Podcasts

I am interning in Columbus, Indiana which is a good 50 minute drive, one way from Bloomington.

It is a great drive which after a short period of time became a routine. After a few days of hearing the same music over and over again, I realized that why not make this travel time more productive.  In this fast moving world where to remain in sync with what is happening around you is not only important, but required I decided to load my cell phone with podcasts.

Podcasts are short episodes of audio/ video/ combination of both files based on various topics such as technology, sports, news, etc. You can load them onto your cell phone or music device and hear them on the move. You can also stream them online and listen to them on your computer.

Seems like a tedious process right? Well it is not. You just need to have the iTunes music player installed on your computer and a steady internet connection.

I will run you through the steps real quick.

Download iTunes (if you don’t have it)

On the left hand side, you will see podcast, click on it.

You can either enter the podcast (category) you want to search for or browse the directory of podcasts iTunes has to offer.

iTunes Store Podcast directory screen

Here you are, stream / download whatever podcasts you are interested in.

Once the podcasts is downloaded, you can access the mp3 / mp4 files from the windows explorer.  
Simply go on your downloaded podcast, right click on it and click on 

“Show in Explorer”

Actuate BIRT webinar

BIRT (Business Intelligence and Reporting Tool) is an open source software which provides business intelligence and reporting capabilities. I have been working on this tool since quite some time and I enjoy every bit of it. Actuate is the creator of this tool and takes a lot of effort to create awareness of this technology amongst the masses,roadshows and webinars being the two most popular initiatives.  I have attended a few of their webinars in the past and I am looking forward to attending the one on Thursday (17th May) particularly because it is on business intelligence for financial services – optimizing the customer experience. I work in the finance domain and hence this webinar would be a good match for what projects I am working on currently and in the future.

For a comprehensive list of webinars:

http://www.actuate.com/resources/web-seminars/

Business intelligence for financial services – optimizing the customer experience (17th May)

http://www.actuate.com/info/q212wsem-financialservices/ 


Below, is the link to the archived version of this webinar:

http://www.actuate.com/resources/landingpages/?articleid=23678

Hope this helps.

Cheers :)

Soups by design , Columbus - Indiana

After having a really light and tasty lunch, I felt the urge of posting this out here. I work in Columbus, Indiana and recently discovered this really interesting eatery called soups by design in downtown Columbus. It serves a variety of soups combined with a portion of bread, cookie and a choice of sodas/juices for just $5. I had a thai coconut curry soup today and it was really nice. It was quite close to the traditional sambhar that is prepared in India to be had along with dosa (rice pancake).

http://www.yelp.com/biz/soups-by-design-columbus

Amazon student account

An amazon student account is a good way for students to manage their money well and save some of it by getting rid of taxes and shipping costs on eligible items. I use this account and get really good deals on the items that I need to purchase. To avail this benefit you must be pursuing some sought of education at school / college and must have a valid (not expired) student id.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/student/signup/info

List of websites which come in handy in day to day life

Hey, I just felt like putting down a list of websites / apps which come in handy for day to day use and what can be extracted from each of them.

Facebook : Social Networking

LinkedIn : Professional Networking

YouTube : Browsing video, listening to songs 

Spotify : Listening to songs on demand

Big4.com : A good resource for those who plan on getting into a big 4 firm.

Stackoverflow.com : A good resource for technologists who are working on projects and require solutions to various technical issues.

IEEE Computer Society Digital Library : A paradise for computer freaks who love to be up to date with technology in general.

Wikipedia : Online encyclopedia which has information of almost anything and everything you want to know of

Forbes : Source for reliable business and finance information

Bloomberg :  Source for reliable business and financial market news

Harvard Business Review : Brilliant source of information which addresses various topics and challenges faced in business 

All the websites mentioned below are very good sources to find white papers and articles on various domains within technology:

codeproject.com : Software development and design

whitepapers.technologyevaluation.com : a good source to compare technologies when making a technology purchase decision

computerworld.com : be up to date with the happenings in the computer world


Data Science central : A good online resource for the current boom "Big Data'


I have added a link list on the right side bar for ease of use.. 


Cheers :)

Painless ways to lose weight

In this fast life and dynamic routines we tend to ignore what we eat and more importantly how much we exercise our body. I just thought of sharing this link which might be of use to those people who really don’t want to stop eating what they love to eat and also don’t find time to exercise.

http://www.waystoloseweightadvisor.com/10-ways-to-lose-weight

Download all oncourse fall resouces MSIS Class of 2012

It is indeed a time consuming and monotonous process to sit and download each and every resource from your oncourse dashboard. But there is a way out!!

The steps mentioned below are specifically for windows 7 users.

