Log
of personal mail to family members during week of GA2 and Innovation
Center
From: Cheung, Edward B. (GSFC-408.0)[JACKSON & TULL CHARTERED
ENGRS]
Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2011 10:08 PM
To: 'Peter Cheung'; Agnes Cheung; 'lydia gmail'; 'Ali Alipour';
'Stephanie Cheung'; 'rim2717818@gmail.com'; 'R Cheung'
Subject: First day
The flight to Charlotte was quite short, about one hour. I
signed up for 15 minutes of Internet access for $2, and did not even
get to use all of it. I was able to post a map on facebook of
the location of the place (based on flight tracker.com) which was
pretty cool.
The second segment was on a 757, and the first class cabin was
huge. There were only three rows, and each row had three
windows. Plus the seats had foot rest and was completely
motorized. Pulling back, it felt like a panoramic view of the
airport. I had a nice meal, and the flight was very
smooth. They had three pilots on board, and one would take
turns resting in the seat next to mine. It was deliberately
left open for this purpose. The crew flies from Charlotte to
Aruba then back the same day, and this exceeds 8 hrs. So they
handle it with three pilots. Like the Shuttle, the Captain
sits in the ‘left seat’, and when he is the one resting, he is still
officially the pilot.
We arrived in Aruba, and two gents from the Green Energy committee met
us. Mom had already been talking with them, and they said it
was ok for me to head to San Nicolas first. At Palisiaweg, I
saw the new tile work in the rooms, and it looks very professional, and
the seams were tight and smooth. They did good
work. I also gave Mom the light fixtures and faucet I bought
them. Franky came over then to pick up his iPhone and the
chip.
Ah Man took me into town, and I checked into the Renaissance.
This time I stayed by the mall side, and have a nice big room
overlooking the pool on one side, and the atrium on the hall side. I
then met with Stijn (PM’s chief of staff) and Tisa (conference cohost),
and we went over tomorrow’s agenda. Tisa and I introduce the
speakers for the conference, and I will be leading the panel
discussions afterwards. I will need to stay on my game, and
think of questions as they talk. Then, the day ends at 3:30,
and there will be busses to my building (feels really strange saying
that), and Mom will play a role on stage for that. I will be
in the front row, but will be called up for pictures at the
end. I think it is cool how minor a role I am playing, and
all I have to do is sit there.
Updates tomorrow.
On Oct 26, 2011, at 10:29 PM, "Cheung, Edward B. (GSFC-408.0)[JACKSON
& TULL CHARTERED
ENGRS]"<edward.b.cheung@nasa.gov> wrote:
Forgot some items…
My cell here is 660-9501. I can receive texts on my US phone
for only 5 cents/message, but sending costs 50 cents. I
expect that will have Internet access at the conference.
Pretty strange being treated like a rock star these days, and I know it
will be very different when I step on the plane Sunday, and go back to
being a regular Joe.
Also, my best news today was that Stephanie did well on her mid term
Physics test. That really made my day when I arrived in
Charlotte.
From: Robin Cheung [mailto:robcbos@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2011 11:34 PM
To: Cheung, Edward B. (GSFC-408.0)[JACKSON & TULL CHARTERED
ENGRS]
Cc: Cheung, Edward B. (GSFC-408.0)[JACKSON & TULL CHARTERED
ENGRS]; Peter Cheung; AgnesCheung; lydia gmail; AliAlipour; Stephanie
Cheung; rim2717818@gmail.com
Subject: Re: First day
On the contrary you are a rock star! Your talents, skills and
determination paid off by your hard work. You don't have to
take off a banner and crown to pass on to the next beauty in line or
give up your bat and ball because fame got to you. You stayed focused
and set forth to achieve your goals in the field of engineering and
science. Arubans are proud of you because you represented your island
throughout your career and they in turn want to thank you for your
success, giving back and setting a course for others.
Have fun tomorrow!
