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	<title>Jatonian Life</title>
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	<link>http://jalife.net</link>
	<description>Living life in the fast lane.</description>
	<pubDate>Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:19:06 +0000</pubDate>
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	<language>en</language>
			<item>
		<title>Wants vs Needs</title>
		<link>http://jalife.net/2008/09/10/wants-vs-needs/</link>
		<comments>http://jalife.net/2008/09/10/wants-vs-needs/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:14:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Anderton</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[General Stuff]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[thoughts]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://jalife.net/?p=312</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m sure everyone was told as a kid to categorize needs into &#8220;wants&#8221; and &#8220;needs&#8221;. Well, last night I learnt that I must do the same with things I had to do. Can&#8217;t believe I never thought of it earlier. I&#8217;m sure I must have gone with doing the thing that I wanted to do [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;m sure everyone was told as a kid to categorize needs into &#8220;wants&#8221; and &#8220;needs&#8221;. Well, last night I learnt that I must do the same with things I had to do. Can&#8217;t believe I never thought of it earlier. I&#8217;m sure I must have gone with doing the thing that I wanted to do versus the thing I needed to at least half a million times already in my life. Though having to do the thing you need to over the one you want to feels like shit, I guess its important. I have a feeling I&#8217;ll have to do this a lot in the next few months. So if you see me pick things that I don&#8217;t particularly enjoy doing over ones which I love, know that I&#8217;m not crazy <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>For those who have no idea wtf I&#8217;m going on about, try figuring out why putting &#8220;theory to practice&#8221; is so important to me <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>That&#8217;s two off my todo list..</title>
		<link>http://jalife.net/2008/08/31/thats-two-off-my-todo-list/</link>
		<comments>http://jalife.net/2008/08/31/thats-two-off-my-todo-list/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 30 Aug 2008 19:10:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Anderton</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[General Stuff]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[IRL]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://jalife.net/?p=308</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Well not really.  Ever witnessed a bomb exploding 300 feet away from you? I can say I have. Ok before someone uses the TADA on me or something, it wasn&#8217;t a terrorist activity or anything. Ever heard of a building imploding? Or rather an attempt at it.
About a year ago, there was an explosion [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Well not really. <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> Ever witnessed a bomb exploding 300 feet away from you? I can say I have. Ok before someone uses the <a title="Wiki article on TADA" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorist_and_Disruptive_Activities_(Prevention)_Act"  target="_blank">TADA</a> on me or something, it wasn&#8217;t a terrorist activity or anything. Ever heard of a <a title="Wikipedia - Building Implosion" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_implosion"  target="_blank">building imploding</a>? Or rather an attempt at it.</p>
<p>About a year ago, there was an explosion at the place where my dad worked. Sadly 2 men died that night. A year on, that part of the structure was decided to be brought down because it was no longer in working condition. Using explosives seemed like the <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">fun</span> logical way to do it.</p>
<p>We stood there for about 2 hours waiting for it to happen. No one was really told the exact timing of the thing. We just knew the timing in the range of say +-1 hour. We waited till it happened. The plan was to blow up the base in such a way that it would fall forwards (where there is nothing but open space). Now what happened was that the explosion cause the building&#8217;s base to come down and tilted it forward as expected (explosives on one side were lower than the other causing it to fall). Now it tilted about 10 odd degrees forward. Common sense says it should go over but.. it doesn&#8217;t! <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_surprised.gif' alt=':o' class='wp-smiley' /> Something held it up! It actually rocked back and is resting on the building on the other side. A 64 mt tower leaned forward 10 degrees and actually rocked backwards again.. that&#8217;s amazing. I have no idea where it got all that force to counter act the momentum! (well we have estimates but meh).</p>
<p>Bottom line is that yes, I got to see a building implosion, a failed one at that. Now it seems they&#8217;ll try it again in a few days and I&#8217;d like to be there again <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_grin.gif' alt=':D' class='wp-smiley' /> It was fun.</p>
<p>The explosion was loud but not as loud as expected but you can blame the industrial ear buds my dad gave me for that <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' /> It didn&#8217;t &#8220;feel&#8221; all that heavy but I wouldn&#8217;t dare stand any closer <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> I wish to live!</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s a note for timestamp&#8217;s sake. I got my glasses on the 19th of March 2003, 2 hours before getting my PC (so stop blaming the poor thing for my eyesight!). A few hours ago, I just went out and bought myself some contact lenses which I&#8217;ll be using almost daily. I might switch over to my glasses late at night when working on something (I wouldn&#8217;t want to remove them when I&#8217;m half sleepy, now would I? :))</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Imagine Cup 2008 Gallery</title>
		<link>http://jalife.net/2008/08/21/imagine-cup-2008-gallery/</link>
		<comments>http://jalife.net/2008/08/21/imagine-cup-2008-gallery/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:00:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Anderton</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Microsoft]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Imagine Cup]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Pictures]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Videos]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://jalife.net/?p=245</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Here&#8217;s a ton of pictures and videos from the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008 which was held in Paris, France last month. Here&#8217;s a recap. Team SKAN won the Interoperability Award! For a more detailed report, please read the post I made about the Imagine Cup 2008 World Finals.
I&#8217;ve been raving about how awesomely beautiful the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Here&#8217;s a ton of pictures and videos from the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008 which was held in Paris, France last month. Here&#8217;s a recap. Team SKAN won the Interoperability Award! For a more detailed report, please read the post I made about the <a href="http://jalife.net/2008/07/20/imagine-cup-2008-world-finals/"  target="_blank">Imagine Cup 2008 World Finals</a>.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve been raving about how awesomely beautiful the Eiffel Tower is at night. Don&#8217;t take my word for it, actually see the video in action <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' /> There are a few still pictures too where you can see the Eiffel Tower in its 3 states, blue, night light show mode (like the video below) and in the day time.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s the <strong>Shimmering Eiffel Tower</strong>.<br />
<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="320" height="260" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="src" value="https://media.dreamhost.com/mediaplayer.swf?http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/Shimmering_Eiffel_Tower.flv&amp;autoStart=false;" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="320" height="260" src="https://media.dreamhost.com/mediaplayer.swf?http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/Shimmering_Eiffel_Tower.flv&amp;autoStart=false;" wmode="transparent" quality="high"></embed></object><br />
<a title="Download Shimmering Effiel Tower video in flv format" href="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/Shimmering_Eiffel_Tower.flv" >Download video (flv)</a> <em>(977.65 <acronym title="Kilobyte">KB</acronym>)</em><br />
<a title="Download Shimmering Effiel Tower video in avi format" href="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/Shimmering_Eiffel_Tower.avi" >Download video (avi)</a> <em>(3.13 <acronym title="Megabyte">MB</acronym>)</em></p>
<p>Thanks to <a title="blank" href="http://khoofia.com" >Sriram Chandrasekaran</a> for this next one. The title says it all.<br />
Here&#8217;s <strong>Team SKAN - The Winning Moment</strong> <em>Viewer&#8217;s Edition</em><br />
<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="432" height="364" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="flashvars" value="c=v&amp;v=c60ff4d7-a64e-48fa-958b-4ff68979049f&amp;ifs=true&amp;fr=msnvideo&amp;mkt=en-US&amp;brand=" /><param name="src" value="http://images.video.msn.com/flash/soapbox1_1.swf" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="432" height="364" src="http://images.video.msn.com/flash/soapbox1_1.swf" flashvars="c=v&amp;v=c60ff4d7-a64e-48fa-958b-4ff68979049f&amp;ifs=true&amp;fr=msnvideo&amp;mkt=en-US&amp;brand="></embed></object><br />
<a title="The Winning Moment - Team SKAN" href="http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=c60ff4d7-a64e-48fa-958b-4ff68979049f"  target="_blank">Video: <strong>The Winning Moment - Team SKAN</strong> <em>(Viewer&#8217;s Edition)</em></a> <em>(Link to Soapbox Page)</em><br />
<a title="Download The Winning Moment - Team SKAN (Viewer's Edition) video in avi format" href="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/Team_SKAN_-_The_Winning_Moment_(Viewers_Edition).wmv" >Download video (wmv)</a> <em>(3.85 <acronym title="Megabyte">MB</acronym>)</em></p>
