Bill finds a bug, and Matt stays tight lipped....
I've managed to track down a picture of Hull's Imagine Cup winning team in Seattle meeting Bill Gates last week. Apparently Bill found their project fascinating, which is nice. Next stop Korea, for the Imagine Cup World Finals. I've been appointed an Imagine Cup Judge (don't think that I have to wear a wig though) and so I'll be traveling out there as well, which is wonderful.
So, after getting up bright and early we headed onto the coach for the trip to Reading and our moment of truth...
"Team Pizza" with their bag. Seems about the right size.....
Ready for the off
Photo Op
The Seedlings shaping up
Is this a secret weapon?
Team Roundtrack
The "Pizza Eaters" doing some product placement
Team "404 File not Found" and their poster
Kevin from Microsoft gets things going
It was great to see James and Tom again. They were in last year's team and I went with them to Delhi for the world final. They now work for Content Master and had been given leave to come and tell us about the experience.
James in full flow
Tom watching....
..is this what Tom is thinking?
Nibbles
The food was good, and they just kept delivering it.
Halfway through the day the top three teams were selected to give their presentations. Sadly my team, "The Irresponsible Pizza Eaters", were not in the top three, but kudos to them for quality and commitment. You rocked.
Team "404 File not found" were selected for special commendation and "The Seedlings", another Hull team, were one of the three finalists. So, at this stage in the competition we had one commended and one in the top three. Not bad.
The Seedlings, preparing for the off
The pitch.
After the presentations and considerable deliberation the judges revealed the winner. None of this drum rolls and long pauses rubbish. Just a simple slide:
Hull Wins!
The Seedlings had prevailed. Huge congratulations to James Alexander, Michelle Goddard, Matthew Steel and Matthew Steeples. And also to their mentor from Black Marble, Rob Hogg. They all get to go to Seoul later this year to take on the world.
Flying the flag
That makes 3 out of the 5 Microsoft Imagine Cup UK Software Design Challenge competitions have been won by teams from Hull. Go us!
There are some more pictures on my Flickr site.
After a very smooth journey down the Reading the Hull team bus arrived at the hotel. There is a tradition that on the eve of the Imagine Cup finals Microsoft run a quiz for all the teams as part of the entertainments. So, after a Korean-themed meal we all sat down and had our brains stretched.
We had to draw pictures of each other. I think he caught my best side.
I think Tom knows the answer. But is it the right question?
One of the tables we beat...
One of the other tables we beat....
Branded Chocolate....
As last year, I had taken the rather cunning precaution of choosing the table with all the clever people on, and so we just managed to run out joint winners. The prize, a couple of Cube People, will keep me amused for a while.
Tomorrow the fun really starts, when the gloves come off and we all compete to find the UK Imagine Cup winners.
I'm pretty much exhausted. But I have a 9:15 lecture and so I drag myself into work to impart wisdom to the masses (or at least the first year). After that I had a whole bunch of things to do, but I got pretty much none of them done.
I kept being hassled by Imagine Cup finalists. Last year Hull managed the impressive feat of getting four of our Imagine Cup teams into the 10 selected for the UK final. In case you might think that this was a flash in the pan, we managed to do it again this year. We have got some really terrific teams and I've been giving help on their entries for a while now.
With the posters required for the next phase needing to be sorted by the middle of next week there were a lot of people with loads of questions. I think I've managed to sort things out, in that people know the general thrust of what they are going to present and say.
I'm going to take a look at some of the posters on Wednesday. Should be interesting. We are going to get a "battle bus" booked as we did last time, and hopefully take Reading by storm again. Last year all the top three winning teams were from Hull, I don't think that we'll manage to equal that feat, but I'd love to see one team in the top three at the final. And I reckon that we have got a pretty good chance too. Stay tuned for pictures and news as it happens.
Note: This post is vaguely disgusting. Sorry, but it is.
When we signed up for the India trip I mentioned to Margot that I would need to take anti-malaria pills.
"They'll make you ill" she said
How right she was. I've just stopped taking them and by jove I feel better. In the list of side effects for the particular tablets I was using was a complaint which might give rise to a need for the items mentioned in the title of this post (not to put too fine a point on it). I got that all right. Fortunately, amongst the armoury of medications I had taken with me was a preparation which was intended to resolve this issue.
