Wednesday, September 06, 2006

First Day in Boston on the "Job"

Yesterday was my first day as a resident Bostonian as well as a semi-unemployed Erlanger.



I must say that although my original impression of Boston wasn't very enthusiastic, I think this town will grow on me.



Boston is a college town in the truest sense of the word. In New York, everyone looks like he/she came from a different planet: people dress different, look different, speak different languages, and seeking different goals. In Boston, on the other hand, you feel like almost everyone is a student. I live somewhere between Boston College and Boston University, which makes the impression even stronger.



Because of its abundance of colleges, Boston feels like a very young town. In my advanced age of 26, I can't help but feel like I'm a TA or something :)



My new "office" is the Boston Public Library on Copley Square:



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(You're probably wondering what that blue cow is doing there. Apparently, the cows are all over Boston. Check out the rest of the set for more cow pictures.)



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Sometimes I don't get why many startups spend their money on renting office space when you can get a comfortable, quiet environment with good internet connectivity for free at the public library. Maybe it's that VC money thing :)



The Boston Public Library actually wins in the tech department over the New York Public Library for providing free Wi-Fi in the entire building, not just one room.



I didn't get much coding done yesterday, but today I'm hoping to finish implementing transaction handling in ErlyDB. It might take longer, though, so don't get your hopes up too high :)

9 comments:

jealous said...

Sounds like a dream. I think my office would be cliche'... a Starbucks or something. All that caffeine and coding while listening to some decent music and the occassional "Calling! Venti chai latte" seem like heaven.... Too bad I can't be independently wealthy.

Yariv said...

Haha, I wish I were independently wealthy. I saved some money during my 4 years out of college and now I'm living off my savings, but I'm far from rich. I prefer the library to Starbucks because it's quieter, but I'll probably venture out if I start getting bored here.

Paul Gerber said...

We miss you in NYC! Setup a webcam in the library so we can do a virtual lunch. I hope coding is going well. Hi to J & R.
Cheers,
Paul

Yariv said...

First comment by the one and only Paul Gerber! Yeah! I actually have a webcam in my MacBook but the whole virtual lunch thing kinda freaks me out :)

Roberto said...

Yariv, is that image of the library yours ? Taken with the built-in I-sight cam of your mac. Hard to believe, it looks more like a HDR composite from multiple exposures from a DSLR.

Yariv said...

Roberto, I actually took this image with my 2 year old 4MP Canon SD300 camera. I retouched it with GimpShop to enhance the dynamic range. It's my favorite digital photography trick. It makes most of my pictures look much better.

Gordon Weakliem said...

Funny, Denver is infested with art cows too. I didn't realize it was a national movement.

Yariv said...

Now they're also in seatte? My girlfriend even saw them in Austria a year ago.

canbariscan@oberlin.edu said...

great photos I need to have a blog like yours... it's so nice :) great libraries really make a difference. I wish we had some here in istanbul, having been in New York Public... I remember seeing cows in Washington DC a couple of years ago, dunno if they are still residing there ...