At 9.30 am local time, 300 feet below the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, the most powerful particle accelerator ever built became fully operational.

The Large Hadron Collider is activated !!!! RUNNN !!!!

I see Her everyday, first thing when I wake up. I see Her when I go hiking, when I eat and when I drink, when I swim and when I look for marmotes. She follows me everywhere and She is always there to protected me.

The Matterhorn is in people's dreams even before seeing it.

Where am I? :)

I am back among the living after a domestic disaster involving a broken water heater and a flooded router. Ouch! XP

I promised I would publish my solutions for the 2 first problems of the Google Code Jam Qualification Round on Friday but my computer was just too wet to work... sorry....

Ok! Here they are, better late than never. I used Java to solve both problems. You can read the problem statement and/or view my solution by clicking on the links. I think my code is quite clear and easy to read. If you have any question, please leave a comment. ;)


- Problem 1. Saving the Universe

( Java Solution ) 


- Problem 2. Train Timetable 

( Java Solution )

The Google Code Jam 2008 has begun! Weeeeeeee!  ô^0^ô

The Qualification Round will last 24 hours. We have 3 problems to solve in this round.
I have just printed out the problem statements and will read them all and think of some method to solve them before going to sleep. It is already 2:30 in the morning. Too late to start coding I'm afraid... XP

My intention is to wake up early and have something solved before lunch time. I have a job interview at 15pm. And that trip will steal at least three hours of my coding time. :(

Anyway, If I can solve the problems in 24 hours, I can also get through the qualification round in 21.

We will see. Wish me luck!  ;P

I had always wanted to meet an astronaut and I met three at a time. What else can I ask for? :D
I enjoyed the conference to bits. I would say it was very inspiring, to say the least.

They talked about a bunch of interesting subjects. They made a short introduction at the beginning and spent the rest of the time answering questions from the audience. People from everywhere in the Globe spoke their minds and raised questions to the astronauts; Chinese, Indians, Canadians, Germans, Spaniards... It was like a tiny United Nations!

The astronauts were questioned and talked for two hours about space walks, the main issues of a long space manned trip to Mars, space tourism, the end of the Shuttle program, curiosities and experiences on board the ISS, about new voyages to the Moon, etc, etc... They even talked about Arthur C. Clarke and Science Fiction and how Space has been and will always be a great source of inspiration.

Some curious bits that caught my attention:

• Pedro Duque didn't know who Paris Hilton was. We found this quite amusing! BRAVO PEDRO FOR NOT WASTING PRECIOUS BRAIN SPACE WITH CRAP!!!! I must follow his example! XD
  
• Another curious story was that of Jeff Hoffman in a spacecraft watching a meteor entering the atmosphere. He is an astronomer and at first he thought that could NOT be a meteor because it was... below him! XD
  
• Robert Thirsk was probably who impressed me the most. He is a Mechanical Engineer, a Doctor of Medicine and got an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management. All in ... one ... single ... person. Currently, Thirsk is assigned to a long duration mission onboard the ISS. He will launch as a Mission Specialist on the Soyuz scheduled for July 2009. Impressive! *___*

I loved it! I will now seriously look into those ESA job offers I'm getting by email everyday! I want to become part of the Space Program and contribute to Mars exploration!

To summarize it all: I think it was the most beautiful conference I've attended in years.

Any programmer out there entering the Google Code Jam?
The qualification round starts on July 16 2008! :)
I have never entered any coding competition and I want to give it a try, just for the fun of it!

I feel like coding! Hehe! XD

Ya es oficial, tengo una nueva obsesión: los KARTS.

Creo que todo empezó hace unos meses, en el Curso de Conducción Segura. Como ya os comenté en posts anteriores, me lo pasé genial y aprendí muchísimo. Me enseñaron a trazar curvas, cómo funcionaba el contravolante, las maravillas e inconvenientes de la tracción trasera, etc, etc...

Desde ese momento, quise volver a probar los derrapes y el sitio ideal era el circuito de karts (hacerlo por la calle quedaba feo... ^^U). Así que engañé a mis compis del trabajo y nos fuimos al Indoor Karting Barcelona a hacer unas tandas.

¿Qué pasó? Que el mismo día nos hicimos socios y ahora vamos, semana sí semana no, a dar vueltas al circuito como unos descosidos. Nunca pensé que esto sería tan divertido......... ni tan doloroso.......... XDDDD

La primera vez que monté en el kart hice un tiempo de vuelta de 46 segundos y pico. Ahora me doy cuenta que iba muy de tranquis, nunca pisaba el acelerador a fondo por falta de costumbre y todo el mundo me adelantaba. Mis amigos acababan agotados y doloridos y yo estaba tan fresca como una rosa.

Ayer fui al karting de nuevo con mis amigos viciados. Mi tiempo ha bajado a 39 segundos y pico y... ¡me duele todo el cuerpo! ^___^UUU

Me duelen las manos de agarrar el volante muy fuerte. Me duele la parte trasera de las piernas, justo por encima del tobillo, porque en el kart hay una p*** barra blanca que no sé para qué c*** sirve y que se me clava durante todo el rato (ver foto más abajo). Me duele la parte interna de las rodillas de la presión contra el depósito de combustible. Y sobre todo, me duele horrores la espalda porque aguanta toda la fuerza. ¡Tengo tres moratones enormes a lo largo de la columna y parece que me hayan pegado una paliza!

Pero no me importa en absoluto porque disfruto como una enana. :D
Yo creo que a mediados de la semana que viene ya estaré lista para volver a la pista. MUAJAJAJAJA! XD

Este es uno de los karts en los que corrí hace unas semanas:

Más información sobre mi nuevo vicio, remezclada con otras frikadas, en próximos posts...... ;)