<p>If you&#8217;re in the mood for some craziness, do have a look at <a href="http://channel8.msdn.com/Posts/40-seconds-of-nothing/"  target="_blank">40 seconds of nothing</a> on Channel 8, another one of Sriram&#8217;s &#8220;masterpieces&#8221; <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' /> As he said, be warned, this video has absolutely nothing which is remotely intellectual <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>I can&#8217;t not post a link to the first time we were on <acronym title="Microsoft Developer Network">MSDN</acronym> Blogs thanks to Mark <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> Here&#8217;s the video interview he took of ours after we came second at the IC &#8216;08 India SDI Finals and its titled <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/onyourmark/archive/2008/06/04/team-skan-imagine-cup-2008-software-design-interoperability-award-world-finalists.aspx"  target="_blank">Team SKAN - Imagine Cup 2008 Software Design Interoperability Award World Finalists</a></p>
<p>Now its time for the grand finale for videos. Here&#8217;s a video of Team SKAN winning the interoperability. But wait, isn&#8217;t that what Sriram posted on SoapBox? Not quite. This is a video of Team SKAN winning the prize <strong>taken by a member of Team SKAN</strong> <em>(Me)</em> <strong>while going on stage</strong>. Not just that.. This video has everything. Joe Wilson starting off with the intro, then moving on to announcing the prizes and us screaming like crazy <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> Subtitles for parts you can&#8217;t hear clearly (convos between us). I guess it&#8217;d also help those who can&#8217;t really understand Indian accents that well <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> *pets dt and segosa* (A high resolution version of the video is available and shall be given on request)<br />
Here&#8217;s <strong>Team SKAN - The Winning Moment</strong> <em>On-Stage Edition</em><br />
<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="320" height="260" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="src" value="https://media.dreamhost.com/mediaplayer.swf?file=http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/Team_SKAN_-_The_Winning_Moment_(On-Stage_Edition).flv&amp;autoStart=false;" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="320" height="260" src="https://media.dreamhost.com/mediaplayer.swf?file=http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/Team_SKAN_-_The_Winning_Moment_(On-Stage_Edition).flv&amp;autoStart=false;" wmode="transparent" quality="high"></embed></object><br />
<a title="Download Team SKAN - The Winning Moment (On-Stage Edition) video in flv format" href="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/Team_SKAN_-_The_Winning_Moment_(On-Stage_Edition).flv" >Download video (flv)</a> <em>(11.54 <acronym title="Megabyte">MB</acronym>)</em><br />
<a title="Download Team SKAN - The Winning Moment (On-Stage Edition) video in avi format" href="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/Team_SKAN_-_The_Winning_Moment_(On-Stage_Edition).avi" >Download video (avi)</a> <em>(50.76 <acronym title="Megabyte">MB</acronym>)</em></p>
<p>Its been a bit over a month since I&#8217;ve returned from France so what prompted this move now? An article in Mumbai Mirror is pretty compelling <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<div id="attachment_248" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 242px"><a title="Mumbai Mirror's Article &quot;Idle Talk&quot; dated 17-08-2008." href="http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?Page=article&amp;sectid=79&amp;contentid=2008081720080817041410505b155dc90"  target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-248" title="Mumbai Mirror's article covering Team SKAN titled Idle Talk  (Click to view e-version)" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/17-08-2008-mumbai-mirror-232x300.jpg" alt="Team SKAN's article in the Mumbai Mirror titled &quot;Idle Talk&quot; named 17-08-2008" width="232" height="300" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Team SKAN&#39;s article in the Mumbai Mirror titled &quot;Idle Talk&quot; on 17-08-2008. (Click the image to view the above article as an e-paper on Mumbai Mirror)</p></div>
<p>Not to mention the article earlier this month (August, 2008) in the Financial Times <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 321px"><a href="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/skan-fin-express.pdf" ><img title="Article in the Financial Times about Team SKAN being incubated by IIM-A (Click to download pdf version)" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/Financial%20Express.png" alt="Article in the Financial Times about Team SKAN being incubated by Microsoft" width="311" height="238" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Article in the Financial Times about Team SKAN being incubated by IIM-A. (Click the image to download the pdf version of the page)</p></div>
<p>Speaking of print media, we&#8217;ve also shown up twice more in Digit Magazines.</p>
<p>The May 2008 edition had a small piece on each of the finalists while the June one announced the winners and also had the video of all the presentations in the dvd <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' /> So if you want to watch our presentation, go find yourself a dvd <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 411px"><a href="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/MS_Imagine_24-25.pdf" ><img title="Digit Magazines May 2008 copy having an article on the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008 India SDI Finalists (Click to download pdf version)" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/05-2008%20Digit%20Magazine.jpg" alt="Digit Magazines May 2008 copy having an article on the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008 India SDI Finalists" width="401" height="266" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Digit Magazine&#39;s May 2008 copy having an article on the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008 India SDI Finalists. (Click the image to download the pdf version of the page)</p></div>
<p>Here&#8217;s a small preview of what&#8217;s new in my Picasa Album <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> <strong>Click the images for larger versions</strong>.<br />
<em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Note</span>: You might need to sign into your Google account to view the images</em>.<br />
<a title="John Anderton's Picasa Album" href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/"  target="_blank"> Click here to view my John Anderton&#8217;s picasa album</a>. It has a lot more pictures than this <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
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<div id="attachment_255" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 154px"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/VersaillesTrip/photo#5235404874224088706"  target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-255" title="Versailles Garden Fountain" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/versailles-garden-fountain.jpg" alt="Versailles Garden Fountain" width="144" height="108" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Versailles Garden Fountain</p></div></td>
<td>
<p><div id="attachment_256" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 154px"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/LilleTrip/photo#5235520350409250882"  target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-256" title="Lille - Outside the Citadel" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/lille-outside-citadel.jpg" alt="Lille - Outside the Citadel" width="144" height="108" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Lille - Outside the Citadel</p></div></td>
<td>
<p><div id="attachment_259" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 154px"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/Paris/photo#5225130020843395378"  target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-259" title="Concord" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/concord.jpg" alt="Concord" width="144" height="108" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Concord</p></div></td>
<td>
<p><div id="attachment_258" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 154px"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/Paris/photo#5235500350035778994"  target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-258" title="Chapel Of The Miraculous Medal" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/chapel-of-the-miraculous-medal.jpg" alt="Chapel Of The Miraculous Medal" width="144" height="108" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Chapel Of The Miraculous Medal</p></div></td>
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<tr align="center">
<td>
<p><div id="attachment_257" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 118px"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/Paris/photo#5224023673538726194"  target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-257" title="Blue Eiffel Tower" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/blue-eiffel-tower.jpg" alt="Blue Eiffel Tower" width="108" height="144" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Blue Eiffel Tower</p></div></td>
<td>
<dl id="attachment_265" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 118px;">
<dt class="wp-caption-dt"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/Paris/photo#5225130679830730402"  target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-265" title="Worlds Largest Christmas Tree" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/worlds-largest-christmas-tree.jpg" alt="Worlds Largest Christmas Tree" width="108" height="144" /></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd">Worlds Largest Christmas Tree</dd>
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</td>
<td>
<p><div id="attachment_260" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 118px"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/Paris/photo#5235447772221120834"  target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-260" title="Eiffel Tower In The Day" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/eiffel-tower-in-the-day.jpg" alt="Eiffel Tower In The Day" width="108" height="144" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Eiffel Tower In The Day</p></div></td>
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<div class="mceTemp">
<div class="mceTemp">
<p><div id="attachment_264" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 118px"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/Paris/photo#5231238249791985218"  target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-264" title="Statue Of Liberty v1.00" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/statue-of-liberty-v100.jpg" alt="First model of the Statue Of Liberty" width="108" height="144" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">First model of the Statue Of Liberty</p></div>
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<tr align="center">
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<p><div id="attachment_262" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 118px"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/Paris/photo#5225131307098055314"  target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-262" title="Me Near The Mona Lisa" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/me-near-the-mona-lisa.jpg" alt="Me Near The Mona Lisa" width="108" height="144" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Me Near The Mona Lisa</p></div></td>
