Resettled, at Last, Sort of

The light (read: nonexistant) posting of late is easily explained: I've been in the process of moving back to Cambridge from Virginia.

First, though, I went out to California for the Berkshire Conference. I enjoyed the Berks; my paper went well and I received a number of helpful comments. (My curmudgeonly attitude towards conferences aside, Mary Beth Norton pointed out a Maryland document I have overlooked that will change the look of my fornication/marriage chapter substantially.) I even went to the dance for a little while--although I was jet-lagged and soon went to bed. People who went to the dance seemed to be enjoying themselves, but I still have to say, an academic conference is a strange place for a dance.

I then spent some time with my parents in PA before returning to Cambridge to reenter, with some trepidation, the Cambridge rental housing market. For the uninitiated, Boston has the third-most expensive housing in the country, after New York City and San Francisco. This means advertisements in papers are generally useless (often apartments are let almost as soon as the paper comes out) and even CraigsList is a battleground. Real estate agents show you crap apartments with high rents and high fees and then pressure you to sign a lease, right here, right now. After a day of this I was tired and cranky. But, the next day I checked the Harvard affiliated housing immediate occupancy database and I was able to acquire an apartment the easy way, which is to say: I did not have to pay first, last, security, or realtor's fee. My little place lacks charm but makes up for that small fault with plenty of storage space, cleanliness, and, location location location.

So now that I'm settled (or at the very least perched on an air mattress while I await the arrival of my stuff out of storage) I can return to blogging. A belated thanks to Sharon Howard, who included "To Count or not to Count, That is the Question" in History Carnival #9. The recognition is much appreciated!