Imodium Plus. What a wonderful marketing name. Im from Immobilise, od from commode, and ium to make it sound vaguely scientific. Then add a plus to emphasise the power of the stuff. Didn't do anything for me though (or perhaps it did - and the consequences of not taking it would have been much worse). One thing I found mildly amusing was an entry on the list of side-effects for Imodium. Apparently it can cause constipation. If only.
The rehydration stuff was wonderful though. If you are going abroad you must take some. Only problem was that I got the "multi-flavour" pack, which included banana flavoured salty water. This is an experience you want to be only once in a lifetime.
The good news is that my affliction didn't actually stop me from doing anything, and now that I've stopped taking the tablets I can feel things returning to normal. The other good news is that all the time I was abroad I didn't get bitten by a single mosquito. Mind you, I was wearing the ultra strong repellent which also managed to dissolve my watch strap. I found this rather encouraging. If it can do that to plastic, it must do even more horrible things to insects.
Actually, thinking about it, I reckon I got off rather lightly. Even with all the fun and games with chemicals, it was still well worth it. And I would go again (but I might try a different malaria pill).
Today is the day we go home. We started early, very early, having heard terrible stories of delays at the airport. Our flight was delayed a bit, but fortunately not by much. The bad news for me was that lots of my precious toys had been placed in my unreliable suitcase, the one that likes to travel the world by itself. I was pretty much convinced that it would decide to visit some more interesting parts of the world and take all my stuff with it.
Anyhoo, you do what the safety instructions tell you. Or perhaps you don't. Having been given dire warnings of the consequences of taking any kind of hand baggage onto the plane, with just my passport, wallet and a paperback in my possession, I was more than miffed to see people boarding the plane with rucksacks, laptop bags, you name it.
So we settled down in our seats and waited as the plane pulled back from its stand and made ready for takeoff. And then it stopped for a minute. Then five minutes. Then the captain came on the intercom.
"I'm afraid we have to return to the stand and open up the hold. There is a problem with some of the luggage"
Drat. Triple drat. What kind of an idiot is causing delays? What kind of fool is holding everyone up? If I find out who it is I'll..... The intercom crackled again.
"Is there a Miles Roberts on the plane? Would Miles Roberts please make himself known to the cabin staff?"
Blarst. Could they mean me? I raised my hand. Turned out that the system had spotted three bags in the hold belonging to "Miles Roberts". Somewhere along the line my name and initials had got scrambled to make another person, who was not on the plane but who had his baggage in the hold. I gave the purser my passport with the luggage numbers on it, which sorted that out and we were able to get airborne. Curse that suitcase.
The rest of the journey was uneventful, if you except the one hour wait at Heathrow for a place to disembark, and I was able to catch the tube to Kings Cross and then walk straight onto a wonderful Hull Trains locomotive for a very pleasant three hour ride up to Hull and home.
Today was the ground announcement of the winners of the software deveopment competition. In the end the team from Norway came third, Brazil was second and Italy came first. Well done folks, and good look with your applications in the future.
Joe Wilson and the winning teams
After that there was the grand Imagine Cup party, but unfortunatly I was feeling a little too fragile and anyway we needed to be on the road at 3:00 the following morning, so I thought I'd stay in the hotel room and sample a little Delhi hospitality. So I ordered a burger from room service. After 20 minutes there was a knock at the door. An immaculately dressed waiter with white gloves handed me his business card and then deployed what I can only descibe as the best presented burger I have ever seen. It arrived on a trolley, with four different kinds of mustard, proper HP sauce and all the trimmings. And coke. Talk about a morale booster.
Delhi for burger
It was delicious. So, after packing all my precious electronic goodies into my suitcase (there is a security alert on at the moment and I won't be able to take any toys into the plane) I was able to turn in feeling extremely well fed.
Today was the day of the dash to Delhi. When we leave our lovely hotel in Agra and head of to a, hopefully equally lovely, hotel in Delhi. I'll miss this place. Everyone has been really nice to us, and it has the best bowling ally I've ever been on. We had to get up at 4:30 am to get on the bus. The organisers rather thoughtfully set off all the phones at 4:20, 4:25 and 4:35. Thanks folks.
