For the current project that I am working on, we were looking for alternatives to the SQL Server Reporting Services. We ended up with a really good BI solution, LogiXML.

LogiXML is a XML based reporting solution available for .net and Java platforms. More information can be found in their website, www.logixml.com

To us, it really simplified the way we used to work on reports. It was something similar to the Sagitec Studio, that we use in our work everyday (Sagitec Studio is for Web Development, developed and used as a product by my current employers), which meant lesser learning curve. The AdHoc Reporting capabilities is what caught our attention. It is neat, the LogiXML team has thought through most of the aspects of Reporting.

All common reporting functions, with an excellent support team. They have always responded quicker. The product is well documented and supported. If I like one reporting tool, it must be LogiXML. Will definitely recommend it to anyone.

For the past one month, I am getting to meet families of my colleagues, having lunch, tea and dinner with them. Socializing!

This is giving me the break from the monotony of living alone and single in my apartment. Getting to meet people, share thoughts, playing golf, badminton, etc.

With it, my tummy has again started to grow. Nice food, Indian food, South Indian meals, from Vijay’s, Renga’s, Murali’s and Bhavneet’s houses, travelling on my car, getting used to driving in the nights and the rains. These are those nice things that happened in the past month. I have decided to try every nice restaurant in Richmond, eat the specialty dishes.

Started off with omelette’s, hash browns and pan cakes in ‘ihop’… More to come…

Another year has passed, I have added one more step to my life as a software engineer. Four years into the industry, it is long time now. In this year, I have groomed myself up.

I am no more the rough, lesser jumping to conclusions, lesser assuming stuff, improving listening and notes taking. Nowadays, I spend more time attending meetings, take the points, propose design. I have grown, but I don’t have a way to measure.

One more step forward is done. Stepping into the fifth year. All the best to all my friends who did join on the same day as me.

Social Networking is the catch phrase of the hour. Everyone has one or more online presence. Twitter, Buzz, FriendFeed, Facebook, MySpace, Orkut, IM most of us use one or more of these services. I remember signing up for most or all of the services that I have listed above, when they came into existence.

But now, I just had a thought, are we creating a hype! Overusing social networking? Trying to find acceptance in the online world? Just pondering questions.

Why suddenly this concern? When I look up the magazine, ads, everywhere, now it reads, “We are on twitter, Follow Us!”. It is good thing that twitter helps business owners to reach out to people, market the products and help to connect people. But I really hate it when people use it like an IM. Checking for updates every 5 mins! Following people just for the sake that they follow back. I really felt bad when a person caught in fire in bangalore office was trying to send twitter updates instead of trying to save himself. Media was really showing his twitter updates. Crazy!

I remember my roommates telling me, “Next you will update that you went to take a leak!”. Any new invention or service is good. It is not the service that is bad, it is we the people, who have to ‘Use it wisely!’

Now that I have a car, the next thing that comes is maintenance. I am not that person, interested in cars, for me, car gives freedom to move around here in the United States.

For the past two months, I have been spending on the car, getting it to live! First I had the “LOW COOLANT”, that happened to be a leak in the coolant, that had gone bad and damaged the radiator. I had it fixed. Here in this country, labour costs more than the cost of the spare parts. I was astonished to see the bill. Then I had the “CHECK ENGINE” light coming on. Man! Why!

But, I started loving the car now. I clean it every time, I take it for a ride, give it a wash regularly and take care of all those monthly maintenance stuff that I have to. Living alone, the phone and the car are the only two companions that I have. So most part of my weekends are spent either on the phone or on the car. The remaining time, sleep, watch movies and cook!

Life is not that interesting at all times. Maybe I must start spending time before my laptop as I usually did when I was in India. Now it has turned to be just the entertainment center. I also added a new policy, “not doing office work on weekends…” Cool

Kickass Movie – A fun filled, super hero movie.

Good to watch, funny and entertaining.

Teachers: They were the best part in my life. With friends and family, they played a significant part in making me what I am today. So this post is dedicated to them.

