Life at Tech never seems to get boring. Probably the most interesting thing to happen to me in the last week was my CS 1050 class last Thursday. I walked into the class to realize way too many people were talking at the same time. It took me a minute to realize that they students were trying to cash in on Dr. Ellen Zegura's promise of one class to be held outdoors. Though in the end, Ellen decided to stay in due to the lack of a white board, she had to excuse herself to visit the rest room 5 minutes into the class.

It was at this point that Jared Fry (Fry boy as I like to refer to him after a year in Hall Council together) and I decided to find a white board on wheels. We soon found this in the storage closet with help from the facilities people and returned to class 5 minutes later towing a white board much to the surprise and amusement of both the Students and the Professor. What can I say? I live to amuse.

The class soon moved out into the grass outside the Klaus building and I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Only thing I can say is that this change of setting was refreshing and shows that our prof are truly ready to try new things. It was indeed a success. No one got sick or anything and the weather was great. I even learned some interesting stuff about IP Addresses.

With Registration taken care of for the coming two semesters it looks like I know exactly what I will be doing for the rest of 2009 and I can't wait for April to end so that with May, the rest of my awesome year can begin.

Summer

For the summer, I decided to finally take a break from being a lunatic with my time commitments and have decided to catch a break before I collapse from over-exertion. For those who know me well enough, basically this means try to get enough sleep every single day of the week (considering that this post is being written at 4am, you know exactly what I mean).

I will be taking 1 class during the first short semester (mini-mesters are so much more fun). This will be the Introduction to Psychology class. Should be an easy way to get that out of the way so that I don't have any pre-requisite issues for my other classes. Being only 5 weeks long, it shouldn't get in the way of me enjoying my vacations either. I will also be working about 15-20 hours a week for Cedric Stallworth. Not exactly sure what my job description is but I trust Cedric to make it fun. I do know that there is some PHP coding to be done and I will most probably be joined by Chris Stuckey. The job should keep me occupied (and ensure I don't sleep all day long) and also will be a way for me to not drive myself crazy due to boredom - Me being bored is not good, things usually end up exploding or in 3 or more pieces.

On top of these there are a couple things I hope to get done over the summer for self improvement (A.K.A. cause it is fun). These include learning as much PHP and RoR as I can cram into my head. Definitely have a study buddy for RoR, looking for one for PHP. I have also been talking with an Atlanta startup to possibly work with them for a while over the summer to help their marketing efforts. Should be interesting how that turns out. I will also be setting things up for the Young Entrepreneurs Society so that I don't have to scram at the last minute and also be fine tuning some pre-napkin stage startup ideas over the summer.

That about wraps up my summer. It might sound like a lot but should be a pretty relaxed time for me. One thing I hope to achieve is to stay awake for more time with the sun in the sky than with it on the other side of the planet. Should be fun.

Fall

Now this is the semester I am probably looking forward to the most. Just the fact that there are so many awesome new things is probably enough justification for this. Another thing is probably the return of my friends who are heading home for the summer and the arrival of a new group of freshman to make up for the loses due to "getting out" of Tech (we all in the CoC know of the one exception to that rule). There is just so much going on that I am going to divide this into sections.

Classes

First of all , registration was a breeze. Mainly cause I cheated :). Due to having really great friends with time tickets earlier than mine, I was able to make sure I got into all my classes without a hassle this semester. Don't even need a permit for anything.

Now most Tech Students who see my schedule will notice the shafting involved but I actually like it. The 9:00am classes make sure I get up (and trust me, I will be getting up for a class with Morley and I hope Nitya and Moinak will help me with the other ones). The relatively free afternoon will be optimal for me to get work done and also having Monday and Friday evenings free will help me focus on the Speaker Series on Mondays and relaxing on Fridays (its important for my sanity and indirectly yours).

My favorite part is having friends in my classes. Nitya is probably in 3 of my classes and I know atleast 2-3 people in every class. So, having people I know to keep me on track and help me out when I am going crazy is not much of a problem. So, these are my classes for the Fall: Combinatorics, Calculus 3 for CS, CS 2340 (do people actually ever use its real name), Educational Technology and Habitable Planet.