<td>
<dl id="attachment_268" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 118px;">
<dt class="wp-caption-dt"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/IC2008WorldFinals/photo#5235428044971002114"  target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-268" title="Me with the Aussie Mascots" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/aussie-mascots.jpg" alt="Me with the Aussie Mascots" width="108" height="144" /></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd">Me with the Aussie Mascots</dd>
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</td>
<td>
<p><div id="attachment_263" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 134px"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/Paris/photo#5225131658331862194"  target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-263" title="Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/notre-dame.jpg" alt="Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux" width="124" height="144" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux</p></div></td>
<td>
<p><div id="attachment_261" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 118px"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/Paris/photo#5225130831334889554"  target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-261" title="Louvre Pyramid Entrance" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/louvre-pyramid-entrance.jpg" alt="Louvre Pyramid Entrance" width="108" height="144" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Louvre Pyramid Entrance</p></div></td>
</tr>
<tr align="center">
<td>
<p><div id="attachment_270" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 154px"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/IC2008WorldFinals/photo#5231232475249382914"  target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-270" title="Team SKAN on stage accepting their prize" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/skan-on-stage.jpg" alt="Team SKAN on stage accepting their prize" width="144" height="96" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Team SKAN on stage accepting their prize</p></div></td>
<td>
<p><div id="attachment_269" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 154px"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/IC2008WorldFinals/photo#5224022388242888786"  target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-269" title="Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008 - Interoperability Awardees" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/inteop-awardees.jpg" alt="Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008 - Interoperability Awardees" width="144" height="108" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008 - Interoperability Awardees</p></div></td>
<td>
<p><div id="attachment_272" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 154px"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/IC2008WorldFinals/photo#5235775761108809074"  target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-272" title="Team SKAN with Mr Somasegar" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/skan-with-mr-somasegar.jpg" alt="Team SKAN with Mr Somasegar" width="144" height="108" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Team SKAN with Mr. Somasegar</p></div></td>
<td>
<p><div id="attachment_271" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 154px"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/IC2008WorldFinals/photo#5224022196591175218"  target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-271" title="Team SKAN at the Louvre Pyramids" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/skan-pyramids.jpg" alt="Team SKAN at the Louvre Pyramids" width="144" height="108" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Team SKAN at the Louvre Pyramids</p></div></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://jalife.net/2008/08/21/imagine-cup-2008-gallery/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
<enclosure url="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/Shimmering_Eiffel_Tower.avi" length="3280576" type="video/x-msvideo" />
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		<title>Imagine Cup 2008 World Finals</title>
		<link>http://jalife.net/2008/07/20/imagine-cup-2008-world-finals/</link>
		<comments>http://jalife.net/2008/07/20/imagine-cup-2008-world-finals/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:01:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Anderton</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Microsoft]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Imagine Cup]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://jalife.net/?p=238</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The entire trip was amazing. The greatest experience ever. We flew to Paris, enjoyed the city and brought back 1st place in the interop award  I&#8217;d write a huge detailed account but I&#8217;m too bored. Its been an age since I came back and writing down every single thing that happened during the 6 [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The entire trip was amazing. The greatest experience ever. We flew to Paris, enjoyed the city and brought back 1st place in the interop award <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_grin.gif' alt=':D' class='wp-smiley' /> I&#8217;d write a huge detailed account but I&#8217;m too bored. Its been an age since I came back and writing down every single thing that happened during the 6 days at the competition and the 5 days we spent there on our own would be just too much. So here&#8217;s a brief overview of what happened <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p><span id="more-238"></span></p>
<p><em><strong>3rd of July</strong></em>: We arrive at the airport exactly 8hrs 34mins after we took off as was told to us. Accurate much? <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> It took us an hour to get our baggage after which we took the bus to Novotel. On our way, we even saw the concord! (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde"  target="_blank">the aircraft</a>, not the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde_%28Paris_M%C3%A9tro%29"  target="_blank">Paris metro station</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_de_la_Concorde"  target="_blank">Place de la Concorde</a>) Getting a good shot at 60 <abbr title="kilometers per hour">kmph</abbr> with street lights in the way is tough but I seem to have a pretty good photo <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> Here&#8217;s the <a title="Concord, the aeroplane." href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/Paris/photo#5225130020843395378"  target="_blank">picture I took of the Concord</a>. We got our registration kits and dropped off our legal forms. Until 3 we were hanging out at the Lounge and at 3 we were given our room keys. We went up to the 22nd floor and settled down. We had to come down at 5 for a trip to City Hall. The opening ceremony was here. The City hall is the only time my jaw actually dropped on the entire trip and this includes all of the amazing places we&#8217;ve been to. You <strong>just have to</strong> <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/IC2008WorldFinals/photo#5225132868117591330"  target="_blank">see this one</a>.</p>
<p><em><strong>4th and 5th of July</strong></em>: <abbr title="Software Design Invitational">SDI</abbr> and <abbr title="Embedded Development Invitational">EDI</abbr> had their first rounds. SDI had to give presentations to two sets of judges (one on each day). The scores would be added and the top 12 (semi finalists) decided. EDI had their presentations on the first day and a demo session on the second one. The scores would again be added but this time, the top 6 (finalists) be decided.<br />
Semi Finalists were announced on the 5th early in the evening. After being announced, they are put up on a white board outside the press room so I got a snap of it <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_grin.gif' alt=':D' class='wp-smiley' /> <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/IC2008WorldFinals/photo#5225134587248841010"  target="_blank">Here are the semi finalists in SDI and finalists for EDI</a>. Sadly none of the Indian teams made it <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_sad.gif' alt=':(' class='wp-smiley' /> We still had <a title="Team Page on Imagine Cup.com for Team Novices@Work" href="http://imaginecup.com/MyStuff/MyTeam.aspx?TeamID=11797" >Novices@Work</a> in <a title="Unlimited Potential - Rural Innovation Award" href="http://imaginecup.com/ria/default.aspx" >UPRIA</a> and us in Interop though <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /><br />
The SDI semi finalists then had to present some time between 6 and 8 pm the same day and the results came out on the morning of the 6th. <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/IC2008WorldFinals/photo#5225134742093119138"  target="_blank">You can see the finalists snap here</a>.</p>
<p><em><strong>6th of July</strong></em>: Its cultural day! <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_grin.gif' alt=':D' class='wp-smiley' /> We went to the Louvre and of course, did the usual <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> How could we not <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/Paris/photo#5225131307098055314" >see the Mona Lisa</a>? The evening included a dinner cruise which was great! There was a DJ there so.. well you know what we did =p</p>
<p><em><strong>7th of July</strong></em>: Finalists started presenting at the Louvre. Who ever knew they had a conference center too :p We set up our booth&#8217;s quickly and attended all the presentations. I liked Team SOAK and Team AcidRain the most and I must say, I fancied both of them to win it <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> The other teams were pretty good but I liked these two not only for their ideas but also for their presentations <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> SOAK did a near perfect job of presenting and <a title="Long Zheng's site - I Started Something.com" href="http://istartedsomething.com"  target="_blank">Long Zheng</a> in particular was amazing.</p>
