In case if you guys have noticed McDonalds don’t have any of the beef meals these days. This has been the case for about a month now. When asked both Kolpity and Rajagiriya restaurants said they don’t have stock of the beef slices. For a day or two I can believe that … but for a month … I’m not stupid. Something else seems wrong here.

At the end right now McDon don’t have their signature meal the BIG MAC … I mean … just think about it for a minute. How on earth can you have a McDonalds with out a BigMac?

No not me. I only drive fast. Never like an idiot. If you are driving you’ll understand what I’m saying here and I’m pretty sure that you already understand that driving is not an easy task when there are plenty of idiot in the road. Let me explain …

There are plenty of obvious kinds of idiots like … who go in the wrong side of the road; especially 3 wheelers and bikers. Some who signal right and turns left – most of the times motor bikers; met one today morning also. One most annoying type is people who drive really slow in the right-hand side lane. And another type is people who keep headlights on at nights; this almost blinds everybody coming from the opposite direction.

Last night I was on my way back and this jeep guy behind me was having the headlights switched on the whole time. It was pretty annoying as the lights were crystal white and extra bright. I was very patient from Orugodawatta to Peliyagoda. But right on the ‘Aluth Palama’ bridge in a major traffic jam this guy started flashing the lights, there were no room to go anywhere. But still this guy kept doing it. So I just stopped in middle the road and went to him and gave a piece of my mind. ‘idiot’ was decent enough to knock off the headlights after that.

Road in front of the national library is now properly built with 4 tracks marked etc. Last week I was driving towards the Museum and I was in the second lane on the library side. I saw an army jeep parked right at the other side of the road. When I got near the new color lights this army jeep just went passing me … basically a 4 lane cross in less than 50ft … and turned to the road parallel to the Viharamadevi park. I actually turned to left in a split second and ended on the pavement … actually 2/3 of my car was on the pavement at the end. Still the jeep just missed the front right side of my car by inches. There was a traffic cop right there who saw the whole incident but when I looked and him he was stupid enough to give an answer as ‘what to do .. they are army ne’ … I got really pissed … and put my 2000cc engine to use and chased after the army jeep and crossed them and stopped before the color lights and blasted the hell out of them. I respect our soldiers a lot for the dedications they have made to eradicate terrorism. But still this kind of behavior is not acceptable at all.

Everybody who passes town hall knows that there is a big bottleneck just in front of the Buddhist Ladies College. There’s only two tracks in the road and most of the times one is occupied by the busses because there is a bus stand right there. Couple of weeks back I faced a situation where one bus driver stopped the bus blocking both lanes and loaded passengers. this was creating an utter mess; the whole road was blocked. Surprisingly there was a cop right there who watched the whole incident but did nothing. When I asked him later he said that’s not what he was assigned there to do. Funny … but fair enough. So after the road got cleared I stopped the car right in front of the bus (without blocking the other lane of course) … so he will feel the pain as myself and many other drivers behind me felt. I actually kept it there blocking this bus’s way for about 10 solid minutes   till another cop came there to resolve the situation.

Couple of weeks back Madhuka pointed out that Sri Lanka is not listed in the country dropdown when entering comments.

I just checked the BlogEngine.Net Code and realized it's loading the coutry list from Cultures and for some reason Hosting Server didnt had Sri Lanka in the list. I have no way of fixing it in the server. So I added a customer culture in the code and fixed. Now you can select Sri Lanka in the list.

Apart from that I have done couple of enhancements to BlogEngine.NET, basically replaced the basic edior with the FreeTextBox and reformatted couple of options in the admin section ... bla bla bla. Still havent had a chance to test these fully and put live.

When it comes to my blog I never wanted to use any of those ready made tools even though I knew those tools had everything needed and fully featured. All I wanted to do was to build it from the scratch ... just to feel good. I even started developing the second version ages ago but never got a chance to complete due to the busy scheudle and seems like never will be able to :(

Last Sunday started working on customizing BlogEngine.NET for another site and I'm suprised by the simplicity it gives when customizing the UI. Within 2-3 hours I managed to change the entier UI to the new look and feel I wanted. It was simple and clear.

Right now i'm thinking of migrating my good old blog to BlogEngine.NET ... any thoughts guys?

Last Sunday I went to the Lavinia Breeze with family to have dinner. Expectations were high as the advertising is good and more importantly I have been to a 'real' Brazilian restaurent when I was in LA last november. So wanted to have the Churrasco again.

Experience @ the lavinia breeze was utterly dissapointing. For that price there are plenty of good restaurents in Colombo to have a good meal. We were there for about an hour and they served meat only twice and even for that I had to remind couple of times. I'm not an expert in grilling meat, but i'm sure I can do a better job in preparing meat. Last BBQ we did with couple of friends was pretty awsome. Also had to ask and remind again after 15 minutes just to get a water bottle. May be there was something wrong with me ... because a group in the next table who came much later was served pretty fast.

