Hugo Romano

You might think I am insane, but my girlfriend and I decided to move in together at around four months of our relationship. We have been living under the same roof for nearly two years now and it has been an amazing experience. I never thought I would learn this much about her or myself. When you share a living space with somebody of the same sex or family, everybody is used to how each other behaves, or they just don't care. Because of this, you do not notice or see the need to reflect on the behaviors that define you as a person. When my girlfriend and I moved in together, I was shocked at the amount of insight and opportunities to think introspectively.

There are many situations where I had to think hard and long about why I did things the way I did and this offered a chance to learn, change and become a better individual. You could argue that a regular relationship offers this sort of insight and I agree, but you will gain much more from living together. Also, this is a great way to immediately test for compatibility if you are looking for something serious. If you like somebody enough, there is no reason to wait. If not, make sure both of you know it's not a serious relationship.

For anybody who is considering moving in with your girlfriend, I highly recommend doing it sooner rather than later. Besides gaining experience and becoming a more mature individual, you will save a lot of money and time by splitting the bills and commuting less to visit. The only downside would be if you end up in a bad situation after signing a 12 mo. lease. To hedge against this shortcoming, just test the water by doing a trial run with separate apartments. You could also try it out with a third room mate to alleviate any possible tension. Remember, you are not only sharing a living space, you are sharing your life.

I love riding bikes. I've had the chance to own two bikes since moving to Boston and very unfortunately, the first one got stolen. I noticed a huge lurking problem with bike theft that nobody was trying to tackle, so I created BikeGuardians. I now use one of the heaviest duty Kryptonite locks, as well as wheel and fork locking skewers. If you are concerned about bike theft, I highly recommend both safety mechanisms.

Given MBTA's detrimental state, I would rather ride a bicycle to work in windy, -8C conditions about a thousand times more than taking the T. On a bike, you are in control, it is faster than taking the T, its an adrenaline rush, good exercise and a great way to start the day. If you don't own a bike and are concerned about the health risks of sitting for 8 hrs straight and would like to know what it takes to make your office a healthier place, take a look at this post by Tim Ferriss. Not to mention riding a bike to work is eco-friendly and you get to be like the bike guy from Portlandia (LOL):

FYI: I am nothing like this haha.

So you might ask yourself, why would anybody living in the greater Boston area take the T? MBTA train service: Reeks (especially the orange line), it is packed, slow, very unreliable and full of peculiar individuals (not in a good way). Also, it is breeding ground for disease and definitely not a good place to be during a zombie apocalypse, earthquake or massive solar flare. The only obvious pro is that it shields you from inclement weather. Next time you step in that train, or hold onto those filthy handles, think twice (watch the film Contagion if you haven't already).

It is very encouraging to know that Boston is working hard to become bike friendly. Hopefully Casey's message continues to strike deep so we don't end up like him.

When I was around 12, I used to have Casio digital watch. One of the simplest watches around sporting a very classic Casio look. For years I wore that same watch and it's simplicity, durability and functionality never ceased to amaze me as a young boy. Companies out there, please learn from the legacy that Casio has left and focus on your core product. Cheap or expensive, do it well.

My favorite feature was the light and date alarms. "How cool it is to set alarms for months in advance?!" Casio's baseline models have not changed in years, so when I see somebody wearing a Casio, I can immediately relate to them. Now, they are somewhat of a retro-geeky item, especially the databank models as the one seen below.

From the time I started at Northeastern, I have moved apartments every year. With the ridiculously high housing costs around the area, I am always searching for a better deal. Because of this, I have been downgrading my location every year. Today, I live very close to Roxbury, so close that when I am buying something online, they suggest to change the mailing address from Boston to Roxbury Crossing. Occasionally, I hear gunshots.

As a side effect of the trash littering the street I live in, there are about 25 pigeons which nest on the rooftops and cover the sidewalks with poop. 
I decided to take the matters in my hands and terminate the feral beasts. Although quite obvious, I quickly found out the blocking legality of shooting airguns or blowguns within city limits. I completely agree with these laws but I have always wanted an excuse to get one of these: 

Not to mention, this video was a great motivator to plotting the death of the pigeons. 

I will never acquire these weapons during my city dwelling, but it's always fun to day dream. Due to the research I made, I found out how hard it is to buy and find information on imported air-guns, especially pre-charged pneumatic ones in the US. There seems to be a huge demand but not enough suppliers. So I started prechargedairguns.com. Although I do not sell them, it feels good to know that the website fills a small gap. Surprisingly, the site is averaging around 35 hits per day!

I had been introduced to Khan Academy a while back but never really got hooked or spent the time figuring it out. Last night, my girlfriend mentioned it and turned me back onto it. I enjoy re-visiting these mind blowing concepts occasionally, so I took a look at the Supernova video (below). Thinking in astronomical terms allows me to feel lightly out of body and reminds me of what we really are... we are the result of iterations of randomness.

This video and the concept itself made me think...wow, we are really lucky to be alive. We, and everything in our realm of existence is basically the result of atoms being randomly but methodically blasted and squeezed together by incredible forces. Luckily, over billions of years, the right combination of temperature, physical and spatial elements combined and created a living organism which adapted to its environment and allowed us to become who we are today.

We are extraordinarily lucky to simply exist, moreover here and now. I always wonder, with such a transient speck of existence, why as individuals, do we feel so important? Why are we so afraid of doing simple things or failing? Nobody cares, soon It will all be over just as randomly as we came to be. I mean, just look up to the sky, there are FREAKING HUGE galaxies out there, we are merely quarks existing for fractions of a millisecond in this universe. 

Why did I buy www.hugoromano.com? I already have Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Quora, flikr, SlideShare and all the other standard social media accounts, so why have something more to maintain? The most obvious reason is that, a domain is highly customizable and you can basically make it whatever you want. After thinking about it for a bit, I realized I had bought much more than online real estate, I just beat all the other Hugo Romanos in the world to it, so this purchase makes me the ultimate Hugo Romano on the web! I think this is a great investment :) I am now considering buying www.romano.com and leaving a legacy for my kids. Complete with a family tree it could work as a virtual time capsule. Maybe I can even bury treasure somewhere and write a program which releases an image with a map 100 years from now, only to be viewed by members of the family at that point in time. Interesting...