Happy Valentine (Birth) Day

What is this Valentine (Birth) Day? Is this about the birth of the Valentine's day ? or is it about the birthday of the person so called Mr. Valentine ? or else what ? Guess what, its my 27th Birth Day. Believe me.......27th !!! I'm look younger than that ne......feels like 16. Time flies. Non stop, second by second....... year by year. Cant believe im this much old :)

Now time is for the valentines day. Don't wanna say anything just look at this quote. U can understand everything..........I love u Nim

The most wonderful of all things in life, I believe, is the discovery of another human being with whom one's relationship has a glowing depth, beauty, and joy as the years increase. This inner progressiveness of love between two human beings is a most marvelous thing, it cannot be found by looking for it or by passionately wishing for it. It is sort of a Divine accident.

Cracked Pots - who? me or you?

Yesterday I found this story laid in my inbox. Really touching and worth to mention. Check whether you can feel the same...............

A water bearer in China had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the House, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his house.Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments,perfect for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot wasashamed of it's own imperfection. And miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you. I have been able todeliver only half my load because this crack in my side causeswater to leak out all the way back to your house. Because of myflaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw. So Iplanted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house? "

Moral: Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are, and look for the good in them. Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape. Remember to appreciate all the different people in your life.

Independence Day - Sri Lanka

Today (Sunday the 4th of February), Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka celebrates her 59th anniversary of regaining independence from the British Colonial rule which began in 1815.

Sri Lanka has been known, from ancient times, to several civilisations of the world by a variety of the words by a variety of names. The Greeks called her "Tabrobane", the Arabs named her "Serendib", and the old colonial powers of Portugal, the Netherlands and Britain, called her "Ceilao", Zeylan" and "Ceylon" respectively. Sri Lanka is an ancient indigenous name, meaning the "resplendent island".

During the post-independence period, sri Lanka developed into a state with strong foundations, whose standards of literacy (89 per cent), education, health (life expectancy 72 years for females and 69 years for males) and nutrition, are among the best in the developing world. UNDP and UNICEF rate Sri Lanka as one of the best among developing countries on the Human Development Index (HDI) basis.

Read more........at High commission of Sri Lanka

New job and a brand new life.........

