I would definitely go to the Gardner Museum. If you're into art, the MFA is also good. If you like history the USS Constitution and Cassin Young are interesting and Bunker Hill is nearby. JFK Library is interesting and unique to Boston. I would recommend taking the ferry to George's Island if the weather is good. Also walking/biking the Esplanade is nice if the weather is good.

Sarma is my favorite restaurant; you should try to get a reservation, but they do accept walk-ins, so you could try early/late on a week night. Otherwise I like Gustazo, Tres Gatos, Noah's Kitchen, and Row 34. Dumpling House isn't far from Harvard and it's one of my favorite Chinese restaurants. If you're looking to fill some time you should try candlepin bowling; it's unique to New England. Enjoy your trip and happy birthday!

Somerville and Medford do, but afaik Boston doesn't, and I double checked the parking site.

I don't think Boston even has guest passes.

I had RCN for many years and I've been using Astound for a few months now. It's been fine so far and I pay $30/mo including taxes and fees for 400 Mbps.

Sounds like BS to me. Landlords can't charge a broker fee unless they are actually a broker. Even if they are a broker, this situation shouldn't call for a fee. I would push back on that. You should only be paying first, last, and security.

Somerville is the most dense overall, but Boston has a lot of low density neighborhoods like Brighton and West Roxbury that bring it's average down. Parts of Back Bay and South End are more dense than anything in Somerville.

Yeah but the US president is way underpaid for the position. BU president's base pay is like $1m.

I bought my condo from a developer who converted a triple decker, except he didn't buy any of the units. Our docs have identical wording except that the initial board ended when one unit sold.

I think it's clear you're getting screwed. Our condo is self managed and requires almost no work. Our HOA fees are all under $200 and covers master insurance, water and sewer, common electric, and maintenance. All bills are on autopay and I monitor them.

When maintenance needs to be done one of us volunteers to take the lead and we don't get paid for that. We might each do about 30 min of "work" per quarter which usually consists of changing light bulbs, ordering items on Amazon, phone calls/emails, and being there when the maintenance person gets there. It's certainly not something that should be compensated $1500/mo.

My wife is vegetarian and loves Grasshopper in Allston, Dumpling House in Cambridge, Noah's Kitchen in Brookline (especially vegan dan dan noodles) and the tofu banh mi at Ba Le in Dorchester.

My friend's neighbor ratted me out for having an expired guest parking pass. My friend had renewed the pass but not gotten it in the mail yet. I appealed the ticket, but it took them like five months to drop it.

I've seen a few mice in my Boston dorms/apartments over the years, but not many. Never heard of a rat going into someone's home though. They usually get into trash/compost outside.

I grew up an hour outside Boston and we always got the occasional mouse in the house. Never had any rats until my parents got chickens. They set traps and secured the coop and food better and haven't seen any rats since.

For some reason it is legal for brokers to charge application fees though.

This is entirely arbitrary, but growing up north of Worcester, I always thought of Worcester as centered in Central MA. But I also didn't realize as a kid that Western MA goes that far. Your boundaries divide the state more evenly.

You're welcome! We got our degrees from Boston University in 2.5 years. At the time the benefit covered 100% tuition for the first class each semester, 90% for the second. You also pay federal taxes on the value over a certain limit.

Edit: Just noticed your last question. Craigslist, Zillow, maybe Trulia, Apartments.com, or Facebook.

The official answer has been "definitely spring, fingers crossed" for a while now. We'll see.

Definitely possible with that income. It's not just rent though; groceries and other everyday items are also expensive here. Keep in mind that most apartments will require 4x rent up front (first, last, security, and broker). You can try to look for no-fee apartments to avoid the broker fee.

If you're serious about getting your masters you could probably get a job at a university and get your degree part-time for almost free. My wife and I both did this and we know many others who did as well. Good luck!

I'm outside 495 at the moment. Looks like we only got 2-3" so far, though it's supposed to snow all day.

I brought them a photo of my wife taken on her iPhone. They zoomed it and cropped it correctly and it was accepted. I think I went to Porter Sq CVS, though this was in 2017.

The city is walkable and you can take the subway. Salem and Concord can be reached by train, but Lexington would require a rental car or Uber/Lyft. For such a short trip I probably wouldn't try to visit all three.

Don't forget to visit the USS Constitution. Bunker Hill is nearby as well. You should also take the ferry to George's Island, it's worth it.

CVS will print passport size. I've had them print photos I took and they trimmed them for me after printing.

Lots of nice neighborhoods to stroll through in Brookline. The side streets between Beacon and Comm or on the other side of Beacon are nice. We also like to walk around the Cambridge/Somerville border, especially by Harvard. Beacon Hill and Charlestown by Bunker Hill are also nice.

List is pretty good, but you're missing USS Constitution and Cassin Young. Bunker Hill is nearby if you want to check that out and there's a nice view from the top.

People don't drive across the bridge to get to the yacht club, they drive their boats under it. The bridge needs to be replaced either way, but the argument is that it would be cheaper if it wasn't a draw bridge. Sounds like it's not that simple though, because even if the yacht club didn't exist, the bay is considered navigable by state and federal law.

Sounds about right to me, but get another estimate or two. I recently paid about $15k for a tankless gas boiler with three zones, including installation. Look at Mass Save, they offer rebates and 0% loans up to $25k.