<p><em><strong>8th of July</strong></em>: Time to announce the results and what better place to do it at than the Louvre! The atmosphere was electrifying. We had Microsoft <abbr title="Academic Developer Evangelist">ADE</abbr>s, Microsoft dignitaries, people from various businesses, judges from all categories and all the competitors. We had the who&#8217;s who of the universe, except the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeti"  target="_blank">yeti</a> of course. <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>We manned our booths and waited for people to come over so that we could tell people what we were doing. Interop contestants had nothing to do all week. We had met <a title="Craig Kitterman's blog" href="http://blogs.msdn.com/craig/"  target="_blank">Craig Kitterman</a> once and walked him through the entire system but that&#8217;s about it. Believe it or not, lazy little me actually wanted to work! Everyone else got to do something here while we were having a nice vacation. Not that I didn&#8217;t have fun but this was our <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">first</span> second chance to present but no one was actually coming to us. I started walking over to people and distributed the brochures that we had made asking people to drop by our booth and see what we&#8217;ve been doing. Believe it or not, it worked! People did start coming in. I even walked some people to the booth myself <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> This also gave me a chance to do what I wanted to do for a long time, have a look at the other solutions on display <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> So while I was interacting with the people I had met over the week and also with ones I hadn&#8217;t, I got to see quite a few good solutions that didn&#8217;t actually make it to the top 6 and thus weren&#8217;t showcased on stage. My team mates at this time were busy giving a presentation/demo to the people I was directing towards our booth <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>Then started the result ceremony! <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_grin.gif' alt=':D' class='wp-smiley' /> Before we knew it, the interop award was up. Just before it did, I randomly started recording video and so I have the video of us all throughout! <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_grin.gif' alt=':D' class='wp-smiley' /> <a href="http://on10.net/blogs/joewil/"  target="_blank">Joe Wilson</a> was the one on stage and soon he was about to announce third place. We were tense for obvious reasons. Third place went to Team Together from Poland. Paras, I think it was, told me to pass on the cam to him so that he could take the vid and I simply responded that I was going to take the cam on stage <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_grin.gif' alt=':D' class='wp-smiley' /> Vineeth wished me good luck and I said &#8220;Please god, not second place again&#8230;&#8221; and then Joe announced the second place team. Second place went to <a title="Team Page on Imagine Cup.com for Team Ecologix" href="http://imaginecup.com/MyStuff/MyTeam.aspx?TeamId=12344"  target="_blank">Team Ecologix from Brazil</a>. We wildly errupted. We had done it! India has finally won first place in something at the Imagine Cup albeit an award, not a category. We had just become the first interop awardees in the world \o/ We settled down and waited for Joe to read out our names. First place went to.. &#8220;<span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong><a title="Team Page on Imagine Cup.com for Team SKAN" href="http://imaginecup.com/MyStuff/MyTeam.aspx?TeamId=8556"  target="_blank">SKAN from India</a></strong></span>&#8221; <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_grin.gif' alt=':D' class='wp-smiley' /> We went up on stage. We got a cheque for $10,000 (USD) and a trophy. The website said a we&#8217;d get a few other things a bit later as well (trip to Redmond ;))</p>
<p>I took my camera on stage so I have the crazy video with me. I&#8217;ve brought the 4 min video to 40 <acronym title="Megabyte">mb</acronym> (yeah, need more compression but the old size was 483 <acronym title="Megabyte">MB</acronym> :|)  but I need to add subtitles (so you know who said what in the background) <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> I&#8217;ll upload it once its done <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>The only thing that didn&#8217;t go as I predicted was the EDI. Ireland came tied second with China and Singapore came first! Congratulations to <a title="Team Page on Imagine Cup.com for Team Trail Blazers" href="http://imaginecup.com/MyStuff/MyTeam.aspx?TeamID=10635"  target="_blank">Team Trail Blazers from Singapore</a>! As predicted though, <a title="Team Page on Imagine Cup.com for Team SOAK" href="http://imaginecup.com/MyStuff/MyTeam.aspx?TeamID=12410"  target="_blank">Team SOAK from Australia</a> won the SDI! The Imagine Cup has travelled the world from the USA (2003) to France (2004) to Russia (2005) to Italy (2006) to Thailand (2007) and now it goes down under! Congratulations to Team SOAK!</p>
<p>You can have a look at the following resources.</p>
<ul>
<li><a title="Official Enpower Website" href="http://enpower.in"  target="_blank">Official Enpower Website</a> (Team SKAN wins the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008 Interoperability Award)<a title="Official Enpower Website" href="http://enpower.in" target="_blank"><br />
</a></li>
<li><a title="Imagine Cup News Page" href="http://imaginecup.com/About/News.aspx"  target="_blank">Imagine Cup News Page</a> with all of this year&#8217;s winners.</li>
<li><a title="JA's Picasa Gallery" href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/"  target="_blank">My Picasa gallery</a> with the pictures from the past few months. It has pics of the <a title="My Picasa Web Album for IC 2008 World Finals" href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/IC2008WorldFinals"  target="_blank">world finals</a> (Paris, France), <a title="My Picasa Web Album for IC 2008 National Finals" href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/IC2008NationalSDIFinals"  target="_blank">national finals</a> (Bangalore, India) and <a title="My Picasa Web Album for the trip to CIIE at IIM-A" href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/IIMA"  target="_blank">IIM-A</a> (Ahmedabad, India). It also has a few pics from <a title="My Picasa Web Album for Paris" href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/Paris"  target="_blank">Paris</a>, <a title="My Picasa Web Album for Versailles" href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/Versailles"  target="_blank">Versailles</a> and <a title="My Picasa Web Album for Lille" href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/Lille"  target="_blank">Lille</a>. These aren&#8217;t anywhere near the 15 <acronym title="Gigabyte">GB</acronym> of pics I have but these are a start. I&#8217;ll keep adding to them. Once the video (of us winning and taking the prize) is up, I&#8217;ll make a new blog post for it! I also took quite a few 360 degree shots so once I stitch them together, I&#8217;ll put them up on <a title="deviantArt" href="http://deviantart.com/"  target="_blank">dA</a> and put up a link here <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </li>
</ul>
<p>We did have a great time in the days we stayed back in France. We went to <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/VersaillesTrip/photo#5224027742107548546"  target="_blank">Versailles</a>, <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/LilleTrip/photo#5225154634426257810"  target="_blank">Lille</a> (on the <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/LilleTrip/photo#5224024959615346082"  target="_blank">TGV</a> \o/) and to a few places (like the <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/john.anderton/Paris/photo#5225152904286078626"  target="_blank">Arc de Triomphe</a>) in Paris where we hadn&#8217;t been the week before. The Imagine Cup has been an amazing experience all in all. Great chance to see a bit of France and I would love to return there some day <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> Thanks for Microsoft for this opportunity and a special thanks goes out the entire Academic Team at Microsoft India <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> It was great meeting so many new people and I hope to see a them again in <a title="Article on Daily News' website" href="http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=14955"  target="_blank">Cairo, Egypt</a> next year!</p>
<table border="0">
<tbody>
<tr align="center">
<td colspan="2"><a href="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/ic08winnerspanoramicshot.jpg"  target="_blank"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-243" title="Imagine Cup 2008 Winners Panoramic Shot" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/ic08winnerspanoramicshot-300x113.jpg" alt="Imagine Cup 2008 Winners" width="300" height="113" /></a></td>
</tr>
<tr align="center">
<td><a href="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/dsc05543.jpg"  target="_blank"><img class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-239" title="Interoperability Award Winners" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/dsc05543-150x150.jpg" alt="Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008 Interoperability Award Winners" width="150" height="150" /></a></td>
<td><a href="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/p7080037.jpg"  target="_blank"><img class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-240" title="Me with the Imagine Cup 2008 Interoperability Award" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/p7080037-150x150.jpg" alt="Me with the Imagine Cup 2008 Interoperability Award" width="150" height="150" /></a></td>
</tr>
<tr align="center">
<td><a href="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/p7080054.jpg"  target="_blank"><img class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-242" title="Team SKAN at Louvre Pyramids" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/p7080054-150x150.jpg" alt="Team SKAN wins Interop Award (Louvre Pyramids)" width="150" height="150" /></a></td>
<td><a href="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/p7080046.jpg"  target="_blank"><img class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-241" title="Team SKAN at the team booth" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/p7080046-150x150.jpg" alt="Team SKAN wins Interop Award (booth)" width="150" height="150" /></a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><em>Click Images to see larger size. For more, have a look at the <a title="Post on Jatonian Life titled Imagine Cup 2008 Gallery" href="http://jalife.net/2008/08/21/imagine-cup-2008-gallery/"  target="_blank">Imagine Cup 2008 Gallery</a>.</em></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
		<title>France, here we come!</title>
		<link>http://jalife.net/2008/06/24/france-here-we-come/</link>
		<comments>http://jalife.net/2008/06/24/france-here-we-come/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:28:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Anderton</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[General Stuff]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Imagine Cup]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://jalife.net/?p=237</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Today was our visa interview. It wasn&#8217;t much of an interview to be honest.
