Himath's Blog

Trip to Southern Sri Lanka - 1

2009-08-26T08:32:00.000-07:00

We left at about 6:00 in the morning. Aluthgama Kande Viharaya was our first stop.

Google Maps

2007-05-25T14:40:00.001-07:00

This is an attempt to display a Google Map using their API.

map loading...

Stanford University

2007-05-12T18:34:00.000-07:00

Tags: Stanford

We made a visit to the Stanford Univesity last month when we got some free time after a business meeting near by. Here are some of the pics.

Trip to San Francisco

2007-05-12T18:16:00.000-07:00

Tags: San Francisco Golden Gate

These are some of the pics taken when we went to San Francisco last month.

7.5 Mile Hike in Foothills Park - Palo Alto

2007-05-12T18:03:00.000-07:00

Tags: Palo Alto Hike

This morning about 15 of Sri Lankans living in the SF Bay Area went on a hike in Foothills Park in Palo Alto. The length of the hike was about 7.5 miles and it took us about 4 hours to complete it.

My Trip to Florida - Busch Gardens

2007-05-11T23:09:00.000-07:00

Tags: Florida Busch Gardens

The very next day after visiting Disney World, we went to Busch Gardens.

I enjoyed the view of animals at close range and especially the train ride around.

My Trip to Florida - Disney World

2007-05-11T22:39:00.000-07:00

Tags: Disney World Tom Sawyer

I went to Tampa, Florida during my Spring break from University. My flight got cancelled the first day due to bad weather in Texas. So, I had to go to the air port a second time before I could take the flight.

Disney World
The trip to Disney World in Orlando was a memorable one. One day is not enough to see everything. We only had time to see the "Magic Kingdom". It was like a magical fairytale.

I also enjoyed the section built based on the theme of Mark Twain's classics: Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. It was like living the books I've read when I was small.

The Ice Breaker

2007-05-08T20:51:00.000-07:00

Today I did my Ice Breaker speech at the Toastmasters. It was the very first prepared speech I made at the club. The Ice Breaker, which has a duration of 4-6 minutes is supposed to be an introduction about yourself. I found it difficult to speak about all aspects of my life in such a short period. So I focused on my career as a Chess player. Through this topic I explained my childhood dreams and how the game affected my life. I receved excellent feedback from fellow toastmasters and based on feedback I think it was beyond their expectations.

I enjoyed speakin myself and now I am looking forward to making my second speech in the Competent Communicator series.

The Immortal Game

2006-12-17T11:30:00.000-08:00

Tags: chess kasparov deep blue

I just listened to an interview with David Shenk the author of The Immortal Game on ITConversations.

Here Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with David Shenk, about how chess influenced the first computer scientists, and how Garry Kasparov dealt with being beaten by a computer.

listen to the MP3 here.

Winter

2006-12-10T09:20:00.000-08:00

Tags: winter fall

Winter has come. However, for some trees it still seems fall.

World's Fastest Bowler Competition - 1979

2006-12-02T21:44:00.000-08:00

World's Fastest Bowler Competition - 1979

This is something very interesting. A competition held in 1979 to find the fastest bowler in the world. The greats of that time compete with each other. The feared bowlers of this time include Jeff Thomson, Denis Lillee, Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee, Michael Holding etc. These are all time greats and most feared fast bowlers of each time. However, the test is a revelation. Except for Thompson who achieved a speed of 147.8 kmph the rest achived speeds in the 130s or below. It was a disappointment since with these names I had associated sheer pace which modern day bowlers cannot match. It seems the present day bowlers are much faster. Brett Lee consistently bowls at over 145kmph and often above 150kmph. Akhthar being no different. Bowlers of the calibre of Harmison, Shane Bond, Ntini all seem to be faster than most these guys. Even our own Lasith Malinga and Dilhara bowls faster than most.

So the question is why are these guys considered greats and so feared by batsment in their era. I can still remember world series games in Australia where the pace attack led by Holding, Garner, Marshall and Roberts terrorized Sri Lankan batsmen. There could be many reasons here're some possible reasons:

The speed radar used here could be flawed. It's technology 27 years ago so this is possible.
Those days pitches had more grass and more lateral movement and had more bounce than the batsman friendly pitches of today. So accuracy, aggression and decent pace made it difficult for batsmen.
Batsmen did not wear helmets so always feared getting struk on the head.

