Viaggio Italiano

Ciao!

Jess and I are about to embark on a 16-day trip to Italy!  Our plan so far? Two round trip tickets in and out of Roma (FCO), hotel rental for Roma for 4 days (9/2/11 - 9/6/11), and I got my international drivers license.

"Woah... Wait... what about the other 12 days?", you might say...  That's the fun part - we don't know either!

We've been studying Italian (Abbiamo studiando l'Italiano) and we're going to be exploring, 'following our noses' if you will.  I will be tracking our travels on this blog, and we will post pictures.  You can expect some FANTASTIC pictures of food, landscapes, and daily Italian life.

You can also follow our adventures on Twitter - follow me @nanotech18 


Ciao, arrivederci!

Checking in

I'm back on the scene! It seems that I disappear and reappear about once a year, this time it's been a little longer because I've got a job now, and there's less time for playing around. I am looking forward to a nice relaxing Saturday at a cafe to type up my next meaningful blog, while Jess is at Lexi's bridal shower.

Till then!

Answers to interesting questions

In reference to Jess's questions:

What causes earthquakes?

--I'll answer this shortly--

What should one do when bitten by a snake?

-The message i have been receiving is "call 911!" lol. great. thanks. The general consensus from what I've read was the following: (assuming youve been bitten by an elapid species )

0. CALL 911

1. Try to take notice of markings on the snake, or what it looks like - take a picture (or have your friend do it). This makes it easier for the 911 rescuers to identify treatment methods. But more importantly, get AWAY from the snake!

2. Tie off circulation to the wound with a piece of cloth or nylon string between the wound and the heart. also, keep that limb lower than the heart.

3. Wash the wound with warm water and soap, but carefully - you don't want to squeeze the arm (and induce blood flow to and from the heart)

4. also you want to remove jewlery or watches that may constrict when that area swells.

my most credible source was webmd

You're pretty much screwed if you get bit though. Shit hurts and you could die, or have some neurological damage depending on what bites you, and snakes just suck in general. So prevention is game! Wear high boots that go over your ankle with high socks and long pants (I don't care if it's hot!)

Why isn't pluto a planet anymore?

I like this question! And I learned a lot reading about this. So nothing changed with Pluto or anything, basically they found another planet like Pluto, and the guys at IAU (International Astronomical Union) were like hey, that's not really a planet... But it was a lot like Pluto, actually, it was more 'planet-like' than Pluto. Pluto and Xena are large bodies in the Kuiper Belt which have an elongated orbit (squished circle) at an angle of inclination (whereas other planets don't). So the IAU realized that if they called Xena a planet, they had to call a bunch more celestial bodies planets, and who wants 35998235 planets? Not me, i'm happy with 8. Their new definition of a planet is: "must be in orbit around the sun, have sufficient mass to assume a round shape (i.e. no jagged ice chunks), and it must have 'cleared its neighborhood'". Clearing the neighborhood means that in your orbital zone, you are to dominating celestial body, and (due to your massive gravitational field) you would not encounter. The longer i spend answering this question the deeper into astrophysics i'm having to go (which is interesting, but it's not writing my master's thesis for me lol). So in conclusion, Pluto is now a dwarf planet (awww) and we only have eight! But oh, they are so great!

How come you don't call your girlfriend?

You're my roomate? love ya!

I posted this link a long time ago -

SeeqPod - Playable Search

but now it's 'closed' it's a shame though, SeeqPod was pretty cool... :(

There you have it, proof that i can't start and follow through with anything.  

what a failure.

(see post number 1)

Questions for CoOp

Hey!

I just had a wonderful idea. While I'm on co-op, i fear my brain will dwindle away. To prevent that, i just came up with an idea! You guys (the readers) should post questions to me. questions that require a long thought-out answer and some research to back it up. I have confidence that any question posed should get answered, and I'd really like to see what you guys can think up! Then maybe discussions could be held... yup, that would be fun. Okay well, when i start (March 31st) the game begins, so start thinking!

To Begin

School stuff:
Materials Science and Engineering
I'm taking MatE 221, 245, 315, 340, and 455

Life is pretty much just school right now, no time for anything else. And this quarter is the first time school has affected my health this much. I've spent about 3 or 4 of these 10 weeks sick. also, I've gained about 10 pounds and really feel worse. The approaching coop will be a relief then, i'm quite excited about it. moving to Piscataway, NJ to work for structured materials Inc.

So here i sit. At the green line cafe. Coffee to my right (and cell phone), bagel to my left (on an adjacent table, these tables sure are small...) laptop to my front. i write. another 10 paged paper, due tomorrow. why to things tend to creep up on you so much? why can't you stay on top of things? it should be an interesting one. the materials used in speakers, why they're used instead of something else, and what physical laws govern their use and how they work. once i figure out how to post big things on here, you'll get a copy of both papers (this and the one i completed for the past friday)

Great, i feel better. this blog will be an out for me. i just hope it isn't' another one of those things that i start with much enthusiasm but never follow through with.

dominic.g.bruzzese@gmail.com
db327@drexel.edu