Carnegie Mellon and Buy.com

Last month I went to a CMU alumni chapter event in Houston and attended a talk from a professor at the CMU Green Design Institute. The talk was really interesting ... it focused on energy usage during the lifetime of a single product, such as gasoline and meat. For each product, energy consumption was followed during each step of the process. For instance, how much energy is required to make the product and how much energy is required to distribute it as well as how much energy is used to recycle the product. This energy balance is called an Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment tool. Bascially the goal of this tool is to determine what steps require the most energy and how can it be lowered. It was a super interesting talk ... and low and behold - I just found an article that discusses energy conservation by Buy.com and how it was assessed by CMU's own Green Design Institute - check it out on the link below.

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/are-couch-potato-shoppers-greener-than-mall-rats/

Finally updating!

Since I have not updated in a long time - this post is going to be super long with LOTS of pictures. Hope it is entertaining!

I defended my doctoral thesis on Oct. 27th! It was a huge relief after I finished but you would think after 5 years of graduate school it would be more of an intense feeling but it actually was sort of anti-climactic. From talking to other graduated students it seems to be a common feeling. Interesting eh?

From Nov. 26th-Dec. 6th I traveled to La Paz, Bolivia for P's wedding. It was a bit crazy landing 13,325 ft above sea level - got altitude sickness and even ended up getting some sort of 24 hour flu bug. But in the end P and JP were tres beau and the wedding was so much fun. :) Afterwords, we went traveling to Salar de Uyuni (Salt Flats) which is the largest salt flat in the world. Such a beautiful place - I took so many pictures and unfortunately I can't post all of them but here are just a few shots. :)

Above is a picture of the truck that we traveled in for our trip. It was an unforgettable experience traveling throughout Bolivia freely with no roads to show the way. The guide (the one in the blue hat - in the picture below) just knew from experience how to drive to the places that we needed to go. He prepared all of our meals - breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The most interesting meal was probably involved llama meat and it was actually very good - didn't even know what I was eating until I had finished my meal. On this trip I traveled with K, P, JP, and a brother and sister from Sweden - all seen in the picture below except K who is behind the camera. The salt flats were SUPER white - blinding actually since the sky was clear blue the day we traveled. The 1st image below is of us trying to take a cool mind trick image - looks like we are standing on top of each other. :) From the image you can see that the ground has a honeycomb pattern. When the spring rains come the whole area is covered in water and it is impossible to drive through but when the water finally evaporates it actually dries up and leaves behind these shapes on the ground. The 2nd image below is salt that has been piled to allow for it to sweat which is done to clean out all the dirt in the salt.

The image below is inside a salt house that we stayed at overnight. Everything in this house was made out of crystallized salt .. the walls, the bed, the floor, the night stand, the tables, the chairs, etc. It was pretty amazing but as you can imagine it was VERY dirty since salt was everywhere.
The image below is of an active geyser. There was so much smoke and it smelled like rotten eggs due to the high content of sulfur. I was a bit nervous walking around because if you don't watch your step you can fall in and burn yourself. Besides all the dangers - it was definitely an amazing site to see.
The next stop was the hot spring pool. It was quite cold outside as you can see by the picture below - I had on my winter jacket and hat but the water was soooo hot! I think it was around 85 F. It felt uncomfortable initially but the longer you soaked your feet it became bearable.Below are images of some lagunas we got to see. The 1st image below is the Laguna Colorada. The red color comes from algae that grows in the mineral rich water. There are flamingos EVERYWHERE ... it was definitely a beautiful area to observe them. The 2nd image below is Laguna Verde. Due to the high content of arsenic this gives off the bright green hue of the water but also as a result no flamingos roam around here. It was pretty awesome watching the laguna change color from yellowy green to a pure green - due to the winds moving the contents in the water heightening the green color you see in the image below.
WOW! Just looking over these images - I get goosebumps - it was such an amazing trip! I can't wait for my next travels to see more natural wonders like these!

