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>PersonalArea >About me |
Henry
Muccini
Ph.D. in Computer Science |
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[About
me], [My
last year], [Moving to the U.S.] |
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Something about Me |
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| I was
born in Riccione (Rn-Italy) in December 1972 (yes... I will be
30 years old in few months). My family moved in Pescara (Pe-Italy)
when I was three years old and after few months my syster
born. I spent the next years in Pescara, playing piano and
selling pizzas to my parents pizzeria. I moved in L'Aquila
when I was 18 years old where I took the college. In the
following years, I had
the possibility to learn the foundations on computer science,
to meet a lot of people and know a lot of friends, to grow
up.The 26th of March 1997 I received my
master degree with a first-class
honours degree.
In June 1997 I started working at the Parco Scientifico and
Tecnologico d’Abruzzo, an italian consortium, to develop
software systems. In March 1998 I won the competition to
become a Ph-d student and I started my researches on “Software
Architectures and Testing”. Until the 2000 I continued my
cooperation with the Parco Scientifico, acquiring a good
skills on system design, Java implementation, fault tolerance,
security and databases. Since 2000 I am mainly involved on
research and teaching activities. The 3rd of March, 2000, I
start dating with a sweet girl called Agnese. Currently she is
my fiancee and we will be married in the summer 2003. In
January 2002 I started a visiting researcher position at
University of California, Irvine and I finished my Pd.D. in
February 2002. I taught ICS121 in Spring 2002 and I am going to
teach ICS 123 during the fall 2002. In September 2002 I got a
visiting professor position at the University of L'Aquila. In
December 2002 I will finish my visiting position in the US and
I will go back Italy.
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My Office: |
Currently it is ICS2 209
in the ICS2 building. |
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During the free time: |
I enjoy learning
martial art, watching Ferrari won the F1 championships, stay
with my friends, my family and
naturally my fiancee'. |
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My last year |
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| So many
think happened in the last year... I will try to summarize them in this section |
| January02:
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| February02: |
- I went back to Italy to present my Ph.D. thesis to the
national commitee.
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| March02: |
- I went back again to teach a 40 hour, intensive course,
on UML and its use
for Web Applications.
- My sister, Sara,
came in the US to spend three months with me and experience
the American language and culture
- I took a test to become an advanced yellow belt in Tae
Kwan Do. In the past, I had a blue belt in Karate.
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| April02: |
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| May02: |
- I took the exam for my CA driving license and I got
it... so unexpensive in the the US, so fast
- I went to Orlando, Florida, to present my paper in a
ICSE workshop
- At the end of the month, my fiancee' came in
the US to spend the summer with me
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| June02: |
- ICS122 is over: ten weeks of very hard work
- My sister went back to Italy
- I bought a car (it is not possible to enjoy California
without a car), a Toyota Tercel, 1993, red color, manual
stick.
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| July02: |
- At the end of the month I went back Italy to participate
in a competition, at
University
of L'Aquila, to get an Assistant Professor position
there. Three days of exams and a great result: I got the
position (iuhhhuuhh)
- I spent some days with my family and friends, then I
went back to California (Agnese
was still there :-)
- I get my Tae Kwan Do blue belt
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| August02: |
- I finally had time to spend to visit California: we went
to Las Vegas (by car, 109 F. degrees without A/C), San
Francisco, Palm Spring, Disneyland, San Diego (multiple
times), Los Angeles.
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| September02: |
- Burocracy, burocracy: to start my position in Italy I
was required to be back (the forth time, yes) to start the
position and fly back
- Before leaving, me and Agnese decided the
wedding date
- Coming back to the US, I was invited to teach another
course: ICS123:
Software Architectures, Distributed Systems and
Interoperability. The course will start the first of
October
- Right now I am spending a lot of time preparing the
course, doing research (a submission the 15th, two
submissions the 23rd, two papers to work on for October, two
collaborations to work on, three students to follow)
- I bought a digital camera: I spent one month deciding
what to buy. I finally decided for a Sony DSC-S75. I am
waiting it arrives.