Today is a milestone in my life, gonna start my new job at the International office Texas State University. I still can't believe I got this and it's completely a surprised for me. Last 22nd I got my change of status to adjust to the full time academic status and it's a dream come true.
I wanna mention and let my appreciation to the Director of the International Office Dr. Bob Seese, who helped me lot on this. When I talked with him somewhere in November regarding my adjustments, it seemed to be almost impossible to get the status soon as this. Still he encouraged me to file the case even though the odds are limited. We discussed the situation almost 2 hours and decided to go for it. At that time Dr. Bob asked me regarding my financial, it was unstable as usual. There was just a bank statement from Sri Lanka. So he strongly advised not to send the documents unless a proper financial verification provided. That made me to delay the filing for another 2 weeks till I obtain all necessary documents and bank stubs from Sri Lanka. Normally for the processing through the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Service), takes at least 2 complete months and I was already in a risk of not getting the status before my class starts. University was scheduled to start on January 16th, and I managed to file the case on December 04th. So the difference is just 10 days less than 2 months processing requirement. I was desperate on starting my studies on 16th and with the current status it seems to be not working. So I thought to give a try as a part time student and after some arguments with my graduate advisor Professor Kaikhah Khosrow and again with Dr. Bob finally they agreed that I have the sole responsibility whatsoever for the registering. Only problem with the part time status was I cant legally work in US, especially on campus. Because I cannot obtain my SSN (Social Security Number) that we must have in order to work at US. It made me No Driving License or a Texas State ID and only a Texas State University Student ID.
I still believe I'm the luckiest person in the whole world. Normally a winter season is a headache to all, its cold, slippery with ice and stuff no one can say it's a blessing to someone. But that winter storms in the mid January change my life completely. Guess how???? Due to the winter storm the university postponed its starting and it reopened in January 19th. And the courses add drop deadline was also changed to 23rd. I got my change of status on 22nd and just managed to add another course to obtain full time academic status. Its like a miracle, because when I checked the USCIS web, they were working on the cases filed on October 15th. But I got my status changed almost within 1 ½ month it was really unusual to be happened.
The other miracle happened when I was there for the F1 student check-In at the International office. I was desperate on finding a job otherwise I have to wait till summer I to get a job from the Computer department. I sent emails to several professors by requesting opportunities to work as a graduate assistant or at least as a student worker. Here at Texas State University, it's so hard to find a graduate assistantship and they are almost competitive because of the limited availability. I got a positive response from Professor Xiao Chen in the computer department and planned to meet her last Monday. So I worked on my CV and got ready for it and she asked me to come at about 3pm. Previously I scheduled my International check-in on the same day at 2pm. On the day, I finished my check-in with the international office staff and also thanked Dr. Bob regarding his help on my case. When I’m on my way to meet professor chen, I got a phone call from the International office and let me that they have a Graduate Assistantship and if I'm interested, I can come for an interview with them. It was a rare opportunity and I said OK and rushed back to the international office again. After kind of an informal interview they let me that there are 2 other potential candidates and they promised to let me know the situation by the end of this week. But I knew at that time I already got the position, because of my hands on experiences in the web development. Ha, I forgot to mention the job, it is for web development. Just after I finished the interview and at the library I got a phone call again from the International office and they let me that I got the position. Hurrah......they asked me to come today for the necessary paper work and hope I can start working on the February onward. It was the second best miracle..... (Hey Nim, you are my utmost miracle and don’t worry these miracles are something else)
I know how I got this opportunity, specially effective communication and my works on the web development......specially My Open Maze blog and University of Peradeniya Special student web. At this time I wanna remind who inspired me and encouraged me on this blogging. Suranga (Mano) thanx for ur help and positive encouragement. Lately the encouragement from charith (pola) and Indika (dewaniya). Thanx guys and thanx blogger.

Iccccccccccccce..........Ohh Nooooo

Happy New Year - 2007

Winter Raining................

Yeh.. Its winter season, no snow at all, just a pouring rain all day long. No stopping at all, from the late night still go on and on. When I checked my desktop Yahoo Wedge for the temp, do u know what its stating? Continues 2 deg Celsius. Cant believe why no snowing, at least ice??? As I learnt from ppl around, last 10yers or so no snowing encountered from San Marcos , TX area, only some ice. Several days before just saw some ice with da rain but dat stays no longer than 15 seconds. Yep look forward to see some great ice rain..............yeh..........


1. view from the front side of the room

2. Front view from da apartment

3. Back view through the room. U can see the Swells park and the San Marcos river, pretty cool view

4. Another view of the San Marcos river, ahead u can see the Crab Shack restaruent water fall. This is also from the back of the apartment.

5. Starting place of the San Marcos river. Its a restricted area for swimming or fishing. Just back side of the apartment. Nim's working place is far right hand side of the area. Just 500M from here, but when we want to walk there only way is to use the normal vehicle route, its abt 2Km, will take abt 20min to walk over there. Great idea to have a boat and just cross the river to go there.... ;) if possible

Hindi Movie Songs by Open Maze

Who loves to hear Hindi Movie Songs and all types of Hindi songs, classics, remix, Telugu, Malayalam etc? www.raaga.com is the best place. You know why, I found number of songs including an Index for Hindi movies, different categories of songs etc in Raaga. Its really cool to hear some Asian voice, from far away here at Texas.

