Was thinking a bit about how 2010 will be and the list of activities I have lined up for 2010.

2009 has been pretty interesting, with couple of big initiatives being launched here @ Microsoft Sri Lanka, big stuff in personal side and some good events including PDC etc. I really thought 2009 was interesting. But compared to the things lined up for 2010 i'm excited and now feels like 2009 was a piece of cake. Anyways it seems like 2010 is going to be another exciting action packed year.

Things for 2010 is going to start with a big bang .. a Tech Colloquium (4th Jan), then there is Tech.Ed 2010 in Feb, Imaigne Cup in April and several other pretty big stuff coming.

Sri Lanka is at a crucial juncture and we at Microsoft Sri Lanka firmly believe that IT is one of the most powerful forces which can be leveraged to contribute towards the enormous task of developing the country. But in order to make this a reality, we need to create strong alignment between our Industry and the direction of the Country.

We would like to start the new year by introducing a new exclusive forum, the Tech Colloquium, which we hope to hold at periodic intervals. This forum will bring together some of the thought leaders in the country and have them engage in dialogue with our IT Professionals. We want to use this forum to hear some thoughts from our Nation’s leaders and get exposed to their vision for the future, and also understand their expectations from young IT Professionals. We will also bring ICT related inputs to the same forum, and discuss different Technologies, and Technology related issues. The Colloquium promises to be an inspiring experience for future Leaders.

Speakers ...

• Mr. Gotayaba Rajapaksha
• Mr. Lalith Weeratunge
• Mr. Sriyan de Silva Wijeyeratne

Date : 4th January 2010
Time : 5.00 PM – 8.30 PM
Venue : Cinnamon Lakeside

REGISTER NOW! @ http://tech.dotnetforum.lk

Limited seats available, Please register now to reserve your seat. Only registered participants allowed.

During the transit I decided to chk out the city. Because most of the time as Microsoftees we visit a country and never get to see the country for real. This was anyways not an attempt to see the country for real but at least better than nothing. Either we stay stuck at the hotel where the conference/event is or stick with a planned city tour … which most of the times SUCK!

I went to this shopping mall which they called the kingdom of computers … Pantip Plaza, its a big a** IT Mall … actually bigger than the SimLim in Singapore. Gadgets seems pretty cheap here. I only got to check 2 floors in the shopping mall. It had 6 or 7 floors. With a little bit of bargaining I got two 1TB External HDDs and two 1TB Internal HDDs for just Rs. 10000 each … that’s awesome compared to the Rs. 22,000 price tag back home. And a digital photo frame just for Rs. 1900, which had no brand or anything. I decided to take the risk and buy it. It works perfectly fine after 10 days … so its all worth it for 1900.

After that took a long walk … about 3 kilometers in crowded roads in Bangkok, which reminded me Japan and Korea … everybody looks the same.

It’s the same university but a different faculty. Yup! during the last couple of years we did .NET days at the Science and Arts section, but after a while I decided to stop it due to there is no continuation of activities. Sorry guys I have to say this. We did event based on the request but after that there were no continuation in the champ program or anything from the previous organizers. Then when a new group of office bearers got appointed in the computer society they organize a session again … etc. I’m more interested in supporting the students in a continuous fashion.

So this time the request came from students from the Engineering Faculty with the promise of continuing the programs … and these guys are hungry for new stuff, knowledge etc.

Chanaranga deserves a big thanks for taking the initiatives to organize the event. As you can imagine handling registrations and coordinating a two day event is not an easy task … especially when you are working in Colombo and when the event is happening 100 km away.

A big thanks to Dinesh Asanka, Dinesh Priyankara, Susantha Silva, Prabath Fonseka and Tharindu Nanayakkara for joining the long trip with me. Looking forward to have a continuation session very soon.

Photos@ Windows Live Gallery / Photos