Finding #Music

It is really a great adventure. I always liked finding new music. It is like opening up a whole new part of your brain.

Finding the "Sound of Music"

This notably happened couple of times. I felt amazingly awesome today and when I first found out the artist John Mayer.

So this is what had happened today.

@Dili, introduced me to #8tracks. It is a place which hosts handcrafted playlists, great place to uncover new music. 8tracks has many cool different playlists which fits every moment & mood. The handy tag feature makes it very easy to find a mix which suits you. Thank you Dilina.

So I starred this ⇩ song. Thought of finding the correct song and save it at grooveshark so that I can listen to it whenever I want.

That is the drawback of 8tracks, you cannot control what is playing at the moment. Grooveshark provides the ability to listen any song you wish anytime you want. No restrictions at all (afaik).

Step 1:
Called out help from the colleagues at office. Samitha (a fellow WP7 user) suggested the inbuilt Music Search feature in WP7 Mango. Up until today, I've never used this feature. Keeps on forgetting that it is there.
Hard luck, WP7 wasn't able to provide a result.

Step 2:
My friend Chathurika then announced that she had heard this song somewhere and played Jason Derulo's "It Girl" from her PC.
But it wasn't the same, I thought "It Girl" was sampled in that song.

Step 3:
Then Chathurika suggested "Soundhound". Bam! the search result was Trey Songz's "Say Ahh".

When we listened to both these songs in youtube, we realized that the song which I was looking for is a remix of these two originals. After a small youtube search. Eureka!!

So here you go, this is the song I starred at 8tracks.



P.S. Jason අයියගෙයි Trey අයියගෙයි සින්දු දෙක නම් ඉතින් ඕනෙ නම් හොයා ගන්න දන්නවනෙ, මොකෝ බොලාල තොත්ත බබාලලැයි?

I listen to music a LOT, I mean a LOT! and I think I have a good taste in music.

But I remember I have constantly been dissed/laughed at for the music I listen to. Wonder why...

Anyway, here's my last.fm profile: http://www.last.fm/user/udithaumesh (let's see how much we get along, eh?)

I have a similar experience of finding out the artist John Mayer. It is very brief, but it was life altering. Ok, this is enough it is late. I should sleep.

Job hunting... how to pitch yourself correctly...

මේක ලියන්න හිතුනෙ මම දන්න degree කාරයො කරන පුත්තලම් බුරූ වැඩ බලන් ඉන්න බැරි නිසායි..

Recently I spread out a message regarding some vacancies at the place I work to my batch mates. And the responses made me to share this with you all.
First there are two stages in getting recruited to a company.
1. Getting yourself an interview (NOT a freaking aptitude test)
2. Impressing the interviewer and pitching yourself correctly at the interview you earned earlier.

There are ample jobs in the market, BUT for the correct person only. Info regarding vacancies can be taken from,
1. websites like topjobs.lk (the better preferred common way)
2. from contacts/friends (the awesome way)
3. from the institute/university you studied on (the lame-ass way because you get the job on a tray)

Say you got to know about the vacancy and you are interested. Interested කියල හිත දැනගත්තට මදි, HR එකත් දැන ගන්න ඕනෙ. So how to show it? the first _thing_ the recruiting team with see of you is your CV. So put most of the effort to your DAMN CV !!! I know by experience that a crappy CV will not get a 5 second glance.

When a company is recruiting, they receive thousands of CVs, do you possibly think the _HR assistant_ who gets a pay around 12-15k would like to spend their time on a crappy CV? Crappy CV means one thing, crappy person, and companies don't like to recruit crappy people!

Get design tips from the internet, we all got help from Google in our each and every assignment and project why not this. DO NOT copy a friend's format, you get caught! A CV with nice format, look and feel is the right formula to get the attention. F*** the traditional formats, they are lame and they SUCK !!!

Next is what you put in your CV. Put the most awesome things about you first, it's same as impressing a guy/girl. First impression matters. Try to oversell yourself in your CV.

දැන් එහෙනම් එලකිරි වගේ CV එකක් තියෙනවනෙ. Try to send it via a friend in the company you are applying to. THAT recommendation matters, because the management will at least ask your friend " කොහොමද අර පොර, ශේප් ඩයල් එකක්ද? ".

Before coming to the second stage, I want tell this. Shoot for the moon, at least you'll end up amongst the stars at least. I am in my third job now, and when I applied for all three I aimed at a higher position I am suitable for. And I got called in for numerous interviews for positions which are way way out of my league. The secret is the CV, somehow it should build the confidence in the recruitment officer that you are up to the challenge even though you are not qualified for it.

So the second stage.

Say you get an interview. Nowadays, people consider the aptitude test as an interview. It is NOT. It is just to get your personal info the way the company wants, and to check if you are any good in English. If your English suck, සොරි ඩොට් කොම් පුතා. Most companies have the test and the interview in the same day, it's easier for them that is why.

So there you are, in front of one interviewer (it happens most of the time), or a panel. Whatever the count doesn't matter, what matter is the interviewer HAVE NOT HAD A GLANCE of your precious little CV when they come to interview you. It happened in every interview I had gone. HR may have seen the CV, but the person that matter who will most probably will be your boss haven't seen your CV, heck doesn't even know your name.

