Budapest (again)

Yes, it's blog time again! Once again, it was the 24-hour Challenge in Budapest.

Like last year, there were some very interesting and tough problems. This year they did a much better job of implementation, and there were far fewer issues with things crashing and so it was more enjoyable. Unfortunately we didn't do as well as last year, but we still managed to come 5th.

After the contest, we finally got our cruise on the Danube. This time we came better prepared with info on where to catch the tourist boats. It turns out we were just looking in the wrong area, and if you go to the right place there are scores of them.

IT Challenge over

It ran smoothly, so not much to report. Stellenbosch won, UKZN came second and UCT third. Now I get a week of holiday in Cape Town; too bad half my friends have moved to other places.

IT Challenge 2010

I'm off to South Africa next week to help run the finals of the Standard Bank IT Challenge. This is a contest for teams of 4 university students. We've already run the heats to select one team from each of 9 universities; on Thursday the teams will meet at Standard Bank headquarters to do the final.

It's been some crazy hard work (including just about every free moment for the last week or two), but it should be a really great contest. We're hoping to have live standings during the contest (although we'll stop them an hour before the end) at http://sbitc2010.dyndns.org/ (yes, that link won't work right now, and probably won't after the contest either).

After that it's off to Cape Town for a week of hard-earned relaxation.

All Jammed up

Following my usual trend of only blogging when I travel and have some pictures I need to post, here's some photos from my last trip to the Googleplex for Google Code Jam. I was somewhat off form, but still managed to make 10th. If you want to see some seriously scary problems, take a look at the site. There is also an article about it here, including a video showing some of my ugly mug.

Photos from Bulgaria

I'm back in England. The contest was great fun and I'm going to miss the Bulgarian warmth and sunshine.

How not to be seen

Don't turn up.

That seems to be the view of most of the people I've talked to about the IOI planned excursion to the Black Sea. It apparently involves 4-6 hours on a bus. Each way. Not including the time you spend waiting around at the beginning until everyone gets on the bus. And leaving at 6am. When the time comes, I for one won't be found wanting. I won't be found at all, since I will be sleeping the sleep of the just, or possible just very tired.

Apart from the attempt to inflict long periods of time on buses (which in my case normally consists of periods of boredom interspersed by vomiting), things have been going pretty well here - in fact far smoother than usual. The SA team also did pretty respectably on the first day, and the second day is finishing in a few minutes. I haven't been on any of the excursions so far (being on the scientific committee seems to involve lots of work, but it's all been fun), but I plan to take myself off to the old town tomorrow (hopefully with some other leaders to make it more fun).

Bulgaria, land of enormous hotel rooms

It's blog time again! As usual, it's because I'm travelling - this time to IOI again, in Bulgaria. Haven't been here long, but so far I've been blown away by the size of the hotel room. More news when I've actually been out and about more.