The journey back was much smoother than the journey out. This driver didn't use his horn anything like as much as the other guy, and this seemed to make us go faster. The slowest bit was the road around Delhi to the hotel. This was the busiest road I've ever seen, with all the drivers ignoring just about every rule of the road and camel powered trailers mixing it with luxury coaches, motorbikes, mopeds, Mercedes cars, cows and pedestrians.
Family transport
Then we got to the hotel and my luggage decided to go walkabout. My suitcase has a kind of wanderlust. Everywhere I go it finds a way to escape from me. It has been around Los Angeles and Las Vegas and I am now more surprised to see it than not. This time it vanished from the coach. Fortunatly it turned up in time for tea, and a change of clothes.
In the afternoon we watched the Software Development presentations. By gum, but some of them were wonderful. What young people with drive and imagination can achieve is amazing. Whenever I go to one of these things I reflect that the the future is actually in quite safe hands. And the presentation skills of these people are highly impressive. To have such confidence in front of an audience is just amazing. We didn't find out who the winner is, that comes tomorrow. I tried to stay for the presentation design and short film parts of the competition, but the early hour and the lure of the most luxurious room I've ever had got the better of me and so I caught the shuttle bus back to my hotel and turned in.
We had a special party event tonight. There were dancers, puppets, stalls, even someone selling magic tricks (I bought three). The atmosphere was great.
Party night
There was a chap selling small bags. Since I've not got anything for the ladies back home I thought I'd take a look. I picked up a couple of likely looking specimens.
"How much" I asked, handing the bags to him.
"You want?" he said, putting them into a carrier bag ready for me to take. Then he named a price.
"I've not got enough money" I said. This was true. I'd blown it all on magic tricks. Story of my life.
"How much have you got?" he asked. I opened my wallet to show him. He deftly removed the notes he wanted, left me around 50 rupees which I could use for tipping purposes, and let me go on my way.
What a salesman!
OK. Let’s try a few words out for size. Huge. Beautiful. Awesome. Blimey. Hmm. Let’s start again. In England we think we can do impressive buildings. We’ve got a few lying around which are pretty cute. I’ve been to some of them, Castle Howard, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Millennium Dome, etc etc. But now I’ve been to the Taj Mahal and, sorry guys, this one caps you all.
It is not just the scale, the colours, the materials, but it is the design of the place. This will probably seems bonkers to you, but if you want to look at something where design is everything, go see the Taj Mahal. The design of the place is doing things with your mind before you even know it.
When you arrive the only way you can get your first view of the Taj is through a particular gate in the redstone courtyard. The arch is carefully proportioned to give you the perfect view of the dome which unfolds before you and then recedes slightly in a way which seems magical, but is actually some very clever manipulation of your viewpoint as you move through the gate.
When you get your breath back you can begin to take in the shape and proportions of the dome and the balance of light and shade as it falls on the carefully positioned marble and semi-precious stones laid into it. If you stand and watch, as the sun moves through the sky the shadows on the surface change slightly, so that it looks different.
Look away for a few minutes and then look again and you will see a yet another Taj Mahal. When the mists roll in from the river at the rear of the Taj Mahal it appears to float above the ground because of the way it is built on a platform above the grounds. In the moonlight it is said that it appears to glow. (we didn’t get to see this unfortunately, but one day I’m going to go back and check).
The redstone buildings around the Taj Mahal are apparently designed to be the imported “ugly sisters” that you would place around your daughter so that she is the one that gets picked by a calling suitor. I must admit the guide invented this analogy, not me. Of course any one of them on its own would be pretty special, but next to the Taj Mahal…
The architect has used every trick in the book to make a building just look beautiful in every sense. By design.
Of course I took a bunch of pictures and of course they don’t do the place justice, but here they are anyway.
The money shot
One of the “ugly” sisters
Side view
Another ugly sister
View of the river
Today was the big day. Taj day. Been looking forward to this for a while. It isn't every day that you go to see one of the seven wonders of the world (and if it was, the following week would be pretty lacklustre I guess). Anyhoo, today is the day that we were see the Taj (which I think means "crown" by the way).