I'm not really a Hindi Song lover, except there are several songs that I love to hear, whenever I have a free time. Do you know what is my favorite Hindi song? Guess? It's an old Hindi song, but not the old classic version, but the remix version of the song is the one I love listen to. Its called "Dil kya kare jab kisse se". It was first sung by Kishore Kumar, for the Hindi Album "Julie". After that the remix version by Shaan for Album "Just Love". There are several other Movies that I love to hear. " Lagan", "Boys" and "Dil Cha Tha he" are my favorites.

The most interesting feature of Raaga site is the options they have to listen songs. U can select a Movie to listen all the songs included there. So it's like Non-stop song list. U need real player to listen to songs through Raaga. U can download and install a free version of Real player from this......Download Real Player

Muttiah Muralitharan - The living Legend of Cricket

Another 10-wicket haul for the Legendary Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan. It will boost his total to 674 wickets in the test cricket arena, if im correct. And also he is the most 10 wicket holder in a match, do u know how many? 19 times in 110 matches. No one nearer to him, only Shane Warne, with 10 times in 142 matches??? Incomparable isn't it. Same thing with most 5 wickets in a match, Murali with 56 times in 106 matches. Richard Hadly and Shane Warne are there with 36 times only.

If you just go through the records list of www.cricinfo.com, u can see lots of records written to Murali. I don't know how many? But lot i guess. Its really happy to see he is still with his potency for da triumph. Hold on Warne, Murali is on ur tail man. Only 20 wickets behind u. He'll catch u soon. Be ware of Murali........ this word of warning is for u, Shane warne.

one year of bloging......cheers

Hey i just thought to check when i first started my bloging. Sprisingly i found out today is my one year of bloging annivasary. Cheers for da blog - Open Maze. Hip hip......hurrar. Thank you very much all of u who were there with me all the time, reading, just moving, commenting, hanging around, looking at , accidentisly moving, moving through searching....etc.

Special thanks to my buddies who inspired me on bloging, Mano (suranga), Indika (dewa), Charith (polz). Hope u'll b with me for at least another one year :) Here is my first ever post on da blog, its worth to mention

"Mmm....Where to start, First I express my appreciation to Mano (One of my great friend) who inspired me on this Crazzzy blogging. I spent days to create my OWN blog. Here it is. If I say something honestly, I still don't understand how other guys compose their blog such a nice manner. Hope to dig into this blog thing more later"

Hope i dig to da extent dat i can satisfy abt da bloggin :)

Yahoo Widgets

Would u like to see some cool stuff in ur pc desktop? Like previous versions of da Desktop calender etc? Here Yahoo Widgets is a right answer for u. When i searched through da web i accidently found this stuff :) Hope u'd like it too. Try and see. Here is my desktop now with awsome whether forcarsting and da wifi strength indicator.
There r lot of different functionalities available with widgets. When i checked web today, they have more than 3500 widegts available for free downlading. The other + point of widgets is they are not much memory consuming like desktop calendar or desktop wallpaper changer. Here are some of quetos regarding da Yahoo Widgets.

What Is the Yahoo! Widget Engine?
The Yahoo! Widget Engine (formerly known as Konfabulator) is a JavaScript runtime engine for Windows and Mac OS X that lets you run little files called Widgets that can do pretty much whatever you want them to. Widgets can be alarm clocks, calculators, can tell you your WiFi signal strength, will fetch the latest stock quotes for your preferred symbols, and even give your current local weather. What sets Yahoo! Widget Engine apart from other scripting applications is that it takes full advantage of today's advanced graphics. This allows Widgets to blend fluidly into your desktop without the constraints of traditional window borders. Toss in some sliding and fading, and these little guys are right at home in Windows XP and Mac OS X. The format for these Widgets is completely open and easy to learn so creating your own Widgets is an extremely easy task. For the "skinning" crowd, Yahoo! Widget Engine is a dream come true. You can easily change the look, feel, layout, even functionality of a Widget so that it matches your lifestyle, your desktop, or the pants or skirt you have on that day.

