Change of flights

I was going through Detroit and only arrive at 10pm. It is nice to have this medallion from delta because they change you flight at no cost. I'm no going directly to Orlando and will arrive at 6:20. Look forward seeing everyone!

In my way to the airport.

Good morning!! I'm ready to go to airport. I might pass by the starbucks just to get a latte or something.

Going to Muqueca tonight

I'll finally go to the Muqueca restaurant today. The problem is that I called and they may not have a table at that time. We'll have to wait and see. I'll meet with Paul who is Ryan Stansifer's son. It should be interesting since we'll talk about research and related things.

Blogger problem

Sometimes this blogger doesn't work well. For instance I haven't been able to upload the pictures from the room yet and I don't know why. The upload button just doesn't work sometimes. When I I fix, I'll put the picture on the post below.

New room

I have a new room! Yes, my letter to the the landlord worked and I'm in a much nicer room. Very large. Also the shower is very good. For the first time today I had a good shower in the house. I had been taking my showers here on campus because on the other unit was just terrible. Here are a couple of picture of the new room. What I'm also happy about is that the room is big enough for Sarah and the kids to come here and stay. We have this plan that they may come in July. I'd still need to talk to the landlord but it should be fine. We can get one of those inflatable beds and put in the room while they are here.

I survived the opera

I don't think this Opera thing works for me. It was nice because it was a new experience. This was my first time in an Opera. The story of Simon Bocannegra is very complicated and a little cliché. I think if I decide to go to another opera it will have to be one of Mozart. I took a few pictures of the location. One shows me entering the BSO (Boston Symphony Orchestra) and another is of the musicians on stage which I took from my $20 seat. It was a very nice location actually. I think the next concert I'll go to the BSO will be an all Mozart program conducted by James Levine. The Opera was also conducted by Levine who is one of the best conductors in classical music today. On February 17th, Levine will have this all Mozart program. If I can get my $20 seat I'll probably go.

Intermission

Intermission here at the opera. I have to confess it is better than I  thought. The opera is Simon Bocannegra from Verdi.

Opera

Im waiting to see an opera for the first time. I just found out that the "thing" is 3 hours long!!! At least I'm on a $100+ seat and I paid only $20. They have a program for young (<40 years old) people. I just made it. LOL.

Adele

I'm worried about Adele. I'll call Sarah... she was not well last night. Just wished I could be there to help :(

Photo from Birthday Party

Here is a photo from yesterday. The celebration was for the Winter birthdays. The cake (from the Whole Food Market) was very good even for a person like me who doesn't like cakes. But that one was amazing. 

In the picture from left to right: Sune, Jim, Natali, Luigi, Me, Lazlo, Juyong, and Dashun.

ACM Task Force

I had to be here early because of a conference call with people from the ACM. The system we used was interesting. They create a 1800 number and when you call you are connected to the conference. Very cool. 

Morning mess...

It was mess to come here to NEU today. The rain of yesterday froze completely and all the sidewalks were like ice skating rinks. I had to walk really slowly because a lot of people were just slipping.. it was actually funny (just because it didn't happen to me)

Meeting

After my presentation today I had a meeting with Prof. B. Very good conversation and maybe we agreed on a topic to do research. I now have to do my homework to meet with him when I return from Florida.

Changing rooms

Also this morning I had a conversation with my landlord. He agreed to put me in a nicer place. It is the same house but a different unit. On this unit they have new floors and the bathroom seems much nicer. I'll post some pictures when I move to the new place tomorrow morning.

Snow storm

I woke up this morning to find out that we were having a snow storm all day today. I don't mind snow but I really don't know how bad can this get. Leaving in Florida makes us understand of hurricanes and whatnot but not snow. I'm at work now so I hope I can at least get back to my room later today.

Good day and bad day

I had a lot done today despite the mac. But I miss Sarah, Kalil and Adele quite a lot. I'm glad Saturday I'm going there.

Lots of work

Today was again a very full day. Unfortunately my new mac book pro had a problem on the Ethernet board. Apple will fix but at is a hassle anyway.

Nice Place this Druid

Here is a picture of the entrance of Druid. Very nice place. It feels like a Starbucks but with beer instead. Wireless Internet and very small. Not very crowded. I may return here. I had a burger which was better than the one at Cambridge Common. 

Geek... but with style!!!

I'm waiting here at the Druid for my friend. Nice bar/restaurant. Small and cosy. But I couldn't feel more geek than this. I'm drinking one beer and while he is not here also writing some Java code. The bar has Internet connection so I can test my crawler.

Druid

I'm leaving work to meet a friend from MIT. Dinner at the Druid.

Time is relative.

When I got here I had a lot of time in my hands but as I get more and more involved with research in the lab I find that time is moving faster. I don't quite have the time I had at first. I know I'm in the physics department but relativity should not be applicable just because of that, right? lol.

Just some thoughts

(email sent to my landlord. I was very upset at that time)

John,

I'm sorry to be writing this long email to you but it has been now 20 days since I got here and I thought I'd let you know my impressions.

Despite all my questions to you regarding the house, cleanness of the guys living here, maintenance of the house, etc. What I found was completely the opposite of what I was given the impression.