1. Go to http://anyclient.com
2. Click Download.
3. Enter your email address and your name, and click Submit.
4. On the next page, choose the download file for your operating system.
5. Install the file, and run the installation.
6. Once you have AnyClient running by one of the two methods above, you will see two columns; the one on the left is your local system, and the one on the right is the remote system.

To connect to your site's Resources:

1. At the bottom of the page, click Connect.
2. In the bottom left corner of the "Connect" dialog box, click New.
3. A directory called "NewSite" will appear in the "Site Manager" column; you can give this a meaningful name if you want to.
4. Under "General", click in the "Host" field, and enter this URL :  https://oncourse.iu.edu/dav/FA11-BL-BUS-X504-C35607
5. Fill in your Network ID credentials in the "Username" and "Password" fields.
6. From the "Connection type" drop-down list, choose WebDAV.
7. Click Connect.

Now you should see all the available resources of this semester. You can simply drag and drop them into your local PC.

You can repeat step 6 using the url : https://oncourse.iu.edu/dav/FA11-BL-BUS-S541-C40447 for the ERP resouces.

Cheers :)

Short-term friend , Long-term attachment :)

This story traces back to exactly a week back at this time when I was returning from my mundane laundry chores, I found this really restless but adorable puppy speeding towards me in my apartment complex. At first I was confused as to how to react to this site, to be scared of him or to pet him. He stood by me for a few seconds and when he saw another person, he quickly stormed towards him and did the same what he did to me.

After a few hours, a friend of mine and me saw this puppy continuously running around and going to people. Seemed to us like he lost his way and he was trying to retrace his path. His state indicated that was not well fed and was homeless since quite some time. We got him to our patio and made him have some milk till the time one of our friends had rushed out to fetch some dog food. He jumped on the milk and immediately drank three bowls of it, showing how hungry he was. When he was done having the milk he was hesitant to stay with us and was trying hard to escape from the patio. 

We didn’t allow him to do so in his first few attempts, but then we decided to let him go. After this we observed that he continued doing what he did before i.e. went to any person he saw and stood by them for a short amount of time.

An entire day passed and I was out in my patio enjoying some good Bloomington weather. My eyes ran passed an unusual site. The same dog that was there with us 24 hrs back was yet doing what he did the previous evening. He was dirty and weak. I immediately called my friend an asked him to get a leash with which we could have some control over the husky. He was shivering and starving. We gave him some dog food (bought the previous day) and began to clean him. He was not in a good state and he needed someone to take care of him. My friend took this cause up and decided to shelter the dog and bring him back to a normal condition. The Siberian husky was adorable and he was the most active dog I have seen until now. He spent time with us as if he had been with us since a few months. He was lovable. He kept on eating and playing and it portrayed to us as if sleep was not a part of his routine. He would barely get tired, in case he would get tired he would take a short 5 min power nap again and start running around and playing again.

He was truly adorable and made a place in our hearts as if it was our very own doggy. My friend put up ads on various forums about the lost dog and also contacted the Bloomington animal care for assistance as to what was the right action to take with the dog. They suggested to keep him till someone would claim him or give it to them to take care and they would do the needful. Since we had no idea about the history or medical records of the dog, the best course of action for us was to give the dog to the animal care and they would do the right thing to him.  

He stayed at my friend’s house for around two and a half days. The attachment with him just grew ever minute we spent with him and it was very hard to give him away, but that was the best for him. My friend named him ‘oreo’ since his coat resembled one. Even today we all miss him a lot and pray that he would be in the right hands once he is adopted. 

We plan on checking his status with the animal care and dropping by to get a glimpse of him in the coming week.

Blogging topics: Coming Soon...

Drive to Columbus daily

Photography

Rage comics

PJ’s

Volunteer causes

Environment

Research articles

Brainstorming and problem solving on a daily basis

Recruiting

MSIS – People, process and technology 

List of personal favorite websites 

Podcasts

Amazon student account

Coupons - in process

Car maintenance

Thought leadership

Concept of centralized repository to enhance communication

Soups by design

German Engineering 
Live Traffic Feeds - Tested on the blog links 
Dynamic Content Display with use of automation 
Linking a local repository with blog resources, automatically uploading appended files on to the blog 

SQL Capabilties - Common Table Expression
Excel capabilities - Sort multiple rows, based on multiple column values

Help and resources for students aspiring to attend graduate school in united states: In Process
Food options for vegetarians in Bloomington - Indiana
Tips and suggestions for purchasing a new / used car

iPad 4 
Wrapping up the yearlong corporate internship: experience and key takeaways!
Next leap in my career : Spring 2013 @ IU, Full time job @ Ernst and Young - New York in the Technology Advisory space.