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davis_square

spud

07:46 pm - Roommate is not paying their rent!!!

I live in a house with two other roommates. The three of us were on a lease from Dec '07 through Dec '08, and have simply been tenants-at-will since then. We each pay our share of rent individully to the landlord, but my understanding is that we are responsible together for insuring that rent for the apartment is paid in full.

We received a note on the door yesterday from our landlord saying that he would like a call concerning ROOMMATE #3's rent. My other roommate called him back and learned that ROOMMATE #3 was late on this months rent, AND had not paid last months rent either. ROOMMATE #3 has also been eating our food when we are not around, and has not been paying utilities on time.

The kicker here is that ROOMMATE #3 is the ONLY member of the household with a job, and he makes good money. (Corporate Web Developer) :\

Our landlord would love to see this person go, but mainly, he just wants his money. That means that it becomes the responsibility of the other roommate and myself (the unemployed ones) to cover this gap, which is obviously difficult if not impossible for us to do.

I would like to know if anyone has been through a deadbeat roommate situation like this before, and has any words of wisdom on the legal ramifications involved. We know that we can't just kick the deadbeat out, and we don't want to loose this apartment either! (We like it here, and we have a pretty good report with the landlord since we stopped throwing late night parties a year ago!) We would love to get rid of this deadbeat!

Any helpful advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank!

ringrose

03:38 pm - I found a competent plumber!

Charlie from Lovett Plumbing and Heating Services, Inc. came by and looked at our first floor radiators.  He was competent, knowledgeable, and didn't do unnecessary things.

I expect I'll be calling them next time I need some plumbing work done.

Their phone is 781-316-8100; I found them through Angie's list.

patrissimo

12:11 pm - Reflect upon delusion?

Today is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I was 13, and not yet into politics, so it didn't mean much to me at the time (although I'd briefly met President Reagan the year before, coincidentally at a White House dinner that dmorr attended for the same reason I did).

Let A Thousand Nations Bloom has a link roundup (or as we call it, a link archipelago!), and Michael Strong has a reflective post:

Decent, responsible graduate students were not to be seen going to a libertarian lecture, even at Chicago: it was that simple. Meanwhile, discussions of whether violent revolutions were necessary for the (obviously desirable) transition to socialism were entirely mainstream academic conversation. Within academia up through the 1980s, discussions of revolutions in which violent death is routine were acceptable, but envisioning a society without legitimized aggression was disreputable. I wondered: Were these people insane?

On November 9, 2009, the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, it is appropriate to reflect on the extraordinary human capacity for delusion...

01:32 pm - Shabbat dinner and meditation class at Havurat Shalom

Friday November 20, 2009

Join us for services and a dairy/vegetarian Shabbat dinner followed by a meditation class. Dinner and the class are free, but * * you must register by Nov. 13! * * RSVP to registrar@thehav.org or 617-623-3376. We regularly provide dairy-free and gluten-free options at dinner. But if you have specific food needs, let us know asap.

Lovingkindness meditation serves many purposes.  It relaxes the mind, is an antidote for fear, and promotes self-awareness.  Though this meditation has been taught for thousands of years as a Buddhist practice, it has many overlaps with Judaism and works beautifully in helping individuals focus on their most important goals.  Its premise is that in order to develop compassion towards others, one must first develop a path toward practicing it with oneself.
 
Rebecca Lavine is a licensed social worker and has been meditating for nearly fifteen years. She runs the Little Buddhas group at the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center.

Services: 6:30 p.m.
Dinner: 7:30 p.m.
Class: c. 8:00 p.m.

Havurat Shalom
113 College Ave
Somerville MA 02144

for more info
call: 617-623-3376 (voice)
go to: http://www.thehav.org/
or email: info@thehav.org

The 1st floor of Havurat Shalom is wheelchair accessible, including the prayer room, dining room, living room, and bathroom. For the health of those with allergies and chemical sensitivities, we request that you not wear perfume, aftershave, or cologne to Havurat Shalom.

astra_nomer

01:10 pm - New phone

I lost my mobile phone last month and finally got around to replacing it over the weekend. Tells you how much I use it. I was inspired to write this haiku:

At last, a new phone!
But, I've lost all my contacts.
Send me your number?

