New Apartment

Posted byRandall 265 Comments on New Apartment

I’ve finally left Virginia and moved to Boston (the Cambridge-Somerville area). I’m really excited. I try to avoid the teenage-ish tendency to blame everything on wherever I am (“I just need to get out of this town! This place sucks! Hey, can you put on another Simple Plan CD?”). But I really think the Virginia town I lived in wasn’t my kind of place. So Boston’s going to be good. I feel at home here already (it helps that I have some lovely friends in the area). Hooray for things happening!

I put a whiteboard in the front hallway so everyone could leave notes and so forth. Hmm. A shared space that anyone can write/draw in …

I couldn’t help it:

(click for larger photo)

I’ve got some Sharpies in a drawer in case I need to lock it from editing.

265 replies on “New Apartment”

  2. You Moved? But I just saw your car the other week! I also got a couple of No Raptor shirts, and was going to go down to the Virgina Living Museum and have my photo taken with the raptor statue. Yep, Hampton Roads can be sleepy, but I hear the same about almost anywhere that’s not a major city.

    Also, hypertext for whiteboards would be the shiznit. Tap on the board, the first board falls down off the wall, revealing another board behind it.

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  3. Ah, ‘penis penis penis’. One of life’s most influential catchphrases.

    Like, think about it. Julius Caesar was crossing the Rubicon. The Roman populace was like ‘WTF man?’ and he replied ‘penis penis penis.’ Think about it man. You might not know it, but those three words that describe the masculine genitalia… they forged our world, that phrase made us who we are.

    Then you’d think God would be all ‘penis penis penis’ to Adam and Eve then, huh?

    @Above Comment: What about going back a page? o:

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  5. I read that as “Please see the retarded arguments in the other room”. Somehow I think that would have been more appropriate.

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  6. Watch out of hax0rs, they know that whiteboard markers can actually ‘unlock’ sharpie-locked whiteboards.

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  7. If you really want to lock the whiteboard, buy some clear glaze that won’t chip off. It’ll lock anything that’s over or under it, more permanently than sharpies will.

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  8. Welcome to the area. Every comic you post makes me chuckle, and I’m looking forward to your take on our fair city of Slummerville. Hope you enjoy it!

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  9. “So what license do your photos fall under? The same CC license as your comics?”

    I was wondering the same thing. This would make a much better image for [[Wikipedia:Whiteboard]] than the current one.

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  10. It WOULD have been nice to have a Virginia talk before you jumped ship…

    I feel like I missed the Pixies reunion tour…

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  12. Is it a bad sign that I tried to edit the whiteboard to remove the ‘Penis penis penis’? As in click on the ‘edit’ tab?

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  13. “the Pixies reunion tour…”

    hell yes. i found out about that one the day after it happened.

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  15. Hi there!
    this is a brilliant site I lately find out. I have just moved in a new apartment too. don’t have a white board and wittyness or patience to make one. I like the idea anyway… if I had one I would have the same to-do-list although I went dancing right away:D

    keep up friend!

    love from istanbul,

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  16. In reference to your Who comic… is it just coincidence or did you know that in Britain, a group of elderlies calling themselves “The Zimmers” got together to record a version of “My Generation”? The drummer is apparently 100 (I think!)

    Apparently they’re at number 26 in the charts… if I recall correctly.

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  18. Ever since I was a young boy/I’ve tried OSes all/From Solaris down to OS/2/ I must have used ’em all./But I ain’t seen nothing like it/ in any convention hall /That open source Finn kid / Sure writes a mean kern-el…

    He gives up all his source code / compiles on his machine / lets them all contribute / Even if they’re mean. / The bugs get fixed so quickly / I’ve never seen it fall / That open source Finn kid /Sure writes a mean kern-el

    He’s a open source wizard / There has to be a trick / An open source wizard / “LTorvalds” is his nick.

    (How do you think he does it? I don’t know. What makes it so good?)

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  19. hooray!, my favoutire band comes from boston. The Dropkick Murphy’s. not sure if they’d be your thing. but hooray for you!

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  20. Speaking as someone who moved to Somerville (Teele Sq. neighborhood) recently, I have one thing to add to the above suggestions: stay the hell away from Foodmaster (on the corner of Broadway and Alewife Brook Pkwy) if you have any alternative. The liquor store just next door has a pretty good selection for its size, though.

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  23. Today’s comic makes me want to say ‘I love you’. Any ‘Stranger In A Strange Land’ references in popular culture have this effect on me.