An hour going to the consulate. 5 min wait to be called. 2 mins for QnA, finger printing and pic taking and 10 min wait for a visa  Another hour back home  
That&#8217;s it! The main issue is getting a [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Today was our visa interview. It wasn&#8217;t much of an interview to be honest.</p>
<p>An hour going to the consulate. 5 min wait to be called. 2 mins for QnA, finger printing and pic taking and 10 min wait for a visa <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> Another hour back home <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>That&#8217;s it! The main issue is getting a date and since we had kind of an urgent condition, we had all our documents pre-checked and we called up the consulate for a slightly early date. We called on the 19th and got a date for the 24th. Yesterday, the agent who pre-checked our documents, went and submitted them as well.</p>
<p>The actual process was a breeze. The lady there asked me my name, occupation, college, reason of visit, dates of departure and return, all of which were less than 4 word answers. <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> You can imagine how 14 words, 10 finger prints and one picture can be done in 2 minutes especially when the person on the other side is shooting questions immediately <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' /> Before I realised I was being asked questions, she asked me to have a seat and wait for my visa <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>So its confirmed. We&#8217;re going to the world finals. I&#8217;ve had a look at the stuff they have planned for us and I can tell you its going to be off the hook. I&#8217;m trying to get hold of a lappy for work there and for dumping the immense amount of pics i take there because my cam can only take 2GB <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> (yes, I said only. I need vids too you know! :P)</p>
<p>The entire trip so far (India SDI finals at Bangalore and Imagine Cup Innovation Accelerator at IIM-A has so far given me about 2.5-3 <acronym title="Gigabyte">GB</acronym> of pics and those were places I&#8217;ve been to before and I know I&#8217;ll go again pretty soon <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> You can do the math :p</p>
<p>As the mail said last night, its time to start packing :-D</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Server killing</title>
		<link>http://jalife.net/2008/06/04/server-killing/</link>
		<comments>http://jalife.net/2008/06/04/server-killing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 04 Jun 2008 10:44:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Anderton</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Sitework]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[dreamhost]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://jalife.net/?p=236</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Not my favourite thing to do when I&#8217;m busy with my exams, completing paper work for the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008 World Finals in France and working out stuff for the my Visa Application to France but yes, apparently this blog &#8220;killed&#8221; the dreamhost server I&#8217;m hosted on.
I checked up my statistics and it seems [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Not my favourite thing to do when I&#8217;m busy with my exams, completing paper work for the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008 World Finals in France and working out stuff for the my Visa Application to France but yes, apparently this blog &#8220;killed&#8221; the <a href="http://dreamhost.com"  target="_blank">dreamhost</a> server I&#8217;m hosted on.</p>
<p>I checked up my statistics and it seems that my blog had 1106 hits yesterday. No brownie points for guessing that my post &#8220;<a href="http://jalife.net/2005/06/01/aieee-results-are-out/"  target="_blank"><acronym title="All India Engineering Enterance Exam">AIEEE</acronym> results are out</a>&#8221; is to blame <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> They guy at DH Support did see that I had WP-Cache on but evidently that wasn&#8217;t enough. He told me to get WP-SuperCache so I did. I replied and well, unlike what he said, site wasn&#8217;t up immediately and since I need the site accessible now for certain reasons, I had to manually remove the <em>deny from all</em> line they had added to my .htaccess <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> Sorry about that but I waited almost an hour before doing that <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>As a test, I think I&#8217;ll add some adverts (though its against what I believe in) to that one post. That&#8217;s it. Lets see what happens. Though I&#8217;m already running out of time. Hopefully google will respond soon <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> 1106 hits in one day is good enough for me to put ads up. May be I&#8217;ll put 3 ads on that page and just one on others and people who are regular here get no ads at all. There is a nice plugin I found to do that. Its called <a href="http://ocaoimh.ie/2007/09/10/friends-dont-let-friends-see-adverts/"  target="_blank">Friends don&#8217;t let friends see adverts.</a> Lets see what I can pull up <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>I also added google analytics to get a better picture of what&#8217;s going on with visitors on my blog.  I have dh stats but I can&#8217;t actively access them. I need to switch off fancy linking in wordpress <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> Also, google analytics is a lot more detailed and attractive =p</p>
<p>Back to Visa applications and SSOS <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Viva la France</title>
		<link>http://jalife.net/2008/05/28/viva-la-france/</link>
		<comments>http://jalife.net/2008/05/28/viva-la-france/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 28 May 2008 02:47:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Anderton</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Announcements]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Wassup]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Imagine Cup]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://jalife.net/?p=234</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I can&#8217;t believe this but we&#8217;re going to the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008 World Finals at France  
How&#8217;d we get in? Thank the Software Design Interoperability Awardкомпютри втора употреба  I am really ecstatic right now so I can&#8217;t say much other than France, here we come!  

