Long time no see...

Okay, I've been putting this off for far too long. So now, with profound apologies for the long absence, it's time for me to start blogging again.

Besides, if I didn't, I'd be slaughtered by dozens of angry friends and family members whenever I made my first trip back home. :P

As one might expect, so many fascinating things have happened in this one month that I've been in the US that I'm not sure I'd be able to get it all down in a single blog post. I'll make an attempt to put everything in, and future posts will hopefully cover the things I miss.

First off, this post comes to you courtesy of my new laptop. It's a sexy new Dell Inspiron 6400, with an Intel Core Duo processor, 1 GB RAM, 120 GB SATA HDD, and a wonderful 128 MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1300 HyperMemory graphics card. I'm in love...And now I can actually put my Google Code Jam laptop bag to good use.

I'm in the AI group, and having quite a bit of fun reading papers from all over the field as part of my independent study. Coursewise, I've got Advanced AI and Algorithm Design and Analysis on my plate. Having phenomenal fun in all of them, as people who know me would guess. :P

I should also mention that my status as a grad student gives me a place in one of the Graduate Research Labs - just as soon as the CS Department moves into its swanking new building in a couple of weeks. Then I can misuse the printer, and procrastinate effectively among other grad students.

Yet another wonderful piece of news is that UCF has a pretty good record at the ACM Southeast Regionals, and guess who managed to get onto one of the teams going there next month...

For those who don't happen to be in CS - and for the uninformed ones who are in CS and are still somewhat clueless, the ACM(Association for Computing Machinery) holds a worldwide team programming contest every year. They divide the planet into regions, and there are contests in each region, with several teams from different universities competing. The winners of each region go to the World Finals, which should be held in Japan next year, around April or so. If Japan doesn't work out, the backup destination is Hawaii. :P

In any event, UCF has a phenomenal record at the Southeast US Regionals - they've competed 24 times, and been in the top 3...24 times, with 11 wins. This will be our 25th year, and once again, we're aiming to win the regionals and go to the World Finals. I've had the good fortune to be assigned to the strongest team, since one of my teammates has 5 years of experience, and another has about 3. It's a pretty potent combination.

To illustrate what I mean, I just got back from our first practice session, which culminated in a five hour mock contest. Not only did we solve all 9 problems(the team that came in second only did 5), we did it with an hour and a half to spare, so our coach Raymond came over and gave us another problem to solve.

We submitted that successfully with 20 seconds to spare. :D

In any event, I expect a pretty major improvement in my problem solving ability over the next 7 weeks, given the strong practice regimen they have lined up for us. I think it's time for me to go yellow on TopCoder...And it's always great to meet other people who love doing the same crazy things you do.

So to sum up, life is good. Very good. Amazingly good. The kind of good that you only feel when you're finally doing what you were born to do.

It's lots of fun out here, with my 4 roommates. 5 grad students in the same house is a deadly combination. Especially when 3 of us are in CS, the craziest discipline of all. :P

I think I'll stop for now and go eat one of Vinit's mouth-watering concoctions. I have the ultimate asset - a roommate who actually likes to cook. Dinner time for me, guys. Ciao!