Here are a few things:

• the bathrooms are so dirty that they get to be unbearable. I got to the point that I prefer to stay at work as long as possible just to make sure I don't have to use the bathrooms here. I have used them only when I don't have another option. And for that I had to buy wipes and clean it to a minimum. Note that the little cleaning I've done is of mess that was not mine.
• When I asked you said that the house was maintained clean. I found quite the opposite. I had to clean my room when I arrived even though the least I'd expect was to get a clean room. I had to buy a broom just to do that. The house has so much dirt on the stairs and entrance that makes me think it hasn't been cleaned in months if not years.
• the shower still doesn't work. But this I already told you.
• the kitchen is also a problem. Today I took the trash out because in 20 days the trash only accumulated and no one took it out. 20 days of trash!! Again I'm talking about trash that is not mine. I keep my on trash in the room and take it out every two days. I only took part of the trash today because of the smell of it. I'm yet to use the kitchen because I don't have the guts to do it. Call me picky but I lived in college dorms but this much worse. The result is that I'm having to spend more money to eat out every day.

Nothing of the above was communicated to me when I inquired about the unit. In fact you told me only excellent things about the state of the house. I guess this is partially my fault for renting a place via the Internet. Lesson learned. I'm starting to regret the moment I rented this room. It is awful to spend 45 minutes on the T each way to get to here and to this kind of condition.

I'm also wondering what is going to happen when the cold goes away. Given the amount of trash/dirt in this house I'm starting to think that we'll have mice/rats around. I hope I'm wrong.

Again sorry for the long email. I also wish I didn't have to write it.

Your check is on the fridge.

Ronaldo

Keith Jarrett

This may sound as a broken record to a few of you but the musical improvisation of Keith Jarrett has no par. Every time I listen to the Koln concert, I'm just taken aback and can't understand how an individual is capable of improvising in a piano, solo, for 26 minutes and provide us with one of the best pieces of music you'll ever listen in a piano. Some people are just not simple human beings and Keith Jarrett is certainly one of them.

Kenny Garrert

Out of the 3 concerts I've been here this was not the best (but it was still very very good) but there is a differencial between Kenny Garrett and the rest: be does seem to be a very nice person. Not only the concert was more engaging with the public he was waiting outside the bar to compliment everyone that was leaving, signing CDs, etc. Just a thank you for coming makes the difference. Note this guy is quite famous songs really doesn't need it. For me it shows that he goes beyond the normal jazz player. A rare case nowadays. Pictures show the concert and Kenny talking to people outside.

RegattaBar

I have just arrived at the regattabar for Kenny Garrett's concert. It is a pretty early concert given it starts at 7:30pm. Last time I saw Kenny Garrett was in 1997. I wonder how much he's improved since then.

Break on the T

Just arrived at Harvard square. I had the luck of being on the train where a young kid decided to demonstrate his break skills. It was quite nice actually and the guy was pretty good. He probably made about $10 in that 2 minute ride which is not a bad payoff. Maybe I should change my career. LOL.

More Squash...

I've played squash earlier today. Played about 5 games and won all 5 :) So I'm still unbeaten here. I don't know for how long but it is nice to be playing again. Northeastern is not the best place for the sport but I'm slowly finding more people to play.

Pictures of Cambridge

I took the picture of this sign as I waked back to the T station (Central). There was a park and a sign "Welcome to Cambridge". I thought it was a good picture to have to remember my time here.

Pat Martino Photos

Here are some photos from the Pat Partino concert. I was sitting on the back but managed to move closer to take these pictures.

Pat Martino

Another great Jazz concert. I knew he was good but live he's even better. Very impressive set with organ and drums. Pat plays the guitar.

Government transition

Have you ever thought about transition in this way?

I think I'm going now...

I'm really hungry. I didn't eat today yet. I think I'll go now to see if I get something to eat before the concert.

Pat Martino Concert

I'm going to Pat Martino concert today at Scullers Jazz. Pat Martino is an interesting case because he had some sort of brain problem and actually forgot how to play. He had to re-learn it. He is a great jazz player. I'm hoping for a good concert. I'll let you know later.

Another Soccer Tournament

Kalil has another soccer tournaments this week. Kalil good luck. I hope the space coast united wins and also that you play well. I'm not there but I'm thinking about it all the time.

Crawler

I'm now working on a crawler to gather some date from websites. First I have to create a network of some of these websites (who links to who) and then I'll do some classification about the website (is it about politics, music, etc.). I've done most of the crawling but I have to think about how to do the classification which may not be obvious.

Squashbusters

I didn't have a lot of time to blog today. The weather improved and it is now 35F (2C). I had a good time doing some volunteer work at the Squashbusters. This is an outreach program to teach kids to play squash. The program focus also on guiding them on their school work, etc. It's one of these things that just makes you fell good for doing it. The kids are great and really dedicated. I think I may do this again, possibly every Friday from 12 to 2pm.

Squash with a team member

Just finished playing some squash with a member of the team here at NEU. And I've won 9x1, 9x1 :) Great success!! Also my card for the gym is working. I don't think I'll have more problems with this. I hope :)

Pho and I again

Just came back from my lunch/dinner. Went again to the Pho and I. Had a Pad Thai and it was very good. Again above average. I think I found a new "Thai Kitchen" for me here in Boston.

Hulu is awesome!!

The end of the TV is near! Have you seen hulu.com. Wow! Very nice. You can watch any program you want with very very limited commercial interruption and it is free. The only thing you need now a browser and you can get rid of your cable subscription. The image quality is not HD but it is very nice. I watched an episode of the Office this morning (my first TV session since I got here). Hulu has the office, daily show, fringe, etc. I like it!!! Hi five!!!! :)

First mistake at the T

Yesterday I've made my first mistake using the T. I was on the orange line and had to get out at the downtown crossing station. I was so into the Carl Segan book that when I've looked I was two stations after. The problem was that it was 11:50pm and at that time that aren't many trains. The result is that I for home around 12:30am.

