Currently, I'm working with my partner Bryan on the Web Analystics Competition. Our team is known as Viridis Callidus (which is the Latin words for "Green" and "Clever"). So, hopefully the judges will think we are representing Omniture's favorite color of green and displaying that we have the clever skills that web analytics requires). Okay, perhpas that's going a bit too far, but you get the point.
Anyways, last week was Omniture University. In all honesty, I thought that it could have been better. I was a bit disappointed on how we were taught (everyone logs on and slows down the connection - thus, slowing down the learning). Also, it seemed that we could have figured out most of what the presenter said by ourselves. What I think would have been more helpful is giving us scenarios of real life questions and showing how you would find the answer to those questions. Yeah, that might be going a bit far, but I think that would have helped me. I guess I can appreciate the fact that we were given free pizza :)
Anyways, SiteCatalyst seems to be a very powerful Web Analytics tool. In comparison to Google Analytics, there's definetely a lot more you can do. I was pretty amazed at the different types of data that you can see. The only downside I do see is that since there is so much you can do with SiteCatalyst, there are times where it does take time to find the data you want.
At this point Bryan and I hope to at least make a good run at the competition. We have planned out a strategy and we hope to carry it out. For now, it seems that we have quite a bit of work to do within the next week.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
Never live with Freshmen!
This story is not for the faint of heart. Yet, if you are in the mood to read something totally unbelievable, I suppose you can read on. I think the title speaks for itself. Well, I know I was a freshman once, but I knew my place then and lived with other “freshies” in the dorms. At least if I had done anything really stupid, it was where it was acceptable. However, I think back then I mainly did pranks (e.g. getting my roommate to delete all his illegal music by pretending to be the RIAA ). Currently, I live with one freshman. I will call him “Brian” since that’s his name. Anyways, Brian is also a return missionary. So, I figured he might know better… Not quite.
Let me give you a quick background about him. He has a limited perspective on many issues, freeloads off everyone and anyone he can, and doesn’t really know how clean (funny thing is he works as a custodian). Okay, that sounds a bit harsh, and you might be thinking I’m being a bit too hard on the poor chap, but I give my honest opinion on the way things are. Now, I’m not saying all freshmen are like this, but I would have to say, a lot his characteristics reflect the typical freshman.
Anyhow, I am a senior at BYU. I thought I’ve seen it all (at least “all” in a college perspective). Like any semester I’m rather busy. Some nights I come home around 9:30 or later. So, it was one of those nights and I came home late. I come to a semi-messy apartment. I already felt that it was not a great way to end the day. Yet, there was something odd about the mess. There was paper towels clumped together, all over the kitchen. All of them were soaking wet. Then I was confronted by a horrible smell. I was like, what in the world could make such a horrible smell? I then found the entire hallway upstairs soaked in water and about 4 of the steps of the stairway were soaking wet as well. Apparently the toilet overflowed…sad day.
After cleaning some of the mess, Brian comes home. I thought he was getting more cleaning supplies or something…nope. He was at a soccer game. Now, when the apartment is a mess (like a real mess) and leaving it messy makes things worse (especially with water), you should continue to clean it up until it’s done. Not only have the paper towels been sitting there, but there was still a lot to clean. Also, I still was wondering what actually happened. He told me that the toilet started to overflow and that he tried to stop it. Funny thing is, there is a plunger by the toilet, and the toilet is like any other. I asked him if he even tried to turn off the water. He said he did not know there was an off switch and was working on it for 45 minutes (thus, the water damage). Wow…now I’ve seen it all. A 20 year old that doesn’t know how to turn off the water. I think about this point I went to my room in disbelief. It was sad.
Well, he did continue to clean, so I left him to finish since I had a project due the next day. As I’m working on the project I hear a spraying noise outside my door. I then find Brian spray floor cleaner in the air. I then asked him what he was doing. Brian replies, “Getting the smell out.” As I suspected the floor cleaner had bleach. I then told him to stop spraying and if he knew that it had bleach. He said he did… Still, I don’t know about you, but I don’t enjoy breathing in bleach. Who know? Perhaps Brian thought he could magically rid the smell with floor cleaner and give all of our lungs a good “clean” burn.
