Simple Tableau usage

Got a message saying I may be going over my  mobile minutes usage. I downloaded a file containing all the the voice calls records from Verizon. Now, I was curious of how many minutes I went over my allowance. Tableau to the rescue!
Load the data in Tableau and in less than a minute I got my answers!
** I did not update the "null" values on purpose.

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short cuts do not work some times...

Got a new macbook.  Using it to connect to my desktop at work which is windows. My desktop at work connects to various linux servers.

Now my shortcuts in the linux window are messed up..

The variety of operating systems is taking a toll!

Of what can go wrong at presentations..

This was a scheduled talk at Tableau's annual customer conference (TCC13). I had done a few practice talks and the content looked decent. Slides and demo of connecting to a hadoop cluster running at headquarters.

The setup of my machine was complicated.
1. Powerpoint  slides
2. Tableau desktop running. Already loaded viz'es. Some of these were complicated and take a long time to load
3. vpn in using the hotel internet. My plan was to to connect Tableau Desktop to a Hadoop cluster running in corporate.

All is well as I walked to the podium, all looked good. I then connected my laptop and connected the projector..... and the laptop mouse froze. It stopped working. I was in deep trouble.

Ok, the only option seemed to be rebooting the machine.
A reboot meant:
1. a 5 minute slow reboot
2. time to vpn
3. time to load presentation and software. i.e a 10 minute delay.
And no guarantee that all the data after vpn will load.


An IT expert came and confirmed that a reboot should help. What do I do???

Thinking... if the trackpad does not work - maybe attaching an external mouse will help...The IT guy got usb mouse. fingers crossed...but it did not work. Only the right click worked - no movement.
Next try: use another usb port..- that did not work either.

I announced to the crowd that I am have mouse problems and apologized.

A good Samaritan then got another mouse - it was a Microsoft usb mouse. Plugged it in - and voila - it worked. With renewed energy - I started my talk. Things started flowing and all was well!

ski analysis

So I will be staying in South Lake Tahoe during winter break and would like to ski. Trying to do analysis on what the various ski resorts offer and how much they cost. This is for 2013-14 season.

Resort	Distance from South Lake Tahoe	adult lessons	child lessons	just tickets	comments
Boreal	58miles/1.15hr	$79/$89	Full day $114/$104. Half day: $89/$79		2nd and 3rd time is less expensive at $45, $35
Mt Rose	40miles/58mins	89	89	$69
Sierra	30 mins
Homewood	30 mins

Going to a ski resort is an all day adventure. Is it worth the drive? I think so, as folks pile up buses from the bay area to get here. Enjoy!

strange joy

Its joy for sure but of a strange kind. It happened when my 2 year old did pee pee in her potty. It was joy, happiness and excitement. Must be happening to all or most parents.

Now, what do I do with the big box of diapers that got delivered at my doorstep ?

Indian visa

Need to apply for a Indian Visa for my 2 yr old. Its so tough.. no doubt they are setting it up for middle men. Take a fingerprint of the 2 yr old - scan it, then split up the photo and fingerprint part. and need this and need that.. so complicated..
I need lots of luck to get the visa in one shot.

Cars 2 or Stairs 2

So we went to watch Cars 2 and I ended up watching Stairs 2.

Whats "Stairs 2"?

16 month old Neya was not interested in watching the movie at all. After eating some popcorn, all she wanted to do was go up and down the stairs, run around the movie theater, look at people and have fun. So, I spent most of my time on the stairs of the movie theater going up and down. By the end of the movie, there were 5 other kids doing the same on the stairs.

Its "Stairs 2" as I watched "Stairs 1" when other were watching "Kung Fu Panda 2"

Next time I should just stay at home.

my 3rd

My 3rd daughter was born 8th march 2010 and I am super duper happy. My MIL was not here to there was a lot of tension but it all worked out. Here is how things progressed:
Monday 8th march
7 am : wife thinks it is time
8 am : timing of contractions is confusing.
Now everyone who we met had warned us that 3rd babies take very little time to come. So we were a little worried. 6.5 years ago, we had taken a birth preparation class and they had told us something about babies being born in a car. I did not want to remember this and wanted to get to the hospital.
Our hospital was El Camino hospital in mountain view and we had to go from start to end of freeway 237. I told Santoshi that we should not leave between 9am and 10am. Carpool ends at 9am and the traffic is a mess.

Well, after 8 the contractions started increasing. Urvi was awake and Anvi was still sleeping. By 8.30 all awake, and we tried to call Sandhya .. hmm.. answering machine... what luck. We needed to drop the kids. We knew that kids would be comfortable at Sandhya's.
Phone rang back and Sandhya had not left for office.. good. She would be the lucky one to take care of the kids. :-). She was most graceful in accepting the responsibility and I will remember this forever.
By the time we packed and left it was 9.15. Traffic was a mess and took 20 mins to reach her place. Girls were happy with their maushi. Left the carseats for her and by the time we reached the hospital it was 10.15 nish

We called up Santoshi's mom on way to the hospital. She was packing to leave for US (from India_. Nice. She had got her Visa at 6pm the same day - got an e-ticket immediately and was going to fly 8 hrs later. As it takes 24 hrs to travel, she would be the last family member to get the news of my 3rd.

Dropped Santoshi at the entrance of the hospital and searched for parking. Place was packed. Were there so many babies in the making? or were so many people sick? I donno.

Parked in YMCA parking lot as after 5 min of searching for parking I really did not care. It felt more like 30 mins of searching for parking.

Well, we had not pre-registered at the hospital.. and need to show id/insurance etc and we were set.
Hospitals in US are nice about these things. No trouble in getting in. Dont know if they immediately called up insurance or ran a credit check on me as I turned my back on the registration office.

10.34 was when we got in the L&D room. Nurse checked Santoshi and gave the green light to be admitted. Today was the day.

12.30, nurse says that labor progress is good.

2.30, she says the same thing.

What happened? 3rd ones are supposed to come fast.

So when it finally happened - it was fast. Time was just after 4pm and it reminded me of Urvi and Anvi. Newborn Neya looked just like them and if not more I was equally happy.