Back in a lecture hall

I'm on the train back from Princeton. My co-worker and I just gave a presentation to a lecture hall of potential Google summer interns and full-time employees. It was really a lot of fun doing a tag-team presentation!

The trip started off on the wrong foot. We had to finish preparing the slide transitions on the train down to Princeton and managed to sit in the single quiet car on the whole train. Yes, we were the annoying people getting shushed by fellow passengers as we repeated the main points of each slide three times over. It probably didn't help that the topic was the operational transformation algorithm used in Google Docs for collaboration...

But the presentation went off great. I joked about Jeff having a couch at his desk at work since last April Fools. Jeff tried to convince them that I had respect for him, because he actually pretends to write some code every so often. And we both relived our albeit short, but hopefully illustrative careers at Google. Oh and all I got for this was a yellow silly band that says Google. :)

It's been almost four years since I stood in front of a lecture hall filled with CS students and it was quite exhilarating. A complete different kind of energy than standing in front of a room of co-workers.

I just got an email about the 5 year reunion since I got my Bachelors. Weird.

P.S. Does anyone know a song about trains? My default "the wheels on the bus go round and round" that I sing on the bus to and from I-town is failing me...

Scuba diving in Cairns

Here's how we spent Max's 22nd birthday: photos.

Scuba diving is fun, scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef doubly so (or at least that's my estimate, because this was my first time). I recommend it!

We found Nemo, various other fishes, corals, giant mollusks, and supposedly a shark hiding in a reef which the instructor tried to poke at, but it didn't want come out. We got to pet a couple different kinds of sea cucumbers.

I also tried snorkeling for the first time, but found it more difficult than diving. I kept getting water in my snorkel when I tried to dive with it.

Sydney week 1

The days in Sydney kind of flew by because of work. Monday night was drinks with co-workers, Tuesday was walking the Botanical Gardens and dinner at a Thai place and yesterday was Madame Butterfly at the opera. Some photos are here.

Today we flew to Cairns in an attempt to see the Great Barrier Reef. The most surprising part of the whole trip so far was that no one checked our passports (or any other form of id) to get on the domestic flight. We'll see if it ever stops raining.

G'day mate

Anyone out there?