Talking about the T. The service in the last few days has become worse by the day: trains stopping in the middle of the tunnels, trains being discontinued forcing us to get out and take another, slow trains, infrequent trains, etc. To make matters worse the T website isn't useful as it never tells the time of the next train correctly. The train always arrive up to 10 minutes before or after. Since there are supposed to be trains every about 15 minutes we never know when is the next.

I'm in the T and just on this journey the train had to stop 3 times. Right now we're not moving. Terrible.

Sport facilities

I've played my first game of squash just now. I beat a guy there from Spain 15x4, 15x2, 15x3. My knee seems to be okay. 

However I found the first problem here in this university: the incompetence of the people at the sport facilities. Not only they are incompetent they seem to make every single effort to appear stupid. I had all those problems trying to join. Well, I've joined but almost got denied access today because my card still doesn't work. The worse is when I speak to these people (students) here they all have that attitude of superiority as if they are full of "cow manure". Funny is that if they were really all they thing they are they would be students in the other universities here right? Not even sports they play well. From the squash team for instance I can probably beat 80% of them and I'm a 39 years old guy walking on one leg. Anyway, tomorrow I'll solve this problem once and for all. They either give me full access to the facility with my card or I will request my money back. With that money I can join a local squash club here if necessary.

Bill Frisell's concert yesterday

As I said in the previous post, the concert was really good. But Bill Frisell is for me one of the top jazz musicians alive. He is simply amazing and a very strange person as well particularly due to his shyness. I was very close to the stage but unfortunately a bit behind him so I could not see the guitar "action" a lot. Here are some pictures of the concern and a picture of a cuddly toy that belongs to Bill. I know it belongs to him because I asked his manager afterwards. 

Meeting was okay...

The meeting at a local company could have been better. It was okay but the problem is that companies loose track of the research side of things and focus solely on "if this makes money". Or maybe I'm the one loosing track of industry...

Visiting local company

I'm at a local company (can't mention the name) to talk to a colleague who works in the same field of research as me. The idea is to see if I can foster some collaboration with them.

Melbourne vs. Boston

I've been thinking about this comparison for a while but I think I have substance to actually write about it now. Since I've moved here I've been thinking about the differences between Melbourne and Boston. So here it goes (to be continued).

weather

Melbourne: nice all the time

Boston:nice for 8 months

cultural life

Melbourne: Disney
Boston: where do I start?

universities

Melbourne: Florida Tech
Boston: MIT, Harvard, NEU, Boston University, etc.

people

Melbourne: rednecks (except our group of friends :-) )
Boston: a lot of intelligent people. I'm still to me one redneck here.

friends

Melbourne: quite a few
Boston: not so many but my post can convince all you guys to move here :)

bars

Melbourne: mainstreet, chilies.
Boston: again, where do I start?

school system

Melbourne: okay if you pick the right school
Boston: almost the same except kids have a better chance of feeding into a better university.

politics

Melbourne: very very red.
Boston: very very blue.

housing

Melbourne: very nice.
Boston: not as nice, but okay.

public transportation

Melbourne: what?
Boston: anything you want

what people read

Melbourne: the bible
Boston: Fermat proof, Gödel theorem, IEEE transactions, novels,  everything really!!

chance that you'll meet someone very intelligent

Melbourne: that's it. you guys are my 1% chance
Boston: just pick one

people that know other languages

Melbourne: they are possessed because they are speaking in tongues.
Boston: They are people. Most people.

I could go forever so what I want to hear from you when we get together at the brown's is "what the hell are we doing in Melbourne. I'm open to ideas :)

Sorry for the rumblings. Good night.

The actual show

The concert on itself was quite good. Tomorrow I'll update this post and place some pictures. Bill played mostly known songs. He played for about 1:15. This is the 3rd time I come to one of his concerts and every time he surprises me. As a Jazz lover I'm starting to wonder if there is anything in guitar jazz that can match this guy. His artistry and is unmatched an most importantly he always seems to be having a lot of fun on stage. If you haven't listened to him you're missing out. Start with the CD "Good Dog, Happy Man". You won't regret.

What do I say?

I have so many things to blog about that I don't even know how to start. I just finished watching Bill Frisell and it was amazing. I got to catch the T but for now I'll just repeat what Bill said when he started: happy day! How often does this mean so much?

1st Research Meeting

I had my first research meeting today. It was very useful and we found a possible of 3 avenues of research that could be followed. All of the involving complex networks and spread of information. Thursday I'll have a second meeting with a postdoc. 

Obama!!!

Here in the lab we put the Obama inauguration. It is a very nice feeling to know that Bush is gone and we now start a new era. The speech was excellent and powerful as expected. I loved the fact that he mentioned that Science will go back to the forefront of USA policies. That was about time. It was amazing to see history in the making. We even had a toast with sparking shiraz. Yes, sparking red wine. A first for me. Very good though.

Squash was okay but the shower... Wow!!

I practice squash for about 1 hour but the best was the shower! Wow!! I forgotten how good a shower can be. The shower in my house here is a piece of junk. I found nirvana and will be having most, if not all, my showers here in the gym. Tonight, I'd probably go do some exercise on the elliptical machine just to enjoy a nice shower before I go home.  

