Diary 23: Normal Day

Yesterday I slept at around 6 am, after completing a part of my tasks and watching one episode of CSI:Miami. Today, I woke up at around 11:00 am. My dad left early to somewhere in CBD for some work, and so no one was home that time. The maid servant came in, made the breakfast for both of us, and then left. Dad also came in meanwhile. The earlier part of the day was spent in watching the latest episodes of Bones and Big bang theory. Then, I focused on my next action item at work. Because of all the issues and problems I faced, I was now adapted to the problems I could face. This time I went step by step, and noted down my observations. So, I was getting the whole picture in addition to the details here and there. Then, I had my lunch with Dad. After the lunch, I continued working for sometime. Meanwhile, I also watched the IPL match between Punjab and Deccan. Hyderabad were awesome with their batting, and hence reached a huge total of 198/2 in their 20 overs. Punjab tried but collapsed very easily. With this loss, Punjab are out of IPL. So now Mumbai and KKR qualify for the play offs. Amit mishra took a hat trick today. After this match, there was another match between Pune and Delhi. Pune started off well, but rain stopped play in between, and then the game never started again. Meanwhile, I started working on my task, and completed major portions of it. There are still some issues left, but those are just minor ones, which I will deal with later. I took a shower after that. And now, after writing this diary, I would start watching the season 4 of CSI:Miami. I plan to sleep at around 4 am. 

Diary 22: Frustrating Day

Well, I slept at around 5:00 am, after fighting with repositories and databases. I woke up at around 11:15 am. I checked my work mail, and general stuffs. In a while, the maid servant came in, so I had my breakfast then. After the fight last day, I was determined to move ahead and look into the issues. So, I started working. Most of the mid day was spent understanding their code and structure. There was an issue with one table, which caused a hell lot of problems later on. Anyways, I ate my lunch in between at around 4:30 pm. I didn't have any appetite till then. After that, we had a call at 5:15 pm. In the call, we explained our situation, and came to know that all the action items are to be finished by today. The deadline was ridiculous, and we already knew that it couldn't be met. Anyways, I started working on my action item. I rectified a few things here and there, but the problem with this one table couldn't be rectified. I tried all means, but every time the data failed to load into that particular table. I checked everything in the source xml files, the Informatica mapping, the DT mapping, but couldn't find anything that would cause this problem. This whole time I was trying to figure out the issue, and hence a lot of time was wasted on this. In addition to this, the person on the client side is too inarticulate to explain the issues or solutions. So, everything was haphazard. Ankit was also getting frustrated with his action items. He was facing a version issue. Gotham, the lead on the client side, was calling me regularly to seek updates, and it was a frustrating task to explain a non-technical guy the reasons for the data coming and not coming. Anyways, after lots of debugger sessions, and log search, I finally concluded that the problem is in the final stage where the data gets written to the database table. Meanwhile, I had a quick dinner and it was then that I found out that Mumbai Indians are losing the match against RR by 10 wickets. I was surprised to see the downfall of Mumbai Indians in the recent times. Returning to the work, we had a call with Gil late at night, where he gave us some direction. Using that, I moved on and figured out the root cause. Then, I proceeded step by step and finally reached the horizon - both in reality and in essence of code. It was around 5:30 am, when I mailed them that the problem has been fixed, and it is working now. After that, I slept after watching the CSI:Miami episode. I completed the season 3 today. 

Diary 21: Informatica Day

Yesterday I slept at around 3:00 am, after watching the TV episodes. Today I woke up at 11 am. Firstly, I panicked because I thought that the maid servant went back from the door itself, but I found out that she has not come yet. Well she came in, made the food, cleaned the house and then went away. Meanwhile, I was confused whether we will start working on US time from today or not. Soon, I got a meeting invite for 5:15 pm, and I figured out that it will be from today. I was very much used to the US timings as I sleep late, so I had no issues. I spent most of the mid day time in watching TV episodes. Then I had my lunch, after preparing some rice for myself. Then, today was a historic day for our business plan because we had our first call, and that too a video call. We discussed strategies, and action items, and I spoke a lot with no problems. It made me happy and content, as I was doing something that is mine. Anyways, immediately after this call, I had the client call. It was an average call, where they gave us an introduction into their system. The next part of the day was fully dedicated to Informatica. Even the IPL match between KKR and Pune (Sourav Ganguly) couldn't get any sneaky stares from me during the whole time. IPL commentary was playing the role of background music as I was working deeply into the administration part of Informatica. I had to replicate the client system in our remote desktop. Although I had no experience with that, I was able to do it, and finally start the work. Ankit was frustrated with the timings, and was on his very low on productivity. Anyways, my dinner was the only break during this time. After that, I took a bath to get recharged. A backache was causing problems the whole day, and took its peak at around 1:00 am. I was helpless then, but I somehow fought it. Another fight was going on the informatica side, where I was trying to make a mapping work. It finally worked, but still has some issues related to input files. My dad came in between, and saw me working late. He suddenly offered me a glass of warm milk, and I accepted. I was already very full, but I managed one glass of milk. Then, Ankit gave up on the work, and went to sleep, so I had to send the status mail to the client. After that, I started writing this, and now I plan to watch the loaded TV episode and then go to sleep.