As I reflect upon the incident, I still can’t believe what had happened. It’s been about two days since the incident and the carpet is still went and smells. I don’t think the smell will ever leave. Well, I guess I can say it could have been worse. However, it proves my point. Never live with freshmen.
Let me give you a quick background about him. He has a limited perspective on many issues, freeloads off everyone and anyone he can, and doesn’t really know how clean (funny thing is he works as a custodian). Okay, that sounds a bit harsh, and you might be thinking I’m being a bit too hard on the poor chap, but I give my honest opinion on the way things are. Now, I’m not saying all freshmen are like this, but I would have to say, a lot his characteristics reflect the typical freshman.
Anyhow, I am a senior at BYU. I thought I’ve seen it all (at least “all” in a college perspective). Like any semester I’m rather busy. Some nights I come home around 9:30 or later. So, it was one of those nights and I came home late. I come to a semi-messy apartment. I already felt that it was not a great way to end the day. Yet, there was something odd about the mess. There was paper towels clumped together, all over the kitchen. All of them were soaking wet. Then I was confronted by a horrible smell. I was like, what in the world could make such a horrible smell? I then found the entire hallway upstairs soaked in water and about 4 of the steps of the stairway were soaking wet as well. Apparently the toilet overflowed…sad day.
After cleaning some of the mess, Brian comes home. I thought he was getting more cleaning supplies or something…nope. He was at a soccer game. Now, when the apartment is a mess (like a real mess) and leaving it messy makes things worse (especially with water), you should continue to clean it up until it’s done. Not only have the paper towels been sitting there, but there was still a lot to clean. Also, I still was wondering what actually happened. He told me that the toilet started to overflow and that he tried to stop it. Funny thing is, there is a plunger by the toilet, and the toilet is like any other. I asked him if he even tried to turn off the water. He said he did not know there was an off switch and was working on it for 45 minutes (thus, the water damage). Wow…now I’ve seen it all. A 20 year old that doesn’t know how to turn off the water. I think about this point I went to my room in disbelief. It was sad.
Well, he did continue to clean, so I left him to finish since I had a project due the next day. As I’m working on the project I hear a spraying noise outside my door. I then find Brian spray floor cleaner in the air. I then asked him what he was doing. Brian replies, “Getting the smell out.” As I suspected the floor cleaner had bleach. I then told him to stop spraying and if he knew that it had bleach. He said he did… Still, I don’t know about you, but I don’t enjoy breathing in bleach. Who know? Perhaps Brian thought he could magically rid the smell with floor cleaner and give all of our lungs a good “clean” burn.
As I reflect upon the incident, I still can’t believe what had happened. It’s been about two days since the incident and the carpet is still went and smells. I don’t think the smell will ever leave. Well, I guess I can say it could have been worse. However, it proves my point. Never live with freshmen.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
It Finally Happened...Sort of.
I am a PC user. Always have been. Probably always will. Anyways, the reason I do is because I am a business major. I would say most businesses use PC for simplicity. They are cheaper, and since other businesses usually use PC, it's more compatible.
At any rate, I have grown tired at Mac users. They always say that Macs are more superior in every aspect. They claim Macs last longer, run faster, and don't get viruses. While I would agree that Macs have a nice "look and feel," I still don't think they are worth the price. Also, I dislike the fact that if I had a Mac, I would need to find a way to make everything compatible with PCs. I'm all about simplicity, and all I could see by switching over to a Mac would be a pain. Sure there are the "Mac Genius" where they cut the switching costs, but that still doesn't solve the problem with distributing files to PC users.