----------------------------------------------
On
Oct 27, 2011, at 10:58 PM, "Cheung, Edward B. (GSFC-408.0)[JACKSON
& TULL CHARTERED
ENGRS]"<edward.b.cheung@nasa.gov> wrote:
Thanks for the nice comments Robin. Very much appreciated.
I had a good night’s sleep last night. Even overslept a
little after I woke up and munched some Cheerios at 6am. On
the way down, I saw a person in a suit and asked if he was attending
GA2. He was a speaker, and I introduced myself. It
did not register with him, and I did not elaborate. We had
breakfast together, and I discussed today’s program with him,
explaining that I was chairman. We went to the nice buffet
downstairs in the main lobby of the Renaissance, called
Aquirius. We have all had brunch there. The
waitresses recognized me, and they all wanted their picture taken.
The conference started, and the VIPs all filed in. Tisa
saluted the VIPs by name, and introduced herself. I then said
my name, and the whole room of 350 gave me a standing O started by the
PM. I was so surprised! No one else today received
a welcome like that. First to speak was the deputy PM
(deMeza), and then the PM. His theme was we have the natural
resources, the geographic location to be the gateway to South America,
and the people know how. For the example the latter, he first
put my picture up, and the room applauded. It was quite
embarrassing, and I just sat like a deer in headlights at the front of
the room. Fortunately, he also highlighted two Aruban
students at Dutch Universities doing green energy research.
Afterwards, my breakfast companion walked up to me and said he did not
know he was having breakfast with such an individual. I think
Tisa and I did a real good job running the conference. She is
very experienced at these things, and I did my best. We then
broke for the day, and there were busses to my building. I
rode in a gov car along with another VIP from Mexico. He is a
very wealthy person that has organized conferences that included
Richard Branson, and Al Gore, and other VIPs. He said he was
very impressed with my work, and wanted me to contact him for an
invitation for the next conference.
We arrived at my building, and it was real nice. There were
two big tents, lots of microwave trucks, and a stage. A white
sheet covered my name on the side of the building. Music and
stage lighting rocked the place. We then got started, and the
speeches were real nice. Mom got invited to pull the curtain,
and unveiled the name. Due to the location of the building,
anyone driving on the high way will see it very prominently.
The party afterwards was great. I had my spinning LED NASA
pin, so it stood out in the dark room. I worked the room, and
many wanted their picture taken. I normally would not stay
this long, but felt I should show my appreciation by partying till
late. The band was The Rincon Boys, Aruba’s hottest band
these days, and they asked me to go on stage to take a picture with
them, then they played their latest hit, but changed the words to
feature me in it.
A long day, and I am going to bed now. Oh one more
thing. There were three performances, the first was an
acrobatic group that was very good, the second was a traditional Aruban
group. When the waltz started, I misted up. I would
have been great to have Aggie there, but overall it was awesome.
----------------------------------------------
From:
"Cheung, Edward B. (GSFC-408.0)[JACKSON & TULL CHARTERED
ENGRS]" <edward.b.cheung@nasa.gov>
To: "Peter Cheung" <peterbingcheung@gmail.com>
Cc: "Robin Cheung" <robcbos@yahoo.com>, "AgnesCheung"
<missaruba@hotmail.com>, "lydia gmail"
<lydia.alipour@gmail.com>, "AliAlipour"
<ali.alipour@gmail.com>, "Stephanie Cheung"
<chirubian@gmail.com>, "rim2717818@gmail.com"
<rim2717818@gmail.com>, "May Reitz"
<mayreitz@aol.com>
Subject: Day two
Date: Fri, Oct 28, 2011 6:35 am
I forgot some items, and added some pictures (also added May).
Before I left, I did some studying on Aruba’s governmental
systems. I had the photo, title and name of all the Ministers
(6), and Parliamentarians (21). So I surprised many by
knowing their names and titles. It came in sooo
handy. When we go to the Governor’s party, I hardly know
anyone, but with that knowledge, I had the confidence to mingle.
Edwin attended the conference, and he and Franky were at the
opening. They did not ask me to speak, which was good as I
have no words to express the gratitude. When the veil was
pulled from the name sign, the top part of the ‘g’ came off.
