What I failed to mention about my overall good experience living back in the Duke Forest last year was that I was sharing a two bedroom apartment with two other guys -- and I was the one without a bedroom. I was pretty tightly curtained into my makeshift room where the dining room ought to have been -- but the only window I had was a shuttered one that faced into the kitchen. By the end of the year I had the morning habits of my housemates memorized to the tune of how many beeps would be coming out of the microwave. THIS YEAR, I have not only a door -- but three windows and a closet!

I live in a big four bedroom house over on W. Knox Street in the Old West Durham part of town with a 2nd year MEM, a 2nd year MF and a 3rd year PhD student from the Fuqua Business School.

First there is Benjamin Strauss who is originally from Deerfield, Illinois and probably the manliest of the 2nd year  master's in forestry degree candidates. I once saw him touch his nose with a sledge hammer with his arm extended simply by bending his wrist. He's fresh off a summer-long internship with Ducks Unlimited up in Ann Arbor, Michigan where he worked on protected area design using his GIS skills. Ben recently bought the Nintendo Wii and is currently midway through Metroid Prime 3. 

Next is 2nd year Chelsea Conover, quite possibly the bubbliest person I know. She's from Gahannah, Ohio and a graduate of Wooster College, which apparently has an out-of-control rivalry with Wittenberg University. Chelsea is famous for making cookies that don't end up looking liking cookies. So far we've seen "cookie bag" "cookie mountain" "cookie tub" and "chickpea cookie" the last one being the product of her borrowing chickpea flour from her Indian housemates last year. Chelsea worked in Knoxville, Tennessee over the summer doing nuclear energy policy research at Oak Ridge. She's also a better technical trumpet player by her estimation than Miles Davis.

Finally there's Pat Badolato, now in his 3rd year of a 5 year Accounting PhD at Fuqua. When Pat's not playing intramural soccer or thinking about eating Hardees, he's usually found near his cubicle inside the Fuqua Temple where he's busy researching firm visibility and the cost of capital. Pat and I went to high school together waaay back when in suburban Philadelphia.

So far, living over here has been a big improvement! The bike ride is a little more scenic and less hilly. We can also easily walk to the bars and restaurants on 9th Street and Broad Street, and Loco Pops and the Food Lion are right around the corner. The gym and Lilly Library on East Campus are also close-by. And living in a house is way more comfortable than living in an apartment! Old West Durham is definitely the place to be.