Now with any great dish it is important to have an appetiser, to get things started. It just so happens that the Imagine Cup organisers had set one up for us. But we would have to work for it. Just outside Agra, where we have been staying, is another mausoleum called Akbar's Tomb. The tomb was built in the 1600’s and word was that it was in need of a little restoration, so to speak. Microsoft had volunteered the services of a whole bunch of students and mentors, i.e. us. So after breakfast we piled onto busses to drive out to Sikandra and the tomb, to go and give a hand.
I was a bit concerned about this; a place can get a bit overgrown and dusty in 400 years. However, I needn’t have worried. When we arrived the group was split into four teams, sweepers, gardeners, cleaners and restorers. The sweepers team looked a little depleted, so myself, Andy and Mark joined up with them and off we went.
Andy and Mark hard at work. Or something
It took me back to my days of vacation work in a frozen pea factory, where I arrived at sunrise, was given a brush and told to sweep up, spent most of the day hiding from the foreman and then returned my still clean brush at the end of the shift. It seems that I still have those skiving skills and they have now become a kind of reflex, and so I was able to give the appearance of doing something useful whilst probably not achieving a great deal. The problem was that I had to keep stopping and taking photographs (not something I used to do in the pea factory). The place was beautiful, and on a scale that was breathtaking.
The entrance to the mausoleum
There were lush gardens, peacocks, monkeys, a beautiful courtyard, etc ,etc. It was truly wonderful. The heat was quite oppressive though, and I was glad for the chance to take a break from my non work and get a drink. The restorers had been really busy, you could see the stonework where they had dug out the old mortar and replaced it with new. I felt a bit guilty about not doing that task, I’ve a feeling that the wind has probably already undone most of my brushwork, but now a little piece of an Indian monument is forever Imagine Cup thanks to them.
Monkeys finding shade
One corner
View from the top
After the break we climbed wearily back into the bus for the ride back to the hotel. I lay down on my bed for a couple of seconds of rest. Two hours later I woke up and it was time for the Taj.
Well, today was the day when we found out whether Team 3 Pair had made it into the final 12 students. After spending the morning presenting their idea in the expo part of the competition we all went in to the large hall to find out who had been picked. Sadly, 3 Pair was not one of the names that was called out, so for the UK the 2006 competition is over
Rather sad really. This evening we were in the bar pondering life, the universe and everything, I did feel it necessary to remind everyone that life hasn't been that unkind. Staying in one of the best hotels in India, drinking free beer, with a trip to the Taj Mahal tomorrow, if this is hard times, give me more...
Team 3 Pair did a first rate job. The code they wrote, the presentations they gave, the passion that they brought to the project all do them enormous credit. I am soo proud of all of them. But they didn't make it. Such is life. For them and all the teams that didn't make it today I give you a couple of lines from If, a poem by Rudyard Kipling, one of my favourites.
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same...
After a really good nights sleep, I got up and staggered down to breakfast. Today is the day that “Team 3Pair” from Hull got to strut their stuff on behalf of the UK. So it was on with the “Team Supporters” shirt and off to their first presentation.
The first part of the contest is the called the “Lightning Round”. This is because the rounds are short, and does not involve any high voltages or bolts of thunder. The idea is that the teams are given a seven minute slot to introduce themselves and get across the gist of what they are trying to do. Team 3Pair give good lightning, they were on shockingly good form and their presentation really made the sparks fly (that is all of those jokes out of the way, I put it down to the malaria pills I’m taking).
After that, feeling it was time for some rest and recreation, we headed across to the “Leisure Mall”. As we were one of the first teams to present, this was just about deserted and so we had the pick of all the attractions. As we waited for the bowling alley to warm up (I didn’t know they had to warm these things up, but there you are) we played pool. I can’t play pool. After committing a couple of miscues which cost me and my partner the game we moved onto the bowling lane. I didn’t think I could do bowling either, but my first attempt made all the pins fall down (which is apparently a good thing).
Pop quiz. How many pins did this ball from Andy knock down.
As the game progressed I managed to make the pins all fall down a couple more times. I put this down to the “magic pink ball” that I (and pretty soon everyone else) was using.
..and what is wrong with this picture of James bowling….
After that we went off to prepare for the second presentation, which was much longer, at 20 minutes, and is where the team had to deliver a proper description of the system that they had made, and why they had made it.
