USA trip 27 April - 4 May 2014 Pt 2: The long haul flights

MH370 was in our minds, three of us but we don't think it too much. Besides, we were on Lufthansa and United Airlines. Not that both are clean of any incidents. You just need to google it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lufthansa#Accidents_and_incidents) for example. And who can forget 9/11? It was on United Airlines.

So the flights from KLIA to our transit, Frankfurt, Germany by Lufthansa was a little bit delayed. No worries as we have about 5 hours gap at the airport. It was a 12 hours flight. Then, an 8 hours flight from Frankfurt to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), New Jersey. I noticed that for the these western airlines, the steward and stewardess are older compare to the Asian airlines. I am not sure why but I don't see any difference in their service.

We arrived at EWR at about 2:00pm local time. We had booked an SUV earlier at Hertz so took a shuttle train. Unfortunately, Hertz cannot verify our license. They have their own international manual. It seems that on that manual, Malaysian license was inappropriately show the IC. Further it says that the driving license is permanent. Of course it did not tally with what we have. We have the pictured license and another one for renewal. No problem, we did business next door, at National. We got a KIA SUV.

Our assumption is that the bigger car rental is more fussy. The smaller one is less. Last year, we rented a sedan from Alamo. I think we are right on this assumption.

We checked in Crowne Plaza Princeton, after about a 45 minutes drive from EWR. A nice and comfortable hotel. Unfortunately, for some strange reason, the HR did not booked it with breakfast. So it make sense that we had to go out and buy ourselves supplies for tomorrow. But actually, we wanted to do some shopping for our families so buying supplies became secondary. Hari Raya is coming soon and nothing is better than buying the new pants and shirts in the USA ;).

Back in the room tired and red. Tomorrow will be more interesting. Meetings with people at the prestigious Princeton University. We have three meetings. We are hoping for the best.

Oh I forgot to mentioned that this time you don't need to be a full Professor at UTP to get a business seat. Due to a positive change on the entitlement late last year, any flights more than 8 hours will be upgraded to a business class seat. Great. First time on business class.

With my official mentor, Prof Ir Dr Fadhil Nuruddin. This is our 2nd trip overseas together. This selfie was asked by him OK, not me.

In business class, you'll get a recliner that can be 360 degree flat as if you are lying on your bed. Cool hahaha...

Also you get to hang out in the airport lounges where food and drink are free-flow.

At Frankfurt, we were taken in a bus to our flight. I guess this is not as modern as the newer airports.

It was about 5 or 6 Celcius.

Crowne Plaza Princeton reception.

The room.

The snacks/breakfast. I hid the party-size chips ;)

USA trip 18-27 August 2013 Part 2

Lehigh University telah memeterai MoU bersama UTP dalam hal-hal berkaitan akademik pelajar dan kakitangan. Banyak yang telah berlaku. Antaranya, perlantikan saya sebagai Visiting Research Scientist selama 3 bulan pada tahun 2011. Kemudian kehadiran pelajar Lehigh untuk program Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU - first time to be conducted in Malaysia) pada tahun 2012 dan 2013.

Ini adalah kali ketiga saya ke Lehigh University sebagai custodian (penjaga) MoU Lehigh-UTP bagi pihak UTP.

Kali ini matlamat kami adalah untuk bikin kolaborasi penyelidikan antara Lehigh dan UTP berkenaan shale gas.  

Shale gas is natural gas that is found trapped within shale formations.Shale gas has become an increasingly important source of natural gas in the United States since the start of this century, and interest has spread to potential gas shales in the rest of the world. In 2000 shale gas provided only 1% of U.S. natural gas production; by 2010 it was over 20% and the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration predicts that by 2035, 46% of the United States' natural gas supply will come from shale gas.

PETRONAS sudah ada bisnes di Canada, related to shale gas. Sebab itu, sebahagian dari kami di UTP diarahkan untuk lihat potensi ini dalam bahagian research untuk bantu jurutera-jurutera yang terlibat.

Ikut laporan akhbar, shale gas akan menjadi satu big thing di USA. Salah satu komitmen kerajaan Obama juga adalah berkenaan dengan shale gas yang disambut dengan protes-protes yang berkaitan dengannya.

Hasil dari perbincangan menarik ini di Lehigh, kami berjaya menyiapkan rangka untuk kolaborasi ini. UTP sebagai institusi yang berpengalaman dengan kerja-kerja O&G (tetapi kurang pengalaman di bidang onshore yang mana kebanyakan shale gas terkumpul) bersama Lehigh yang berpengalaman dengan penyelidikan fundamental dan proses kimia. Ikut istilahnya, UTP jaga hal-hal upstream dan Lehigh dalam hal-hal downstream.

Esoknya kami akan pergi ke National Science Foundation (NSF) di Washington D.C. institusi terbesar USA yang memberi sumbangan wang penyelidikan untuk menyatakan hasrat kerjasama kami. Harap-harap mendapat sokongan mereka.

 

Comfort Suites, Bethlehem. Walking distance to Lehigh University.

Lepas mseyuarat apa lagi, makan! Restoran Arab.

Malamnya, merounda. Menemankan rakan-rakan yang bershopping sakan.

Barang murah di sini,

 

Play It Again Records. Satu-satunya record store yang walking distance dari Lehigh Uni.

CD, LP semua ada. Yang takde duit je.

USA trip 18-27 August 2013 Part 1

Saya ditugaskan untuk ke USA atas beberapa misi penting pada tarikh tersebut. Selain dari korban meninggalkan anak bini, saya juga terpaksa korbankan show Metallica pada 21/8/2013. Ye, bergembiralah anda semua.

Dari KLIA ke Paris, 8 jam. Kemudian dari Paris ke New York, 12 jam. Kematu punggung.

Take note, jika anda menaiki MAS maka checked luggage adalah sebiji saja dengan muatan maksima 30kg. Sebelum ini saya menaiki penerbangan Qatar dan Korean Airways, muatan maksima adalah dua biji checked luggage dengan muatan maksima untuk setiapnya 23kg. Dengan sebab ini saya telah berjaya bawa sebiji GIBSON LP. Dengan MAS, susah le nampaknya melainkan anda tiada bawa checked luggage.

Oleh kerana masa suntuk dengan program yang telah diatur, sesi berfoya dibuat secara improvise. Sampai saja di Newark Airport, New York, saya tidak ikut dengan pengangkutan yang telah tersedia ke Lehigh Uni sebaliknya saya dan seorang rakan terus ke New York City. Lagipun, program rasmi hanya berlaku pada keesokan harinya. Ini adalah satu-satunya hari bebas untuk ke NYC.

Misi utama pada hari itu ialah meneroka record stores sekitar NYC. Saya telah berjaya meneroka 5 buah record stores. Itupun dah makan separuh hari dengan penerokaan secara sekali imbas. Kalaulah ada masa yang lebih pasti saya akan lebih fokus.

Akibat dari itu, saya terlupa untuk mengambil gambar yang banyak di record stores tersebut *tepuk dahi*.

Record stores yang sempat diteroka yang kebanyakannya terletak di The Village (sila google):

Academy Records & CDs
Bleecker Street Records
Rebel Rebel Records
Discorama
(Alamak... satu lagi record store dah lupa nama) 

The Village yang tenang

Di kaki jalan pun ada yang menjual vinyl

Ini antara yang sempat dirakam

fuh!

dan fuh!