On Dec. 21st I graduated with my Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from University of Maryland. Below is a picture of me with my family outside Cole Field House - where the College of Engineering graduation takes place. Don't I look like a jester? To purchase that outfit it costs around 1000 bucks!
I went home to Long Island, NY soon after for Christmas. Then on Dec. 26th - Dec. 31st I went to Nevada (Las Vegas), Utah (Bryce Canyon), and Arizona (Grand Canyon) with my friend E. We flew from NYC to Las Vegas and then drove to Utah (4.5 hrs). Bryce Canyon National Park was simply breathtaking - the bright orange hue from the limestone in contrast with the pure white snow and the shapes of the hoodoos (rock that is formed from erosion due to water and wind). I took so many pictures here too but below are just a few. A couple of days before we arrived, Utah got a huge snowstorm that left over a foot of snow. So going on an intense hike in this much snow was a first for me and definitely not the last. It was so much fun and I even went sliding down the canyon too! Felt like a kid again.
From Bryce we drove through Zion National Park (2 hrs) to stay in a lodge a bit outside of the park. The next morning E and I drove to the Grand Canyon (4 hrs). We drove various key overview spots of the Grand Canyon and then sat down to watch the sunset. The next day we went hiking down into the canyon. It was definitely more of an intense hike compared to Bryce - it was more icy so the climb down was slippery and then the hike back up the canyon was tiring due to the quick elevation change. And interestingly we shared the trail with mules - so had to watch out for a lot of poop.
Then from the Grand Canyon we drove to Las Vegas (6 hrs). Had a chance to watch the Blue Man Group and have lunch with my cousin K and a friend T. Before I knew it we had to fly out to NYC but definitely saw the Bellagio waterworks show before leaving. So pretty!Celebrated NYE and New Years back home in NY - unfortunately SUPER sick. I ended up celebrating the New Year in bed. I couldn't eat and had a fever for a few days. I suspect this was a result of traveling too much. Even though I wasn't feeling well I still traveled to Florida soon after on Jan 3rd. My cousin J and I drove from NY to West Palm Beach, FL in one day - took approximately 22 hours! It was quite insane but we made it safe and sound. And it was quite nice to be in 80 F weather compared to 30 F. I had a conference in Key West on Jan. 6th so drove there from WPB (~5 hrs). It was an awesome scenic drive - just blue water to the left and right of you. Unfortunately I didn't go to all the tourist sites but that means I have to visit Key West again! And the key lime pie was heavenly!
On Jan. 8th I went back home to NY to pack and drive back down to Maryland. So, that I could pack for my move to Houston, TX. Just looking back I traveled non-stop from the end of December to the beginning of January. During these months the longest I stayed in one place was a week. No wonder I got so sick everywhere I went! But I wanted to make sure I traveled before starting my postdoctoral position at Rice University - so I did just that! :)

I was in Maryland for two weeks before my big move. Thank goodness I had the chance to attend Obama's inauguration. I was amongst the millions of people standing in the national mall in D.C. Here is a photo of me, M, and E in the crowd of people. Below this picture is an image of Obama giving his speech after being sworn in on the big screen - this was one lucky shot because I could barely see anything the whole time - too many tall people in front of me. But still an everlasting memory!
On Jan. 25th-Jan 27th, my mom and I drove from MD to Houston, TX. We made stops in Bristol, VA, Hattiesburg, MI, and New Orleans, LA. We didn't hit any bad weather or get stuck in any major traffic. The only long stop was in New Orleans where we actually got a chance to explore the city. It was a lot larger than I had envisioned. I guess the French Quarter area was more of what I thought the whole city was like instead of modern tall buildings. We took the trolley from the city to the French Quarter and we just happened to sit near James Caville - a pretty famous political consultant (the pic I took of him is below - tried to be sneaky so only could get a side view shot). Since we explored the area pretty early in the afternoon - the French Quarter was semi -lively but still not as crazy as it probably would be during Mardi Gras. But it was interesting to see the architecture of the area. Also, I made a reservation for lunch at Emeril's New Orleans Restaurant. The interior was very bright and the kitchen was open so we can see the chefs doing their magic. The food was definitely unique - 2 dishes stood out from the rest which were the turtle soup and an appetizer with rabbit meat. Both were delicious and definitely wetted my appetite to try dishes in the 2 other restaurants (NOLA and Delmonico) he owns in New Orleans in the future.
Finally when I reached Texas I saw this sign and I couldn't help but laugh - can you read it ... "BECOME A COWBOY" ... haha only in Texas! :)
I have been in Houston for 2 1/2 weeks now. I decorated most of my apartment and upacked all my boxes. Below are pictures of my living room, bedroom, and dining room.
Houston made me realize how small the world really is. During this short period of time I have met so many people here that either know a friend of mine or I have met in the past. The total # of connections I have with people right now is 4 .. how crazy is that considering I thought that I didn't know anyone here. :P The postdoctoral research that I have been doing so far at Rice is pretty neat the objective of my work is to create a fracture putty that will aid in bone regeneration. It was actually mentioned on NPR in Houston - here is a link to the radio segment.
http://app1.kuhf.org/houston_public_radio-news-display.php?articles_id=1233273678

That is it for now - hope you enjoyed my "quick" recap. I will try to update often so check back soon to find out what is happening with me in HOUSTON. :)