Is Vesak a global holiday?

Today is Vesak. The day on which the prince siddhartha became enlightened (and was born and died on as well). Buddhists all around the world commemorate this day.
Some time back I remember it was news that Vesak was made a global holiday. But my friends abroad says it is not... hmm...

Prabath’s last day on CRS

Prabath and I joined Virtusa on the same day. All this time, both of us had been on the same project. We started as associate engineers and came a long way since then. There were ups and downs and we managed our way through all of them.

Recently we received a really high scorecard from our client which our client service manager quoted as the best scorecard ever on the account. Prabath, Frank and I were handling three different components and different clients and it was really responsibility and professionalism that bound it to that final score.

Anyways, Prabath decided to move on from the account from next month onwards. That makes today, his last day on the account. Prabath has done a tremendous amount of work on this account and has contributed immensely to make the engagement what it is today.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for all his dedication and hard work on the account and to wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

Ramblings

Yesterday was my brother’s birthday – couldn’t even call him :(

So we have lost the finals, but Sangakkara made sure we win the hearts. All a different story. Prabath has made his blog a cricket blog. So better stories on cricket is there.

But what’s all about this constant activations of air defense system? (By the way, consistency is some thing even the best cricketers could make use of) Does the Tigers really fly over Colombo every night or is it some thing to do with the radar system? I hope no one is enjoying the new toy at the expense of public money and feeling of safety – if you know what I mean...

And this new Hindi crap in blogger is getting in my nerve

And it rained in Barbados

It’s the day all the cricket fans awaited. Even the ones who are not so enthusiastic about the game awaited this day. Roads were deserted by 6.30 PM. Every one was in front of their TV set. And then.. it rained in Barbados where the world cup finals are held between Sri Lanka and Australia!!

The match is delayed due to rain and commentators say it could well be limited to a 20 over match. What a disappointment it would be to see a 20 over world cup finals…

Alas! I even bought a new antenna for this :(

And to top it all, the power went off. Probably a tree fell on to the power lines or some thing due to the weather here, but I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be restored till the match is over. So there goes the world cup finals for me. Hope I stayed in Colombo to watch the match, but again it’s good to be home for the long weekend.

Cricket

I came to office at 7.30 A.M. this morning. The office was deserted. Not even the security guard was at the door. Usually by 8.30 A. M. there are 15~20 people in the office. But today - none. There are quite a few Sri Lankan blogs updated early this morning at around 3.15 to 3.30 A. M. Most news syndications have posts on the world cup semi finals cricket match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand yesterday.

That's the impact cricket has on Sri Lankans. I'm pretty sure cricket history of Sri Lanka is just a little more than couple of hundred years, but 99% of the country is mad about the sport.

Even people who have never played cricket, who doesn't really know what's what in the game still stay awake the whole night to watch a match. That's remarkable isn't it?

What created this passion for this game? What aspects of the game attract these minds? Ever gave it a thought? Does it have any thing to do with advertising and the sub culture that has evolved around the sport? Or is it because we (Sri Lanka) have good players?

What ever it is, I believe its worth to do a thorough analysis on that factor. Especially if some one needs to create a collective mind set among Sri Lankans for some thing else. Some thing like – fighting terrorism.

Traffic

Before I moved in with my sister, I used to come to office before 7 A.M. No traffic - no hassle and I get a nice parking slot as well.
But now, since my sister’s morning shifts start at 7 and night shifts end at 7, all my timing has gone out of sync. When ever she does a night shift, I have to go to the hospital to pick her up around 7.20. If she does a morning shift, I have to drop her there by 7.
This morning I left home at 7 to pick her up and it took me 25 minutes to drive to the hospital (usually a 5 minute drive) why? Because the schools has started after the new year vacations. Grr..
So I’m planning on buying one of these for short distance traveling...



So when ever my sister does a night shift, I'd give her the car and ride this to office :) - on other days, she'd get the moped

Query Syntax in "Orcas"

Check this out!

In short, in Orcas, you can write queries for lists as in SQL.

It looks awesome by the looks

XYZ Talk

Person X is leaving the project he was in with Person Y. Person Z wants Person Y to find a replacement for Person X who should be capable of eventually taking over from Person Y when he leaves the project in end June.

Person X is in level 8 and is about to be promoted to level 7. Person Y is presented with candidates in level 10. He’s forced to make a selection.

What should he do?

Update : He was forced to select some one from level 10, who suits at level 9, could be stretched to lower level 8 and is required to make a higher level 8 out of him.

BTW Person Y is in level 8 as well

%&*#@~!

Kalinga

This dude used to be my class mate and was together with me for most of the mischiefs. Now he's down in Australia and was back for a vacation.

He paid me a visit on last Wednesday and we went to meet up with few other friends in the Kandy town.

As the night fell this bugger went crazy and wanted to light up fire works in the middle of the town!! So we bought some, and went up to this cool place and lit them over looking the town. It was awesome!! I’m sure it wasn’t only us who enjoyed it. The whole town must have seen it. I missed the camera… may be next time :)

Back from vacation

I came back from Kandy last evening.

I'm some what refreshed after the 9 day vacation which I spent mostly playing chess either with the PC, my sister or cousins.
I used to play chess for my school, but hadn't played much ever since. I guess I missed it some what.

I visited few friends and few friends visited me so I got to know all the gossip about my school mates. Some are married and got kids as well! Some abroad, some work and for my amazement some still study!!! What the */&^%$%. I mean, our batch is turning 27y this year (yeah - 99AL) What the hell are they still studying?? I've been working for almost five years and some are having kids, and here they are - a lot still at the universities. Hmmm...

Taking a break

I came home on last Saturday and won’t go back to office until next Monday! It’s been a while since I last took a vacation and I welcomed this opportunity very much.

Home isn’t what it used to be ten years back (when parents were much younger and my brother and sisters were all home and every one was in a wonderful harmony) during this holiday season but I don’t really mind it any more.

I got the chance to play with my camera and did some macro photography for a change. But the slow dial-up connection I have at home doesn’t allow me to post many photos here tonight.

The car

Moved in with sister

I was really frustrated with the housing issue and at the same time my sister rented a flat in Narahenpita. So as a temporary resolution I decided to move in with her. The rent there is 17k but I’ll have to pay only half of it.

Meanwhile I shall work on buying a house of my own within this year and put a stop to this whole renting thing.

Now that I moved out of that den in Borella, I have to get back my key money and the overpaid rent from the owners. They are most likely to try to slip away from giving it so I’m gonna have to go through a misery on that as well. But at least, I wouldn’t have to again, once it’s over with.

On moving – the darn place is in the 3^rd floor, and we have two steal cupboards, two really heavy wooden beds and a refrigerator among other things. And since things happened so quickly, I didn’t get to call any of my friends for help. To make things short, by the time I finished carrying every thing up I was so damned soaked in sweat and tiered as I could ever be. I drank three packets of milo and a half a bottle of a Pepsi mega before having a bath and collapsing in to the bed.