Saliya's Blogs

I've been using Blogger for quite some time and over the years they have improved their Web based blog editor a lot, yet there was some uneasiness always when thinking about editing or adding a post. Anyway, after I got to know about Windows Live Writer I wanted to get it setup with Blogger but it wasn’t successful simply for some reason I couldn't understand “Username or password is incorrect”! I remembered only today that I was using two step verification with Google and that I have to create an application specific password to connect to Blogger. Wish it came to my mind sooner! Anyway, it’s now working fine and if you can read this online that means I made a post successfully with Live Writer.
Few places to note if you are having trouble connecting to Blogger with Live Writer as I did.

1. Blog URL: Don’t forget to use https instead of http
2. Username: Remember to add @gmail.com to your user id
3. Password: As mentioned above, if you are using a two step verification with Google you need to generate application specific password to connect (see http://support.google.com/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=185833)

අඳුරු වළා ලං වුනා ද
එලිය නුඹේ නැති වුනා ද
සීත අහසෙ රජ වුනා ද
නුඹ ආයෙත් සැඟ වුනා ද

2/22/11

(C) Saliya Ekanayake

I wanted to blog about this for a long time and finally it's out today. If you are in the computer science world working in some company or doing research, cubicles will not be a new thing for you. A large room partitioned into blocks of small cubicles and two or more people working nearby are the typical nature of these work areas.

Honestly, I really really don't like this setting. I wonder who came up with this idea of having people sit nearby in the open and work. May be people are thinking that having open cubicles give more freedom to people because they are not physically constrained by walls or doors. But have they ever thought the effect on mind? Does physical boundaries affect the same way to mind? In fact, I think it's totally the other way around. You cannot think effectively when you are in open with others. Essentially what happens is that you are physically free, but mentally constrained.

The truth with everyone, no matter how much they don't like to show it, is that they have unique ways of working optimally. This may include things like clapping and rubbing the hands when your code works and say "Oh! Sh*t" when it doesn't. Not to mention the luxury of thinking silently. How much of these can you do when you are in a professional setting surrounded by others? Also, how much actions of others can you tolerate. Here's one of my personal experience. A person who sat next to me used to sip his coffee so loud and end each sip with the sound "aah". I understand that it's how he likes to enjoy his coffee. That's perfectly fine, but for me that sipping was annoying and disturbing.

So in my view, if you want to work effectively specially when you have to think, open cubicles are nothing but jail to your mind. If you think I am crazy, think of theses (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/sep/19/books-written-in-prison). These guys were in prison physically, but they had all the "space" in mind to think. No I am not suggesting to go to prison to work :D.

Anyway, another good video on "Why work doesn't happen at work", by Jason Fried from one the TED talks can be found from here (http://www.ted.com/talks/jason_fried_why_work_doesn_t_happen_at_work.html).

My presentation on MapReduce has received some great feedback via Pragmatic Integration. Isn't it really nice to see how somebody who you don't even know benefits from something you have?

In Sri Lanka, I used to connect to Internet using dial-up connection before ADSL came in. Then I felt "wow! ADSL is fast". But today here in IU, I would say "WOW! what a speed". See the picture below to see why I say this.

I've been watching Britain Got Talent (BGT) for some time now and I've never come across a performer so humble like Eugene.

Really touching video, yet happy for his courage to come forward.

It has been nearly 14 months since I joined WSO2. Gosh! I feel I joined just yesterday and I strongly believe that it is the wonderful community at WSO2 which made it so pleasant. Today, the time has come to say good bye, yet I am wondering how. It is hard to let go of a place you like.

Kalani and I got married on 29th May 2009 after being in love with for nearly five years.

I was astonished to see this video of Aiden Davis performing on BGT 2009. I really liked George Sampson on last year BGT. Aiden simply is better than him in dancing. Wow! I was thrilled

On the eve of the Sinahala New Year, I was with my parents in our village. All the members of my mother's family were there to enjoy the occassion. Everything went fine until I accidently locked the car while the key was inside. The situation got worse when we found out that the extra key was inside the car as well. 

Just before the Sinhala New Year I got the chance to taste a raw mango with salt and pepper. If you have not tried this before then my advice is do it today itself. Yep, the taste is awesome :)

I started lecturing Data Structures and Algorithms to Level 2 students of the Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. Overall, it is a great experience and I really enjoy it. The bottom line that I understand is that it is only when you start teaching that you understand that you have to learn more ;)

I broke my spectacles and got a new pair from George Gooneratne Optometrists. Guess what? They have taken wrong measurements and I had to visit them again to replace the glasses with correct measurements. After spending about two hours at their lab I finally got my sparkling shiny spectacles. 

 

The day after I was playing basket ball at WSO2 when I got hit by the ball right on my face at a most unexpected time. I was actually catching my breath and I look up only to see something crashing on to me. The shiny new spectacles were broken into pieces and my nose got wounded. The wounds were not that serious and I was lucky not to bleed internally. I found the broken frame of my spectacles and thought, hey that's not too bad because I still have the frame to which I can get a pair of glasses fixed. I put all the pieces into my bag and came home. The next day I was getting ready to go and get new glasses fixed. I collected broken frame and believe me, one side arm was missing. What the hell? I told myself. I searched every possible place I could look into but came up with nothing. Hmm, that's life, I thought and went to optometrist and get a new spectacle fixed. 

 

The next day I was happy with my new spectacles and spent the day peacefully at WSO2. The entire day I was in a meeting and later in the evening I and the others were invited to dinner at an Indian restaurant. The food was okay, but it didn't sound right for me. The next morning I woke up to find that I am suffering from a very bad stomach ache. I spent the entire day at home unable to do anything. The medication came to effect only in the evening. Today is the second day of the very unpleasant "Digesting Error", and there is yet another day to go to end the week. I am expecting what next :)

The university life ended last Wednesday (7th May) and it was time to move into my first job in life :)

I joined WSO2 Inc. on 12th May and it has been few busy days until today :). I am waiting for some build to complete and thought to jump in and blog on this.

I feel life has changed a bit compared with the life at the university, yet it is the same old me sitting in front of the computer :)

I wanted to add an extension to my desk so that I can keep my laptop on that. The laptop when put on the desk forms a very bad position. It's basically not ergonomic. So I decided to do bit of carpentry and the result was amazing. I really like it. The finished work is shown in the picture.

Brain and Your Fist

This is some nice fact I've noticed but it may not mean anything. Have you seen a diagram of the brain from side view? I guess you probably have. Now try to keep your fingers in the right hand as if you are going for a fight (fisted). Then see your fist from side view. You will see a similar shape to that of brain. Isn't that interesting?

It's great to remember sweet moments in our past. But I never thought it would be as sweet as this.

Big hug my dear for this lovely creation.