And so the whole DIP episode has come to an end this week.. started with an uphill climb trying to get past the rest of the Power Division projects during the first round of the competition on Tuesday. Well, Murphy and his law dropped by on Tuesday during the presentation, leaving us with better than expected sunshine, which resulted in an increase in the current which eventually left our whole circuit oscillating. (interested in murphy’s law? I highly recommend the book Why the Toast Always Land Butter Side Up.. heh..) Well, from where I was, I guess I could see that the judges’ minds were oscillating too, I’m just thankful that we were the first team to present.. Thank God that we were group E001. haha.. they say that in competitions like these, the first group will always leave a better impression. Well, maybe THAT plus the fact that prof Handsome is gonna leave, so maybe that’s why we sorta got in. But you really can’t deny the fact that we put in our hundred percent and then some, to make it happen.. like we also emphasize.. ‘Everything was done from scratch’..
So anyway, right after judges left, we had to await the results of the thing, which was said to be released at 1700 hours. Handsome strolled in and managed to get the rest of us, who were just about to watch Pirates of the Caribbean on the projector, to get started with the project again.. That went on till I got back and eventually heard the news that we got through the first round, and that we were now in the top 6, vying for the top 3 positions.. So you could pretty much expect the excitement that followed in the morning when we all came back to the lab.. and well, thankfully, some stuff actually did work out. And we managed to power up a Lamp and a Fan. Hmm.. the mood, Delirious. Haha, it was frenzy all over again rushing out to take pictures of the fan and the lamp working.. haha. Abit silly thinking of it now..
That's us with the working circuit. The Fan and Lamp is on the left.. I had a crazy perpetual motion idea. You use the power from the circuit to drive the computer, which produces the switching signals to the circuit, which activates the circuit and provides the power which you use to drive the computer... *repeat* haha..
So there we were 48 hours away from the competition, making it just in time and getting the silly thing to work.. quite a feat I’d say. As Handsome puts it himself, he never expected us to get this far.. haha.. perhaps that’s what you get when you throw a bunch of 20 post NS guys together.. you probably get some sort of an efficiency that would be otherwise hard to come by.. and so we went on to the final competition on Thursday where I had to give a presentation in the LT..
Some said I didn’t look nervous at all, but hey.. who am I kidding.. I’ve given orders to a company before but this is different, add that to the fact one of the judges was falling asleep.. argh. The audacity of some of these creatures.. so again, I’m thankful that I was the first group to present.. at least you get to set the standard and thankfully, the second group didn’t manage to deliver their presentation that well, so that gave a slightly better contrast to our advantage. =) thank God.
That's our little booth during the final competition.. with the main group of judges.And the end result, we got a Silver, 2nd position. Well, of course I’m a little sore (and we all are) about not getting Gold. But I guess, we all agree that even coming to the top 6 was a milestone for all of us and esp Handsome.. so none of us really bitched about it. We gladly accepted it and then went on to a terrific international buffet dinner at Miranmar Hotel, to mark the end and also as a farewell for Handsome.. Nice place, nice food and ever so relaxing, having closed the curtain to this chapter of my academic life.. kudos to all 19 of you.. thanks!
TOP: Wilson (our dua tao), receiving the award from the Big Boss of EEE. I think he's now the Chairman for the College of Engineering of NTU. BOTTOM: Raggio Di Sole.. Silver Award Winner.
LEFT: That's the official slip that we get for our silver award.. the coupon to 'exchange' our prizes.RIGHT: Farewell and End-of-Frame dinner for Handsome at Miranmar.
Oh and it’s June.. June 9. hmm.. my 3rd anniversary from my enlistment date.. haha. That was one day I’ll never forget. So anyway.. new month = new quote of the month. =) I just love this one.
Quote of the Month for June.. despair.. utter despair.. heh..