I decided to fix it in Photoshop.
I arrived back at the hotel, and Mom and AhMan brought me
dinner. They decided to go eat, but I could not bring myself
to leave the party. So I ate a good dinner, and tried to go
to sleep. Of course, I was too pumped, but settled down and
slept.
From: May Reitz [mailto:mayreitz@aol.com]
Sent: Friday, October 28, 2011 9:17 PM
To: Cheung, Edward B. (GSFC-408.0)[JACKSON & TULL CHARTERED
ENGRS]; Peter Cheung
Cc: Robin Cheung; AgnesCheung; lydia gmail; AliAlipour; Stephanie
Cheung; rim2717818@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Day two
Thanks for including me in your up dates. It's like being there and
experiencing this historic moment with you. You should totally be proud
of the honor that is being bestowed upon you. Give your mom our love.
Keep us updated.
May
Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone
From:
Peter Cheung [mailto:peterbingcheung@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, October 28, 2011 12:23 AM
To: Cheung, Edward B. (GSFC-408.0)[JACKSON & TULL CHARTERED
ENGRS]
Cc: Robin Cheung; AgnesCheung; lydia gmail; AliAlipour; Stephanie
Cheung; rim2717818@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Day two
Great details of your day! Did you have dinner? Sounded like a packed
full day. Looking forward to more updates tomorrow.
We are so proud of you!!
Love from The Boston Cheungs.
----------------------------------------------
On
Oct 30, 2011, at 9:10 AM, Cheung, Edward B. (GSFC-408.0)[JACKSON
& TULL CHARTERED ENGRS] wrote:
The last day, yesterday started with the rest of the
sessions. This day was only half day due to the Prince’s
visit later. By now, we are pretty smooth at it, and it went
quite well. Since it was the financial aspects of renewable
energy, I thought I would not be able to come up with questions, but I
still found some.
As is usual, lunch is served as a buffet style, and a lot of members
told me this was the best run conference they had been to. On
this day, students from local schools joined us with science displays,
including one team that built a large 20 foot diameter wind
turbine. This was great to see, and lots of interesting
displays.
Since we were cohost, the two of us were seated facing the
audience. This is at a table next to the stage. So
when the Prince spoke, we had a better than front row seat. I
had to introduce the speaker after the Prince, but protocol was that
the Prince be the only one on stage. So I had to wait for him
to be seated, before I could go up there. I then thanked the
Prince for his speech and introduced Mike de Meza. I was to
leave the stage afterwards, but Mike was so nervous about staying on
stage by himself, that we hung on to me, and prevented me from
leaving. It was quite funny. The plan was that
while he spoke, the stage hands would set up a table for the signing of
the agreement between the Dutch research organization that would be
housed in my building and the Aruba
government. So since set up took some
time, and Mike ran out of things to say, he just hung onto me, and we
stalled for time. It was pretty funny.
After the conference ended, there was a small party on the beach for
the core conference workers, and I was glad to attend. All
the young people working the logistics made Tisa and my job much
easier, and we got all the credit for it. So I was happy to
thank them, and handed out lots of stickers and autographs.
After that, I was picked up by Mom and Ah Man at 7:30, and we went to
Dinner at Different. It was Mom’s core group of closest
people, Kam Mo, Ah Lien, the three ladies that you know, Ah Man and
family. On the way there, we passed my building, and it is
right off the main highway. You can see the big blue façade
lit, and the name is very prominent. It is an amazing sight.
Ah Man picks me up at 10 am today, and I go to the cemetery with
Mom. I then have an early lunch, and go to the airport for my
2:30 flights. It has been a whirlwind week, and still feels
like a dream. Everywhere I went from Taxi drivers, hotel
hands, and people on the road have been waving at me, and giving me the
thumbs up. Pretty amazing. I am really
grateful. When Pap
Of course there is a blog on this week. Here it is:
http://www.edcheung.com/album/album11/green/green.htm
I still await images, so it will not be done for a few days, and I will
write some on the plane.