So I’m doing the grand tour of grad schools, and I thought Georgia Tech would be a bit of a backup. I mean, it doesn’t have the brand name of a CMU or an MIT, it’s not a known entity like UW, and it’s not in an awesome location like Toronto. I mean, it’s in (ominous voice) the south. But it turns out I’m hella excited about it.

I’m not sure the research is all that exciting to anyone on this blog, but I met with one lab that’s all about wearable computers and one lab that’s about all sorts of stuff (somewhat relating to home networks but not necessarily) and that I’d be stoked to work with either. They’ve got a whole school of Interactive Computing, their building is new and inspiring, they’ve got tons of connections, and the department feels like a big happy family.

But more about Atlanta: it’s nice! Think about Pittsburgh: if you’d never been there, you might think of old factories, but it’s actually a great, happening, up-and-coming place to live. I guess there are parts of Atlanta that have problems, but overall, there is a chance that even bike-riding farmers’-marketing coffee-swilling Indian-cooking I could find a place there.

Concrete upsides:

• housing is reasonable (cheaper than Seattle or Boston, pricier than Pittsburgh)

• it’s bikeable (I guess car ownership is common, but all the neighborhoods I might live in are within 4 miles/30 minutes)

• it’s pretty (mostly houses and green space)

• major airport

• weather is nice (I do like clouds and cold weather, but I could deal with springlike weather for most of the year)

Concrete downsides:

• once you get outside the city, it’s (ominous voice) the south. (maybe this would be an upside; a bit of diversity might do me some good.)

• you can throw a stone without hitting an independent coffeeshop

• I guess bugs get in your house sometimes. (again, this might do me some good. I’ve got a bug phobia and, well, good to confront it sometime.)

• summers are hot. (more incentive to get an internship somewhere else!)