Perhaps we should call them “Team Three Prayer”….
Good to go.
After twenty minutes of presentation and a gruelling bunch of questions it was time to eat. So we went to the hotel restaurant for dinner. And I committed one of the gravest social faux pas that I have ever managed to achieve (and that is saying something). As we went around the table I noted that my wimpish colleagues were all going for dishes from the non-Indian part of the menu. After a sequence of requests for Arabian, Japanese and Italian dishes went down I thought I’d show some support for the locals and ordered an Indian chicken dish which sounded nice (although I have of course now forgotten what the name was).
When it came, artfully arranged around the plate, I tucked in, feeling very smug – even though the meat did not actually seem very chickeny. Only when the waiter brought the final dish to the table did the awful truth emerge. I had of course been eating the Arabian lamb one dered by Mark. Mark was very good about it, and swapped my proper dish for his half nibbled one. However, I then compounded my bad behaviour by eating all the nan bread, even though it was meant to be shared amongst three of us. The good news is that my meal was delicious. The bad news is that I am now known as "food stealer Rob" and people don't like sitting next to me at meals.
For the rest of the afternoon we hung around the bar, checked our email and talked to some journalists. Tomorrow lunchtime the team will find out if it has made the next stage of the competition, the top 12.
Local music
In the evening we found that our meal was accompanied by some local musicians. I wanted the chap on the right to be playing a very small instrument, so I could use my "baby sitar" joke.
I spent most of today trying to avoid going to sleep. The plan is that if I can stay awake until my normal bedtime I can get my body into the new time zone by brute force and ignorance.
It didn’t go too well. Every time I sat down my eyes closed automatically and I drifted somewhere with all of the characteristics of sleep except the ones which make you feel better when you wake up.
Joe Wilson opening the presentation
Fortunately I managed to get myself over to the Imagine Cup Final launch event. Joe Wilson of Microsoft showed us some video of students doing great things and then talked a bit about the passion that you need to have to be a developer. Actually, I’m not going to claim to be particularly passionate (at least not in a blog that other people might read) but I do agree that when you are writing a program you are doing a bit more than just stringing statements together to get something to work. You are making something with the aim of making people happy.
From coding for your own amusement to making multi-tiered applications of frightening complexity (like some of the contest entries) the net result of your work should be a bit more happiness in the world (or – at a pinch I guess you could settle for less unhappiness). Whatever, as far as I am concerned this means that you should really engage with your task, respond positively to problems (or challenges as they are sometimes renamed) and work to get others enthused about what you are doing. And of course strive to do the very best you can. Kind of the Imagine Cup in a nutshell I guess.
The next speaker was Sheila Gulati of Microsoft India. She welcomed us all to her country, noted that the ride from Delhi to Agra would make a great XBOX game (it would) and told us of the pride she takes in the progress that her country has made in the software field. Then she said something which I found interesting. She said that people visiting should “let India happen to them” rather trying to view it from the perspective that they brought with them. I’m beginning to see what she means.
These are all around the hotel.
We are presently in the rarefied, air-conditioned environment of one of the poshest hotels I’ve ever been in. Yet there are things around that constantly remind you that you are not in Kansas any more. The beautiful little shrines around the hotel to the various gods, the pleasure that people take in helping you out, the fact that everyone you pass will say “Good Day”, the amount of smiling and eye contact that is involved in even the simplest transaction. For a reserved Englishman like me this is all quite alien, and really rather nice. I’m looking forward to seeing more of the real India later in the week, when the pace slackens a bit and we can go out and take a look around.
But back to the competition and the opening presentation. At the end of the speeches they introduced a drumming double act whose name, to my great shame, I’ve presently forgotten. I’ve not forgotten what they did though. Both of them were amazing, one was surrounded by drums of all kind, and a large smattering of 21st century technology. The other simply sat down and played what appeared to be a very simple hand drum. Put them together and the range of sounds and the rhythms that they produced were incredible. Their hands were moving so fast that the cameras which were relaying their performance onto the big screen quite literally could not keep up.
They finished off by handing out some instruments so that we could all join in. I got to play a big silver tambourine, which the family will be pleased to hear I will not be taking home. Then they called down all the people from around the world who set up the competition and made it the roaring success it is.
