Category: About me

Good memories, sailing on the Team New Zealand America’s cup boat with a VLDB crew, in the Auckland bay…

I just discovered that my current Erdos Number is at least (i haven’t checked every path) 3!!

The path is Carlo A. Curino (3) – Alin Deutsch (2) – Victor Vianu (1) – Noga M. Alon (0) – Paul Erdos.

I think i just found a good definition about my personality. I know it migth sounds absurd but is a fairly tight description of the actual state of the things. 

“My Ego is like a perfect gas… it tends to expand and occupy all the available space.”

Lately i’m being concerned about the environmental impact of my life. My feeling about this is that one cannot attempt BIG actions, in particular not if they require to heavily modify the life style. Why is that, just because it is hard to “resist” and being consistent. So the very simple solution is moving step by step… my first step? changing the light bulbs in my house to eco-lights… my choice ikea cheap one… but for a good article on how to choose your green lights check this:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/06/22/earlyshow/living/home/main2965734.shtml

Next step? i was planning to go for small solar-panels in order to make all my battery-based gadgets: cel, laptop, mp3 players etc.. at zero impact… i know this represent 1/1000 of the impact of a dryer, but its a starting point. Being battery power they work with low voltage and do not require high-peak of current…. (to be continued) 

… did i ever wrote about how i love my dad’s driving on the snow… well my daddy was amazing.. have you ever seen the movie “Driver”… eh, not real pros…  So driving at the bound of wheels grip on the snowy ground we hit the road targetting the British Check-In at Linate airport… usually the distance is 1h with no traffic and normal ground… we got snow and the beginning of morning traffic in highway Tangenziale Est (for the one who know what it is the name sounds scary!)…

 Well we finally get to Linate (i made him miss the exit, but that’s just to had suspence) in probably 40 minutes… seconds from the end of the Check-In i get there… check-in (last person before they closed!!)… WOW!!! i made it!!! So let’s run to the gate… security-friendly dressing and skilled traveler techniques made my way very fast… And comfortably sit in the airplane… 

Captain inform us that we will be delayed because of the snow of 5 minutes… 15 minutes… 45 minutes… 1h.. 1:30… 1:45… 2h… Everyone is going crazy, tons of connections flight lost… I look like a Buddah… from now on, British is going to take care of my life… i don’t mind sleeping in london even 2 days… 🙂 

I get to London about 1:40 after my connection (nice!)… run to the desk… they tell me i can make it on the next flight, if i run!! Well i’m a pro in airport running… i take the chance… run like hell through the airport… and get to the gate…

They call my name… now what? nothing double checking… call my name again.. nothing triple checking… Boarding… I ask the lady about my Luggage… she answer after checking on the terminal “nice and easy sir, your baggage flies with you…”… Doubtfully I thank the lady… But surprise surprise i get selected for the random security inspection!!! YAHOOO!!!! and…. (to be continued)

I’m flying back to L.A. from Milan… Milan has two main airport:
malpensa MXP and Linate LIN… Most of the international flights
depart from MXP… My flight is at 7:50, since I don’t like to be in a
rush and to work on by jetlag I decide not to sleep and to be at the
airport about 3 hours in advance. Today a heavy snow is falling from
the sky, so I leave even earlier and get to the MXP airport almost
4hours before my flight.. My parents and a friend kindly wait
chitchatting with me… The check in stays close longer than usual and
opens only 1hour and 45 minutes before the flight… Smiling I turn
in my ticket to the policeman at the per-checkin security… The guy
says “I’ve got bad news sir. Your flight leaves from Linate airport,
not from here”…. Silclence, panic, watch, panic again, math.. RUN!!!
My dad jump in the car and… (to be continued!)