Tomorrow squash again at 9am :-) 

On my way to squash

I'm on my way to practice squash. I hope everything goes well
including my knee.

Pho and I

Today I had some proper dinner (fried lice lol) on a nice Vietnamese restaurant: Pho and I. The price is good for Boston and the food is excellent. I had some spicy fried rice  which was one of the best I've had in many months. 

Squash tomorrow!!!!

Hurray!!! I got my membership for the gym!!! I'm happy! Tomorrow I'll be practicing a bit in the morning and I already arranged a game for Saturday. I will probably use the gym tomorrow as well. Here is the picture of the place where I'll be playing squash. :)

Very nice day

We had quite a lot of snow overnight but this morning we have a nice blue sky. You can see two picture of last night and this morning. The temperature is a good  28F (-2C) but without wind. I got up at around 8:30, had a bagel and came here to work where I had my latte. 

Today is holiday here so the secretary is not here to write my letter :(  I'll try to use the time available to work on some research related to blogs. Since I'm not interested in these blogs I could maybe try to do something on complex networks and blogs. I'll have to talk to L.B. (Prof. B) to see if he things this is a good idea. I can't tell the idea here though :).

Here is another picture from this morning. This is the house I live. My room is on the top floor and I took the picture this morning as I started to walk to come here. My room is the one on the left hand side of the picture (top). The front window on the same floor as mine is the kitchen.

Safe...

Got home. It took a while but I got here about 1 hour ago. The T had a problem. Although they kept saying everything was okay it wasn't. After we moved we had to leave the train and wait for another one. So the smoke may not have been "nothing" as they said. Who knows.... The fact is that it took me twice longer to get here.

The snow continues to fall. This is the longest snowing period I've seen in my life. It's been more than 24 hours now... and there is no sigh of stopping. It will be interesting to get out of here to go to work tomorrow morning.

Smoke in the T

Now I'm in the T and the train stopped. The problem is that there is a lot of smoke in the car. Well not a LOT but some. The people here are getting uneasy with the situation but they announced everything is fine. At least some excitment. I was complaining of boredom. LOL

It's getting kind of boring

The work is nice and I've read and studied a lot of cool stuff but life in general here is a bit boring and obviously lonely. I've met a few people in the lab but nothing that makes me start enjoying the life. I miss my kids, my wife, my house, the shower in my house!!! Everything actually. I guess it's a question of time an I'll get used to it. At least I have started new activities not related to work such as this blog. But tomorrow everything will be the same. If at least the secretary in the lab could prepare my letter, I could then join the gym. Tomorrow I'll have to lie and say that due to medical (knee) I have to exercise every day. Let's see if it works.

This is going to be hard...

... but I like it!!!

Just finished reading the first paper Prof. B gave me. Wow!!! This is going to be hard. The paper has more information in 3 pages (paper from Nature) that most of my papers have in 15. It's dense... really dense! I'll read a related one now but first I need some coffee. I think I'll have to read this same paper another couple of times today. 

More lab photos

I've managed to get the photos from iPhone without loading iTunes. I didn't want to loose the music I have in the iPhone. My iTunes library is in the HD at home. 

But anyway, here are some more pictures from the lab. The first two photos are from the conference area while they last is from the entrance of the lab. Note that the entrance contains pictures of the cover of the Nature and Science journals with works from people here in the lab. 

At Cambridge Common

I forgot to talk about what happened at Cambridge Common, this nice bar I went on Friday. I went with an Italian friend and after a couple of beers I had one that had "with hint of Licorice". I confess that I heard about Licorice a few times but I really didn't know (I still don't) what it is and what it looks like. Anyway, I've asked the girl serving what licorice was and she and the italian didn't believe that I didn't know what it was. I've asked them what it taste/smell like and the whole thing began. 

She said it smelled like "Sambuca" which is a italian spirit that I know and I've had in the past. Luigi (the Italian) almost when nuts saying that licorice has nothing to do with Sambuca and that he knew very well since his region of Italy produces Sambuca and also licorice. It was funny because the girl was very upset with the Luigi because she thought he was a bit rude and that he was shouting... but Italian do shout, this is what they do best right? The discussion didn't end there because the girls almost went on the entire bar asking everyone else, doing a poll or something, if Sambuca smelled like licorice. To simplify things, Luigi asked for a Sambuca so that I could see (or smell) it. For me, Sambuca smells like anise which meant that Luigi was happy and the girl serving us not. Eventually she agreed that it was anise but told me to buy some twizzlers to which I said I would. However, I don't like candy so it is unlikely I will but next time Kalil or Adele have a twizzlers I'll make sure I'll smell it. 

For now, I still don't know what licorice actually is.... I'll check Wikipedia. 

Homemade sub

Talked to Sarah and she just had Quiznos. I didn't but I've made my own sub with chicken, mortadela and cheese. The so called "mortachicken with cheese". I had to walk on a lot of snow. Here is the picture from the university (just outside my building).

More snow

This morning I woke and saw that we had snow the whole evening. This means that it is going to be hard again to get to the T Station unless people cleaned their sidewalks. But today is Sunday and I doubt they will do it. We had probably something like 5 inches.

I think I'll go to the lab and eat something around there. I will buy a baguette and ham and make a sandwich. It's cheaper this way and fresher than the subs they sell in the supermarket. I'm looking forward to the Spring because I can walk to the markets and buy fruits and such. But Spring is still a long way away.

