means I want a wooden frame. I'm thinking white (see next paragraph), but maybe black. Possibly even wood colored, but it would be a pain to try to match my floors. A couple I'm considering (I'd love input):
The Country ManorThe Country Manor
Paul BunyonPaul Bunyon

As a result of my experiences at the Westen hotel we stayed at during the poly con, I decided to start getting some things in white, and use bleach when washing them. This will come as a bit of a shock to those who would correctly guess that at the moment I'm wearing all black. My sheets are all white. I want to get get white bath towels and rug. I think there's a good chance I'll get white socks and underwear (to replace my all black socks and mostly black underwear). I'm thinking about doing a lot of white for gym clothes. I don't know. White is like, cleaner.. not soaked with dye. And matches everything, like black. But it doesn't have the problem of fading that black does. So it will always look nice, until it's physically worn.

Grocery shopping has been an adventure. Another reason I'm thinking about bringing my car up. I'm currently grocery shopping at 4 places. There's a convenience store across the street, a large pharmacy about a 5 minute walk away, a health food store somewhat close to a subway stop on the way home, and a real grocery store about a 20 minute walk away (I'll take a bus next time). So I have been getting what I need at whichever place is most convenient. I think currently the only thing I need the real grocery store for is tuna, and that's canned, so I can stock up on it. And I also need to try the Peapod online grocery shopping and delivery thing. I've heard good things about it, but hear it's (not surprisingly) expensive. They deliver stuff from a local grocery store in a refrigerated truck.

On the subject of food, I had been having difficulty dropping below 4 pounds over my target weight since my last trip up to the Boston area. I finally got around to getting back to my previous diet, and I'm now basically eating a large (12oz) can of tuna with light mayo and catchup for breakfast, half a tub of lowfat yogurt (banilla or strawberry) for lunch, half a can of (lean) tuna spam for dinner, and baby carrots whenever I want. And restricting my beverages to water as much as possible. I should get more tofu. Yes, I realize I need more variety in my diet.

I've wanted a kayak for more than half my life, and my apartment happens to be about 4 blocks from a lake, so I need one. I'm currently thinking about getting an Old Town Castine. I know nothing about them, so I'm open to suggestions. I expect at some point in my life I'll put a kayak on a river, and on the ocean, which is about 8 miles away as the bird files. There's a lot of water around here. I plan to hang my kayak on the livingroom wall over my sofa (when I have both).

I got my drivers license converted already. It as actually fairly easy. And in the process I discovered a Macy's, some of which I have liked a lot, and I do like this one.

I am still pleased with the apartment. 3 busses stop out front and go directly to stops on the (subway) red line into work. My king size bed doesn't seem huge in the bedroom. All of my clothes are on hangers on one side of my walk in closet (socks and underwear are still just on a shelf). 2 washers and dryers in the basement. While the electricity is still a fuse box, I believe it has more amps than my house did. I mapped them all out. Should be able to host a decent small lan party. Maybe 8 people, including me. There's a window in the shower / over the tub. I want to put a frosted shower curtain in the window, and a clear shower curtain around the tub to let light in.

I noticed the air in the apartment was rather dry. I was considering putting baking pans full of water on the radiators, but friends didn't like that idea, probably thought it was too ghetto. So I spent $30 on an ultrasonic humidifier. It does the job. It's humid in my apartment now, and my lips don't get chapped overnight anymore. The thing is pretty neat, it seems to just have a little speaker under water emitting some tone, maybe the resonance frequency of water ? This causes water to squirt and fog up into the air. The squirting is caught by the top. It's tempting to try building one myself, and playing with the tone generation. Seems like it should be easy to build a bigger one for less. I have to refill this one twice a day, which is annoying. I could make one that I could hook up to the sink water supply or something....

I've been wanting a nice, black, long coat for a while. I've been mostly wearing my woodlands camo m65 field jacket since I got it for paintball. While I don't think anyone else really cared, I wanted something that looked nicer. I found a few wool top coats in stores, and found one I liked, on a good sale. I found one that seemed to fit, and asked an employee. I was apparently way off. He found me one that fit properly (so a suit jacket would fit under it), and I bought it, and have been wearing it almost exclusively since. I think it looks really nice - with black wool scarf, black suede gloves, and cheap sunglasses.

My apartment is currently the cleanest, tidiest place I've ever lived in, and I'm very happy about that, and am optimistic about keeping it that way. I've mopped all of the floors, and scrubbed the tub. I used Murphy's Oil on the wood floors in the livingroom, bedroom and foyer. Tried a few things on the kitchen floor, which was pretty bad, but what ended up working wonders was bleach. I mixed a cup and a half of ultra chlorox with about a galon of water, and did that twice. It still needs to be done again. But it is so much cleaner than it was. All my clothes are, as I mentioned, hung up. All my dirty clothes are in a hamper. I've been cleaning the liter box and taking out the trash probably more frequently than I ever have. It's nice to be able to take the trash out whenever I want, to a dumpster, instead of on specific days, to the curb.

I put Monster's food and water on top of the kitchen cabinets. I had seen him up there several times, and it occurred to me that there was no reason to have them taking up kitchen floor space. He seems to have adjusted well.

My maternal grandfather shaved twice a day at times because of how intense his beard was. I, years ago, noted this, and made a mental note of what kind of razor he used. I believe this was even before I started shaving. It was electric, and not the Norelco kind. I believe it was a Braun. I used to have a Norelco. They never made much sense to me, and I never liked mine much. I finally got around to following up on my mental note to try a Braun. I like it so far. I think it's been about a week. It has an automatic cleaning thing that I stick it in when I'm done, and close. It's great. When the battery dies, I'll stick it in this thing, close it, and hit the select button, so it also charges after cleaning. I do not expect to go back. Although I'm still curious to try a straight razor.

I've wondered the area around my apartment a little. There's a theater close by that people mention a lot. Shortly after this kayak idea entered my mind, I found this place that said "outfitters" (outdoor stuff) on the window, and went in, because I like outdoor stuff, and that includes kayaks. An employee was very nice to me. After I left I noticed the rest of the name - "Wild Women Outfitters". Outdoor stuff... just for women. So that was a little weird. But they told me they hoped I'd come back. I dunno. It'd be the most convenient place for me to order my kayak through. I also found a gym that had been suggested to me. I need to call that place. It would feel really nice to be in good shape. And an expensive Japanese food place... mmm... tempura... sushi bar....

I hear there's an L.L. Bean store around here somewhere, which I need to check out some time.

It has been lonely. Moving from a house with pinkee and her son and 3 cats, to just me and Monster. I am very glad to have Monster's company. And he's gotten a lot more cuddly, since he doesn't get the attention from the other cats any more. Going to Manray has, fortunately, resulted in some hugs.

I still need to buy a sofa and loveseat. I need to do something with my busted receiver. Until then I have the DVD player hooked up with audio through the tv. I also need to get a bicycle. It could be very useful around here, especially when it's warmer. I still need to get DSL hooked up. I need to have a phone line for that to happen, so I ordered one. The cheapest I could get (plus $0.49/mo for touch-tone) was $17.21 - for a line I don't want and don't plan to use. Yuck.
next:Never to be seen again by the light of day....2002-12-18
previous:I got an apartment in Massachusetts2002-10-28
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