CCF Webcast (for Developers) by Herb Fickes

While trying to find a couple of other things about CCF, I got to this MSDN webcast today. Its a nice Level 300 web cast presented by Herb Fickes - a Senior CCF Consultant.

The webcast explains the basic CCF concepts like - Hosted Applications, the AIF, actions and lot other stuff. Definitely a must see for all those who want to know more about CCF Development.

Lance Armstrong

Over the last couple of days, I've been reading Lance Armstrong's book - Its not about my bike. The book talks not just about his cycling stints but his miraculous journey back to life from a seriously life threating state of testicular cancer. The book is so gripping and inspiring that it just holds you right from the start.

I could immediately relate to him in the first few pages - the similarity being that of a "I wanna do it all and I wanna to do it now" type kid with his "neva say die" attitude.

It seems that they are now coming up with a movie on the legends life and the Brokeback Mountain star Jake Gyllenhaal will be playing the legendary cyclist.

Well, that I've been through the book, I just cant wait for the movie.

Elvis videos

I posted a couple of Elvis videos which I think are really great.
I hope you like those.
Thats my small way of paying tribute to the King of Rock n Roll

--Sanket

A Tribute to Elvis Presley

A Tribute to Elvis Presley

Before Elvis there was nothing... and after him, nothing much.

Our tribute to the King of Rock n Roll.

Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel & All Shook Up

Enough of the black n whites... Elvis in one of his color videos and a couple of those rock n roll dance steps. Heartbreak hotel, hound dog & all Shook up.
Elvis still lives and he will forever live in our hearts.

Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel 56

Just a terrific song... Rocking performance. Elvis in the 1950s

Elvis Presley - Dont be Cruel

Another smashing hit

Elvis Presley - Frank Sinatra

Elvis and Frank Sinatra together. Along three cool Elvis tracks - Fame & Fortune, Stuck on You & Love me tender.
Stuck on You is one of my personal favourites & Love me tender is the best for the romantic mood. Frank is great too, but Elvis simply rocks.

Elvis Presley - Wooden Heart

I dunno this flick... but the video is cool and I just love the song... thats one of my favourites and one of Elvis' best.

Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock (Music Video)

Another video from his thrid movie - Jailhouse Rock. This one is a black and white version of the 1957 flick.
For all the indian guys, now you know where Shammi Kapoor got his dance steps from :)

Elvis Presley - In The Ghetto...

This and a couple of other posts are going to follow with videos of Elvis songs. Thats just to compile all my favourite Elvis videos in a single place where anybody can easily find them.

A Mystical Journey Called India

One of my collegues fwded this link to me. This is a gallery of photographs captured from various parts of India. Aptly titled - "A Mystical Journey Called India".
The photographer has done a truely brilliant job at portraying all the aspects of my country.
These are truely mystic. For a very long time, I was hoping that someone would portray a "true" picture of India. It is no longer a land of tigers and snake charmers. Neither is it a land of the poor. Our country is definitely a flourising economy and definitely more than what people just assume it to be.
This collection I would say is truely a marvel. It captures not just the essence of India but also a country on its path to modernisation. The beautiful landscapes of North India (Manali , Rohtang, The Ganges) are just as enchanting as are the the cityscapes of Mumbai (some of you might know it as Bombay). Definitely a 10/10 for this one. A marvellous job.

Reversing Diabetis

I was going through a couple of videos online on google videos and I came across this one which I thought was worth propogating.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1407054601065907544

This video talks about how an institute in Arizona has successfully reversed diabetis for people. And that only in 30 days WITHOUT MEDICATION. All was achieved with the right diet and (I think) with right excercise.

I think thats really a cool thing and really worth spreading a word about. With all the lifestyles that we lead today, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep this epidemic away. And as we go ahead with it, the age at which people catch this is decreasing day by day.
I am sure this can help a lot of people get out of the dependancy on insulin medication.

These guys have a web site here for further information - http://www.rawfor30days.com/

Pass on the word. Help cure diabetes.

--Sanket Bakshi

Seattle Ahoy!

(Do click on the images as you read.)

