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From Brian Fisher, Production Engineer:

Until now I've lived in only two places — both of them in New Jersey. I grew up in Flemington, and went to college in New Brunswick. They are both great places. Flemington is a rolling mix of farmland and suburbia, with an outlet center in the middle. New Brunswick is a small city with a big college, close enough to New York City to be in its shadow. Now I live in an apartment in Pownal, Vermont. It's rural, and it's beautiful. I can step out my front door and walk a couple miles up a dirt road to the Appalachian Trail. I've never seen so many 4x4s in my life. Here's a short list of some things I'm homesick for, and some of the things I'm still in awe of:

Driving, for the most part, has been a most delightful change. People don't use their horns, and insurance premiums are correspondingly lower. Traffic here is being caught behind a truck on a long stretch of two lane highway, which for me is just more time to gaze around at the mountains. The nearest highway with more than 2 1/2 lanes is 45 minutes away. New Brunswick, on the other hand, is a commuter's dream. Six lanes north and five south on the Turnpike, and three east and west on I 287.

Williamstown, the home of Tripod, is located at the intersection of Routes 2 and 7, and Pownal straddles the same Route 7. My drive to work heads down the side of a mountain and up a river, below forest covered peaks, which right now are turning all sorts of colors. On one of my exploratory drives I drove up to Montpelier, and then took Route 100 south which runs down the middle of Vermont along a mountain river valley. The mountains here are the old and polished hearts of ancient, high peaks.

Cycling is completely different too. At home I'd pound out 40 miles around Flemington or back and forth across New Brunswick in two hours. Here it's at least half an hour up and five high-speed minutes back down. My legs hurt for days after a half hour ride.

Another passion of mine is movies. Luckily Williamstown has a great little film house a short walk from work. I'll miss the New Jersey Film Festival shows, though, in New Brunswick's State Theater, complete with balcony and curtains.

I've heard that hunting up here can get pretty intense. It's illegal to shoot a rifle in New Jersey. In Flemington, once in a great while, I'd hear the boom of a shotgun during hunting season. I heard more handguns go off in the few years I was in New Brunswick than I heard in Flemington my whole life. In Flemington deer are like the raccoons in New Brunswick. I had to chase one off of my 2nd floor back porch one night after a room-mate left a bag of trash there. I haven't noticed as much wildlife here as I thought I would, though maybe they just have room to hide here. When I was out here for my interview, I did see a moose and was ecstatic.

Tripod is an incredible atmosphere to work in — energetic and cutting edge. This place, the Berkshire and Green Mountains, Williamstown and Vermont, also energizes. And even though high school football makes the evening news, I'm excited to be here.

— Brian Fisher, Production Engineer (10/9/98)

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Read more "Letters from Tripod" in the archive.