Portland State University Visits The 2000 Pacific Northwest Regional ACM Programming Competition

Through the kind auspices of the Portland State University Computer Science Department, seven students and their coach comprising the 2000 PSU ACM Programming Competition Traveling Team were able to visit the ACM Programming Competition Pacific Northwest Regional Contest.

The Trip

The CS Dept. kindly flew us to Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington (just outside of Spokane). This was terrific, as otherwise we would have faced a six or seven hour drive!

There were a variety of fairly trivial hassles getting away from PSU and into our hotel in Spokane, but we finally made it, obtained some food, and were asleep by midnight. The next morning at 7:00, we headed into Cheney, and located the contest site by 8:30 or so.

The competition itself was tough. This year's problems were much harder than last years: after four hours our two teams had but one problem solved between them. Sitting in coach-land, I was near despair.

Fortunately, during the last hour, each of our teams improved their score, finally finishing with two problems apiece. This was a very respectable performance under the circumstances

We returned home Sunday morning tired but happy, and itching with plans for next year's contest.

Pictures

Here's some pictures from the trip. I've arranged them into some kind of order, and touched them up a bit.

	Jane helps to remove the snow from our trusty steed
	Everyone tries to pile into the aptly-named minivan
	The PSU 2000 ACM Programming Competition Traveling Team at the hotel (L-R: Jane, Matt, Noah, Jamey, Loren, Jon, James)
	A tighter shot of the team
	Jon enjoys a lovely breakfast of coffee and donuts before the competition
	Everyone receives a briefing before the start of competition
	The team heads off to the contest (L-R: Matt, James, Jane, Jamey, Noah, Jon, Loren)
	Jane and Matt consider a practice problem
	Jane and Matt continue to ponder
	Noah and Jamey work on a problem
	Jane and Matt have solved one problem (as indicated by the balloon) and puzzle over another
	Back at the airport, James, Jon, and Jane head home
	Loren is ready to go home

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Dramatis Personae:

Noah	Noah Davidson
Loren	Loren Davis
James	James Moore
Jon	Jonathan Nix
Jane	Zhiyin Pan
Matt	Matt Sargent
Jamey	Jamey Sharp