Looking for a Davis Square writing nook

Looking for a Davis Square writing nook

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Cabin fever season is upon us–there will only be so many nights I can spend in my room during cold weather before I’m clawing at the door. To make matters a bit more complicated, I’m also trying to discipline myself to write at least 4 pages a night, and I’m one of those folks that has to disconnect from the internet and all the distractions of my room (TV, PS2, crafts) to do it.
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T minus 2 days to Hub on Wheels

T minus 2 days to Hub on Wheels

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Ack, my bike is still not in prime shape and I have a 25-mile ride in two days for the Hub on Wheels! I’m hoping the bicycle fairy will fix my gear shift overnight or something. Somehow I doubt that’s going to happen, so tomorrow I’ll be in the basement with a multi-tool and greasy hands. Loads of swearing will follow, I’m sure of it, especially if the bike-related wonkiness is stemming from the derailleur. If anyone has a spare $1k lying around they’d like to donate to the buy-Maria-a-decent-bike fund, please paypal it over.
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Post amnesia

Post amnesia

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I’m biking for The Hub On Wheels in two weeks and have been preparing for it. I’m only doing the 25-mile route as I have something to do that afternoon (XKCD meetup!), but I was curious if I am physically capable of biking the full 40-ish mile route. So just for kicks a few weeks ago I biked the entire Cape Cod rail trail, which is about 44 miles round-trip. I’m still amazed that I did it. I’ve never been an athletic person so when I shared this news with my family and friends, everybody was pretty impressed. So yes, I’m proud of this and wanted to share it with you all. (And here is the photographic journal of that day!) (more…)

Quick note

Quick note

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Just realized I should probably expand my LinkedIn network a little more. I know a few old friends and colleagues drop by here from time to time, so if you’re interested, please feel free to add me to your LinkedIn network. Here’s my profile page: http://www.linkedin.com/in/varmazis
I also added a LinkedIn widget to my blog’s sidebar.

This is going to be a very quiet weekend for me—car woes demand that I spend the next few days negotiating with mechanics. Who knew it’d be so complicated to just get a fresh injection of freon in my AC?

In my off-time this weekend I hope to pick up where I left off with some personal writing. Yes, like most folk in any kind of writing/reporting profession, there’s a book in the works; however, I don’t intend to get the book* published, so that takes a lot of pressure off for, you know, “elegant” prose, “gripping” plot and all that nonsense.

;)

* Somehow I already have a nascent soundtrack for my work-in-progress, all thanks to a great friend and his band The Spangle Maker. I’m not sure how I got so lucky. Thank you, Derek!

Journalism, coding, confusion

Journalism, coding, confusion

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I’m going to add my voice to the chorus of confusion over reporters-as-programmers. Howard Owens says reporters should go for the gusto and get some coding skills, though fluency is not requisite. Matt Waite says something similar: “The idea is to create new forms of journalism with whatever tools we can, and if they don’t exist, create them too.”
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