So far, I&#8217;ve seen us, DCites [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I can&#8217;t believe this but we&#8217;re going to the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008 World Finals at France <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_grin.gif' alt=':D' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>How&#8217;d we get in? Thank the <a href="http://imaginecup.com/Competition/InteroperabilityAward.aspx"  target="_blank">Software Design Interoperability Award</a><span style="overflow: hidden; position: absolute; height: 0pt; width: 0pt;"><a href="http://kvantservice.com/" >компютри втора употреба</a></span> <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' /> I am really ecstatic right now so I can&#8217;t say much other than France, here we come! <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_surprised.gif' alt=':o' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p><a href="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/ic08_results.png" ><img class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-235" title="ic08_results" src="http://jalife.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/ic08_results-150x150.png" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a></p>
<p>So far, I&#8217;ve seen us, DCites (who are with us at IIM-A), Novices@Work, Team Douleur Vue Ame (Embedded Development, India) and a few people in the Algorithms final. This is Team India for this year and I&#8217;m proud to be part of it <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>Now its 8:14 AM and if you&#8217;ll excuse me, I&#8217;ll start worrying about my DBMS exam right about now and the fact that we our return flight tickets are scheduled for 16:30 when our exams end at 18:00 (yeah, we&#8217;re waiting for new tickets :P)</p>
<p>You can have a look at the official announcement on the <a href="http://imaginecup.com/Community/forums/69.aspx"  target="_blank">Imagine Cup Interop Forum</a> thread named &#8220;<a href="http://imaginecup.com/Community/forums/t/7705.aspx"  target="_blank">Interoperability Award Finalists Announced!</a>&#8220;</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Manchester United are European Champions</title>
		<link>http://jalife.net/2008/05/22/manchester-united-are-european-champions/</link>
		<comments>http://jalife.net/2008/05/22/manchester-united-are-european-champions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 May 2008 21:51:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Anderton</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Announcements]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[General Stuff]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[ManUtd]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://jalife.net/?p=233</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Oh good freaking god yes! Try working 20 hours day, every day at IIM-A then taking a flight back to Mumbai for an exam; A flight which was got us to Mumbai at 11 pm instead of 9:40 pm. Watching the match at your place.. seeing Ronaldo take the lead, seeing Tavez miss two dead [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Oh good freaking god yes! Try working 20 hours day, every day at IIM-A then taking a flight back to Mumbai for an exam; A flight which was got us to Mumbai at 11 pm instead of 9:40 pm. Watching the match at your place.. seeing Ronaldo take the lead, seeing Tavez miss two dead easy shots and then Lampard poaching a lucky goal on a very bad surface to play. Second half honestly, I didn&#8217;t watch that well cause I was sleepy but I fought sleep and stayed awake only for my tv cable connection to die at the 88th minute <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_sad.gif' alt=':(' class='wp-smiley' /><br />
I check the connections, they are proper so its an tv cable provider thing.<br />
So what do I do? I go to online scores. I talked to a few people on <acronym title="Internet Relay Chat - like Instant Messaging for groups">IRC</acronym> and a friend was live commentating for me (quicker and more detailed than online thingo). It was dead exciting&#8230; You couldn&#8217;t have written a better script. Tavez misses the 2 chances, scores the penalty. Ronaldo scored a goal but missed the penalty. Terry had to score to win it but he didn&#8217;t! In the end, it was Nicolas Anelka who missed it. Sorry but this was just our year <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_grin.gif' alt=':D' class='wp-smiley' /><br />
Yay for Manchester United \o/ They have won the UEFA Champions League after drawing the match 1-1 in regular and extra time <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> A special thank you to Drogba for getting a red <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> Wonder why Rooney didn&#8217;t take a penalty <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_confused.gif' alt=':S' class='wp-smiley' /><br />
(As I was writing the line &#8220;so its an tv cable provider thing&#8221;, I checked on my pc and got the tv back&#8230; now I am seeing us get the trophy <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_grin.gif' alt=':D' class='wp-smiley' /> I&#8217;ll post it just as they lift it up <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> Now only to see the replay :))</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s how the penalties panned out <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<table border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong><span style="text-align=center color: red;">Manchester United</span></strong></td>
<td><strong><span style="text-align=center color: blue;">Chelsea</span></strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><span style="padding-right: 10px; padding-left: 1px;">1) Carlos Tevez - <em><span style="color: green;">Scored</span></em></span></td>
<td><span style="padding-right: 10px; padding-left: 1px;">1) Michael Ballack - <em><span style="color: green;">Scored</span></em></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><span style="padding-right: 10px; padding-left: 1px;">2) Michael Carrick - <em><span style="color: green;">Scored</span></em></span></td>
<td><span style="padding-right: 10px; padding-left: 1px;">2) Juliano Belletti - <em><span style="color: green;">Scored</span></em></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><span style="padding-right: 10px; padding-left: 1px;">3) Cristiano Ronaldo - <strong><span style="color: red;">Missed</span></strong></span></td>
<td><span style="padding-right: 10px; padding-left: 1px;">3) Frank Lampard - <em><span style="color: green;">Scored</span></em></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><span style="padding-right: 10px; padding-left: 1px;">4) Owen Hargreaves - <em><span style="color: green;">Scored</span></em></span></td>
<td><span style="padding-right: 10px; padding-left: 1px;">4) Ashley Cole - <em><span style="color: green;">Scored</span></em></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><span style="padding-right: 10px; padding-left: 1px;">5) Nani - <em><span style="color: green;">Scored</span></em></span></td>
<td><span style="padding-right: 10px; padding-left: 1px;">5) John Terry - <strong><span style="color: red;">Missed</span></strong></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><span style="padding-right: 10px; padding-left: 1px;">6) Anderson - <em><span style="color: green;">Scored</span></em></span></td>
<td><span style="padding-right: 10px; padding-left: 1px;">6) Salomon Kalou - <em><span style="color: green;">Scored</span></em></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><span style="padding-right: 10px; padding-left: 1px;">7) Ryan Giggs - <em><span style="color: green;">Scored</span></em></span></td>
<td><span style="padding-right: 10px; padding-left: 1px;">7) Nicolas Anelka - <strong><span style="color: red;">Missed</span></strong></span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Imagine Cup 2008</title>
		<link>http://jalife.net/2008/05/11/imagine-cup-2008/</link>
		<comments>http://jalife.net/2008/05/11/imagine-cup-2008/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 11 May 2008 09:01:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Anderton</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Microsoft]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Programming]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Imagine Cup]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://jalife.net/?p=232</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ll walk you through the entire experience of the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008 SDI India Finals which was held at Bangalore on the 8th and 9th of May, 2008. This could help other students who took part or want to do so next year  
07th of May, 2008
Amith left his place sometime around 2 [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;ll walk you through the entire experience of the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008 SDI India Finals which was held at Bangalore on the 8th and 9th of May, 2008. This could help other students who took part or want to do so next year <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<h3><strong>07<sup>th</sup> of May, 2008</strong></h3>