The makers of the Imagine Cup
After that we had our evening meal out in the gardens, inside a giant gazebo, with fans blowing a mist of cool water over us and ever attentive waiters handing us beers. Then, with my body clock finally asserting itself, I staggered back to the room and settled down to a deep sleep.
The first thing we had to do was fly to Delhi (actually a plane did all the hard work – I just sat and watched telly and luxuriated in the emergency exit seat legroom that I ended up with – thanks BA). Once at Delhi we caught a bus to a complex just outside town for a quick wash and brush up before the ride to Agra, competition HQ for the next few days.
Everyone has been fantastically welcoming. The team who greeted us at the first pit stop were really excited about having us here. We were a bit jaded, in that we had just had a long flight. But to us it was just early evening. To the home team it was after midnight, and they had obviously been working like mad all day to set things up for our arrival. To get from Delhi to Agra we had a four hour night drive. At first it was dark, but as we got to our destination the sun came up and we got to see more of the countryside.
Agra sunrise
Driving in India is interesting. It involves a lot more use of the horn than back home. And there is always the possibility that might be a cow stood in the middle of the carriageway just around the next corner. When the road side cafes feel the urge to drum up trade they simply put up a road block outside their establishment to give you more time to read about their special offers.
However we all got here safe and sound after around a days solid travelling. (I felt quite proud of this until we met up with one of the Microsoft chaps from Seattle, who had spent 47 hours getting here).
The courtyard outside the room
The hotel is very impressive. Nice and cool and with big rooms and the most attentive staff I have ever experienced. Everyone seems determined to do their utmost to make your stay a really happy one. I think they are going to succeed.
This is the first time that I have ever flown east on a trip away. The fact that I have up until now only flown west, never had a problem coming home, and anyway there is only a four and a half hour time difference to India has lulled me into a false sense of security.
I feel my head has been injected with rice pudding under pressure. The thinking bits in my brain are fighting with other bits which only want to sleep. If the following posts don’t make much sense then that is pretty much par for the course from me. If they seem dafter and more ramblesome then ever then I apologise, I hope that normal service (and mental function) will be resumed soon.
After having arrived and got unpacked we headed back into the city for a “Good Luck” meal. Andy Sithers had heard good things about a Belgian restaurant and so we went there. In my mind Belgium is famous for two things; chocolate and not being famous for much. I really had no idea what to expect.
Andy Sithers said we should take the stairs at Covent Garden. So we did. On the way up and on the way down..
It turns out that Belgium cuisine is actually great stuff. The Belgians (or at least the ones that operate the place we went to) are very good at sea food and a whole bunch of great tasting dishes. We all had something different and it was all wonderful. They make their own beer too, which is also good stuff. And, for reasons which were never properly explained, they also serve all this dressed as Trappist monks. If you are after excellent food you should go there.
The team with their beer menus. Like the sound of that.
Tube Travel
The flight leaves tomorrow morning, and so we are having a night at the airport so we can get an early start. The train journey was smooth and on time. Then I had to face around an hour on the tube to get out to the airport, which I suppose could have been worse. It wasn’t that hot, but the carriages were packed and I had the dubious pleasure of staring at someone’s armpit for much of the journey. I don’t think they enjoyed the experience much either.
I’m heading out to India tomorrow. Today is the first leg of the journey, when I, Andy from Microsoft and the team all meet up at Heathrow Airport in London.
So this morning I sallied forth to the chemists with my copy of “Which”, the consumer magazine, which recently published a foreign travel special. In amongst a whole slew of scary statistics about how likely you are to fall ill if you ever leave this sceptred isle were some recommendations for various potions and lotions which would keep the nastiest things at bay and reduce their effect as much as possible.
With a bit of luck it all stays in the boxes....
This is of course insurance, in that I’m buying it because, having spent 35 quid on the various cans and tablets; with a bit of luck I’ll not have to use any of the stuff. Of course if I decide to take a chance and buy nothing then I’m pretty much doomed. Then again, I’ve not had a lot of success in the past second guessing fate...
Rob Miles is technology author and educator who spent many years as a lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Hull. He is also a Microsoft Developer Technologies MVP. He is into technology, teaching and photography. He is the author of the World Famous C# Yellow Book and almost as handsome as he thinks he is.
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