Anyways i'm NEVER going there again.

A Big Mac is one of the coolest creations of the fast food industry. OR in other words its one of the three kings of junk food. Other 2 are of course the Zinger from KFC and the Whooper from Burger King.

Yesterday I went to McDonalds during lunch time to grab a quick bite and ordered my usual favorite meal … a Big Mac meal. The guy in the counter by mistake have given me a Chicken Big Mac (A WHAT!). I noticed this only after going to a table. Just thought for a second … ask to change this or give it a try. What the hell! I just decided to take a bite and see. Had two bites and … CRAP! who decided to call this chicken burger a Chicken Big Mac. It’s a damn insult to the Big Mac.

Once upon a time when my office was just walking distance from McDonalds I use to have 2-3 Big Macs a day. Now! In case if you are wondering how fat I am … don’t worry … Big Macs could never made me fat.

I LOVE MY BIG MACS … SO DEAR MCDONALDS … PLEASE DON’T SCREW IT :)

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.

I was slowly downloading the famous documentaries from BBC, Discovery, National Geo, History Channel etc to watch in my free time. It’s much more useful and productive than looking at television channels. No offence if you are a big fan of those 100+ episode, always crying, always fighting colorful dramas.

Back to the documentaries … list grew too long and the 1 mbps SLT connection seemed not enough at all. So … I upgraded the home like to a whooping 4 mbps connection … temporarily of course …. and purchased premium accounts into couple of download sites including rapidshare.

And now things are in full swing … almost 35 gig downloads a day. While in LA i’m going to have to shop for couple of HDDs. Heard those are pretty cheap here.

Seems like I have missed a much of exciting stuff in my blog. Good, bad, big, small … all sorts of things. Don’t want my blog not to have info about those when I check the blog back in 10 years. So here we go …

Couple of long awaited movies … among those my favorite was Transformers 2: Revenge of the fallen. Normally when a sequel comes out of a good movie everybody feels skeptical about the quality etc. But making all it’s expectations as of now Transformers have grossed over a whooping 800 million dollars. I watched it thrice in theater and 2 more times @ home. Movies about big bad aliens is always a winner in my book, but this was special because the story is surrounding the great pyramid of Giza and i was there couple of weeks before … seeing this wonder by my own eyes. A big bad alien destroying it was a really cool scene. Harry Potter: Half blood prince … for some reason breaking all beliefs about sequels have also grossed over 900 million. I think the next to episodes are well on it’s way to join the billion dollar movie club.

Most upsetting of all things happened was the death of MJ. I was very much looking forward to watch the new concerts. But breaking all hopes suddenly he died. I watched THIS IS IT last Thursday and enjoyed it a lot. too bad its going to be in theaters for a short time. It’s in theater right now in LA in few places and if I get enough time I’ll watch it again.

Among the local events there was efi2009 @ the Engineering Faculty of University of Peradeniya university, IT Day @ Mathale science College, IT Day @ De Mazaned College and the IT Day @ St. Sylvester College Kandy. Dang! during September – October I have done almost 7000 kilometers participating these events. It was a fantastic run!

Many more things … will write later as and when I get time …

Phew! It's been a while since my last blog entry. As usual the busy truck hit me fully loaded and in style. Good things is it was never boring. Over the last couple of months I have (had to) changed many things in my life. Mainly long nights of work is not anymore a regular thing. Have other things to do after going home … well! the Wela Junior is now 6 months.

Well! Let's not call this a return to blogging. Things ahead are in 10 folds. Couple of big events coming up including eAsia Exhibition, Imagine Cup 2010 and Tech.Ed 2010 Sri Lanka. Yup! you read it correct … Sri Lanka will be hosting a Tech.Ed in 2010 … exact dates and more details will hit your way soon … i mean very soon.

Now! buckle up!

Once again the busy storm hit me pretty bad. After the bowling tournament I was in a schedule dodging many balls. Many things hit me including a three wheeler. Yup! two weeks ago one three wheel driver knocked the hell out of me from behind. This was at Kelaniya. Until that time I only had heard about that three wheel drivers don’t have any ethics or road rules. Well! I really experienced it. They don’t give a damn about road rules. Idiot who knocked me just came in the main road at Kelaniya and turned to a by road at the same speed ... no signals, no slowing down. For my luck i was just there. Anyways luckily no broken bones, but a 2 square inch spot on my foot was scraped away and even after two weeks still not fully healed.

