I haven’t updated in some time. You don’t have to worry. I’m doing fine. Yesterday I picked up my brand new blue 2008 Toyota Yaris, all paid for and insured. So now I have a car and a place to live. I got a good deal on the car and paid only $16,300 for it including all taxes.
Today I bought a parking permit for the car, so now I can actually park on campus. I also finally got my student number and ID card, and my network ID, so now I can use my laptop anywhere on campus.
I have done other stuff this weekend. On Sunday I went on a short hike to “the dish”, a radio-telescope here at Stanford and made some new friends from all over the world.
I was also told about a BBQ at the Jewish center here at Stanford on Monday night so I went there as well. Many nice people, very few Israelis there. After the BBQ party, they aired the first episode of season 2 of Heroes on a big screen, so I stayed to watch.
Next post I’ll talk about the wonders of eBay.
September 26th, 2007 at 01:33
Posted by
epsalon |
Stanford, Daily Life, Bureaucracy, American Culture, USA |
3 comments
Good news: I have found a place to stay!
Today I started my search for a less temporary place to stay and I immediately found one. The chepest place available answered and had all what I need (bed, electricity, wifi) and for only $450/month. It’s also a short 12 minute drive from my office. After several calls to the landlord and my parents I decided to go for it, without seeing any other places. The room was so cheap because I am barred from any kind of cooking in the room. However, with the money I saved I can eat out every day if I want to. All in all, I think I struck a great deal.
My residential address, if you would like to send me mail, is:
Alon Altman
256 Walter Hays Dr.
Palo Alto, CA 94303
USA
Yesterday I went to Stanford’s compulsory postdoc orientation meeting. In this useless 2.5 hour meeting, we were explained a lot of practical information I have already read online. I didn’t even get my student ID number, as the postdoc office did not receive all my information on time. I also went to the weekly meeting of Yoav’s group and got introduced to all the other researchers in the team.
Later that day, I went to the social security office to get my card replaced to one that is valid for employment. They told me that I must arrive after the start date of my program, which is October 1st.
September 21st, 2007 at 00:15
Posted by
epsalon |
Stanford, Daily Life, Bureaucracy, USA |
3 comments
Yesterday was my first full day here. In the morning I went to eat breakfast at McDonald’s, guided by my trusted navigation system. The first McD I went to was closed, so I went to another one which was open.
After breakfast I returned to the motel, and figured out I somehow managed to lose my room key. In any case, I decided to go on line and plan the rest of my day. It was still early to go to the International Center at Stanford, so I decided to go to see a new car for sale. I called the person I’ve been in touch with at the dealership and set an appointment for an hour later. The price he quoted at the dealership was too high for my parent’s taste, so I did not yet buy the car.
From the dealership I made my way to Stanford, ate lunch, and went on to get my temporary ATM card and visit the Int’l center for an orientation. Then, I drove to the CS faculty and met with the administrator there. I signed lots of forms to be on payroll and got signed up for an orientation meeting today. Then, I went to see Yoav — the professor I’ll be working with. Even though he was not expecting me, he took the time to give me a short tour of the faculty and have his assistant assign me an office and give me a key. Now I have an address where I can get mail! The address is:
Alon Altman
Gates Computer Science
353 Serra Mall, room 258
Stanford, CA 94305
USA
After arranging all that, I went back to the hotel room and on line. I had a chat with my friend whom I met in Hawaii and met up with her for dinner. I really enjoyed it.
Overall, I feel good and even though getting settled is hard, I think I’m doing pretty well. Today will be another day at Stanford and I hope to start looking for places to stay tomorrow.
September 19th, 2007 at 16:02
Posted by
epsalon |
Stanford, Daily Life, Personal, USA |
6 comments
Today I flew to Stanford. To stay. Here is my story.
I flew with KLM with a connection at Amsterdam Schiphol airport. At Amsterdam, I tried to get admitted to the lounge even though I was not upgraded to business, and did not yet technically qualify for Gold. As I only had 600 miles less than needed, I was granted lounge access. At the lounge I asked for a temporary gold card and they decided to issue one for me even though I did not yet qualify for gold. The actual gold card will be sent to Israel in about a month, and then I’ll ask my parents to forward it here.