<p>Amith left his place sometime around 2 PM and picked up SaM along the way to my place. I had just picked up a flex of our Architectural Diagram only a few hours ago and with my trusty bag and a laptop (which was borrowed from one of my dad&#8217;s friends) we left to the airport. Noel was already there at the airport when we came. We were scheduled to go to Bangalore on Jet Airways on a 737 which was to take off at 17:10. All I can say is that it was an awesome experience. My first flight and it was one to remember. Sadly I had to sit in the middle seat but it was fine. I was peeping out of the window to get the most amazing of views at 39,000 feet <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>The flight was on time though we were the fifth to take off on that runway so the take off was 15 minutes delayed but everything else was perfect. We landed in Bangalore an hour and 15 minutes later to a beautiful climate since it was just about to rain a bit. We had a pickup for the four of us which took us to <a href="http://polonest.com"  target="_blank">Polo Nest</a>. Me and Amith were allotted room 203 and SaM and Noel were in 205. We dropped off our bags and went to 205 to start off with work. We paid the Rs. 300 per night charge for Internet which was something we desperately needed. At around 10 we had dinner more or less alone. The entire crowd had gone back to their rooms except for <span style="overflow: hidden; position: absolute; height: 0pt; width: 0pt;"><a href="http://www.videnov.com/" >мебели</a></span>Bhavik and more or less the entire Novices@Work team. After dinner we went back to work and we did so more or less for the entire night. We took shifts to sleep 2-3 hours to maintain sanity for the big upcoming day <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p><em>(I had written up a huge post of the other two days but I have no idea where it went.. I don&#8217;t think I can put it all down again like I did then but I&#8217;ll try none the less. Do note that the following part is written a month later so it might not be as detailed or as much fun as the original version, where ever it is :P)</em></p>
<p><span id="more-232"></span></p>
<h3><strong></strong><strong>08<sup>th</sup> of May, 2008</strong></h3>
<p>We got up after hardly any sleep and it was time to leave. We dressed up in our formals and made our way to a small bus which was standing outside PoloNest waiting to take us to the Microsoft Campus which was across the road. It was around 11:45 at this time. Once there, we were explicitly told not to take pics from the inside or the outside and that was disappointing cause the building and work environment were pretty awesome. We were all given visitor passes and given permission to be in the lobby, the room next to it (which was alloted to us) and the conference room (where the presentations were taking place). It was a closed presentation so no huge crowds <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_sad.gif' alt=':(' class='wp-smiley' /> Not even the other contestants. Just the judges. We were served lunches and then one team member from each team was asked to come take chits as to the order of presentation. I step forth. We wanted the last chit (#8) or anything closed to it and the chit I picked was #6. The golden hand strikes again <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>We waited for our turn and had lunch. We didn&#8217;t really want to, not that the food was bad but you don&#8217;t want to have a full stomach on such a huge event <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> Team GRAS went in and took an entire 30 minutes to come out. We were waiting for their reactions after all, these guys were #2 in last year&#8217;s <acronym title="Microsoft">MS</acronym> IC SDI India Finals <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> What would it be? Well.. they were&#8230; laughing <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_disappointed.gif' alt=':|' class='wp-smiley' /> Was it that awesome? Not really, according to them. They said they were ripped apart on various points. Other teams followed and each got similar reactions. While all of this is going on, we&#8217;re making final tweaks to the code of the demo <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> Not only that, we&#8217;re actually making tweaks on our roles in the presentation too <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> Team #4 is in and we manage to patch in interoperability. The final few issues fixed, we seemed ellated. SaM and stridy decide to tweak it further while me and Noel are working out the timing in our presentations because the entire thing has to be highly timed. There was a strict time limit of 10 minutes.</p>
<p>Me and Noel finish our timing and are pleased. We walk over to SaM and stridy just to hear stridy yelp &#8220;Oh shit.. Interop is broken :|&#8221; and just then.. literally just then.. Deepak walks in and says &#8220;Team SKAN, you&#8217;re up. Lets go.&#8221; <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_surprised.gif' alt=':o' class='wp-smiley' /> We&#8217;re like &#8220;Oh crap.. improvisation time :P&#8221; We go in and straight out of the box, one of the gentlemen from IIM (if my memory serves me correct, it was Mr Kunal Upadhyay, CEO of CIIE at IIM-A) asks us if we&#8217;ve implemented all of this on our own and we&#8217;re like.. &#8220;ummm.. yeah :P&#8221; We start the presentation and everything flows well. SaM comes up and takes a bit too long oh his part. I&#8217;m looking at my watch and its 8 minutes gone and we&#8217;d need about 4 more minutes <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_disappointed.gif' alt=':|' class='wp-smiley' /> We manage to some how wrap it up and still do all the parts as required. Here comes the dreaded QnA where the other teams were murdered. To be honest, it wasn&#8217;t that bad for us. We did pretty darn well. In fact, we were applauded once the entire thing was over. We were the only team who got such a response <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>The other teams go in and the story continues. At the end of the day we leave to go to Garuda Mall where we printed our &#8220;Team SKAN&#8221; tees <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_grin.gif' alt=':D' class='wp-smiley' /> I also met Aroj, Amith&#8217;s brother, for the first time. We then went on over to ThoughtWorks in Diamond District and had a look around. I must say, that&#8217;s a place I wouldn&#8217;t mind living at <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> The ride home was funny because the auto guy took us to a whole different place. The receptionist at PoloNest was kind enough to explain to the guy in Kanada where to come. Our auto guy then started telling the receptionist that this will cost extra fare and we&#8217;re like.. &#8220;just take us there please. We&#8217;ll pay you the extra amount&#8221; :p</p>
<p>We reached there by 11ish and soon turned to bed. A long day ahead and we were really tired.</p>
<h3><strong></strong><strong>09<sup>th</sup> of May, 2008</strong></h3>
<p>Quite an early start and we were off to the Nimhans Center (hopefully spelt correctly). The place was quite nice. We set up a stall where <a title="Microsoft Student Partners" href="http://studentpartner.com"  target="_blank">MSP</a>s from around Bangalore came to check out all our solutions. It was fun <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> Quite a few professionals and even Microsoft Employees from South East Asia (Thailand, I believe) came towards the end. Nice 2 hours of stall running and explanation of our system meant we were ready for the presentation and a wide range of questions <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> At noon, the results came out. (Note, my thoughts henceforth for all result declarations are mentioned in asterix, for clear distinction)</p>
<p>The first team to go through to the grand stage to present and be India&#8217;s top 3 was Team GreenWaves from Delhi University. *Ok.. 2 more places left. We can still make it.* The second team to make it through to the final 3 was Team Novices@Work from VESIT *Kinda expected.. but only one place left <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_surprised.gif' alt=':o' class='wp-smiley' /> Can we make it? If after yesterday&#8217;s awesome response we don&#8217;t make it, who knows what it takes to go through :P* The final team to go on stage will be&#8230; *drum roll here would have been nice* Team SKAN from *oh good lord yes! We&#8217;re through! The dream is still alive.. oh wait, our college&#8217;s are being mentioned. Oh well.. just keep shaking hands, hugging, jumping and smiling with glee*</p>
<p>The others went to eat food while we were on stage telling them what our final requirements were for when we are on stage. We were seated backstage where we redid our entire presentation strategy making sure we have enough time. We practiced our roles and mine was to man one of the computers. Amith would man the other one while Noel and Sameet presented.</p>
<p>Team Greenwaves went first but honestly, we were too busy to notice what had happened on stage. We were just preparing over and over again. Team Novices@Work go on next and we are getting ready to go on stage. Their QnA starts and we get ready with 3 laptops all connected to a switch (we did need a mini network there to show how the system works :p) We carry all of this and go on stage. Everything set up, the presentation is about to start. I glance up and see an packed auditorium. People eagerly waiting for us. Spotlight directly on us. This is what we&#8217;ve been waiting for <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>Everything goes smoothly. Noel was given 2 minutes for the outro but when SaM handed over control, there was a nice 3.5 minutes. I knew we were coasting home as far as time was concerned. Noel noticed this and deeply emphasized on every single important point. He made sure he sweet timed every single of those in coming good length deliveries. And there it was, with quite a bit of time to spare, we had just given our presentation.</p>
<p>QnA time and Mr. Samir Barua, the director of IIM-A who was one of the judges for the day took the mic first off and said &#8220;I don&#8217;t have any questions for you. I&#8217;d just like to know when you can come and implement this for my organisation&#8221;. We freeze and the so does the crowd for half a second and then they start applauding wildly <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_surprised.gif' alt=':o' class='wp-smiley' /> Once the applause dies down, me and SaM thank him. Two more questions came forth but nothing which was a significant worry. Sure, when asked where we got the quoted stats from, we didn&#8217;t really remember the name of our source, but that was it. And yeah, I did look it up later and it was the Nightwatchman website :p</p>
