NFR - National Finals Rodeo - Las Vegas

In January this year, I wrote about Houston Rodeo, and this time its NFR or the super bowl of Rodeo... Haven't you started trying for the National Finals Rodeo tickets

What is Rodeo?
Its a sport event which have its origin attributed to the practice of cattle hearding in spain, Mexico, US, Canada, Australia ...etc. It is an event of Cowboys and involves many time judged events involving cattle and horses. It is designed in such a way that the skill, speed and ability of the cow boys and gals are tested. (This is the official sport of Wyoming and Texas.)

NFR
National Finals Rodeo is held each year in the first full week of December at the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada (Thomas and Mack Center). This time the big buzz starts on fourth of December till December 13th 2008.

The events include, Bareback Riding, Steer Wrestling, team roping, saddle Bronc Riding, tie down Roping, bull riding, barrel racing ...etc. So all those entertainment elements are there for you to explore and experience.

History

The NFR came to Las Vegas (it was previously in Oklahoma.) in 1985 and since then this sport is an integral part of the city. In 2007 NFR have got an official song, the “Cowboy Town,” recorded by superstar duo Brooks and Dunn. The hero of 2007 was Trevor Brazile, PRCA's triple crown champion.(he was a champion in 2004 and 2006. Dont miss the whole action!

SQA - Cartoon _I need to take a leave

For the last couple of months i was noticing that some of the ggole queries for the SQA cartoons land in my blog... Yeah his blog have some QA content and I've written about cartoons as well.. So this time its a cartoon.. Cartoons on quality Assurance. I donno who have drawn this but am gonna use it as it is.. hope you enjoy the same... Click to view that!

QA- Careers- possibilities and the truth.

QA or quality Assurance is the process of Verify, Debug, and Update the software that is developed or modified. The career in QA is a promising one. Irrespective of the technology, domain or the interface used, QA is essential to the organisation. So wonder where will you get a job? They are every where, from the MNC's to the local development firm next door, or some where like TruGreen. Only thing is that open your eyes and ears so that you won't miss the opportunity.

Skills:
The main skills required for the QA guy are
Active with Excellent communication Skills
Observation skills
Management skills
A little of programmatic skills (yeah, you need this as well)
A certificate in Testing
And experience is desirable.

In the case of a fresher the initial package (yeah, the remuneration) won't be that attractive, but the package weight increases with years of experience. Updating ones knowledge to the current technologies in the market helps in the QA's case as well. So be updated to make an impression. If you have any tips and tricks regarding this, do update the same as comments, so that others can be benefited from the same.

Service-The keyword to profit and business.

The heading above says it all. Let your industry be a production, a software development, or a service oriented or even a reseller, what you need to maintain a good customer base is the "Service". You can have a service division inside the company or can even outsource the same. Some maintain the service division as an entirely different company(Tax issues ;) ). If you are a customer/regular user of the products, you will get a free service or may be you have to get registered/paid to avail the service. Some like American Home Shield (AHS) help the customer to get the service fast and efficient at your doorstep. What ever be the case its always advisable to sign up for the services(If you are required to do so), as it takes away the hassles of finding the technocrat/service people and get the appointment.

In the internet if you are buying a software make sure that they have a customer service division or some sorta support so that in case if you are stuck they are there a mail away. So the basics are simple. Give good service and customers will come looking for you. Now a days even the free services in the internet have got a support section in them, and yeah, they respond to your queries as well. Have you ever tried to contact any of the online services?

Bugs, testers and extra functionality.

The Software we uses may contain lotta bugs... and its the duty of the testers to eliminate them before the final release.. err.. the actual sentence would be, to find and report them.. so its like what Terminix do. or rather may be its done b the programmer itself. What ever the case is it must be bug free. A software can be said to be as a good one, if it is usable in the eyes of the final user, if its functional in the eyes of the tester and if its less buggy in the eyes of the project members(and of course in the eyes of customer and testers as well.)

Extra functionality.
Extra functionality is always welcome. but imagine a customer complaining that he is directed to other pages on certain keystrokes or certain combination keys(for him it may be undesirable). That will be a pain. So when ever a customer gives out his requirement(s), either stick to the same or discuss with him what ever extra functionality you are gonna add. This clears the last minute debate(over the money and functionality) before the release.

Programmes I cant live wihout

1. Notepad ++ [http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/]
Yeah this article itself is typed in notepad++ and I love this software.. when ever some one calls to give a number, open an unknown file , I automatically press winkey + R (activate the 'RUN' ) and type in "notepad++" (without double quotes) and swoosh.. its before me.. its so fast, easy to handle and controllable. This is the program which i use frequently

2. Paint .net (paint dot net or PDN) [http://www.getpaint.net/]
A li'l image manipulation tool that is helpful in times. for hose simple resizing, retouching job, this program is soo light and easy.

3. Firefox [http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/]
I love this browser.. except that it doesnt opens up my bank account secured page.. but that is ok :)

4. Flashget [http://www.flashget.com/index_en.htm]
This is a wonder tool for me which helps me a lot in managing the downloads in my office and home... small but powerful.

5. Open office. [http://www.openoffice.org/]
Thanks to this program which helps me a lot in creating pdf documents that draws attraction in my company as well as among my friends. This is primarly a well managed document tool. I dint forgot about the spreadsheet, presentation capabilities ...etc.

6. Google talk [http://www.google.com/talk/]
For hose hi and bye I use google talk (less frequent now a days). Thanks to google, i am in touch with my friends

7. Blogger [blogger.com]
I use blogger and i have used my domain over it. so definitly blogger is in my list

8. Picassa [picasaweb.google.com]
Picassa is neat and organisable to an extend. I use them in my blogs, for hosting my personal album ...etc.

9. Google Apps. [google.com/a]
yeah, the google apps is definitly a boon for me. With that am getting a lotta free space for my mail. google sites, and google pages, where I can even store some files to dowload.

10. AVG Antivirus Free editon [http://free.grisoft.com/]
Yeah, I use the free edition of AVG from grisoft and that helps me in keeping major vulnarabilities out.

11. Tweak UI / powertoys [http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx]
For keeping my computer neat

12 Ccleaner [http://www.ccleaner.com/]
For keeping my computer clean


So that is it. these are the major programs I use on a daily basis. For my video audio needs, i use windows media player itself.

So what are your essentials?


* This is not a comprehensive list.. i juz penned down(oops I mean keyed down) the data which came in to my mind.

Computer services from fastteks.com

Are you in a small/mid-size organization ready to set up an IT division? Hold on! here is an information that is helpful for you. I found these guys in a casual browsing session and thought the information is well worth sharing.

Genre: IT services
Site: Fast-teks
Address: fastteks.com
These guys offer home services and business computer repair service, and I think that will be a value for money, when we think of the hassles involved in maintaining an IT department and the whole headache behind that.

They do a variety of services like Managed services, back up and recovery, website design and hosting, remote managed services, software training, computer and betwork security ...etc. They provide service in comfortable timings - like offering a day, evening services, weekend services ...etc. So if you are in need of the service head to their website, collect more information, check whether the same is viable to you and contact them to get a deal.

Beautiful Minds - statistics – march 2008

Am not much caring about Alexa rank these days.. and is not writing much as well.

Here are the quick stats..

Total Hits : 13,058 (421/day)

Unique Visits: 11,369 (367/day)

First time visitors : 8764 (283/day)

Max hit /day : 1,149 ( 4^th March 2008)

Least hit/ day : 49 (2^nd March 2008)

Maximum keyword hits were generated from HP laptop queries.