On the 747 flight to San Francisco, I enjoyed the best seat on the plane (11F), however when I tried to use the space in front of the seat to sleep in my sleeping bag, a flight attendant told me this is not allowed, so I had to sleep in my seat. I spent most of my time on the plane reading a book I bought and trying to sleep.
We arrived in SFO 10 minutes late, and I was among the first to exit the plane, even before some business class passengers. I rushed to passport control and was admitted without waiting in line at all. The J-1 admission process was longer than usual but I still arrived at the baggage claim area before any luggage came out. After some time, both my suitcases arrived and an airport employee helped me take them off the belt and onto my trolley.
After baggage claim, I took the AirTrain to the car rental building and waited in line. After a short while I got my contract and navigation system and was told to go to the garage and take any compact car. The only problem was, there weren’t any. After 30 minutes of asking several employees in the garage and back outside, I was told to take a midsize car instead. The midsize car was huge. I had no problem loading all the luggage in the backseat and the trunk and installing the navigation system. Finding how to adjust the seat, however, took some time.
After all these adjustments, I entered my destination (Wells Fargo bank at Stanford) and started driving out of the airport garage. For some reason, the navigation system did not update and stayed stuck at the airport. I discovered this only when I was in the middle of an 8-lane road going somewhere I didn’t know. Luckily, there was a traffic jam and I managed to restart the navigation system, which proceeded to recalculate my route and direct me to the bank. I used that traffic jam also to figure out how to close the windows in this car, which is not as simple as it seems.
When the navigation system told me I have arrived, I noticed a large parking lot, so naturally I parked the car there. I saw parking ticket sales machines so I tried to pay for the parking, but it turned out no change was given and the smallest bill I had was $10. So, I decided to head for the bank without paying for parking.
After asking several people and looking around, I finally managed to locate Wells Fargo bank, which were delighted to have me open an account with them. They filled in some forms for me and told me my account will be ready in 15 minutes. So, I changed my $10 bill into ones and went to pay for the parking, just as I paid $1 for the ticket, some girl there told me I don’t have to pay for parking after 4pm. So I headed back to the bank and picked up all the forms and information required to transfer money and also deposited most of my cash.
After finishing with the bank, I went to a small convenience store nearby and bought something to drink. I forgot to mention that while driving I managed to hurt my finger and start bleeding, and since the landing in SFO I had developed a headache, so it was quite hard concentrating on renting the car and opening the account.
With the more important errand settled I could now drive to the motel. I keyed in the address to the navigation system and drove directly to there. I did have to figure out I had to turn into a side street in order to park, though.
I checked in at the motel and paid for 5 nights ($302.5). The room is very small and has almost no closet space, but has hi-speed wireless Internet, a queen-size bed, and a shower and toilet. I brought my luggage into the room, plugged in my laptop and went on line to check email and make some local calls. Then I went to sleep at about 18:30.
I woke up today at 4:30 am, headache free, and ready to start a new day. My plan for this day: blog, unpack, make a plan. Probably I’ll go to Stanford and start settling stuff there.
September 18th, 2007 at 15:15
Posted by
epsalon |
Stanford, Bureaucracy, USA |
5 comments
Yesterday I paid and got a letter confirming that I have completed all requirements of my degree and faxed that letter to Stanford.
I am not used to not having dorms nor an office, but having a car, so I didn’t bring all that I needed. Specifically, I didn’t bring my laptop. As I had an event that evening I had to burn most of the day. I decided to go to the pool (even though I forgot to bring my pool card) and swim a bit.
After the pool I went to the CS faculty hoping to meet some friends. Which I did. Then, I joined him to the games night (I forgot to bring my games with me, but there were lots of games there). I especially liked the game Dork Tower, with all the cute illustrations, 3D tower, and interesting gameplay. So, I played it twice (with two different groups). I didn’t win, but it was fun anyway.
August 14th, 2007 at 12:21
Posted by
epsalon |
Stanford, Leisure, Gaming, Academia |
one comment
