No, we didn't play football or hockey, but did I ever tell you about the programming contest I entered to defend Rice's honor? Nathan's post has me reminiscing about Rice, which brings back the following painful memory.

While a sophomore at Rice, I was drafted for the Rice team to participate in the ACM Programming Contests (which are still held by the way). They didn't want me for any reason except that I was a notoriously fast typist. At that time, each team had one terminal, so a fast typist could win the day. We easily won the regional contest, and we headed to Kansas City for the national contest. While at the regional contest, my team mates noticed that I wasn't just typing fast; I was also correcting some of the mistakes in their programs. So at the national contest I became a full member of the team.

At the national contest, while our advisor Ken Kennedy (he's sitting to the right of the guy who "invented the Internet") paced outside the hall, we went up against teams from NYU, Wash U, and elsewhere.

The NYU team was interesting because they brought about 3 metric tons of text books with them, and each team member proudly wore a pocket protector.

The Wash U team beat us, and all the other teams, to take first place. The trophy to attest to this is in our departmental office in the glass case outside the Chair's office. Now you know why I don't spend much time in that area of our building.