Anyways, now that you know my background about Macs and PCs, I wanted to blog about a funny article I read. This is the link: http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/117188. Now, if you are too lazy to read it (but, for some odd reason still reading this blog), the article is mainly about a virus that hit Macs. The article says that about 20,000 Macs were hit by the virus. I actually laughed when I read this. I could see the reaction of those users... "A virus????" Still, it was interesting to see that Macs are finally getting effected...sort of. Now, why I say sort of is because the virus only comes from pirating software through BitTorrents. So, only those who are doing illegal stuff are getting hit. Well, at least Macs are finally proven they aren't totally "invincible."
At any rate, I have grown tired at Mac users. They always say that Macs are more superior in every aspect. They claim Macs last longer, run faster, and don't get viruses. While I would agree that Macs have a nice "look and feel," I still don't think they are worth the price. Also, I dislike the fact that if I had a Mac, I would need to find a way to make everything compatible with PCs. I'm all about simplicity, and all I could see by switching over to a Mac would be a pain. Sure there are the "Mac Genius" where they cut the switching costs, but that still doesn't solve the problem with distributing files to PC users.
Anyways, now that you know my background about Macs and PCs, I wanted to blog about a funny article I read. This is the link: http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/117188. Now, if you are too lazy to read it (but, for some odd reason still reading this blog), the article is mainly about a virus that hit Macs. The article says that about 20,000 Macs were hit by the virus. I actually laughed when I read this. I could see the reaction of those users... "A virus????" Still, it was interesting to see that Macs are finally getting effected...sort of. Now, why I say sort of is because the virus only comes from pirating software through BitTorrents. So, only those who are doing illegal stuff are getting hit. Well, at least Macs are finally proven they aren't totally "invincible."
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Omniture Kick Off
Well, last week was the "Kick Off" for the Omniture Web Analytics Competition. I really didn't know what to expect since every year I never had time to compete. This year my Web Analytics class requires it. So, I guess I'm lucky to have this opportunity.
Anyways, it was interesting to see what we are to do for the competition. The company that we are to analyze is Overstock.com. I think it's going to be interesting to work on Overstock since it is an online company. Yet, I wonder what areas of their company have the most potential for improvement. It'll be an interesting experience as it will be my first real attempt at Web Analytics.
Anyways, it was interesting to see what we are to do for the competition. The company that we are to analyze is Overstock.com. I think it's going to be interesting to work on Overstock since it is an online company. Yet, I wonder what areas of their company have the most potential for improvement. It'll be an interesting experience as it will be my first real attempt at Web Analytics.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Still got it!
Last week was interesting. It was "busy" as usual, but then again, I had a four day weekend to look forward to. This week made me think of 2 things that I am still good at.
Presentations
One challenging aspect of my week was making sure I got all my assignments done on time. In the past, if time is an issue I have been known to stay up late (4:00 AM was the new 12:00 AM for me last semester). Because of this extra effort, I have been able to accomplish many things.
Anyways, on Monday I was assigned a presentation in Web Analytics on Visits, Visitors, and Unique Visits. Interesting enough I was to present it with my partner on Wednesday. Usually I have a lot more than a day to prepare a presentation, but I really wanted to make it "good." There was just one small problem. I was still on east cost time, and my ability to hit 4:00 AM was rather difficult. Even so, my partner and I agreed that what we had on Tuesday afternoon, would be sufficient. Now, I did agree with him since we only had two days, but I really wanted to make our presentation fun and engaging. I mean our topic was rather straight forward, but I didn't want to bore anyone the next day. So, naturally I stayed up looking on YouTube for any engaging videos to use.
By about 1:00 AM I found a video from Avinash Kaushik, but it was an hour long (way too long for a 15 minute presentation). After watching about 30 minutes of it, I found a portion that dealt with our presentation (I must admit, the presentation was quite interesting - he's a good presenter). Yet, by about this time, I was getting tired and I decided to go to sleep (thus, I did not make 4:00 AM). Even with this small victory, I still felt uneasy. I still was wondering how our opening would be. I wanted a captivating video to use. At 6:00 AM I woke up and cut a portion of the video to use. But, I thought that still wasn't enough. However, by the time I finished cutting the video, I came up with a great idea for our opener. It was a video I had seen a few months back. This was our opener - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7dnGo_2tZA. When I added this video to the presentation, I was a lot more confident. The result was a pretty good presentation to my standards. At any rate, I did find it. Interesting enough, I had woken up early for once to finish a project, instead of staying up late to complete it.
