Lee.org

Go to these websites, type in your name and they’ll tell you if there are any state “unclaimed monies” due to you. My friend Jen saw that I was owed money by the University of Massachusetts and gave me a call. I haven’t actually be able to claim the money yet but, yes, it’s totally legit.

National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators
MissingMoney.com

update 3-18-05: Yup, the University of Massachusetts owes me about $600. I just have to provide my current address at the time. Ack! I don’t remember the exact address so I’m asking some MA friends if they can help out.

update 9-10-14: It turned out that the money owed was because the registrar didn’t know to apply a payment to a class I took way back in the ’90’s. So they turned the check over to the state. This actually turned out to be useful because it helped me deduce why I couldn’t get my transcript from them when applying to grad school! The State of Massachusetts owed me $653 and University of Massachusetts wanted $653 before they’d release my transcript. We sorted it all out.

My trip to the bay area went very well. I got to meet up with a great variety of people, see a lot of the sights and get a real feel for the place. Since there’s so much to say, I’ll just spit this all out in no real order (if you want a good story, go buy a book… this is my life and my life is a mess)

I may add more to this later so check back…

The North-eastern corner of Lake Merritt in Oakland had a really really nice vibe. S.H. took me there and I couldn’t get the grin off my face at how nice it was there.

My brain was agape when Geo rattled off more than 10 organizations in the Bay Area devoted to cool things like fire and industrial arts. The best example I know if is The Crucible but it is certainly not the only one.

I’m amazed at how much the area from Santa Cruz to San Francisco is ruled by geography. In NJ, you can plop down a house or strip mall pretty much wherever you want but in San Fran… for example, hardly anyone lives in Fremont because it’s mostly wetland or steep hills. People try to live on the sides of mountains that, frankly they shouldn’t try to live on, especially considering the prevalence of earthquakes. But there are limits to even aggressive building practices… many structures are very close to large beautiful forests, mountains, oceans and the like. It’s an odd but fairly satisfying mix. Drive an hour in any direction and you’re among real nature. From my house now, if you drive an hour, you’re in either a city, suburbs, or sub-suburbs (east, south, north or west)

Housing is expensive… Mostly a bit more than Brooklyn. Expect to buy for $500,000 per bedroom. 1 BR $1,000+, 2BR $1500+, 3 BR $2000+. Bargains below this ($700-9000) can be had in various housemate situations.

Some people think Computer Guy would do great in the area, some people are…. not so sure. I’m not so sure. :-(

My hosts were all great. A big thank you to S.H., Tree, Brillig, G,