It sure isn’t and please have no one else convince you otherwise. Oh!! I’m sorry. Let me tell you what it is that I’m talking about. It’s a Video. And a Poster. All this time till this point in the course, we have been writing reports, making powerpoint presentations. But, towards the end of this term all that we are required to do is to make a video presentation for one paper and a poster presentation for the other. Easier said than done, eh?

Well, since our coursework score depended on the Video, we really had to do things good and not really in a hotch-potch manner. What started off was a hunt for information of the firm that we were covering, and possible videos too. What we ended up with was an overload and jotting them all down within the 7 min time limit was an impossible task. So, what you do now is make a story board. Heaven knows what it really means in the professional world, we went ahead with our own understanding and came up with a flow. Now it was last week that we were supposed to record, when just around St. Patrick’s Day, I ended up with a sore throat. Brushing it aside as a minor thing, I went out in full spirits on the afore-mentioned day. The result shouldn’t be hard to guess. So, there I was more or less ruled out for the recording with about half the show yet to be done. But, then gallant knights always await to save the day, as did one of group member, who volunteered to do all the talking. And, so the day was saved and we made it in time.

It was time for Poster. What began was a hunt for a software to do the same. In retrospect, I wonder why we had brushed off MS Powerpoint in the first place? Never mind. We found one and work began. Now, my tide of misfortune wasn’t over yet. After a wonderful Saturday, with some friends visiting London, I realised I was down with flu. Made my working on the proceedings a fair bit difficult. But perseverance pays, and the job is done. In fact, as we speak, the poster is getting printed for the presentation tomorrow. Till then, Adios!!

Oh btw, here is the video that we did for our coursework, the one I was talking about. Far from a professional one though!!

Coursework Video

“Guys, a few more days. Lets kill this!!”

“Have you got the research done?”

“Hang on!! I got something here.”

“Meeting tommorrow at 4.”

Its 2:00 am, and the old self is sifting through lecture notes, reading up articles on the web and generally hearing statements like the above for the past few days in the Forum Cafe (that would be the Business School Cafe), the discussion rooms, the computer room and of course within my own group. We just got over with a bout of submissions which required us to do certain case studies, write our reports. And now we are at it again.  With about two weeks to go for term to be over, submissions aren’t far off. These would be the last ones for this term and then its spring break and term exams beyond that. Not much of a cooling off period I suppose. But that’s what we signed up for, ain’t it?

One thing that I learnt during the making of all the reports till date, and all that goes into the making of the same is the very importance of group work. It is quite humbling for many to realise that success or failure comes to the group as a whole and every member is an important cog in the wheel. There are no free rides.  Each member is valuable in one way or the other, there is always a way in which each one could be useful to the overall functioning of the group. If one has the ability to take the lead, the other could be doing the follow up tying up loose ends, one could be good at research and actually dig out things which one didn’t expect to be out there, while there could be one who can lend support to each and every member as per need and requirement.

At the end of it all, apart from learning the nuances of a professional report, going through the paces of analysis and reasoning as expected to be done in the world of business, I also learned the importance of group work, something which I had picked earlier but somehow it got fine tuned here. Maybe, the sheer number of tasks that we went through over the past few months.

Anyhow, the heat is on and I gotta video to work on. So, while I leave you to ponder about what it could be I take your leave. And should you be part of the course I am in, or end up being a part in the coming years, you would surely know first hand…

Cheerio

Isn’t that a call one usually associates with sailors. Well last Saturday, i.e. 28th February, 2009, there was a trip to the Historical Dockyards at Portsmouth. Portsmouth happens to be a quaint port city, in fact UK’s only island city and still is a major dockyard and base for the Royal Navy and Marine Commandos. For more look up Portsmouth on wikipedia or their official website.

So, what’s really historical about the Historical Dockyards, one might wonder. Well, here’s the trivia. It is the home of the HMS Victory, oldest naval ship still in commission. It was on this ship that Lord Nelson, breathed his last while commanding the Royal Navy in the Battle of Trafalgar, on 21st October, 1805. Nearby is the last of the remains of the ship Mary Rose. Its the oldest of its kind surviving till date. Preserved in a constant flow of molten wax, it does make you marvel at how well such artifacts are preserved today.

Following are a few snaps from that trip.

It’s been ages literally since something scribbled in this corner and with activities moving at a break neck speed in class, I daresay there were very few moments of calm solitude to actually sit down and doodle about!! But still, the mind does need some rest. And so, came along a day when one got the chance to try and slide on ice (or is it glide?), in process bruising the old resting spot with the repeated falls.

The day was a Monday, and it was the 16th day of the second month of the Georgian calendar in the year 2009. An ice skating evening was planned for the residents of Clayponds Village at the Queensway Rink. Now Mondays are off for me this term, so true to form I was lazing about all day… and honestly was in half a mind to skip it. But what with the day coinciding with a friend’s birthday it was quite impossible to stay indoors unless the desire to be manhandled ruled prime in the psyche.

So there I was ambling along the road to Queensway, weaving my way through the crowd, then the queue to finally arrive at the skate corner. Boots strapped, the horrors (rather pains) of the last such act flooded the memort, and the frankly, the old hat here really did have half a mind of unstrapping the boots and return to flatter grounding. But, surge ahead whispered the lil chap in red in my left ear and so off I went!!

1… 2… 3… ah three good steps, may be I can do it… THUD!!!

Honestly, the process was repeated so many times, I could actually write a C program to simulate it (maybe). To my utter dismay, I was the only jelly legged chappie there, the rest were doing quite fine. Took a few snaps and a video, take a look

Ice Skating at Queensway