You can email me at astra.nomer at gmail dot com.

davis_square

curiositykt

10:41 am - boots stretched?

Does anyone know if Savas Shoe Repair on Elm Street does shoe stretching? I have two pairs of boots, one needs the vamp (instep) stretched and the other needs the caft stretched. Neither are fully leather but canvas should also stretch with a stretcher..

If Savas doesn't do this, does anyone know any place that does? I looked into buying my own stretchers, but that would be around 300 dollars for both.

Thanks!

lokiect

09:50 am

I remembered last night as I was getting ready for bed that I had a dentist appointment this morning. it involved 3 fillings, at least 1 that needed to be redone. that one looked like at least a centimeter of filling-spike. it was... impressive. (the dentist always seems to think I won't need as much novacaine as I do, so I always have a few moments when I have to stop him from drilling before he gives me more.)

when I got up and out, wunderground said it was around 35. but it says it'll get to 68. I don't know if I should call myself overdressed or underdressed yet.

davis_square

anomie666

09:32 am - Meetup tomorrow

Just a reminder that tomorrow (Tuesday the 10th) is our next DS meetup at the Burren. As always, we begin at 7pm and meet in the back room. I'll try to grab the table in the back left hand corner of the room (if you are facing the stage).

At 8pm is open mic night and I'd love some people from our group to perform. We do have one person from our group that will be taking the stage and I'm pretty excited about it. Our very own ron_newman has agreed to do an interpretative dance giving the history of Somerville. For this performance, I'll be providing musical accompaniment on the bongo. Anybody else want to sign up to perform?

EDIT: Hey, I just found out Tuesday evening is also going to be a fundraiser for the non-profit key foundation. All tips to the bartender will go to the cause and there will be some great raffle prizes later that evening. Raffle prizes include celtics tickets as well as whisky collection worth over $300!

08:10 pm - Veterans Day

Honor local Veterans at the VFW George Dilboy Post 529 at 371 Summer St. in Davis Square, 10 am, Wednesday, November 11th.

davis_square

bobobb

06:45 pm - Winter CSA

I'm looking for a winter CSA in the area. Are there any that do drop-offs in Somerville? Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Current Mood: hungry

patrissimo

03:05 pm - Let's get the facts on AIDS straight

In a past post, I wrote that AIDS in the USA turned out to be mainly a disease of men who have sex with men and intravenous drug users. A commenter responded "This is a common misconception, but still a misconception.", I said "Bullshit. I looked at stats when I wrote that.", and they said "I would be interested in seeing those "stats", because I can only imagine that you are misinterpreting them."

So, tell me how I am misinterpreting the following stats from the CDC.

AIDS Cases by Transmission Category

Six common transmission categories are male-to-male sexual contact, injection drug use, male-to-male sexual contact and injection drug use, high-risk heterosexual (male-female) contact, mother-to-child (perinatal) transmission, and other (includes blood transfusions and unknown cause).

patrissimo

02:04 pm - Sing Summit talks - followup

Anna Salamon's talk was excellent too, as I should have expected. I like the point on just how important the singularity (or future massive tech development, if you prefer) is - it can quite arguably result in either the destruction of all human life on earth, or in paradise beyond current imagination for all human life. Extreme positive and negative outcomes for everyone on Earth gives extreme social value to swaying the outcome.

I sampled / glanced at the other talks, and they didn't do much for me. I find it a little depressing that there was a perfect mapping between "People I am already familiar with and admire" and "Talks I thought were good". (It's nice that the former category maps perfectly to "People I have met", though). It would be nice to find more interesting people in this field. On the other hand, maybe I should be happy that I already know the interesting people?

patrissimo

02:04 pm - slack over

OK, I slacked, chilled, relaxed, and socialized from 4PM Friday until 1PM Sunday. Time to get shit done!

