Conference in Pittsburgh - Day 2 (24th November 2013)

Woke up really early at 5:30am even though the meeting only starts at 8am. Decided to head to the conference site early to pin up my poster before heading out for breakfast. Unfortunately I left my scarf at home and I did not bring any gloves with me to Pittsburgh, so the entire walk from the hotel to the conference hall was shivering cold. Finally I reached the conference hall, collected my welcome package and pinned up my poster. I quickly got out of the hall and walked down the street, hoping to find a nice cosy cafe to have a good meal before the start of the conference. However, after walking for about 500m, I realised that none of the cafes were open yet! In fact, there was not a single shop open at 7:15am! As I walked back, I passed by Subway but they were only opened at 8am so I had to forgo breakfast.

During the break at 10am, I quickly headed to Subway where I bought a since 6inch breakfast sandwich and asked the server to add lots of srirracha sauce (creamy hot sauce similar to chilli sauce). It felt really good to get something warm and spicy into my stomach.After a series of talks by different researchers, it was time for lunch. My professor decided to join me and another student and we three headed down the street. We ended up in a busy restaurant named Six Penn Kitchen. They only served brunch on Sundays and so I had a Pulled Pork Omelette with tomatoes and onion rings. I also got myself a pint of nut-ale. Lunch didn't come cheap at US$25 and that included a small gratuity.

After lunch, it was time for more talks by other researchers. I must admit that most of the talks were at a level far beyond my comprehension so as much as I enjoyed learning new things, I was also lost in the new concepts and ideas discussed.

During the tea-time break at 3:30pm, I headed out with fellow researcher from NTU to the nearby streets as he wanted to take a look at a particular store selling trinkets and toys. We took a walk around the entire three-storey shophouse and I ended up buying three unique decks of cards. One featured Pittsburgh hockey teams, the other had different holographic images on each card and the last was a space-invaders themed deck. We quickly went back to the conference hall after exploring that shop since it was time for the poster gallery at 4:45pm.

The conference dinner started at 6:30pm and by then, it was already dark outside. Dinner was a simple buffet consisting of 7 dishes, plus two drinks of any choice (including beer and wine) and a dessert of carrot cake. The food was rather plain and not really appetizing but it was really enjoyable discussing with the fellow researchers in my research group about our projects and giving each other tips on how to improve. By the time dinner was over, it was already 8:30pm and we all decided to walk back to our hotels instead of exploring the surround area. I was rather tired, and so I gave up the notion of exploring the neighbourhood and postponed that to the following day.