"My 15 minutes of fame"

Last year, while in class, there was a presentation by geosmart about location innovation, a competition that tries to find innovative applications for use with current maps available on AAmaps.After learning about some of the categories, I decided to give it a shot.....but I was hesitant since I am not exactly a star programmer. I applied for entry but I never worked on it...I mean totally NOTHING was done...I soon forgot about it until one day, I was awakened by a happy voice, and she asked if I was ready to submit my entry. Awake and drowsy, I couldn't care less...so I told her I haven't done jack.....and that I didn’t think I could submit anything within that time. She then asked if I would submit something if the deadline was extended for a week because they were officially extending the deadline. I agreed, perhaps just to get back to sleep...lol I didn't do much after that, but when the weekend came, I started thinking of an idea my friend told me about....she was the one that got me on the way to this idea of a GPS software switch.....which was quite unique, I started putting some words and ideas together. My idea was to develop an application that would change alert profiles based on location. I always found that I sometimes forget to switch my phone to silent mode during class….and I know I wasn’t the only one..lol I remember class being interrupted by annoying ringtones….although some were quite pleasantly annoying haha….well, what if...you didn’t have to switch your phone profile every time you go into a cinema or to class or to a meeting?? This was the entire basis for my concept application. One week later, I still had not completed it so when I got a call this time, I said that it was okay, I cannot enter since it was still incomplete. I told her about my idea so she must have liked it, she gave me another 3 days and I was able to complete it and submit…FINALLY! It would have been a waste if I didn’t get it in coz I really worked hard at it. Then I didn’t hear from her until they had the awards, she called to confirm my attendance and I told her I would be there…..and so I was there, fashionably late…lol there were free drinks so I had a Heineken and my lecturer was there, I told him that I entered and he said that was good. At this point, Sarah had not seen me so no one knew I was there….and then they announced “unfortunately our next category winner wasn’t able to make it”….and when I saw my name on the projector…I quickly raised my hand and waved at Sarah…she invited me up to receive the award for “outstanding student entry” it was super cool……I had never really won too many awards in my life so this was a great experience for me :)

I got an envelope and a framed certificate and I thought wow, this is great….I thanked them and was about to get off the stage area when they announced that I also get a blackberry pearl with GPS…..now this is the part way you try to remain calm..lol I was so happy, it was the best prize I ever won…totally cool and I was always thinking of getting a new phone anyway, didn’t think I’d actually win it…the evening ended with some conversation with the people there and then I personally thanked Sarah with a kiss on the cheek..she was glad I could make it. I had an awesome time…and only had 1 beer the whole night :) I’m glad that Sarah was just like my mom, very pushy lol but I should really call it motivating and not pushing….well, I am glad I participated in such a cool competition. My School had used the pic for a promotional in the newspapers back in Fiji...I got congratulations all around :) thanks everyone!
I’m looking forward to working now and putting my skills to good use. But I have to wait for my work permit to be processed…its taking ages!