Water music

The concert just ended. Very nice indeed!! :) The water music from Handel was really good. I'm glad I came. I didn't remember how nice a live classical concert actually was.

Found the wine!

The talk was excellent and I wished Kalil was here with me to listen to the music professor explain the history behind the music that will be played. It does provide a better perspective of what will hear. Another good news was that I found the bar. :)

BSO but no wine

I arrived a bit early here for the presentation of the BSO. My hope was to watch the talk they have before the presentation but also maybe drink a glass of wine. No wine here! The place is actually nice however my seat is so close that I feel I'm setting under the orchestra. Actually if one of the musicians on my side decide to fart it will go almost in my face. I hope they had a good lunch. LOL. I see that there was a reason for ticket to the cheapest. You always get what you pay for. I should have known.

Man vs Woman: The Differences

A colleague here showed me a video from Italy about the differences between Man and Woman. It is quite clever actually. Here is the video.

In fact, this director makes some very interesting cartoons. This other one is a comparison between Italy and the rest of Europe. The same video could be applicable to Brazil. They only had to change the flag from Italy to Brazil.



If you want to see more, just search for Bruno Bozzetto on YouTube or go to his website.

Here is just one more about how to drive  (not)  :-)

T on the weekend

I don't know what is going on here but the T today is really really busy. I never got it like that. Maybe there is something going on in the city and I'm just not aware of. Anyway, I'm on my way to work.

Slow day

I'm happy Sarah got the car fixed. Today I'll take a bit easy. I'm having lunch at the Indian restaurant close to the house. After I'll go to work and later tonight go to the BSO.

Never again!

OMG! This was cold. I'm home now but I'm not sure I'll do this again.  First it isn't as close as I thought and second it is colder than I thought. At least I saved $10 and not all is lost. Tomorrow I can use that money to go to a restaurant. I'm about to fall asleep. Good night. Talk to you in the morning. Sarah please no more flat tires. LOL.

Cold is here....

I'm going to try to walk now on -17C for about half a hour. I think I'll  be okay. I'll tell you tomorrow.

Cambridge common

Im here drinking a Opa Opa Ipa in this bar. It's actually quite nice. Good food and good beer. Maybe I'll come here again some other day.

Giving up on the gym

I'm not going to try to join this gym no longer. It is frustrating. People here in the lab do not put this as priority (obviously) and the people at the Marino center (gym) couldn't care less. I'll see if I find another place to go.

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Since I'm going to rest a bit tomorrow, I'm going to the BSO concert tomorrow (Saturday). It was a bit expensive even for the cheapest ticket but I don't intend to be there all the time. I had to pay $47 for the ticket. The BSO is said to be one of the best in the USA. The program will include Mozart and Handel. I'll post tomorrow about the experience.

Joe vs CNN

Very nice from Rick Sanchez to take on Joe the assh...  Here is the youtube video. Joe is now a war correspondent. Can you believe this? We'll just have to wait and see what happens to Joe the "war correspondent". 

Professor?

I'm reading Carl Sagan's Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. What a book!!! If you'd like to learn more about critical thinking, you must get it. Funny is that he talks about people that don't do anything but love to call themselves "professor". He talks about a guy that bought a telescope placed on his backyard and became a sensation because he called himself professor and has claimed to be in contact with Aliens. 

What is even funnier is that I have one of these in my life now. The landlord of my house is "professor". It's amazing, he teaches guitar on the back of the house and decided that he is a professor and that his shed on the back is a college of music. Can you believe this?! My brain has a problem understanding this type of attitude, maybe it is because I am a college professor (a real one I hope) and get no joy of the title. Titles is giving based on accomplishments, right? And they are supposed to be self-satisfying not really something you freely publicize. I learned now that there must be something wrong with a person when he/she answers the cell phone: "Hello, this is Prof. A...". Eraldo and I already knew one guy at FIT who does this but at least he is a professor. My landlord is far from being one.

I miss Kalil

Obviously I miss everyone but I'm working now with my iPod and some guy just played No Surprised on the piano... let me check his name... Christopher O'Riley. And I just had that felling that I really miss waking up with Kalil playing the Piano. I miss him... :(  BTW Kalil keep playing!!!

Time to go home....

I'm tired today (and Jerry is going to beat me on chess)... so I'm going home. I'm so upset about my last chess move. Everything was going okay (sort of..).  Tomorrow I have a paper deadline and I should try to wake up early.

Friend from England...

Paul, a friend from England gave me the phone of his (ex-)wife who is living here in Boston. I called her just now. It was nice to talk to her. I've taught (tried to) her Portuguese in England and this is how I met Paul. I tried to because I don't think I'm very good teaching languages.

Well, I told Tobey that I'd be happy to meet her for lunch some day she's around. Let's see if she calls. I gave her my email address as well.

Just hungry...

Still no luck with the gym. This is frustrating. Maybe someday...  I haven't had time to eat lunch so I'm getting very hungry. I think I may leave earlier today. I don't know. O maybe I'll just grab a "brick" there on the Qsoba (one of the 100's of mexican burrito places around here). I haven't tried the Qsoba yet but tried the other place that "invents" burrito. The one I tried was teriakki chicken burrito. Sounds good but doesn't taste that good. At least I'm having fun making reviews of these restaurants on Goodrec (a iPhone application that I like).  Ahh I just remember that there is another place here on campus that sells burgers. Maybe I could try that....

