Seth Nickell

Yes, my weblog has grown silent. Yes, important messages clamour for my attention amidst the congestion that is my inbox. What has been going on you ask?

Last week I spent on the road driving ~12 hours a day. My brother foolishly agreed to go along and had to put up with a week of me whinging about his speeding and swerving (sorry about that Drew!). I think I would have gone nuts without the company. Along the way I stayed with a good HS friend (Kenny Martens) who I hadn’t seen in 4 years, a close stanford friend who I’d never gotten a chance to say goodbye to (Jamie Fitz), and another good stanford friend who graduated early and went east (Brian Shieh).

We spent two nights sleeping in rest areas… in AZ the temperature dropped to -15C. Drew was wise enough to sleep in the car…. I on the other hand was huddled on the cement next to a picnic table in my sleeping bag (can’t stand sleeping in cars). Arrived at my destination on Friday. In a fit of compunctions I flew my brother home instead of selling him to a passing ship as I had originally intended.

Where was I driving to you ask? San Fransisco to Boston by way of Dallas. “Boston? Boston?!?” you exclaim, “Shan’t you perish in a blizzard of ice and bad driving?” Yes! But sacrifices must be made. “But why Boston???”

Funny you should ask. That brings me to the next tidbit of news. As of today I’m now working at Red Hat in Westford, MA (“Boston”, MA for some definitions of Boston) as an interaction designer.

The original plan was to arrive in Boston on the 1st, stay with my friend Maisy before she disappeared back to stanford, and find a place to live by the 5th when RH threw me on a plane to Raleigh for employee ortientation (which is overall incovenient and disorienting, but c’est la vie). This plan failed. Its been considerably harder to find a place to live in Boston area than it was in either minnesota or bay area. Most people apparently use a realtor who charges first month’s rent in fees (!!!). I’m way to Scotch to throw my money at somebody who I consider to be the ultimate middeman. Anyway, current plan is to stay at a bed and breakfast when I get back from Raleigh while I figure out where I want to live. It’ll also be good to get a taste of the ~40 minute commute from Cambridge area to Westford before I sign a 12 mo. lease locking me into either the boonies or into a ridiculously long commute. 😉