Golden moments of Sri Lankan cricket

2006-11-29T19:19:00.000-08:00

Sri Lanka's 1st ever Test Cricket Match 1982 Day 1

I found this rare video on youtube. This is the first day highlights of Sri Lanka's first ever test with England. I was 7 years old at that time and still remember the event. We did not have a TV at that time; most people didn't and people followed cricket on radio. Have a look you will see a skinny Ranathunga, likes of Wettimuny, Mendis and Madugalle battling against Willis and Botham.

Sri Lanka Cricket World Cup Victory 1996

14 years later (10 years ago) we won the world cup. Enjoy the highlights.

Buddhism and science

2006-11-28T22:46:00.000-08:00

I thought of putting more into this blog and post daily (at least try to do so) .

Here's a great mp3 by Ajahn Bramawamso that I would recommend anyone interested in looking at Buddhism from a scientific point of view. He derives insight from his past as a theoretical physist at Cambridge before becoming a monk.

Weather in California

2006-11-27T21:50:00.000-08:00

California is known as a sunny state. That was my impression of California before arriving here. Here in Bay Area it has been far from sunny during the past few days. The temperature is dropping as we approach the winter and sky is cloudy and it's dark and gloomy.

Right now at 9:55p.m the temperature outside 7 degrees Celcius. FYI it's 45 degrees Farenheight.
I still find it difficult to think in F as I'm used to C.

The following weather report was generated by Yahoo.

Hike to San Bruno park

2006-10-22T10:26:00.000-07:00

Went on a hike to San Bruno park last afternoon. Climbed the hills and it gave a very good view
of San Francisco city.

OrangeHRM is in Sourceforge top 50

2006-10-21T11:25:00.000-07:00

OrangeHRM 1.2 was released last week. This has a cool new web installer which makes the installation such a pleasurable experience. Already there are more than 500 downloads of the product and it has reached the top 50 in sourceforge for the first time.

First week at Carnegie Mellon West

2006-09-08T20:38:00.000-07:00

Today we (team: iCan) submitted the deliverables for the 1st task of Foundations of Software Engineering. Being the first assignment of the course there were a lot of unknowns but we worked as a team and accomplished the task in time. Since we planned properly there was no undue stress towards the latter part of the week.

Yesterday we had our first meeting with VP of Marketing of ND System Solutions the virtual company we will be working for during the course. I visited the campus early and took a few photographs of the campus and Moffet Field.

Hunting for books in Mountain View

2006-08-30T13:45:00.000-07:00

I walked to Mountain View (40 minute walk from Los Altos) to buy the books recommended by Carnegie Mellon for the Masters programme. Looked in 4 book shops but could not buy a single book. Only "Extreme Programming Explained" was there in one shop but that was the 2000 edition. I need to buy the 2004 edition of the book.

Bought a map of Silicon Valley and a travel book on San Francisco Bay area. Took a bus back to Los Altos.

Took some pictures in Mountain View:

Stroll in Los Altos

2006-08-29T19:15:00.000-07:00

Feeling bored I went on a quick stroll to Los Altos town a while ago. There was a park (Lincoln Park) mentioned on the google map. So I thought of taking a few photographs. Well, there wasn't much to take. Anyway the photos I took are below.

Guest Lecture at University of Moratuwa

2006-07-15T00:10:00.000-07:00

The topic of the lecture was: Test First Coding.

This was done with the aim of explaining the value of test first coding and a practical development session was done for further clarity.

Presentation Slildes

I signed the Agile manifesto

2006-07-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

After being an evangelist of Agile Software Development Processes for the past 4 years. I took some time and signed the Agile Manifesto. I should've done this a long time ago.

My Signature in Agile Manifesto

Workshop on Agile Processes and Software Patterns at University of Peradeniya

2006-07-09T01:26:00.000-07:00

Continuing our contribution to the Sri Lankan Universities, hSenid Software International conducted a workshop on Agile Processes and Software Patterns at the University of Peradeniya on 30th June 2006.

The audience was from Computer Engineering department of the Engineering Faculty. The event was a success.

Presentation Slides

Winning - by Jack Welch

2006-07-09T01:19:00.000-07:00

Started reading "Winning'. It's facsinating. When you read it you feel as if the book was written with your organization in mind. So far I have read 5 chapters.

How to Run Successful Projects III - The Silver Bullet

2006-07-05T22:24:00.000-07:00

I am halfway through this book and am impressed by the Approach. Although I knew about this approach and the PSI calculation before I started reading the book now I have a much deeper understanding. It is my intention to complete reading this and do a presentation to the hSenid project management team to get their feedback about implementing this.