Immediately after the accident I went to the doctor for treatment. Nurse who treated the wound only looked nice and innocent … man she was a nurse bunny from hell! with no sense about pain or anything. Since then I had to go to her for treatments once every two days … once she almost poked the wound with a scissor.

Well! in case if you remember ... a long time ago I started developing the next version of my blog. Time has passed and new technologies have come and the old ones looks ... absolutely old ... But I havent moved an inch on the new blog development in ages. In terms of technologies ... I think i'm getting dumb and dumber :)

Right now i'm in a really busy schedule. Well! I was in a busy schedule those days also, but competed to the current busy status those were like teasers. Now you must be wondering what the hell am I busy with ... there are many things keeping me busy busy these days ... among those ... the new born baby, upcoming Imagine Cup Egypt tour, final preparations for the Imagine Cup world competition, preparations for the next Microsoft financial year, tons of meetings etc are there. But above all ... Software for the 21st Century project is taking a majority of my time.

As some of you might already heard the good news my wife gave birth to a baby boy last Monday. He is yet to be given a name. Yup! a Wela junior ... both mother and the baby are fine. However staying in the hospital even for 2 days was boring as hell. A big thanks to the doctor and the staff who supported throughout the whole adventure.

Thank to all my friends for the wishes. btw: thanks for the suggestions form friends to name the fella ... one suggested to have 'Silverlight' or '.NET' in his name. :|

One more thing ... i'm really glad is that the little fella is born in a country where there is no war :)

Another cool feature in my new HTC Fuze. I can shoot panoramic photos without using any additional tools etc. Check these out. You can do the same using the Panoramic option in Windows Live Photo Gallery. But doing it using the phone is much better because I can check the panoramic view right away.

View from my seat ....

Moments before we start the vehicle parade to the R. Premadasa Ground to start the one day match

@ R. Premadasa Ground Yesterday

After a long frustrating 3 weeks finally I managed to get my new Windows Mobile HTC Fuze. Well! It's all worth it. This phone is off the hook!. There were many steps in between the previously mentioned steps about going through TRC, Import & Export control etc, which included filling couple more forms to be given out to different departments, writing couple of letter to be given to several places ... Hell! I have written a total of 8 letters to clear this phone from detainment. After all this I decided NEVER to receive/order any mobile phone or similar stuff like this. Funny thing is if i'm hand carrying the unit ... no trouble or whatsoever. Take my advice for it friends ... I suggest that you do the same. But if you have plenty of time to waste ... then no problem. However I must add a special thanks to one lady at Inland Revenue Department (Asst. Commissioner, Tax Payer Services). Most of us have bad experiences or at least think that services in most government departments are slow. Surprisingly even though operating under great difficulties after the recent terrorist attack, staff at IRD processed my VAT number in 20 minutes.

Getting use to the new HTC TouchFlo 3D UI was a bit difficult at the beginning. But after spending couple of hours with it got use to it. New TouchFlo UI is really cool and gives quick access to everything you need frequently. For a moment I was wondering whether to get rid of the TouchFlo UI and jump back to the usual UI with SPB tools. But where's the fun in having an old UI in a new phone. So I decided to stick with TouchFlo.

On a different note ... Processor and Memory in this phone is more powerful than one of the old computers I had. Can't even imagine the kind of phone we'll have in another 5 years. Also in a quick comparison with my very first phone Sony Erricson T610 this is like 50 times advanced.

Once again an incident which really pisses me off. Couple of days ago I got a new Windows Mobile free of charge, from overseas of course. Just now received the documents from FedEx mentioning it has been detained @ customs. To clear the phone I have to go to Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC) to get a TRC Approval, then to Import & Export Control Department to get an Import Control License and then to Inland Revenue to get a VAT No. .......... WTF?

Don't these guys have more important work than trying to detain my little phone and try to send me around for hours ... perhaps days to get these documents. Everybody talks about e-Government and streamlining these processes, and make things convenient to the general public. Seems like all those are fairy tails and a loads of BS after all. Or may be i'm totally mistaken and there is a good enough reason to do all these. However I can't see any such reason.

Once again I was in a crazy busy schedule in the last couple of weeks and didn't even notice my domain is expired. Thanks for few friends for reminding. Site was Off line for 24 hours.

Went and renewed the domain for 5 years.

Are you working in a web company as a developer or a designer. If you are ... think for a second on what you are developing/designing ... whether you put your attention to web standards and final touches.

A website for a customer is a face to his company or in this case a face to my project. As the supplier if you screw things up at the end it's going to look really bad on the customer. unfortunately most companies don't understand about web standards and importance of getting the site done according to the web standards. and the development house makes an advantage . However if the customer is well knowledgeable on the web standards, its going to be hell for the supplier because he wont be able to play their bullshit game anymore.