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Moving to the U.S. (I mean,
in California) |
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| What you
need to bring with you, what you cannot bring with you, what
you will not find in the U.S., how to get a driving license,
buying a digital camera, garage sales, cheap used car |
DRIVING LICENCE:
The italian driving licence may be used in
California. I do not know if it is valid also in other U.S.
countries but I think so. Moreover, you do not need to have an
international driving license.ARRIVING IN THE U.S.:
- When you arrive in the US (and usually when you live from
Europe) they ask you the usual questions: what is the reason
you are going into the U.S., have you checked the luggage all
time, have you packed your pieces of luggage on your own?
Questions of this kind.
- Before leaving be sure to have the address of the place you
are going on. This information will be required to fill in
some forms they will give you during the fly, before the US
custom.
LANGUAGE:
- You know English well and you think you will not have any
problem, right? You are wrong. The sounds are different and
you need to spend some time to understand what they say.
Anyway, do not be worried: it is just time.
TAXES:
- If you go into the U.S. to work for a limited time (one
year, in my case) you should be able to apply for the "Tax
Exception program" in which you can decide where you want to
pay taxes.
HEALTH INSURANCE:
- It is real important to have a health insurance in the U.S.
Sometimes it become mandatory (if you are entering the U.S.
with a J1 via). In any case, also for a short visit to the
U.S. I strongly recommend to buy and insurance
MEDICATIONS:
- You can find everything here, but probably with a different
name/brand. If you need something specific may be a good idea
to bring it with you.
SUN:
- Be really careful with that. The sun, in California, seems
to be not really strong: the temperature is not really hot but
the sun rays may become really dangerous. Buy a sun lotion
with high protection (at least 25-30). The skin cancer is a
big problem in this country. For women: remember, topless is
against the low.
CIGARETTES:
- They are really expensive (around 4-5$ each pocket).
If you smoke, buy them to the airport duty-free shops.
Remember that in California there is a big fight against smoking with really
few places in which you can smoke. (Great)
CLOTHING AND SHOES:
- Unfortunately, Americans usually have not a great
taste of fashion. You can buy good t-shirts and
paints. It will become more difficult to find a nice pair of
shoes. Anyway, there are many outlets in which you can buy
almost everything for a good price.
FOOD:
- US is absolutely not only sandwiches and fries. In
California, you can find so many different types of food:
Mexican, apanese, chinese, tai, american-italian, indian and
many others. If you like to cook at home, you will find pasta
and tomato sauce in the grocery stores.
- Coffee: they sell coffee, I do not know if it is like
italian (I do not drink coffee). Just remember to bring with
you a coffee maker; they usually drink a very long coffee. If
you want expresso, explicitly ask for it.
TEMPERATURE:
What to say: perfect. It is not too warm during the
summer (no more than 90 F), still warm during the winter (no
less than 40 F).
HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH ITALY:
- Phone Card: check this Web site
http://www.prepaidcall.net/. They have the best
prices I have ever seen (for example, US to Italy, 2 cents a
minute)
- Computer chat: if you have a computer, you can use a chat
program. In this way, you only pay the local connection. Some
chat programs allow users to talk real time (check, for
example, the Yahoo Messenger
http://messenger.yahoo.com/)
LUGGAGE:
- If you are flying from Europe, you are usually
allowed to take 2 pieces of luggage, each one for a maximum
weight of 32 kg and a backpack.
AIRLINES:
- Just remember to adhere to the selected airlines
membership program. In this way you can accumulate miles and
finally you can receive free tickets. For example, to receive
a free roundtrip ticket from Europe to the US you need to make
around 60.000 flied miles, that is, around 5 roundtrip flies
from Europe to the US.
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT:
- The electric outlet is different and everything works
at 110 volts
J1VISA:
- If you received your IAP-66 paper, if you are in
Italy and you need to apply for the visa, the best (may be
still the only) way is to call the Zacchieri agency in Rome at
06 54558257.
CREDIT CARD:
- You do not have a credit card? It is the right time
to get one. You can pay everywhere and everything by credit
card. |
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