At some point, you have to realize that despite your best efforts, you can't fit square pegs in round holes.
I learned a lot of lessons this past quarter in my Software Engineering class, and these are the amazing people I learned them with. The name "Team Yahoo" came from our first meeting, when one team member suggested that we use a Yahoo! Group to stay coordinated. It seemed like a great idea, since we figured we'd be working on the project remotely and communicating mostly online. Boy were we wrong.
We spent countless hours together in the lab, including a grueling marathon between this past Monday and Wednesday in which we worked an average of 12 hours a day in the labs. It definitely was trying and stressful for all of us, but in the end, the bonds we formed (of friendship, dare I say?) made us a much better team.
I'm really thankful that we came together so well as a team: we didn't have all the technical skills some other groups had (none of us had experience with Java, the language we had to work with), but the fact that we actually got along with each other gave us an edge. Our final product was stellar, IMHO, something we'd definitely show to potential employers. In contrast, the class is full of stories of unhelpful and non-contributing members bringing entire groups down.
On to the pictures…
Memorial Day, in the labs. Excluding yours truly, Team Yahoo is (from left to right): Chris, Loria, Vicky, and Kevin. Not the greatest picture, but I kept it because I like the look on Vicky's face. :P
Memorial Day, again. A light moment, though Chris is unfortunately not in this one.
Everyone looking pensive, including the guy in the background, who's also in our class.
Picture taken after initial evaluation by the grader on Friday. We got 100%, so we were pretty stoked. Unfortunately, the guy who took the picture overestimated how tall we were.
Picture of Team Yahoo in the Kemper Hall lobby. In our excitement, we accosted many unsuspecting strangers to take pictures of us. Kevin and I ended up with the same shirt, but he outclassed me by wearing a tie.
The fruit of our labor, OfficeTalk: a purchasing system for (you guessed it) offices.
Unfortunately, this picture didn't turn out too great (flash off...doh!), but I kept it cuz I love the expressions.
We retried the picture, and it's almost as good. The smiles are genuine: Chris said something funny (as usual) right before the picture was taken. Our excitement paid off, too: our demonstration to the client (our professor role-playing) went really well, and we got full credit on that too.
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