Am I me?

Well the sport facility did not accept my letter from the provost! They said the letter said I was offered a position but doesn't say I'm here! What? Am I here?! Am I me? I hate people who create bureaucracy out of nothing. Can you imagine this situation? I'm offered a position, I come all the way from Florida to Boston but I'm actually not working here. I came here just to join the sport facility illegally because that was my dream! One day I'll join the sport facility at NEU!! 

Chess

Jerry is kicking my butt in chess. I'll have to think carefully what
to here. :)

Breakfest in the house.

OMG, It was hard. I've bought a bag of bagels an cream cheese yesterday hoping to eat breakfest in the house. Well I did but the kitchen is so dirty that I wonder if it was better eat in the
bathroom. Anyway it is just too disgusting to be talking here.

I'm again in the T going to work and today I'm taking my squash racquet with me. I hope I can start practicing. I still have to convince the people in the sports facility to accept the letter I have from the provost. Let's see what happens.

Here Be Dragons

Thai was nice. Good restaurant. I'm at home and just watched a documentary called "Here be Dragons". A very go documentary on skepticism. You should watch as at it teaches how to use critical thinking. Here is the movie link. 

Thai Dinner? Maybe...

I think I'll try a Thai restaurant today. A guy from the lab asked if
I wanted to go to dinner. I really don't want to go but I think it is
important to socialize with the people here. After all I'm staying
here 6 months... Let's see what happens.

Fortaleza

I'm here in Boston but I can't forget my Fortaleza (soccer team). This morning the sub-15 team beat Gremio 2x1 and has advanced to the semi-finals of the tournament. Our forward was called to join the Brazilian squad. :) The sub-18 years old is playing now against Flamengo and we are winning 1x0. Let's hope the result continues to be in our favor. And later today the professional team will play Guarany in the state cup. I want 3 victories today!

(UPDATE: Fortaleza won on sub-15, sub-18 but only manage a 1x1 on the professionals. But it was okay!)

Got my card

Hurray!!! I got my NEU card (see picture) but no luck on registering for the gym/squash. I now have to find a letter with my visiting offer to take to the people there. Just bureaucracy. They say they need the letter to confirm I'm working here. But I have a NEU card! And I had to use the letter to get this card. So isn't the card enough proof?! Go figure! But I think tomorrow I'll be able to go to the gym here... and then I can also use the shower here and don't have to worry about it in the house.  

Pictures of the Lab

Since I was the first here this morning (and BTW last one to leave yesterday), I took some pictures of part of the lab. I'll post one of the conference room sometime in the future. The first picture is from one side of the lab where two offices (each sits 5 people) can be seen. The second picture is my office which I like quite a lot because it has a lot of natural light. The last picture is from the common room area. You can see the two printers on the back and a white board that is always being used. 

The labs are always full meaning that they have plenty of people working and more trying to work. Today they have more interviews for a post-doc position. One curiosity about the picture on the wall is that it is bio-inspired. All the art here relates to cells in the human body. Quite nice I think.

Different world! Right World?

The longer I stay here the more impressed I get with people living here. Take for instance the situation now here in the T. The guy sitting in front of me is reading a book on Gödel's proof while the other next to me is reviewing a paper from IEEE transactions. We rarely see here people just doing nothing or reading Oprah's magazine. They read a lot and concentrate on things that matter.

Just now both people reading the book and the article left at Kendall station. Do you know what is on Kendall station? MIT. Everything is explained now!

Research ideas

The first research ideas are starting to appear and I haven't even yet talked to the people in the lab. But the presentations yesterday and today were good to show me some indication if what can be done.

Now I'm going home to do a bit more work there.

Talk at CS Department

I just came back from a talk from David Lazer from Harvard. He gave the talk at the CS department here at NEU. The talk was very interesting and was about Computational Social Sciences. It relates to how computer science is helping social sciences people do a better job understanding human behavior. This is done via the concept of networks and the analysis of their characteristics. I spoke to him after the talk and I hope he can help me with some questions I have related to the research we're doing with the Enron email dataset. 

If you'd like to watch his talk, Google video has a copy of (almost) the same talk he gave here. The link is here.

(Sarah he looks a lot like Marcos André!!! lol)

Slow today

It's kind of slow today. I'm leaving to a talk in the CS department.
Maybe after that I'll fell like writing the paper I started. It's due
on the 16th. Currently I'm struggling trying to find the concept of
clans in Networks. I know what is a clique but "clans" I've never
heard of. Do you know? :-)

Brazil

Called my father-in-law and he is felling well. That's good news! Told me he might go home this weekend.

A bit late

My idea to work until 1:30 and then wake up today at 7:30 did not go so well. I got up at 8:30 instead. Then I had my shower and ate my cereal bar. I wanted to get out of the house soon to see if I could find a key ring. Yes, I'm still looking... The local dollar store had none but at least I got a mug to drink coffee at work. I'm kind of giving up on this key ring.

Now I'm again on the T going to work. I still have 35 minutes before I get there.

Photos of my Room

Before going to bed, I thought I'd share some pictures of my room. Everyday I clean it a little bit. Just now I got rid of a dying old plant that was here (you can see in one of the pictures). The bed is nothing more than a mattress on the floor but I have to say the bed is okay and comfortable. The rest is not good, the table is wobbly, the chair is okay but since the floor is not leveled, the chair keeps "sliding" backwards when I sit. Anyway, I only spend 8 hours (max) of the day here and 7 of these I'm asleep. 