Trip to Mahiyangana - Badulla - Buththala

2006-05-03T10:13:00.000-07:00

Day 1 - Saturday 29th April

We left Colombo early in the morning at 3:30a.m. and headed for Kandy. Reached Kandy within 3 hours. Dalada Maligawa in Kandy was our first stop. Since we had a lot of time at our disposal for the day we spent a lot of time at the Maligawa. Also, visited the museam there.

We had breakfast in Kandy and left Kandy at 9:30 in the morning. Our next stop would be Mahiyangana. We decided to take longer but more picturesque route to Mahiyangana along Victoria, Randenigala and Rantambe tanks. As expected we could see the tanks for most of the length of the journey.

We stopped at a few places to take photographs. Near the dams taking photographs was prohibited.

The trip took longer than expected. We reached Mahiyangana in the afternoon.

After settling down (at Hasalaka) we went for a bath in a nearby stream.

We headed towards Mahiyangana town and the temple in the evening. It was dusk when we reached the temple. A few photographs were taken in the fading light.

Day 2 - Sunday 30th April

Day 2 started from Mahiyangana.

We were about 1 hour late than we planned. Left Mahiyangana at about 7:30 in the morning. We reached Badulla within 2 hours. Our first stop was Muthiyangana Raja Maha Viharaya.

Lord Buddha had visited this place in the 8th year
after enlightenment with 500 arahants.

We also had breakfast at Badulla.

Our next destination was Maligawila near Buththala. We had to decide on a route. The well known way from Wellawaya would be longer. So based on the map we decided on a route through Passara. This route was very scenic as it wound through tea plantations in the Namunkula range of mountains.

It took us less than 2 hours to reach Buththala. From Buththala we went past Okkampitiya towards Maligawila. There were 2 colossal statues one, the famous Maligawila Buddha statue and another Bodhisatva statue.

On our way from Maligawila we stopped at another temple named Dematamal Viharaya in Okkampitiya. This temple was the place prince Saddatissa had hidden from prince Dutugemunu in their battle.

On our way back we stopped at Buththala and had lunch. The next stop was Buduruvagala which is a huge rock with carvings of Buddha stautes and Bodhisatva staues.

The Buddha statue here is supposed to be the tallest standing Buddha statue in Sri Lanka.

The next stop was the Handapangala tank.

Although we had plans of bathing there we were advised by the villagers not to as it was dangerous. This area is also well known for elephants however, we did not see any.

One our way home we took the difficult route through Wellawaya just to see Diyaluma falls which is the second tallest in Sri Lanka.

Inter Clubs Chess Championship 2006

2006-03-27T20:01:00.000-08:00

Defending champions, Passed Pawns Chess Club with 18.5 points came 2nd in the annual Inter Clubs Chess Championship organized by CFSL. Paul Morphy Chess Club won the championship with 21.5 points.

Passed Pawns Chess Club team comprised:
(1) Thushan Wickramarachchi
(2) Prasanga Dissanayake
(3) Luxman Wijesuriya
(4) Marlon Fernando
(5) Himath Dissanayake (c)
(6) Arjuna Jayadarshana
(7) Saminda De Vas Gunawardhana

Results of rounds:
(1) Beat Kandy Chess Club 4-2
(2) Beat Paul Morphy Chess Club 3.5-2.5
(3) Lost to Royal College Chess Club 2-4
(4) Drew with Nf3 Chess Club 3-3
(5) Beat Dharmapala College Chess Club 6-0

Rendezvous - BeyondM Nite

2005-12-23T00:12:00.000-08:00

Outbound Leadership Training at Koslanda

2005-12-22T20:26:00.000-08:00

Built to Last by Jim Collins & Jerry I.Porras

2005-11-27T08:32:00.000-08:00

Started reading this best seller.

Started using PlanPlus for Windows

2005-11-01T00:40:00.000-08:00

Downloaded to 30 day trial and started using for planning activities.

Link

Japan 2005

2005-10-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

I had the priviledge of visiting Japan in March 2005. Here are some information about the places I visited.

Tokyo

Skyscrapers

I stayed at Excel Tokyu Hotel Shibuya. From the hotel I could see the sky scrapers of Shinjuku and Shibuya areas. Here are some pics.

Kamakura
Kamakura is an ancient capital of Japan full of shrines and statues. I took a train from Shibuya and changed at a town past Yokohama and got off at the Kamakura station. From there I took a bus to the shrines.