Diary 20: Rejection Day

Today was an odd day. I slept at around 6:00 am, after coming back from airport. I drove the whole way back. Driving at the dawn was awesome. There was no traffic, there was no sign of urgency. I woke up at around 10:00 am, with a heavy head. I had to wake up so that the maid servant doesn't return from the door. I had been accused of it earlier, so I had to make amends. I sent a mail to Gil, saying that I will start late as I was awake all night, and returned late from the airport. At around 11 am, he sent out another mail asking about our availability, because he had some new work. I was in no mood to work with my heavy head. Anyways, Ankit as usual called me, and informed me about it. I acted as if I was surprised to know about the new work, and somehow managed to skip the topic of "work from home". So, the maid servant arrived, and explained her what I needed for breakfast and lunch. Meanwhile, I came to know that I didn't get through IIM L even in the second list. In a way, it was very good. I never wanted to go to L. I forgot about it, and moved on. The middle part of the day was wasted in Yahoo messenger. The whole day, I evaded work, and gave some logical explanation of why the code is not working. At around 8 pm, I again started working honestly, and figured out the problem in 30 mins, I rectified the code within 10 minutes, and had my first client call in my new company, which I handled very nicely, and was impressed by myself. Ankit, who was supposed to lead the call, was very unsure and fidgety. After that, I sent the project to Ankit, and logged off. Then, I and my Dad managed to handle the dinner without preparing anything new. After my dinner, I continued watching the IPL match between CSK and KTK, and started writing this diary. Right now, the match is in favor of Chennai, and it seems that they will take it home. Next, I plan to watch the latest episode of house, and then continue with the third season of CSI:Miami. I will sleep at around 3:00 am.

Diary 19: Packing Day

Yesterday, after that big fight, I was not in a very good mood, so I distracted myself by watching TV episodes and also took a bath to cool off. I slept at around 3:00 am. I woke up at 10:00 am, and this time my mom didn't mock me for waking up late, but instead asked me politely. This gave a good start to my day. After that, I ate my breakfast, and started watching TV episodes. For the first half of the day, I was pretty much involved in TV episodes. I didn't talk much, but was at peace with myself. I also visited few of the data exchange training materials in between. During the later part of the day, I took my mom and sister to a shop, and waited there till the shopping was done. I could easily see the excitement in the eyes of my sister. She is all set to meet the cousins and grandparents. The whole day everyone was busy with packing and organizing. Anyways, I came back and looked at the score card of the on going IPL match between Kings XI and RCB, and was shocked to see that RCB are taking a beating from Gilchrist and Marsh. Punjab put on a huge score of 232/2 in their 20 overs. RCB were never looking good. Gayle was out for a duck, and no body was stable. Consequently, RCB lost it by a huge margin of 111 runs. I had my dinner by around 10:30 pm. Then, I started working on my business plan and the overall process flow. I made a graphical chart of how the whole process would go about. I sent out a group mail to list down the tasks at hand. I even had a chat with Akshay, who wanted to start with the website work as soon as possible. I agreed with him, and hence decided to meet up on Thursday evening. I felt really good after implementing all this. I felt satisfied, and could feel that this is what I have wanted to do all this time. Now, I plan to watch the latest episodes of HIMYM, Chuck, Gossip girl and House. Then, I will go with my mom, dad and sister to the airport to drop off my mom and sister. We are planned to leave at 3:00 am, the flight is scheduled to depart at 5:40 am. I wish my mother and sister a happy and safe journey.