On the 22nd of July, I left Hyderabad for attending the TechReady 3 @ Seattle. Tech Ready is one of the Microsoft's company wide event for field professionals. Started at around 4 pm from the Hyderabad airport. The flight was supposed to go from Hyderbad to Mumbai. Then from Mumbai we were to leave after midnight to Paris, from Paris to New York and then to Seattle. Well that definitely seems and it was a Looooonng journey. The delays started from Mumbai, almost 3-4 hours, then on the Charles De Gaulle, Paris again almost 2 hours and then AGAIN at JFK. At the end of it, we discovered that we were travelling for almost 42 hours.
We were booked @ the Crowne Plaza in the Seattle downtown and it was a good 20 mins drive from the Airport. The next day was Sunday. So we ended up visiting the Musuem of Flight. Personally, I dont think you can get such a consolidated and exhaustive view of the history of aviation in a single place. The place is based right besides the Boeing Factory and they also use the "Red Barn" where Boeing started making his first air planes. The Museum boasts of a life size model of the plane that the Wright Brothers flew over the Kitty Hawk. They also have aviation experts who are more than pleased to offer you a guided tour through the evolution of the flight. Their exhaustive knowledge of the subject simply awes you. They will tell you about the Wright brothers first flight, about how the flights evolved into mail carriers and then passenger carriers before taking you to the World war domains. The Museum also have real to life models of ALL the planes that were used in the World War I & II along with all their information and interesting anecdotes. Well, and thats not all. Just outside the musuem, opposite the Red Barn, you have one of the Presidential planes that was used by JFK on several of his trips. Just besides this one is the magnificient Concorde. You can take a tour of these planes and go right till the cockpit.
Once done with the museum of flight, we zoomed off to a far off place to try our luck at shopping :). We had heard about some factory malls outside the city where you would get some things really cheap. This place called North Bend, was almost an hours drive from the city. The place has a couple of malls and a Burger King outlet. Thats where we had our lunch.
After some meager shopping at the North Bend, we were off to the Washington State Convention Center to register ourselves for the Tech Ready.
From Monday, we started with Tech Ready and then were hooked up in a busy schedule till Friday. Barring two evenings where we went off for team parties to a lake side place called Bells Harbour. That was a great time to meet various other guys from all over the places.
On Thursday, we had a grand party, and I mean - GRAND. Cruises, Music and Booze. Thats what the evening was all about. With a live band entertaining pretty much throughout the evening, it was certainly a beautiful treat.
Friday being the last day, we got out quite early from Tech Ready. Rajiv Shah & me, walked to the Space Needle - thats another attraction of Seattle. Built in 1962, the Space Needle is right in the center of the City of Seattle. the entire structure is almost 600 ft tall with an observation deck at a height of almost 500 ft. Just below the observation deck, you have a revolving restaurant that can give you a view of the entire city as you enjoy your food. Of course, we planned to go in there for dining, but then it seems that you need to call them up and book in advance. Check out some of the interesting facts about the Space Needle.
Over my 7 days stay in Seattle, I had a chance to try out a couple of good restaurants there.
If anybody is going to be in the Seattle Downtown, I would probably suggest Ginger Thai (Thai Cuisine) or Mexico Cantina (Mexican of course) on the Pine street. Or you can try some really nice food and beer @ the Rock Bottom on the 5th Avenue. To try some Indian food, you would need to go a bit out of the downtown. Bellevue has a really nice restaurant - "Chutneys" where you would get some good Indian cuisine. On Saturday, I ended up meeting Anant Agvekar, one of my old buddies. He and his wife had come over to my hotel. From there, we drove up to the Macys and then to Chutneys for some nice dinner.
The next day morning - Sunday, I was off from Seattle. Heading to Chattanooga (near Atlanta) in the state of Tennesse for another project.
My impression about Seattle? Well, I would say its really a nice place, calm and green. The best part that I liked about it is that it has no hustle like any of the major cities and yet you can live there to work for the worlds best software company - Microsoft. I dont think there is anything better that I can really ask for. Given a chance, I would definitely love to be here in Seattle again - obviously along with my family :).