Sunday afternoon is the new Monday?

naomikritzer

09:12 am - You guys get the best presents

Happy birthday, notthatedburke and probably_lost!

Remember that Democratic Congress I got you for your birthday back in 2006?

Well this year, a health care bill showed up for your birthday! Only, I didn't order it -- honestly, I mean, I looked at it in the catalog and I thought, "oooh! they would totally like that!" Only instead of "ships in 24 hours" it said "coming soon!" but with no date and I was pretty skeptical that it would arrive in time.

So someone else must have gotten it for you! Which is pretty awesome -- I mean, it's clearly a beta version and it doesn't have all the features the order page mentioned BUT it's actually much more fully featured than I was expecting. Happy birthday!

(It still doesn't beat the present that arrived one day too late for your actual birthday, twenty years ago. I mean, srsly. That's got to be the best one ever.)

davis_square

madscientist01

03:41 pm - Looking for professional financial advice

Could anyone recommend a financial planner (for lack of a better term) in the area? I have some financial decisions to make regarding student loan deferment during recent layoff and/or enrollment in grad school in the fall. There are several different loans, so the situation quickly becomes complicated. I don't have a ton of money to throw around, but making the wrong decisions now would probably cost me more than paying for a bit of someone's time. Thanks.

Current Mood: stressed

chenoameg

03:34 pm - Ok, now I'm officially spoiled

In addition to a wonderful husband and a newborn who sleeps for preternaturally long periods and housemates and friends who provide food and help with the slightest provocation and a body that thought being pregnant was a great reason to lose 25 lbs...

I also have a friend who decided that a good use of his or her lovely weekend was to rake my leaves. I suspect gentlescholar. Whoever it was, thank you so much!

In other news I should let you all know that evenings from 6pm-10pm are prime baby holding time if any of you have not yet had a chance to come by and visit S yet. Tuesday we'll be out, but otherwise you can call or just stop by and we'll thrust a baby into your arms (full disclosure, she may or may not be screaming during this process, that's kinda what she does in the evenings.) The upside of all the fussing? It's your best chance to see her eyes! Yeah, that's it :)

patrissimo

10:42 am - Agnostic's Prayer

via charleshaynes:

I could totally bring myself to say a prayer like this:

Insofar as I may be heard by anything, which may or may not care what I say, I ask, if it matters, that you be forgiven for anything you may have done or failed to do which requires forgiveness. Conversely, if not forgiveness but something else may be required to ensure any possible benefit for which you may be eligible after the destruction of your body, I ask that this, whatever it may be, be granted or withheld, as the case may be, in such a manner as to insure your receiving said benefit. I ask this in my capacity as your elected intermediary between yourself and that which may not be yourself, but which may have an interest in the matter of your receiving as much as it is possible for you to receive of this thing, and which may in some way be influenced by this ceremony. Amen.

01:00 pm - need an analog voltmeter ?

i've got this old-ish true RMS analog A/C voltmeter (9.5" x 7.5" x 5") that's seeking better accommodations.  i'm guessing it wants roommates who'll interact with it once in a while, since it's never bitched about us leaving our crap lying around the living room or the dishes in the sink.  last time we gave it the time of day, it was a pretty nice, accurate unit. 

( photo )

anyway, drop me a line if you're intersted.

shaenon

02:40 am - Zombie of the Year

We're so proud.

patrissimo

01:19 pm - Unproductive day so far

Vaporizing THC, hot tub/rock band/cuddling seemed like, and were, a great, relaxing way to spend my Friday night. But the slack seems to have spilled over and destroyed my Saturday productivity :(. I've been lying around reading Less Wrong etc, when I had lots of home organization I wanted to get done. Feeling tired and unmotivated...well, I guess tired captures all of it.

Oh well, time to go run a work errand, that's productive at least.