Young Entrepreneurs Society

We are done with one semester I am already looking forward to the next year. I have been informed by one of my financial contributors that our first semester was indeed a success and we will be getting a reinvestment for the second semester. I am going to be working to get the coming year set up over this summer so that this doesn't become a stress causer in the fall. I am sticking to my original "No Officer" rule (basically, YES is run like a benevolent dictatorship which works well for me cause things just get done faster. I like to say I run it like I start-up and this is true to an extent). I am looking for people to help me make this organization a success once again.

We will be sticking to some of our successful events from the past. 16 speakers series sessions spread out over the two semesters and this time, I will be formulating a "syllabus" so that the speakers each speak on a topic that is relevant and in a structured order. That will be my major project for the summer and I am very open to any and all input. We will also be having coffee meetings at starbucks which will happen at random times yet to be determined (I don't want to schedule 2 regular meetings every week).

I am once again budgeting for a Conference Fund that will be used for helping students attend Startup Weekend, Startup Riot and the such. The students who went to Startup Riot found it very useful and at least one found a job.

So, here is the fun part. What's new you ask? Not one, not two but THREE new events. The first is the Startup Fair. Tentatively scheduled for mid November, this will be an opportunity for Startup companies to recruit from the best that Tech can offer. I want to connect students to the totally different world that exists within startups and also to their future partners. As I say, don't work for big brother, work for the next big brother(and take stock options). All companies interested, contact me for more information. Next event is basically a Dinner for Studentrepreneurs and Successful Entrepreneurs (and those who are both) to interact in an informal setting over dinner. The Final event is schedule for early April and is a surprise for now. More info coming soon.

I am also working with a couple companies that like the direction this organization is going in and want to help the students out and not sure exactly how we will work them into this but we will (Hey, don't look at me. I have a couple months to figure it all out). Any companies, organizations and people interested in helping us out, do let me know. Always looking for sponsors.

UCouncil

Most people might have notice the College of Computing's Undergraduate Council has not been very active the last year. Some of you have also informed me that this organization has outlived its life and needs to be done with. Well, we have been working hard behind the scenes and found something a need (don't even get me started on that) that we thing we will be suited to filling.

With the recent change in administration in the CoC and with a new Dean scheduled to arrive in August, we will need to create a voice for the undergrads. UCouncil will be transforming into the representative body for the Undergrads at CoC. We hope to serve both an advisory as well as lobbying board on matters of undergraduate concerns. Now I just have to figure out how we are going to achieve that (:P I have a couple ideas). UCouncil is looking for members for the coming year.

I am not sure what role I will be serving on this organization but I am going to be running for President a week from now. Wish me luck.

FIREwall

With my other involvements, I was originally planning on reducing my involvement from the FIREwall. Unfortunately, I made the decision of informing one Mansi Sharma of the fact. Current status on FIREwall: being blackmailed into staying on the exec board(by Mansi of course). Well, though I love this organization that I help shape into what it is today, I will definitely drive myself crazy trying to be any of the editorial positions without help from someone (one willing to do atleast half the work). Therefore, Badnews: I will NOT be running for Chief Layout Editor. I will still be active on the paper side with some help with layout editing (being an indesign guru must be of some use) and also write a couple articles once in a while.

Not to be disappointed, I still hope to be a part of the FIREwall's leadership. Despite Mansi "Blackmailing me" into this situation, I am doing what I do best (NO! It is not doing way too much work. I meant do something that suits me and will be less work) and will be running for atleast one position tomorrow. I think I have found the best solution to my time problem and trust me, most of you are in for a surprise tomorrow.

Mentoring

Interesting is all I can say about this. A totally new program that could create a legacy or  end up a disaster. In other words, a place where I fit best. I will be one of the mentors for a group of about 10 incoming freshman and will be helping them better adjust to life at Tech and College and provide them with the resources and connections they need. Thats the official shbeel. In reality, I'll just be their friend and a good one at that and help them the same way I do any other friend. I am not that worried about how I would do having both been a Team Leader for GT-1000 and also having played a psuedo-unofficial-mentor role to a couple incoming freshman. (They got really impressed by the fact that I was driving a golf cart and it went from there. The rest is a long story, a really long story. I could actually make a movie from everything that happened last year.)

