Oh Centra web seminar software, you useless piece of #$^#&! Not only do you not allow me to upload my PowerPoint presentation directly (or, at least I couldn’t figure it out in the time I wanted to allot to learning), but then you don’t automatically turn on the mic?
Okay, so I’m stupid for not turning on the mic to record my presentation. And of course, it’s the flawless presentation that doesn’t get recorded. You know the one…with a voice like James Earl Jones, silky smooth and authoritative, telling the world ‘Not only do I know Statistics, I soothe you into not even caring what topic we are talking about!’
In the end, I think I recorded that presentation eight times. Since we couldn’t go back and record over a single botched line, at least there was always the option of just starting over. For the ‘final’ submitted assignment, there was plenty of digital distortion in our presentation, where I got a little overzealous in my explanation of forecasting wood pricing. What can I say, to me talking about statistical modeling is like talking politics. Eventually, I’m going to get a little riled up!
Who knew that 5 minutes of presenting could take 90 minutes to perfect? Perhaps the greatest irony…it’s not even a graded assignment. What was I so nervous about?
Tags: Statistics·Technology
I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something feels different about this semester. I don’t know if it’s because it’s the third semester, and by now I’m used to the lifestyle, or because India was our first ‘developing’ country and I’m viewing my part of the World as a little less serious; maybe it’s because we’re past the end of the year push and the holiday season stress.
Or maybe it’s because of the classes. The pairing of Marketing Management with Statistical Modeling, for me, has been relatively effortless compared to the first and second semesters. Partially due to all the practice I get at both at my job, partially because doing linear regressions on 50 observations shouldn’t be hard for anyone, but mostly because there’s no Accounting or Decision Models in the course pair! There’s something so satisfying about a quantitative class that has an exact answer (outside of the interpretation, of course), paired with an intuitive class like Marketing. Unlike Accounting, or even Decision Models, where how you start thinking about the problem determines whether you’ll end up at the right place.
[Continue Reading →]
Tags: Distance learning·Marketing·Statistics·Technology·Work-life balance
'If that rickshaw driver doesn't stop honking that #!&%# horn...'
On the Sunday after residency, I had plenty of time to kill, as my plane flight wasn’t leaving until 11 p.m. and the Le Meridien was in a pretty big hurry for me to leave. Funny how once Duke stops paying the bills, the hotel became all “So…what time are you leaving today?” Nothing like an 11:30 a.m. “courtesy call”, when check-out was at 1 p.m.!
Solidifying her title as “Best Host Ever!”, Taniya agreed to take a bunch of us misfits out in Delhi for a little lunch and some shopping. Shailesh, Ian, Rahul, Vijay, Taniya, and myself first headed toward Connaught Place on some rickshaws, in search of some Indian food. At this point, I had given up ‘taking it easy’; if I was to feel bad on the plane ride home, why not take a gamble that I could make everyone on the plane uncomfortable! As it turns out, the restaurant was quite good, so I had no gastric issues the rest of the day.
[Continue Reading →]
Tags: Alcohol·British·Culture·History·India