Download Yahoo Widget Engine

Da Vinchi Code Vs Borat

Now the time is 2.24 am early in the morning, what da hack im doing without going to bed? I just finished one of the most interesting film and worst film, i ever watched in my life time ( except Ice Age I, actually its one of the best OK). Da Vinchi code and Borat (better to say Boaring-Rat). The boaring-rat is my invension. I spent my whole day for da ultimate downloading of thease 2 films. Both of them truly exceptional in their own way. One is truly best, and other is truly worst (My opinions).

Da Vinchi Code

Dan Brown's controversial best-selling novel about a powerful secret that's been kept under wraps for thousands of years comes to the screen in this suspense thriller from director Ron Howard. The stately silence of Paris' Louvre museum is broken when one of the gallery's leading curators is found dead on the grounds, with strange symbols carved into his body and left around the spot where he died. Hoping to learn the significance of the symbols, police bring in Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou), a gifted cryptographer who is also the victim's granddaughter. Needing help, Sophie calls on Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), a leading symbologist from the United States. As Sophie and Robert dig deeper into the case, they discover the victim's involvement in the Priory of Sion, a secret society whose members have been privy to forbidden knowledge dating back to the birth of Christianity. In their search, Sophie and Robert happen upon evidence that could lead to the final resting place of the Holy Grail, while members of the priory and an underground Catholic society known as Opus Dei give chase, determined to prevent them from sharing their greatest secrets with the world. Shot on location in France and the United Kingdom; the Louvre allowed the producers to film at the famous museum, but scenes taking place at Westminster Abbey had to filmed elsewhere when church officials declined permission.

Borat
Borat Sagdiyev (Cohen) is a Kazakhstani TV personality who travels to America to make a documentary record of his exploration of American culture. He is accompanied on this endeavor by his producer, Azamat (Ken Davitian). Once in New York City, Borat navigates the hurdles of settling into his hotel room then discovers Baywatch on late-night TV. He is immediately smitten by a certain blonde in a bathing suit and decides to take a road trip to California to meet her. This episodic journey takes him to Washington D.C., Atlanta, through the Deep South to Dallas, then finally out to Los Angeles. Along the way, he meets characters who are stranger than he is, adopts a pet bear, and gets into a nude wrestling match with his compatriot. That sequence alone is worth the price of admission since it's like a naked Groucho Marx (with an exaggeratedly long black cylinder obscuring his penis) doing battle with an unclothed Fat Bastard.

P.S: This pease of post is for da people who love to watch films and are unable to do so without paying big bucks for da DVD's and Cinema Tickets. I'll giv u a super hint to download thousands of newly released films and manymore free of charge from the Internet it self. Here is the way. U have to follow the following simple tasks for that.
1. Download one of the Torrent clients from the Internet - its free
http://www.bitcomet.com/ , http://www.utorrent.com/ , http://azureus.sourceforge.net/
Remember, u need only one of the above software for the downloadings. I recommend the first choise, bitcomet.
Read more about Torrent files here
2. Now you are ready for the downloading of any pease of thing that u want to do so. Now u have to identify something called Torrent files. They are with .torrent extension. U can download them in several places. if u choose to install bitcomet, in the software it selt u can see list of sites to find out torrent files. Just open the following sites and download the necessary torrent file to ur PC.
http://www.torrentreactor.net/ , http://www.bitenova.nl/index.html
3. Go to the installed torrent client, say bitcomet. locate the downloaded .torrent file through the bitcomet. select a location to save ur downloading and start the downloading.
4. Be cool. It will take sometime to start the downloading and to finish the entire downloading process. This is another important thing. Check how many seeders are there before downloading the torrent file from above sites. B'se u need at least 1 seeder to make a successful downloading. Be sure to check dat too. Higher the number of seeders will greatly increase the downloading time and activity.
5. As an example, i started a downloading in the morning at abt 10 am, finished it at 3 am next morning. See how much time it will take. But its worth of spending such time to see all the cool newly uploaded films, games , softwares etc.