Fixing Computers
Being in the Information Systems field has its advantages. But, then again, it has its unwritten duties as well. Once you are known as the ISYS "Guy", everyone who has computer issues asks for your help. Now, I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but it always keeps me on my toes. I do like helping people, and I have been able to solve all but two problems throughout my college career. One was my brother's computer (it was a fried motherboard - which I could do nothing about). The other issue was some networking issue (the IT aspect of computers is actually my weakness).
Anyways, this past weekend, my friend called me to help me fix his computer. He had completely cleaned out his computer and reintalled XP on it. However, that was all he installed. Because of that, I knew exactly what to do to fix his computer. He needed to reinstall the drivers. There was one slight problem, I had to figure out what drivers he really needed. After a bit of guess work and an hour or two, I was able to not only restore all the drivers for his computer, but also help make his computer protected from viruses and have most of his software back. He now has a computer good as new. Yeah, I know that's not such a great feat, but it was good to know that I "still got it!"
Presentations
One challenging aspect of my week was making sure I got all my assignments done on time. In the past, if time is an issue I have been known to stay up late (4:00 AM was the new 12:00 AM for me last semester). Because of this extra effort, I have been able to accomplish many things.
Anyways, on Monday I was assigned a presentation in Web Analytics on Visits, Visitors, and Unique Visits. Interesting enough I was to present it with my partner on Wednesday. Usually I have a lot more than a day to prepare a presentation, but I really wanted to make it "good." There was just one small problem. I was still on east cost time, and my ability to hit 4:00 AM was rather difficult. Even so, my partner and I agreed that what we had on Tuesday afternoon, would be sufficient. Now, I did agree with him since we only had two days, but I really wanted to make our presentation fun and engaging. I mean our topic was rather straight forward, but I didn't want to bore anyone the next day. So, naturally I stayed up looking on YouTube for any engaging videos to use.
By about 1:00 AM I found a video from Avinash Kaushik, but it was an hour long (way too long for a 15 minute presentation). After watching about 30 minutes of it, I found a portion that dealt with our presentation (I must admit, the presentation was quite interesting - he's a good presenter). Yet, by about this time, I was getting tired and I decided to go to sleep (thus, I did not make 4:00 AM). Even with this small victory, I still felt uneasy. I still was wondering how our opening would be. I wanted a captivating video to use. At 6:00 AM I woke up and cut a portion of the video to use. But, I thought that still wasn't enough. However, by the time I finished cutting the video, I came up with a great idea for our opener. It was a video I had seen a few months back. This was our opener - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7dnGo_2tZA. When I added this video to the presentation, I was a lot more confident. The result was a pretty good presentation to my standards. At any rate, I did find it. Interesting enough, I had woken up early for once to finish a project, instead of staying up late to complete it.
Fixing Computers
Being in the Information Systems field has its advantages. But, then again, it has its unwritten duties as well. Once you are known as the ISYS "Guy", everyone who has computer issues asks for your help. Now, I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but it always keeps me on my toes. I do like helping people, and I have been able to solve all but two problems throughout my college career. One was my brother's computer (it was a fried motherboard - which I could do nothing about). The other issue was some networking issue (the IT aspect of computers is actually my weakness).
Anyways, this past weekend, my friend called me to help me fix his computer. He had completely cleaned out his computer and reintalled XP on it. However, that was all he installed. Because of that, I knew exactly what to do to fix his computer. He needed to reinstall the drivers. There was one slight problem, I had to figure out what drivers he really needed. After a bit of guess work and an hour or two, I was able to not only restore all the drivers for his computer, but also help make his computer protected from viruses and have most of his software back. He now has a computer good as new. Yeah, I know that's not such a great feat, but it was good to know that I "still got it!"
