Thursday, December 19, 2013

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.


ResortDistance from South Lake Tahoeadult lessonschild lessonsjust ticketscomments
Boreal58miles/1.15hr$79/$89Full day $114/$104. Half day: $89/$792nd and 3rd time is less expensive at $45, $35
Mt Rose40miles/58mins8989$69
Sierra30 mins
Homewood30 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!

Friday, January 25, 2013

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 ?