Look forward to meeting the newbies (got to make a little fun of the younglings) and have a lot of hope in the new program.

Community and Misc

Thought that wraps up the majority of my future semester, I also plan to remain involved in the community (both CoC and Startup). For Startup, I will continue to attend S O Breakfasts on Monday mornings (There is one in 2 hours). Don't forget to say hi to me at #ASW3, #CapitalLounge, #AWE and whenever you drop by 5th st. Starbucks.

Within the CoC, I will be rejoining (though I have been told I never left) the Student Activities Board as a regular member and all round (crazy) idea guy. Will also be exercising my honorary membership with Women@CC (one of 3 males to have an honorary membership. I am a member cause me and W@CC have the same goals, i.e. more women in the CoC and also because W@CC holds all the coolest events). And no! despite popular belief, I don't plan to start another organization in the Fall but you never know when I will get an awesome idea.

I'm also thinking of being a TL again for GT-1000 but have yet to make my mind.

After a very successful first semester, the Young Entrepreneurs Society's maiden Speaker Series is coming to an end today. I look forward to Jason Ardell sharing his experience with FeedScrub.

For those interested, the session is today at 5:30pm in the Klaus building Room 1116 East (GT Campus)

I plan to have Arbys to fill you stomachs too.

If you are a Tech student, you have probably already heard about the new organization on campus called the Young Entrepreneurs Society. Even if you are not, you might have read about us on AtlanTech. Well, here is the story of how this organization started.

I had some vague ideas forming in my head ever since Atlanta Startup Weekend 2. I was not sure of what exactly what they were until around 5 am on the way to a late dinner/early breakfast after a really long night of FIREwall work.

I realized that morning that not many Tech students to my knowledge were commercializing their ideas. A couple great ideas were out there, but the money was not rolling in. I was talking to a couple friends and we realized that you never hear about a Facebook or Google that came out of Georgia Tech.

My first step was to organize my ideas and put it down on paper. I created a business plan for the organization (which at that time was called the SEC: Society for Entrepreneurs in Computing). I revised this several times, each time receiving input from fellow students, entrepreneurs, faculty and administrators at Tech. Props go to Vinutha Prabhakar, Shaun Zacharia, Chris Stuckey, Josh Silver and Kristin Marsicano who gave me a lot of input and whether they know it or not, their input did cause some changes from my original idea.

Once I had a final plan ready, I approached Cedric Stallworth (Assistant Dean of Outreach, Enrollment and Community for the College of Computing at Tech). Over lunch we discussed how the society was going to work (and whether it was going to work) and by the end of the hour I had $1,500 in funding to get this off the ground. Two days later, I met with Merrick Furst (Former Associate Dean of the College of Computing) who not only agreed to be the advisor for this organization but also offered $1,000 in funding.

After some thinking over how I was actually going to do this (and whether I was going to be able to do it) over the break, I got onto working on marketing the organization and getting speakers lined up as soon as I got back in Atlanta. Terris Johnson was kind enough to make the logo for this new organization. Special thanks to Mary Alice Blane of the College of Computing for her help in getting speakers. Stephen Fleming was the first speaker we got lined up and props to him for replying to my email, offering his help within 2 minutes of me sending the email.

Since then, we have had 5 great speakers including David Sung, Jeff Levy, Sig Mosley and Lance Weatherby. Our speaker sessions get about 30-40 people each week and a dozen or so come to the weekly thursday meetings and this number is only growing. We are already integrating ourselves with the Atlanta Startup Community. Recently, we were able to send a couple students to Startup Riot.

For the future, my goals for this organization are to provide students with the resources and access they need to be successful entrepreneurs. We have only just begun and there is a long way to go and any help is welcome. Look forward to seeing you at our next meeting.

So, due to popular demand (15 people in 15 minutes), I have decided to make this blog. I hope to maintain this one unlike my previous attempt at this, mainly due to the fact that I have a truly awesome content management system going on (last time, I totally messed up and tried to maintain a blog with plain HTML page. Not one of my better ideas).

Well, there you have it. My very first post. Posted before the site is even complete so that I can check out how it looks. Stay tuned for more interesting posts in the near future.