23 July 2002

So, the Fiat was towed yesterday with $460 in outstanding parking tickets, almost all of which were Alex’s.

I’ve had to spend some time looking for an apartment this week. My grand plan of buying a fight-club style house somewhere in Boston has been stymied by the fact that, as it turns out, you need to have a downpayment to buy a house. So I’ve been poring over craigslist and generally trying to avoid realtors.

Last night I called about a place in Porter Square, in Cambridge, and a woman with a thick Chinese accent answered the phone. Most of what she said was nearly incomprehensible to me, even though the last two years of working in a massively mulinational company have trained me to decode many different accents. But there was one part I understood clearly:

Lady: So what you do make living?

Me: Well, I started a software company about two years ago, and…

Lady: You CEO! You cook books! I lose lot of money at worldcom!

Me: No, no, no, I’m not the CEO anymore, I-

Lady: You CEO! You all cook books! All CEO cook books!

I’m meeting her tomorrow at 7pm to see the place. Should be fun.