Free(bird) parking: Priya Ramesh Mehta and Barbara Zister Daly snapped these photos of a pair of geese parking on someone else's dime (not to mention their Toyota) in Lot A last Thursday. I'm sure this vehicle's next destination was a car wash.

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From unpacking to hacking

by Andrea Banerjee, reprinted from the Fall issue of the Inside sCo-op newsletter

Aamir Mansoor and Cameron McKinnon recently finished up an incredible term at Sugar CRM, a young California-based company. Highlights from their work term include hanging out with comedian Dave Chappelle, taking first place at the World Series of Hack Competition, and winning an all-expenses-paid trip to the conference of their choice. Needless to say, these two make a fantastic team; they’re motivated, energetic and work incredibly effectively together. If it weren’t for co-op however, they might not even know each other’s name.

A Sunny Start-Up

As they boarded a plane for the Golden State, Aamir and Cameron were strangers. Each was embarking on an international work term at a company called Sugar CRM in Cupertino, California. As the only two Software Engineering co-ops in a company of about 150 employees, Aamir and Cam quickly became good friends, colleagues and temporary roommates. In the close-knit Engineering department at Sugar CRM, Cam says, “We were a unit.” They worked to improve CRM software by adding gamification elements-a project that was fun and rewarding.

Cam and Aamir agree that the company “still has a start-up environment,” which allowed them to feel integral to the team. “I wanted to work at Sugar because it was small,” says Aamir. “I liked the fact that when we were working on something, everybody knew it. The work we were doing was being recognized.” Indeed there were many perks to working at a young company. The CEO and CTO would regularly stop by Aamir and Cam’s workstations. Ping pong tournaments and late night take-out were regular events. In fact, the team was so close that one evening the VP of Engineering took Aamir and Cam to a Dave Chappelle show in San Francisco, where they were introduced to the comedian. “It was really cool,” recalls Cam. “He was a high school friend of the VP’s.”

Challenge Accepted

Perhaps the most exciting opportunity for Aamir and Cam began when their supervisor asked them if they’d be interested in participating in an upcoming hack-a-thon. While the term “hack” may bring to mind malicious computer break-ins, Cam explains that it has taken on a new meaning. He describes hacking as “a culture in Silicon Valley,” in which the word has been re-appropriated. “Now it just means working really hard on a competing project,” says Cam.

“Hack-a-thons” are 8-hour, 12-hour, or sometimes even 48-hour events, where teams work tirelessly to complete a project. In the course of the hack-a-thon, competitors will take their work right from its idea stage to a finished product to be presented to a panel.

Aamir and Cam competed in the Mozilla-hosted World Series of Hack competition (seen at right) in San Francisco, an intern-based event with competing teams from Facebook, Google and Yahoo!, among others. As young co-ops from a small company, they recall being asked “Who is Sugar CRM?” Undeterred, they worked through the night on their clever idea: “We made an add-on for Firefox that lets you keep track of how much time you’re spending on productive and non-productive sites,” explains Aamir. The add-on includes a graphing capability that generates a visual comparison of the time spent on each. “It’s a whole suite of controls to [track] how you spend your time,” says Aamir.

After hours of work, each team was given exactly three minutes to present their product to a panel of judges. “That’s not a lot of time,” says Cam. “You want to go up there, say what your project is, what it does, and how it helps people.” Their pitch, paired with a smart, unique project, won them first place. The add-on, now called “Surf Control,” is available for open-source download.

The Kings of Hack

Aamir (left, pictured three hours into the hack competition) and Cam beat out close to 300 competitors to take the grand prize: a trip of their choice to any conference in the United States. Now back in Waterloo, the pair remain humble in spite of their success. Celebrities and contests weren’t the best part of the experience. “My favourite thing was being around so many smart people,” says Cam. “This was my first work term…and it was just instant access to so much knowledge.” Unsurprisingly, profit wasn’t a motivation for these partners either; their product is available for anyone to download. The reward is the satisfaction of hard work, the opportunity to share innovation, and the joy of seeing an idea from start to finish. As Aamir simply puts it, “It’s the Waterloo spirit.”

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Congress 2012 volunteers needed

A message from the Congress 2012 organizers

Congress 2012 of the Humanities and Social Sciences will bring more than 7,500 delegates from across Canada to the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University. The host universities are looking for volunteers to help with the successful execution of this exciting conference and to help welcome these delegates to the Kitchener-Waterloo region.

Congress 2012 involves thousands of academic sessions, special events and receptions. The volunteer opportunities available from May 26 to Jun 2, 2012, include:

• Campus ambassadors
• Audio-visual and information technology monitors
• Airport ambassadors
• Uptown Waterloo ambassadors | Downtown Kitchener ambassadors
• Special event attendants

Students, faculty and staff are welcome, and training will be provided. If you are interested in volunteering for Congress 2012, please go online and fill out the volunteer application form.

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Monday's memos

If at some point next week it seems to you that the students on campus are getting younger and younger, don't fret, it's because Waterloo Unlimited, the high school enrichment program for students in grades 10-12 will be hosting a Grade 11 Design Program from Monday to Friday. "From engineering and the environment to science fiction and virtual reality, students will spend a week exploring the theme of Design with a community of like-minded peers.

Waterloo Unlimited will be hosting a Grade 10 program on the theme of Change in May, and a Grade 12 program with "Roadmap to Research" as the theme in November 2012.

Here's the latest Nutrition Month "myth vs. truth" nutrition tip from Health Services dietician Sandra Ace.

"Myth": Everyone needs to drink eight glasses of water a day.
"Truth": Water is your best choice for staying hydrated , so sip often, especially in hot weather or when you’re active. However you don’t need to drink exactly 8 glasses a day. The amount you need depends on many factors, including your age, physical size, activity level and environmental conditions like heat and humidity. Other liquids, like milk, tea and coffee are also hydrating, as are foods like soups, watermelon and tomatoes.

If you have any questions or comments about these tips, which are running the month of March in support of Nutrition Month, please contact Sandra.

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