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  26. Welcome to Camberville, it is a great place to live. Diesel in Davis Sq has the best coffee on earth, or maybe the best coffee within walking distance of the T station. And Johnny D’s Jazz brunch will make you think Somerville is the greatest place on earth. (Which is very well might be.!)

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  29. You might enjoy this little video (“Wikis in Plain English”), which adds a time dimension to your idea:

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  30. I laughed so hard when I read your ‘my generation’ knock off. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone records it!

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  31. At least now you have some new ground to cover in regards to comic 176. Welcome to the neighborhood, I hope you enjoy the green line after a Red Sox game, it’s a unique experience.

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  32. Aha, you must come to Harvard and allow us an hour or two of XKCD humour later this year, then. Long sentence, that.

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  33. Speaking of human hamsterballs (what? Someone somewhere had to be speaking of it)… In Edmonton (Alberta, Canada), inside the world’s largest mall, inside the indoor waterpark, you can go inside a ‘hamsterball’ and run on top of the water in the wave pool. It’s an outrageous $10 for 5 minutes, but hey, just to say you did it. 😉

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  34. I’m amongst teenagers now, and while I don’t see most of the stereotypes amongst my group of friends, the “This town sucks” mentality is prevalent. I _do_ live in Buffalo, NY though. That might contribute.

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  35. andy: Eeeek, what’s wrong with that Foodmaster? I just moved to Broadway and was thinking it would be convenient because of the bus connections…

    jemp: I take 1369 over Diesel and Renee’s over Johnny D’s.

    mollishka: hi! Wow, it feels like I haven’t seen you in pages. (ha)

    Also – does the spam protection always involve a sum of 5 + x?

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  36. Maryr: Well, maybe I overstated. It’s just overpriced, limited selection, and kinda grungy. There’s a Stop&Shop not too far up the road into Arlington, after Broadway merges with Mass Ave, and a Trader Joes in the same area, so if you can get that far there are alternatives.

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  37. No one is asking the important questions here.
    Such as, who wrote “penis” on the whiteboard?
    And is s/he single?

    Congrats on your move. I have moved away from the Boston area and discovered that the rest of the country is vastly inferior (well, CT is, anyway…).

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  38. maryr: where’s Renee’s? I do love and miss Johnny D’s, though … they have grits!!!! … and I’ll take Tosci’s over Diesel or 1369 any day, but since none are particularly close to the others, I’ll really just take whichever is closest.

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  39. thanks for providing a witty and insightful outlet for geek humour!! i’ve only recently been introduced to the wonders of xkcd, but i’m passing links on prolifically! 🙂
    you had me at the tin-infused apple, i’m afraid.
    i only wish i could map some of your spectra on the ICP at work! 🙂
    cheers,
    your new(est) fan
    b

    PS if you’re making vacation plans, i’m pretty sure Canada is raptor-free! XD

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  40. Canada is NOT raptor-free. Canadian raptors are just smarter and better at hiding. I think they use the Royal Tyrell Museum (http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/) as their base of operations. Have you seen the landscape around Drumheller, Alberta? It’s like stepping into another world, and I think the Raptors keep it that way on purpose. And I suspect Dr Phil Currie of being in their employ.

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  42. okay, so maybe not *completely* raptor-free… but i heard from this really reliable source that dying in Canada isn’t like dying in real life. 🙂

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  43. Careful with that whiteboard, though. Now that you live in MA, the Boston PD might confuse it with a bomb.

    Be extra careful and don’t allow any mooninites to infiltrate the topic. And if anybody brings a lite brite, duck and cover…

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  45. I find that absolutely hilarious. Also, I’d like to make the obligatory post about how awesome I think you webcomic is, which is basically awesome beyond words.

    lol, and all that.

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  46. You know, the Cambridge-Somerville area is RIGHT NEXT TO MIT…you’re going to have hordes of screaming nerd-fans mobbing your apartment if they ever figure out exactly where it is. So if you wake up at an odd hour of the night to a driving rain of playpen balls through your window…you know why.

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  47. Oh man, raptor-proofing is only your fourth priority? What, do you think raptors will loll around the beach, maybe take a break from savagely murdering humanoids while you dance and take care of administrative hygiene? You’re playing with your life here! Get those windows boarded up, pronto! Replace those doorhandles with smooth doorknobs! Plot your escape routes to nearby buildings!

    Remember: Raptors do not care about your internet.

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  48. Just a quick note on your move: Davis Sq is your new best friend, despite being a little bit of a dirty hippie.

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  50. “Rent is due, guys” is by far the best part. Also, “body language” and “crash.” I love it.

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