<p>So its all done. Lets have food, I say. I&#8217;m starving. Well, its not that easy cause its already around 2.30 and lunch buffet is closed <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_sad.gif' alt=':(' class='wp-smiley' /> Well, the guys from <acronym title="Microsoft">MS</acronym> who were running the show were kind enough to direct us to what I think was the executive buffet on the first floor. That&#8217;s where all the dignitories and special invitees had their lunch <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> We enjoyed ourselves and Novices@Work were up there with us too. GreenWaves, I believe got to eat the normal lunch since they finished up first <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> I&#8217;m so glad our team name was SKAN and not AKNS or something :p</p>
<p>We headed down and joined in 5 minutes late into an awesome panel discussion. (I had a nice description of this earlier but its all sketchy now so I&#8217;d rather not speculate :p I&#8217;ll just add a quote that one of the panelists had made on stage as my post ending quote :)) What you should know is, we were sitting at the back of the auditorium to its right (if you&#8217;re on stage). We&#8217;re pretty much on the last row or well.. a row or two ahead of that. In front of us was Team Novices@Work and in front of them was Team GreenWaves. Order of 1-2-3? We&#8217;d certainly hope so :p Up until now, I, if not my entire team was pretty confident. The odds of winning seemed pretty good. Then Lead India winner RK Mishra came on stage. Here&#8217;s when the graph goes all down hill :p His speech was all pro <acronym title="Information Technology">IT</acronym> to help the rural areas. Could this really be happening? Microsoft India Chairman Ravi Venkatesan comes on stage.. the results are so close now. The cheques are on stage! Anyway, Ravi Venkatesan comes on stage and continues along the lines that RK Mishra had treaded. *BSE Sensex is crashing. Please switch on damage control mode already!*</p>
<p>The results are up. 3 cheques on stage. This is something Novices@Work pointed out. So its good that at least 3rd and 2nd place don&#8217;t go home empty handed. That&#8217;d be kind sad <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> In 3rd place, Team GreenWaves *Safri Duo - Played Alive&#8230; I like this song.. I&#8217;d like to dance my way to the stage if we&#8217;re first :o* In 2nd place, Team *Novices@Work* SKAN *oh no.. you can&#8217;t be serious; music comes on. No dancing :(* Dejected, we go on stage and accept our 5 foot long cheque for Rs. 20,000 (which is lying in the other room as I write this; its soon to go to my college to be framed :P) and our certificates. Oh well <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> Doesn&#8217;t take a genius to figure out who came first. Congratulations to Team Novices@Work. Have fun in Paris.</p>
<p>Then again, as I&#8217;m writing this after the 28th of May, I know that we&#8217;re going to Paris too so yeah, the second version of this post is a lot happier :p Pretty soon we are on our way back to Mumbai. A 2hr delayed flight later and I&#8217;m home. The dream and the trip <em>had</em> ended. Well the trip certainly did. The dream had a nice little reincarnation thanks to the interoperability award. More about this in my post <a href="http://jalife.net/2008/05/28/viva-la-france/"  target="_blank">Viva la France</a>.</p>
<p>anna was kind enough to make a post about this on the AXIS forum which you can <a href="http://www.axiscore.in/forum/index.php?topic=374.msg2268#msg2268"  target="_blank">read here</a> <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> It has a pretty nice list of articles where this news has been published. Yesterday, on our way back, Mark told me that they had hired an agency to crawl the web and collect information about the event. I might contact them so that I can have the list that they have, just for memories sake <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>And yes, I am going to upload the in this millenium. I&#8217;m just waiting for my new ISP so that I can do it in less than a century <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /> Or I could just mass upload the pictures from Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Paris <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_tongue.gif' alt=':P' class='wp-smiley' /></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>AIEEE format needs improvement</title>
		<link>http://jalife.net/2008/05/05/aieee-format-needs-improvement/</link>
		<comments>http://jalife.net/2008/05/05/aieee-format-needs-improvement/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 04 May 2008 19:31:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Anderton</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Academics]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[AIEEE]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://jalife.net/?p=231</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[CBSE (according to wiki) is the group who manages the AIEEE examination. For those of who you don&#8217;t know, AIEEE is a national level examination for students who wish to enroll themselves in the prestigious NITs. The AIEEE is held around the last few days of April or usually the first odd week of May [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a title="CBSE on Wiki" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBSE"  target="_blank"><abbr title="Central Board of Secondary Education">CBSE</abbr></a> (according to wiki) is the group who manages the <a title="Official AIEEE website" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIEEE"  target="_blank"><acronym title="All India Engineering Enterance Exam">AIEEE</acronym></a> examination. For those of who you don&#8217;t know, <acronym title="All India Engineering Enterance Exam">AIEEE</acronym> is a national level examination for students who wish to enroll themselves in the prestigious <a title="National Institute of Technology" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Institutes_of_Technology"  target="_blank"><abbr title="National Institute of Technology">NIT</abbr></a>s. The <acronym title="All India Engineering Enterance Exam">AIEEE</acronym> is held around the last few days of April or usually the first odd week of May with the <acronym title="All India Engineering Enterance Exam">AIEEE</acronym> results coming out online around the first week of July every year and the paper based result <em>should</em> follow in a month or so.</p>
<p>Ever since I gave my <acronym title="All India Engineering Enterance Exam">AIEEE</acronym> examination back in 2005, I&#8217;ve had thousands of hits and a few hundred comments and a similar number of emails every year asking me about why their i-card&#8217;s aren&#8217;t here or why they haven&#8217;t received their results yet. Around six to nine hundred thousand students give the exam every year and I know how hard it is to manage such a large number of people for the exam but the whole thing about students having to go to different states and as far away as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to give their <acronym title="All India Engineering Enterance Exam">AIEEE</acronym> exams is just crazy and unacceptable.</p>
<p>I wish they&#8217;d have a better way to do the necessary tasks. I sure hope they do send the paper based results in time to students. Hopefully the <acronym title="All India Engineering Enterance Exam">AIEEE</acronym> results will get to everyone before their admission process starts <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>I think I should take an active roll in providing <acronym title="All India Engineering Enterance Exam">AIEEE</acronym> students with information like what they should do when students don&#8217;t have their <acronym title="All India Engineering Enterance Exam">AIEEE</acronym> i-cards or their paper based <acronym title="All India Engineering Enterance Exam">AIEEE</acronym> results. Its obvious that the <acronym title="All India Engineering Enterance Exam">AIEEE</acronym> results are first announced officially on the <acronym title="All India Engineering Enterance Exam">AIEEE</acronym> website which is http://aieee.nic.in/ <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>Be it doubts about <acronym title="All India Engineering Enterance Exam">AIEEE</acronym> i-cards, <acronym title="All India Engineering Enterance Exam">AIEEE</acronym> examination, <acronym title="All India Engineering Enterance Exam">AIEEE</acronym> results, <acronym title="All India Engineering Enterance Exam">AIEEE</acronym> admission patterns, <acronym title="All India Engineering Enterance Exam">AIEEE</acronym> admission cut off lists <acronym title="All India Engineering Enterance Exam">AIEEE</acronym> councelling or <acronym title="All India Engineering Enterance Exam">AIEEE</acronym> admissions, I&#8217;ll try to help. If anyone has doubts, please be sure to leave a comment and your email (in the box provided for the email). I&#8217;ll try my best to send you a reply asap.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m already pretty high if you search for things like <a title="AIEEE results are out." href="http://jalife.net/2005/06/01/aieee-results-are-out/"  target="_blank"><acronym title="All India Engineering Enterance Exam">AIEEE</acronym> results</a> on google. A bit more and I could show up well on further <acronym title="All India Engineering Enterance Exam">AIEEE</acronym> results so that should help <img src='http://jalife.net/wp-includes/images/smilies/msn_happy.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /></p>]]></content:encoded>
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