Life at San Marcos - Part II

We are infront of the Texas State University Library. Its really a cool view. From here we

can see the entire San Marcos area.
----------------------------------------------------------

TSU Library front park

----------------------------------------------------------

Near the underground TSU car park
----------------------------------------------------------

TSU Library front park

----------------------------------------------------------

Near Biology Department

----------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------

Life at San Marcos

Front view of the apartment

........................................................................

View from the road - Clear Spring aprtment complex
our room is in the far corner of the pic, 2nd floor

........................................................................

Park infront of the apartment complex - Swells Park

........................................................................

San Marcos river is next to the aprtment buiding. Starting from the Aquirena
Spring, it flows through the Swells park and the Campus surroundings.

........................................................................

Front side of the University premises

........................................................................

JCK Building complex. Graduate college, Residence Life,
Financial office..etc are located in this.

........................................................................

San Marcos branch flows around the JCK. There are flock of ducks about 10 -15 .

........................................................................

Me, at the TSU Library

........................................................................

Nim, on the way to the Department

Texas State University - San Marcos

Wanna see some information abt Texas State University......its time

Texas State University-San Marcos is a doctoral granting university located in the burgeoning Austin-San Antonio corridor, the largest campus in the Texas State University System, and one of the 75 largest universities in the country.
Texas State’s 27,503 students choose from 115 undergraduate and 84 masters and 6 Ph.D. graduate degree programs offered by seven colleges(Applied Arts, McCoy College of Business Administration, Education, Fine Arts and Communication, Health Professions, Liberal Arts, and Science), the University College, and the Graduate College.

Location
Located on the edge of the Texas Hill Country, where blackland prairies turn in to beautiful hills, Texas State enjoys a setting that is unique among Texas universities. The beauty of the crystal-clear San Marcos River and the stately cypress and pecan trees on the campus adds to the charm of its picturesque settings. The campus is in San Marcos, a community about halfway between Austin and San Antonio. Its location on the banks of the San Marcos River provides recreational and leisure activities for students throughout the year.

History
Authorized by the Texas Legislature in 1899, Southwest Texas State Normal School opened its doors in 1903. Over the years the Legislature broadened the institution's scope and changed its name, in succession, to Normal College, Teachers College, College, University, and in 2003 to Texas State University-San Marcos. Each name reflects the university's growth from a small teacher preparation institution to a major, multipurpose university. Texas State's original mission was to prepare Texas public school teachers, especially those of south central Texas. It became renowned for carrying out this mission, but today it does far more.

Shout Plz....

I just managed to slot in a chatter box to my blog. U can see it in the side panel of the page. Just place ur name & shout that's all. Another thing is u can use following smilies with it

:) :-) :( : :D ;)

try chatter from this URL http://chatter.flooble.com/

Go sana go..................

Such joys to see the Mighty Sri Lankans ruthless 5-0 white wash over England, the Great Great grandfather of the cricket. Didnt miss event a single match of the series. Really thrilled to see how they reborn from ash. Common sana thrash the ball.
Sri Lankan again changed the ODI history with another big ton of score at the Nederland Series. 443 puhh its really cool. Only sad thing is why not a TV commentary or a radio commentary. At least pictures???. I have one dream on the cricket. Can u ppl guess what? I wanna see the first ever ODI double century by a Sri Lankan. No hope on all , but definitely Sana or Sanga will go for it, I hope.

New look , New face

After sometime, I just manage to give some new look to my blog. Idea was in my mind several months, but had not much time. Finally be able to do so. Hope the look is more natural than the previous blogger template. Eager to add more things if the time allows. Some links for the personal life, Friend list, Life at pera, more and more photos, a few ideas to be added here. Hey, check this out, a cool script is newly added to the site. Just click on the back button of the browser and click again of the forward button. Hows that. Cool ne.