I ubered the hell out of Boston today -- actually, mostly Cambridge and Somerville (some days have unexpected Themes, where luck of the draw keeps taking me places again and again, or else I'm on a Magical Mystery Tour of the outer reaches of Boston or the North Shore or whatever).

My next trick will be to try replacing the actuator switch inside the living room ceiling fan, I found a replacement part at Home Depot yesterday, and it would SEEM to be a simple substitution once I get the unit open.

I'm very mixed about it - on the one hand, the Hudson valley is gorgeous and we'll be able to afford a lot more space. On the other hand, moving to the suburbs feels kind of like admitting defeat. But on the other other hand, Brooklyn has betrayed us by getting so dang expensive! And the houses both look gorgeous on paper.

Really like living in the suburbs. All I hear all day is goddamn bird song and it's awesome. NYC is all about making you feel you failed, even if you still live there.

I did not know there was a connection between the eye socket and the mouth, but gah, these eyedrops taste terrible.

I'm not as much of a fan of the smoked paprika as TCG is because I tend not to like smoked things in general. We usually have at least 4 types of paprika in our house at all times: sweet, hot, smoked sweet, and smoked hot.

Jess, good luck with the house hunting, whatever you decide to do.

I...don't hate living in the burbs. It felt weird at first, but it's great for the kids and I feel really safe.

I mean, someone tries to attack me or burglarize my house in THIS hood, thinking "Oh, soccer mom, easy target?" HA. Big mistake. HUGE.

You could just do what we did and move to a whole different area of the country...

I like living in the 'burbs. But there are 'burbs and there are 'burbs. There are ones where it's a 20 minute drive to get anywhere - NO thank you.

Mine, OTOH, is small and very walkable, with a library, farmer's market, brew pub, restaurants, parks, etc. in easy walking distance.

We live well within Seattle's city limits, but I still feel like I'm living in the 'burbs compared to where I used to live in Philly. Our yard is more than a postage stamp, and our street doesn't have a sidewalk. Trees every which way, not carefully matched and planted along the nonexistent sidewalk. Depending where you work you can get by without a car, but it'd be a struggle for us with a kid--or, she'd have to go to the school closest to our house rather than the K-8 with the environmental science focus and advanced learning options, and she wouldn't get to take part in after-school activities or have swim lessons on the weekend. Oh, privilege... Such crime as we have is almost 100% property crime--I always feel personally safe, though when feasible I get packages delivered to an Amazon locker near my office instead of my front door.

Burbs have been great for mac, not great for me, but convenient and a lot less stress.

Hey, I get bird song, too! But Somerville is just as subject to steeply rising prices as Brooklyn, and if I hadn't bought when I did, I'd have been priced out of here a long time ago.