In any case, today I wrote to the landlord and complained about the shower of the upstairs bathroom that doesn't work. He said he is going to fix. We'll see. He claims he didn't know but the guy that has the other room in this floor told me the shower has been broken for months. The problem with the shower is that we get only hot water and the water is very hot. Sure it cleans but you also burn your skin. 

First Meeting

Today I had the first meeting with Prof. B. Very nice meeting and lots of interesting stuff. I'm more confident that this may actually work. But the result is that I may have to give a seminar on Friday. 

Key ring, not Kiwi!!

I went to get my soup and after I went to try to buy a key ring to safely put my keys. I get quite a few keys for the NEU and need to make sure I don't loose them. However I went to this store inside the NEU where all the employees are Chinese. Anyway, I made the mistake to ask if they had key rings.... it went more or less like this

- Excuse me, do you sell key rings? 

- Kiwis, yes we have kiwis! 

She then shouted to the back

- Pum Lao, did we get kiwis today?

to which I said, 

- Sorry, not kiwi, key ring. 

- Yes, we do have kiwi, go to the back, it's over there!

- No ma'am, key rings, to put keys.

- No, you can't put keys on kiwi, you eat kiwi!

- I know. I need "something" to put keys on it.

then I show her the keys

- Ahh you want "kiring". No, we don't have "kiring"!!

- Thanks!

I had to control myself not to laugh because it was quite funny. The result is that I don't have a "kiring" nor a "kiwi". I'll try to find later and hopefully the people there won't sell kiwis.

No soup for you!

No luck. No soup (husky card) for me yet. That means no squash or gym for another 2 days.

Husky card

I'm in line to get my Husky card. Hopefully after this I'll he able to  play some squash or at least go to the gym. Tennis doesn't seem to be  an option. I got an email yesterday saying that the only indoor tennis  court has been transformed into a baseball indoor arena!

Good morning. First Monday!!!

First Monday here in Boston. I decided to wake up early to see if I can get to work before 9am. It's kind of hard because I still have to face the bathroom (the dirtiest in the planet) and get 45min in the T. 

I don't have a camera here but guess what? I have a mac with camera!! Cool! So here is a picture of the "view" from my room.

Before going to bed... Some fun...

The Onion continues to do their funny work. This video with the "MacBook Wheel" is quite funny

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/apple_introduces_revolutionary

Good night!

Done for the day

I'm heading to Davis square. Today was a productive day. But I think I  might still do a bit of work when I get to my room. But first, dinner!!

Kudos to Kalil!!

Just accessed the Stone Middle School site and saw that Kalil was featured there for having finished 2nd in the Math competition (http://stone.ms.brevard.k12.fl.us/html/index.html). Nice!! I see that the guy that got 1st place is twice the size of Kalil....  so he should have answered twice more questions! (lol)

Anyway, keep up the good work. Next time shoot higher and answer all 25!!

It stopped: finally!!

It stopped snowing. It was about time!! The forecast is for 2 days without any flock of snow. I hope they clear the sidewalks. It's hard to walk anywhere with this accumulation.

On a different note. Kalil, our Fortaleza won the first game of the year. 4x1. Very good result given the team is very young (avg. 22 years of age).

Fortaleza Esporte Clube

The state soccer tournament in Fortaleza just started. I'm happy because it is one thing that I can do from here... that is, I can follow my soccer team. Fortaleza is playing now and we are  winning 1x0. Earlier today the juniors under-18 and under-15 won't their matches in the national league. Bora Leão!!!!!!

(update: We won 4x1!!)

O Quatrilho

While eating my chicken gumbo soup with wheat bread I finished watching the movie called "O Quatrilho". Very good movie. I recommend. The soup was okay, not as good as yesterday's (Moroccan tomato with lentils).

And the snow keeps falling....

Lunch Time

I have to go eat something. This cold weather is making me hungry. 

I just called my father-in-law and spoke to Marcos André. Everything is fine. He explained somethings that Sarah had already told me but it is nice to call. In this way, my father-in-law get to know that I'm worried as well. I'm happy they are going to move to an apartment. In Fortaleza one cannot live in a house... it just to dangerous. 

Heading to NEU

The Apple store here is huge. Got my laptop sleeve. Now work.

Snow

Wow! It was hard to get here to Davis square station. At this time of  the day only a few people cleaned their sidewalks. In fact, as I walked I saw some of the homeowners doing this. Can you imagine having to do this during the whole Winter? I'm not even doing it and I  already miss Florida.

Off to the Apple store

We had quite a bit of snow last night. Now it's back to work but first
I have to swing by the Apple store to see if I can find a laptop
sleeve.

Good night

That's it. Had my beer. Two to be precise. Now I'm going home
(whatever that means). Tomorrow I have more work to do.

John Harvard brew house

Ok I got a beer but I had to come to a place at Harvard square that I
knew. Sarah, you may remember this place. It's the same place I came
with you and the kids. The funny thing is that the guy next to me is
already trying to make conversation but he doesn't know he got the
wrong guy for this kind of thing. Anyway. I'll see if they have
something to eat in this place.

Littlest is indeed little

Just left work to find the littlest bar (Irish) in Boston. However the
number 47 did not exist on Province street. This is the second time
the guide I have failed me. The Result of this was that I had to walk
on a snowy night to get no beer :(. The only option now is to go to
Harvard square and find another bar. Now I want a beer. BTW my first
here.