Michael Arokiaraj and Uma Mageshwaran

Both of them were my Maths teachers. Michael sir taught me in 10th and Uma taught me in 11 & 12th class. Both of them had different styles. Dedication was one common factor. Michael sir would treat us as a friend. Uma sir would treat us as student and teacher. To just quote one incident from each one of them. It was our revision exam in school in 10th standard. We were some 130 students put together in 2 classes. We completed the exam in afternoon. The next day morning, in our special class, Michael sir was there distributing the papers. We could see that he had not slept well the previous nights. It was not that he was pushing himself. He enjoyed doing it, just to make sure that we learn something from him. And he would always have that smile going in his face. He took his time to come to school on sundays and saturdays to conduct mock exams. No one paid him for it and no one was acknowledging his efforts. But he did it because, he wanted us to be in good position in life. Hats off!

Coming to Uma sir, Wow! He was well versed in his subject. From morning to evening, he would run a marathon of Maths classes. From 7.30 am to 3.00 pm, I have attended his classes. He would never rest, he will go on continuously, writing on the board, making sure that people get to understand everything. He lived on a principle, ‘I am your teacher inside the classroom. I am a stranger to you outside this room’. I simply adore him. He had that ‘something’ in him that attracted respect, and there will be pin-drop silence in his classes. He too would make sure that we get all our papers on time and perfect. Hats off Sir!

O S Sivakumar

If it is computers, there was only one man in Neyveli to teach, that is Mr OS! He had OS in his name! Wonderful, dedicated and cheerful. ‘Enada kanna?’, I still remember that! He allowed us to explore computers. He would allow us to learn, experiment with computers. Myself, Naseen and Arun, we were most of the time inside the lab. If I chose, computers as my field of choice, then all the credit goes to this one man! A real teacher.

Arul Jeganathan, Maria Kulanthai, Kaliamurthi, Arul Anand Raj, Peter Lawrence, Raymond, Christopher, Lakshmi Narayanan… the list goes on.

And if I forget to mention one person, that would be a crime. The man who made all these possible. Rev. Fr. E. Thomas. I respect you sir!

I would cherish each and every moment I studied in my school, St Pauls Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Neyveli, Tamil Nadu, 607801. My alma matter.

I hate Reports. Reports as in Crystal Reports, Sql Server Reporting Services.

I was pondering over the question, why do I hate reports? this entire day. Do I simple hate them? Did it have something to do with the way I look at them? Is it because, I have always seen it in the wrong way? Was it that I hated it from the first that I am getting an aversion towards it?

My first work with reports was in 2007. I really hated the way Crystal Reports did the formatting. Even though, I had very little space between the columns, it always rendered it with more space, and I would be questioned on why there was more space? How will I know? That would be my answer. Only when I had one column laid literally over the other, did it give a small space. It all started there! And it is still continuing.

I thought only Crystal Reports was like that! Now SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services) is even more terrible. I understand that Reports are more important requirements in any project. They are the way of letting people see, decide and plan on what has to be done. Any software solution provider will have reporting requirements that need to be done. I tried to even start reading books on Reports, but something is wrong in the way that I understand them. I write SQL, but somehow, I hate it when it comes to reports. It must be the way I perceive it, but really, Reports / Data Analysis is really not my cup of tea! I really can’t get over this feeling. I want to learn it, but simply I can’t.

I hate you Reports! But somehow, I have to do it! Get it done!

I own a car now. A 2000 Chevy Malibu LS. One most important, must-have entity for life in the United States. I didn’t visit the regular KBB or Car Dealers to buy my first car. It was a good feel that I did not have to hunt for cars. Looking at VIN, vehicle history. Probably I will do all these for my next car.

I bought it from my friend, Abhilash Nair. He is a friend since undergrad days. He studied Aeronautical while I was in Instrumentation. But he was always welcomed as a Instrumentation senior by all our juniors in college. A happy going, cool dude, and the only person from Kerala who calls an auto an ‘auto’ instead of ‘otto’ (This is meant just as a joke… Please don’t take this seriously as I believe firmly in democracy…)

The moment I announced that I bought a car, my mom wanted me to perform a ‘Vahana Pooja – a ceremony of bestowing goodness and blessing to the person owning the car and the car’. I was asked to get a coconut and four lemons for the ceremony and I did get it from an Indian Grocery Store. The pooja was performed last sunday.

Now I am ready to drive the car! A way of attaining independence in United States! Here I come!

Licensed to drive in the US.

I got my driving license now. Got to get a car, and get mobile. I am planning to get a car from my friend Abilash Nair. A chevy. Heading full steam on the life in America, the land of opportunities.

Yeh Jo Desh Hai Tera!