Memorial Day has come and gone. It was nice to see at least a few people remembering that Memorial Day != free barbecue day; it is actually a day to remember those who lost their lives in wars of the past and present.

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All of the undergrads have moved away for the summer. Well, not all of them … but enough to make the traffic / retardation levels drop drastically. Sadly, this goes hand-in-hand with the closing of a good number of coffee shops and other ammenities on campus. A small price to pay, I suppose.

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The “I really need to go as far north as possible” syndrome has hit me again this year, right on time. My efforts to appease it a couple of weekends ago were thwarted by a syndrome (read: sickness) of another kind, which thankfully seems to be going away. Time for attempt number two.

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I completed the rough draft of my very first for-pay website project. Once it is in final form and released to the wilds of the internet I’ll post a link. I have to say, the folks at Microsoft who have written Internet Explorer really, really need to get their browser to handle something as simple as cascading style sheets properly. It is ridiculous that such a mature browser still has these problems.

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Its a sure sign that peace and tranquility are just around the corner when UMass deploys its armada of TARDIS-like relief stations around the campus, positioning them in parking lots, trees, elevators (just kidding - but how funny would that be?) and on sidewalks. All in preparation for the GWEP (graduation weekend explosion of people), which is deserving of its name, as the school crams its graduate student graduation and its (massive) undergraduate graduation ceremonies all in under 36 hours. Not to mention the hordes of undergrads who are not yet ready to leave UMass, and are packing up and moving out for the summer. There is hope, though; Monday, May 25th (Memorial Day, incidentally) should be beautifully quiet and serene.

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For (those who don’t know) & (those who care) … maybe an empty set? the royal “we” have finally found an apartment, after (no joke) months of searching. In fact, “months” doesn’t even cover it. I moved to Myles’ palace July of 2006, nearly 3 years ago. My oth.sig() (read: Amy) moved in almost two years ago to the day. Needless to say, we’ve become more than familiar with the place. And, considering our wedding is approaching, we thought we might want a more private space, especially one where I don’t have to wait in line to use the kitchen …

We started our apartment hunt way back in the fall of 2007 (not 2008!), when we were looking to share an apartment or house with another couple we knew. After more than a month of looking, we realized that, for the price, we couldn’t get better than where we correctly lived: relatively cheap, utilities included, close to UMass and Amy’s work, mostly clean, quiet, and, and the time, basically empty. One of the biggest reasons we stayed at Pine St. for so long was the simple fact that we hardly ever shared the house with anyone. When we did, it was mostly with a very quiet physicist post-doc who was hardly there. It was ideal.

Then the house filled up. And without getting in to gruesome details, it became an environment that I no longer cared to live in, especially at my ripe old age of 25 …  After nearly 8 years of having a roommate (or two, or five, counting my years at Norwich), I was ready to have my own space again, and I’m sure Amy was too. I was sick of cleaning up after other people, sick of the noise, and sick of sharing a refrigerator!
So, we began our own apartment hunt. We tried for a little while last fall, and then gave up. We tried last January, and gave up. And then again in February, March, and April. Finally, after months (years?) of looking, we found an apartment that fit (or so we hope …) It has a reasonable rent with utilities included (even central AC!). It has good parking, plenty of windows, sits on a well-maintained site, it is private, quiet, and has a bathroom that is larger than two square feet. There is plenty of storage, and even some built in cabinets and bookshelves. The lady in charge is nice, professional, and local. It is only a couple of miles from UMass and Amy’s work, and offers easy access to the grocery stores, the malls, etc. Hopefully it works out; we’ll see.

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… from early spring in Amherst. Let me know if you like them.

Its the first of May, and its been a little while since I’ve posted here. So a news recap: The apartment hunt continues, with some possible promise. The PhD continues, with some possible promise … The H1N1 flu has made it to Concord, NH and here in Amherst, MA. No cases at UMass yet, but {some medical place}* and {some other medical place}* have both seen cases now, as well as Amherst College … just awesome.

I’ll try to post some photos tonight. Spring is here, after all. Stay out of public, and wash your hands!

*Names removed to protect … someone?

It is that time of year again: A week lacking undergraduates, excessive traffic (for Western Massachusetts), long lines at the grocery store, and drunken droves of dormitory delinquents (wow). Of course I don’t have any time off for spring break - that is a thing of the past. But a week without undergrads is almost like a week’s vacation, so I’m not complaining. The weather has been unusually nice for March (meaning it will be 62 degrees and rainy for all of June), and I’ve already hiked one (albeit small) mountain this year.

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Finding an apartment for my better half and I to live in is awful. We want to have everything set and ready to go before we are married this coming August. We started our search in January, but in reality, this is not the first, second, or third time we’ve set out to find another place to live. Living in close proximity to five colleges has its advantages - there are literally hundreds of apartments, condos, etc. available. The problem is weeding through them all.

Many people flat-out lie about their building or apartment. We looked at one on Saturday that was listed as “bright and sunny” when in reality it was in a basement and only had window wells! Then there was the “$850 / month, heat and hot water included” condo that was actually “$1000 / month + all utilities” … a bold-faced lie. The “lovely home” that “has been in the family for generations” looked like it hadn’t been painted or cleaned in generations. The one decent place we did find is small and a twenty minute drive from Amherst.

Maybe we’re too picky. At least we’ve given ourselves a few months to find a place.

… getting married is a long, complicated, and expensive process!