Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

I'm in Arlington for a few days, visiting adrian_turtle.

cattitude and I are planning a move to Boston sometime next Spring*. Adrian generously did some research, trying to find neighborhoods that meet our criteria; this afternoon, she and I took the orange line to Forest Hills so I could take a look at Roslindale. Based on that relatively quick look, I think it would work: there's a reasonable mix of stores (including a grocery store near some of the residential bit we might be looking at), some parks and other open space, and decent bus service to the T. The neighborhood also looks somewhat missed racially and ethnically, from the people I saw on the bus and the nature of some of the businesses; that's not essential in the same way that T access is, but it will help me feel comfortable.

Other neighborhoods we're considering include East Arlington (near Alewife), where I may walk around a bit tomorrow, and the area of Malden near the other end of the orange line.

The basic criteria (other than being something we can afford) are a nearby park we can walk in; good transit access; few or no stairs (in case my knees act up again); and that we can bring the cats. We're thinking in terms of renting for a year or two while we figure out more about the area, and then maybe buying.

In terms of transit, near the red or orange lines would be nice, but a reliable bus would also do, and apartments closer to the T are more expensive.

*No, you haven't missed an announcement here. We've gradually settled on this over the last several months, and I realized recently that we've told people in person but not said anything online, with the odd result that the people I know in Seattle are already aware of this, and the ones I know in the Boston area, who I want to see more of and may be asking for advice** aren't.

**We plan to pay movers, but will be looking for recommendations for things like dentists, once we have settled on a neighborhood.

My plans are starting to fall into place. I spoke to alanro last night, and he will be visiting us next month. This was complicated by having had tentative plans to be in Canada that weekend, which evaporated because they were left at "maybe" before rysmiel went on an almost-no-email vacation, and they didn't pick up the thread in time for me. "In time" being partly the comfort level of wanting to know what I'll be doing, and partly that both my hypothetical trip, and Alan's actual one, are affected by airline rules on booking in advance to get lower fares.due to not hearing back in reasonable time to book things. I couldn't, obviously, have been in Montreal and New York at the same time, but since rysmiel and I had been talking about a visit, I didn't want to make conflicting plans without giving them a chance to say yes, we were going to be doing that. At some point moderately soon, I will sort out plans for a trip north, but the actual trip may have to wait until June or July. (Wiscon is a non-negotiable fixed point—non-negotiable except in the sense that I would be happy to do that con with rysmiel, as I have in the past with my other partners. Throw in other people's existing plans, and not wanting to make two trips too close together, and that may not leave any good weekends in April or May. Ah, well.)

Also, I am going to Arlington this weekend (that was a "maybe" until last night), and incidentally using up a carried-over vacation day that is only valid through 31 March. I told my boss I'd use the day tomorrow before adrian_turtle and I sorted out that I'll be visiting her: f I wasn't going to Arlington, I'd be sleeping in and going to the zoo.

The ducks aren't entirely in a row, yet: knowing I won't be in Montreal in a fortnight doesn't actually constitute a plan for seeing rysmiel and papersky; as of now I don't know whether my aunt is holding a seder (she is having Kitchen Renovations) or whether, if she does, any subset of {me, Adrian, cattitude will be going}; and I have a rather vague letter about my employer's 401K plan, which comes with the added bonus that, as Cattitude points out, this is a letter from people I'm not already doing business with, asking me to log in to their site using my social security number in order to set things up. I can almost certainly google to find out whether the URL given is legitimate for Morningstar and this plan, and this is the time at which I was expecting such a letter. Once I've established that, I can find out what funds are being offered, and whether any of them seems like as good an idea as putting money into an IRA at TIAA-CREF. (There is no 401K matching right now.)

It occurs to me that a boat on the harbor might be cooler than the beach.

I have checked and the new Staten Island Ferry boats have outdoor seating. I may spend part of tomorrow riding back and forth on the ferry (probably without apples and pears), maybe with a side trip on the Staten Island Railroad just because I've never ridden it.

If anyone is interested in joining me, let me know and I may try to coordinate with you. Or I may decide that sitting in the Museum of Natural History is simpler.

So, I'm going to take my own advice from yesterday.

My boss, who is out this week, told me and the other temps working for her that we can take tomorrow off if we want to. I've decided I want to. cattitude and I are in a lot better financial shape than a year ago, I can afford this, especially since it wouldn't be a full day's pay anyhow. I've got Thanksgiving--which will be fun, but still counts as going out and seeing people--and adrian_turtle coming to visit, and at least a bit of prep for each of those.

I've called the physical therapist's office, and they'll be okay with me coming at nine instead of 8:30, meaning I can get up and out in my normal fashion rather than rushing. I may still go to the gym tomorrow. I may still go visit porcinea. And I may meet Adrian at the bus station instead of at the 207th Street subway station.

But I will relax a bit.