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Replaced!
Since the beginning of January 2008 I had a calling in the ward as the director of name indexing. For those of you who are not familiar with name indexing it's where you get an old document (e.g. census document, death certificate, marriage certificate...etc) and digitize the information. Once that information is digitized it can be used for a great deal of things. Not to mention searching for names from past documents becomes a whole lot easier. For more information please go to the site: http://www.familysearchindexing.org/.Well, at first, I thought this was going to be a boring, but easy calling. I was wrong on both accounts. After I learned how to do name indexing I had to teach others how to do it as well. Also, I learned that many others who were unfamiliar with indexing were at first very unmotivated to begin indexing. Because of that I had to organize activities to either train more people and/or help others get motivated in the cause. In the end, our ward was able to index about 39,787 names. Regardless of the outcome, I personally enjoyed indexing.
Now that the new year has begun, I am finally replaced. It's funny. Just when I finally make a CD with a Camtasia Studio video on how to index names, I get replaced. Oh well. At least people can still be virtually trained by me ;) At any rate I did have a lot of fun doing name indexing and it will be something I probably will continue to do even though I no longer am doing it as a calling.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Start of the Year!
Hello! This is the start of the year 2009. That means trying new things and learning more cool stuff (hopefully). Anyways, school has already started without me...yes, sadly. I am not in Provo just yet. Why you ask? Well, I am not skipping for the fun of it...or maybe I am ;) Actually, I am in Washington DC for more job interviews! Isn't that fun. Last semester I had taken a week off of school to visit California and Texas. Both were fun, and it was a nice break from school. Now, that I am in DC, I am having fun once again (not to mention an extended Winter Break). Not that job interviews are very exciting now (since this about the 10th one I've done this school year), but it's nice to go some place new, meet new people, and try new things.
Anyways, I was lucky to know that this semester I would be taking only 4 classes. 2 of them will be Information Systems based. Finally! Why I say finally is because I felt a bit deprived from last semester. Last semester I had general business classes. Not that they were bad or anything, it's just that I missed having some technical classes as well.
So, since I haven't been on campus thus far and I haven't even attended my classes, all I can say is what I hope to expect this year. For now, I am still very excited to have a Web Analytics class. I am excited because I want to learn more about this subject. Every semester I hear about Omniture and their Web Analytics competition. Each time I have neither competed in the competition, nor fully understood what Web Analytics entails. However, the subject still lingered on my mind. Because of this, I decided to sign up for the class. So, as for goals, I hope to gain enough knowledge about the subject. After doing so, I hope to learn more about the Web Analytics competition Omniture has and perhaps make an attempt to compete. For now, I am just beginning to scratch the surface of this subject.
I think I have written enough for this blog. Perhaps I will write about my other classes another time...
Anyways, I was lucky to know that this semester I would be taking only 4 classes. 2 of them will be Information Systems based. Finally! Why I say finally is because I felt a bit deprived from last semester. Last semester I had general business classes. Not that they were bad or anything, it's just that I missed having some technical classes as well.
So, since I haven't been on campus thus far and I haven't even attended my classes, all I can say is what I hope to expect this year. For now, I am still very excited to have a Web Analytics class. I am excited because I want to learn more about this subject. Every semester I hear about Omniture and their Web Analytics competition. Each time I have neither competed in the competition, nor fully understood what Web Analytics entails. However, the subject still lingered on my mind. Because of this, I decided to sign up for the class. So, as for goals, I hope to gain enough knowledge about the subject. After doing so, I hope to learn more about the Web Analytics competition Omniture has and perhaps make an attempt to compete. For now, I am just beginning to scratch the surface of this subject.
I think I have written enough for this blog. Perhaps I will write about my other classes another time...
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