Couple of weeks ago I hired a vendor to develop a website for a project which I'm planning to launch here @ Microsoft. I decided to select this vendor due their profile, quality of work and recommendations. Personally I too was happy with their quality. I wont mention their name here beause this is not to point any fingers at them. I have already quality of the stuff delivered seemed amazingly crap.

• Absolutely no web standards were followed. Halfway through I had to give them a lecture on the web standards hoping they will get a feel of the quality I'm expecting. but very dissapointly there were no improvement ... or very little improvements.
• Another thing is trying to do things in the same old way we used to do 5-6 years ago. Developers who worked on this project has absolutely no clue about the enhancement in ASP.NET during last 5 years. Initially I didn’t understand the reason for the delays because as i see some were very simple things to be implemented. When I looked at the source code all became very clear.
• Consistency of pages with the rest of the pages ... I don't even want to talk about. Imagine you having different pages in your site in different styles … May be it is ok to have the promotional website for HELL in such a way.
• Navigation adds several extra clicks to reach a page. Scenes of usability is absolutely ZERO!

But after couple of rounds of discussions they managed to get the functionality of the site working with only few hiccups. Which is fine as it is a project and there is always room to do bug fixes. But what good of a functionality which is not following the standards and which is not user friendly.

So If you are working in a web development house as a developer or a designer and you have no clue about the web standards and best practices go and learn those. If you don’t feel like learning i think it’s better that you quit.

Don't know how many of you are already experiencing this. But I'm sure everybody who purchased a dialog broadband connection(http://www.dialog.lk/en/mobile/technology/3g/unlimited_mobile_broadband.html) experiences this. Couple of days ago I also bought a Dialog broadband connection, because they advertise about an awesome bandwidth. Being person who is always hungry for more bandwidth :) … I didn’t think twice in buying this. Actually I saw some blog posts here and there about the line being slow, but didn’t expect it to be this bad … or can I call pathetic. Being a Dialog customer for a very long time I hoped that they will provide a much better service than this.

The website says ‘’The customer will experience 7.2Mbps download and 2Mbps Upload speed up to usage of 5GB. Once usage passes beyond 5GB, the quality of service will be downgraded to download a speed of 384kbps and upload a speed of 64kbps and will continue for the next 1GB usage”” … but I wonder when it’ll work in the said speeds. Right at this moment I'm using it and its not even working at 5% of the speed they say it is. At the speed it’s working right now, seems like they will never have to worry about a customer exceeding 5GB for a month. Because in this speed you need couple of hours to even download a 100MB file. Let’s say somehow I exceed the 5GB download limit for a month … according to what Dialog says they will be reducing the bandwidth, but I can pay Rs. 100 extra per day and keep the bandwidth as it is. WTF! it is already working slower then the reduced speed. So what’s the point in paying.

My question is simple ... if Dialog cant give a service ... why on earth advertise and sell it? right now I know for sure there is nobody in Dialog who can give a solid answer for this. I have called the support line couple of times and the answers were very inconsistent … support agents gives different excuses … sometimes it is due to a system upgrade, some other times it is due to ‘some’ technical error which they are looking into … seems like nobody knows? Last time when I called the support agent said it is a shared line with several users in the same area … that is well understood and perfectly fine. But shared among how many users? It seems like all the users are on the same shared bandwidth which is creating this utter mess.

So, finally I decided to get rid of this useless broadband connection because most of the times this is slower than a dialup connection. Actually these so called broadband connections are good for people who haven’t experienced broadband speeds. If anybody from dialog is seeing this … guys … cut the crap! … and go and do some studies on the actual speeds of real broadband connections. Also most importantly STOP cheating customers.

Seems like nothing can beat the SLT ADSL speeds at the moment. At home still my primary connection is a 512kbps SLT ADSL and it works at the said speed almost all the times. Seems like to I'm going to have to stay stuck with the 512 kbps speed for a very long time.

How many of ya'll are talking backups of your system? Documents, Project files, photos, emails etc .... I guess not many. Even if some takes backups majority of them never even look at those. But as a habit I have been taking backups of my stuff since 2002. So I have a huge pile of CDs + DVDs with just backups. Actually never had to fully restore any of these. But there were couple of times where i had to extract some files from the backups.

Last week suddenly I got a mail from an old customer of mine requesting some info about a website I did for him about 5 years back. Luckily I had all the emails related to this project in an old PST backup. and thanks to Advanced File Organizer from www.softprime.com i was able to find it in no time. This small tool Advanced File Organizer is the first piece of software I purchased a long time back for about $50 and it's fully worth it.

So after all ... backups are dang! important. In case if you haven't taken any ... I suggest that you do :)