Trip to Anuradhapura

2005-10-25T05:23:00.000-07:00

Saturday 15th October (Day - 1)

We left Colombo on time around 6:00 in the morning. Had breakfast at Ambepussa and turned towards Kurunegala at Ambepussa. From Kurunegal instead of going towards Dambulla as originally intended we headed along the Puttalam road heading for Hattikuchchi (Rajangana).
At Padeniya we turned right and was at Hattikuchchi before noon.

Hattikuchchi

The name of the place was supposed to be given because there's a large rock which looks like the belly of an elephant. I learnt this from the guide when we we're here last (about 5 years ago). Unfortunately I did not have a digital camera then. So a second visit to the same site served its purpose.

The place was full of ancient ruins.

This was also, supposed to be the place where King Sirisangabo gave away his head.

Another interesting sight was this rock which looks as if it's almost about to fall. (Well this looked the same 5 years ago so I guess it has not fallen since then).

There were a few reptiles and monkeys here and there.

It was a good start for our trip and afterwards we had some "Beli Mal Watura" and headed towards Anuradhapura (Nachchaduwa to be exact.)

Nachchaduwa

We did not have to go to Anuradhapura to reach Nachchaduwa. We turned right at Sravattipura and drove along throgh some narrow gravel roads and reached the Irrigation Department's circuit Bungalow at Nachchaduwa. This was in the vicinity of the Nachchaduwa Tank.

Had lunch at Nachchaduwa, bathed in the tank and around 3:30 in the afternoon headed towards anuradapura.

Anuradhapura

We did not have much time to visit all the places in Anuradhapura but we visited Jethavanaramaya, Samadhi Buddha Statue, Abhayagiriya, Stone Bridge, Ruwanweliseya, Sri Maha Bodi and Thuparamaya.

Sunday 16th October (Day - 2)

Thanthirimale

On the second day we started early about 9:30 in the morning and headed towards Thanthirimale (similar to Hattikuchchi this was not in our original plans). It was about 40km east from Anuradhapura.

As we travelled towards Thanthirimale the change in climate was apparent. The land on either side of the road was drier than in Anuradhapura and it looked as if it has not rained for a while.

It took us about an hour to reach the Raja Maha Vihara as the road was not that good. There were dried up tanks along the way.

Not many vehicles passes us along the way and we were of the impression that there will be a tiny temple with hardly anyone there. However, we were mistaken

The Rajamaha Vihara was a place full of activity and thousands of people. A large number of vehicle were parked in front of the temple. Then only did we realize that this is a trip in itself. There are many places of interst inside the temple premises which spanned acres and acres of land. The rock formation there itself was supposed to cover an area of 250 acres.

We left Thanthirimale and headed towards Anuradhapura in just after noon. The trip was uneventful. We had lunch at Anuradhapura and started on the last part of the journey towards Rtitigala.

On the Way to Ritigala

We passed the most beautiful lush green countryside we cam across during our trip on the way to Ritigala.

The sky started to get a bit darker with approaching clouds but luckily it did not rain.

We turned left towards Ritigala. According to the Tourist Guide Book we had we were supposed to turn left after 5km. Unfortunately we did not measure the distance and turned left when we came accross a sign for the Ritigala Monastery.
We lost our way and came to a Monastery where monks are living at present. We lost about 1 hour because of this mistake.

The monk at the monestary informed us about the correct way to the Ritigala Ruins and we
turned back and headed in that direction

Ritigala

Eventually we reached our destination in late afternoon. We were warned that there could be elephants on the roads in a short while so we did not want to risk that. Therefore, we had to limit our exploration of Ritigala to about one hour.

We managed to go about a couple of kilometers into the forest climbing the ancient stairways that had been treaded by the meditating monks in the old days.

Ruins of ancient monasteries were all over the place. What we realized was that this is a trip in itself and we don't have enough time for Ritigala this time and that we should come better prepared the next time. Preferrably in the morning.

We left the place as it was beginning to get dark.

Luckily we did not encounter any elephants.

I just passed Sun Certified Java Programmer (1.4)

2005-10-25T01:09:00.000-07:00

Score 81%

Although I have more than 6 years of experience working with Java in diverse projects in a number of countries, doing the examination improved my knowledge a lot. There were a lot of things that I took for granted as simple facts which I found out to be incorrect when preparing for the exam.

This is a good achivement considering the effort put.