Saturday Morning

First Saturday here. And yesterday was the first Friday I haven't had
a glass of wine in years! Am I already changing into a New Englander
concious of health, environment, etc. Am I less red-neck just by
moving here? Look at me now. I'm riding the T and blogging at the same
time!! Wow!! I *am* changing and I hope is for the best. lol

This morning I woke up and called Sarah to get some info about her
father. Then I spoke to Adele who told me she scratched her knee but
it only bled because mommy touched it! She (Adele) is something else!
Kalil is in school doing his research project.

I called Neto and was happy to find out that my father-in-law was out
of the surgery room and everything was fine.

I'm almost at the downtown crossing station where I change trains to
go to NEU. I'm going to work on a Saturday morning!!! Today is going
to be a good day!

Altan Concert (Harvard Square)

I just came back from a concert at Harvard in the Sanders Theatre. The theatre is incredible. Here is a picture. The theatre is located inside the Memorial Hall. When I visited Harvard with Sarah, Kalil and Adele we were not able to go in the theatre. Without a doubt, I'd pay half of what I've paid to hear Altan (around $20) just to see this theatre. The picture on the left is nice because it shows also the location I was sitting. I was on the aisle, two rows in front of the column on the left hand side of the picture. 

The concert was okay. Not amazing because honestly speaking, Irish music sound the same to me after 3 or so songs. I sometimes think they are tricking us and playing the same song again and again. They might be actually, not many people would notice! I went to the concert because Altan plays Irish music from Co. Donegal, and we lived in Co. Donegal, more specifically in Buncrana. So it was nice to remember that year we spent in Ireland. But the most important reason for me to go was that I had nothing better to do; the Jazz season has not yet started here in Boston. 

If you like Irish music and can actually hear it again and again without getting bored, Altan is a nice option. For Irish music they are pretty good. (lol).

First Day

Today (yesterday actually) I woke up quite early. I thought it was around 10am but was surprised to find out it was 7:50. I then had a quick shower (quick because I don't want to spend a lot of time in that bathroom) and off went to Northeastern University (NEU). 

At Davis Square there is a T station (T is how they call the underground/metro here, don't ask me why it is T!!). There I bought my monthly pass ($59 bucks) and went to NEU. It is quite a trip, around 40 minutes. But in very Bostonian style I put my iPod on the max volume and sat there looking through people: eye contact is a rare thing here. After living in small cities for some time you forget how impersonal these large-crowd places can be. 

At NEU I was very well received by Prof. B. secretary (Prof B. is going to be his name here since I don't want to use real names). Well Ms. A (the secretary) arranged everything I needed: keys for the office, power cords, and most importantly showed me how to use the expresso machine!! Expresso!!!!! (lol).

I've forgotten how important it is to work without distraction. From 10am to around 6pm I've managed to do the work of 1 week. Amazing! I missed that (a bit). At 6pm I had a chance to say hi to Prof B... by that time I was already calling him Jesus to Sarah and Eraldo.. You know, Jesus, you may think he exist but you never see him! Anyway, I saw Jesus at 6pm. He seem to be a nice guy. Monday we'll have meetings.... more work.

Davis Square

The first positive thing is that the house is close to Davis Square, a lively place during the day. In the evenings, the place is okay but the crowd looks a bit rough compared to other places in Boston such as Harvard Square. Davis Square has most things one may need: pharmacy, bars, restaurants, convenience stores, and Starbucks!! :)

In my first night here I went to an Indian restaurant at Davis Square and that was the second positive thing in this trip. The restaurant is without a doubt the best Indian restaurant I've been in my life... and I've been to quite a few. It is called: Diva Indian Bistro on 246 Elm Street. I had a Chicken Korma with a Basil Naan Bread. Excellent food!

90 College Av

Seriously, can this really be real?! After a long trip and the wait in the airport I was hoping my worst fears about the room I rented wouldn't come true. Well, I was wrong again. My room is actually okay but the rest of the house is a mess. Holes on the wall with wiring that has to be illegal, real wood floors that make more noise than a train, and the worst, the bathrooms. I've been to public bathrooms that are better than these. I must take a picture at some point... but I need to get a camera first. I can bet a lot of money that the bathrooms have not been cleaned in years. I'm not talking about months.... but YEARS!!! I'm seriously looking forward getting my university (NEU) card, in that way I should be able to shower there. 

As I said, my room is okay, but it is okay now. When I got here it was very dusty. I had to go to the store and bought a bunch of cleaning products and a broom. I spent about 2 hours just trying to make this room livable. I'm not quite there yet, but at least I have a bed and nice sheets (thanks to Sarah!). Sunday, I intend to use disinfecting on the entire floor. 

Anyway... these are going to be the longest 6 months of my life.

Arrival

After getting to Orlando with enough time to spare, I learned that my flight had been delayed from 11am to 1pm. Thankfully I had been upgraded to 1st class!! What a difference! Delta immediately found me an alternate flight via Atlanta. A bit of a hassle but better than the wait. When I got to Boston I noticed that my original flight was cancelled, so the decision of taking the flight via Atlanta sounded even better. 

But since not all can be good, one of my bags did not arrive. So, I had to stay in the airport to wait for the next flight from Atlanta and get my bag. Yes, I could have asked them to deliver but at that point I didn't even know if the room I rented actually existed. Finally, after 2 hours of wait in the airport the bag arrived and I was on my way to 90 College Av., Unit 3.