So IMPRESS them !!! Impress ON & ON & ON... again follow the rule of thumb, awesome facts about you first. When asked a question, don't go "ahhh... uhhh or ehhhh", use words to stall a bit so your brain can think of the best answer. And when saying it put in meaningless long professional sounding words in between (tip courtesy Barney Stinson, yeah and it works).

Pitch yourself well in the interview. Because no matter how good your CV look, the interviewer knows how to get the real person out of you in the interview. What the interviewer checks is whether this person sitting in front him is an asset to the team. So make sure you build that confidence in him, remember even the interviewer has a boss. So they don't like to get screamed at either. (Hence the circle of scream, #HIMYM)

If all these fails, check these.

1. You are missing one or more of these 3; Talent, Luck, Contacts (tip courtesy my cousin Kanchana)
- Take a look around you yourself, people with all three are the most successful ones.

2. පුතා, you are aiming too high. Set the bar a bit low. Venture out into a totally new field. You may have chances there.

3. YOU ARE CHEATING THE GAME !!!

Anyways Good Luck out there. Even I have been in your shoes. And finally remember this,

Don't hate the player, hate the game...

The Job Hunter

Economy Driving 101

picture via The Telegraph

Fossil fuel is a limited resource. So sooner or later the gas guzzleing muscle cars we love will only be driven to an exhibition.

A day will come where the general personal commuting will be done on vehicles running on electricity. Yes, hybrids will die too. Therefore, here I am giving some tips on Economy Driving in a serious note.

• Its the driver not the car

Many people I know give fuel economy a big weight when buying a car. If you drive like an idiot, stepping on the gas flat out and breaking suddenly your fuel economy will drop drastically even though you drive a Maruti. The rule of thumb in driving is keep attention on whats coming up. Accelerate and brake gradually and ACCORDINGLY !!! 

Even if you drive a hybrid, if you don't drive it properly you won't get the expected fuel economy level from it. More on hybrid vehicle driving in SL from Ashoka here.

• Short & Long distance driving

Short distance driving is always low in fuel economy. What I do is sticking to low speeds (40kmph max) and let the engine do most of the braking by using gears. But if you have an automatic transmission vehicle, සොරි ඩොට් කොම්.

In long distance driving try to avoid stops (avoiding the engine to cool, engines give their best performance out in the optimum temperature) and use the over drive gear as much as possible. And maintain speeds around 70-90 kmph. 

• Use the landscape

Simply know as "බණ්ඩක්කා පාර". Discovered by old Delica drivers in the hill country, which can be efficiently exploited only by people from hill country. Delica vans had manual breaking, so what they do is switch off the engine when going downhill. The problem (as most drivers think) is modern break systems are servo assisted, meaning the engine needs to running for the brakes to work. So don't switch off the engine, put on neutral gear and save fuel.

Important! please don't do the above on steep hills. I do, because I am used to up country driving. 

• Choose the fuel

Petrol is the fuel of petrol-heads (hence the name). Diesel is called as the fuel of the saints by Clarkson. But, in the real world diesel does the job (almost) as same as petrol with less affect to the purse.

Diesel is the best fuel for long distance driving. ඔය සමහරු කියන්නෙ, ඩීසල් සුවඳටත් එංජිම වැඩ කියල. 

So my opinion is go for diesel when ever possible. Bear in mind, if you are a speed freak, forget about fuel economy.

• Check the car condition

Okay this is the final thing. If you don't love your vehicle and care about it, don't expect anything good in return from it. Follow the services on time, keep the engine well tuned, make sure the tire pressures are prime. 

Lets discuss, add your comments. This is what I think. Share.

Colombo _International_ Book Fair... #CIBF2011

Colombo International Book Fair 2009 by Skandhakumar Nimalaprakasan

The Colombo International Book Fair is happening for the 13th time at BMICH now. I have been to the fair couple times and I have seen a rapid growth in it, but the question is, is it "International"??

සමයං... I don't think so, because it is very unorganized and a better job can be done by the organizers. Like most of the public events of Sri Lanka, it is held back by the ancient thinking patterns of the authorities. So here goes my suggestion to make the experience more "book-worm" friendly.

Change the orientation !!!

Now the exhibition is planned according to the publisher, I suggest a layout based upon the book category/genre.

There should be basic divisions based on language, Sinhalese, English, Tamil and Foreign Languages. Then these should be divided into sub divisions such as,

• Translations (these into more sub divisions like Russian translations, Chinese translations, etc). 
• Novels, Frictions & Short Stories (more sub divisions like Romantic, Horror, Science Friction, Teen, Kiddies, etc)
• Academic (sub divisions by academic level such as O/L, A/L and by areas of study such as IT, Project Management, HRM, Finance, Economics, etc)
• Hobbies & Lifestyles (sub divisions such as handy-crafts, cookery, gardening, photography, etc)
• Biographies & Autobiographies
• Magazines, DVDs and other media

I am sure that I missed many segments ( මම පොත් ගුල්ලෙක් නොවෙමි ), but the point is by following a structure like this books can be found and enjoyed! The problem I had in my every visit to the book fair was I got lost in the ocean (a pretty tough one) of books.

Okay... By now, you might be thinking, "How the heck can the publisher get his money?" and "I like publications of this *blah blah blah* publisher, how am I supposed to find books by them?"

I suggest the "Sri Lanka Book Publishers Association" to use a simple information system and to use bar-codes, or to be more up-to-date.. QR codes to mark books. 

Each item on sale should have an ID and information such as division 1/2/3.., publisher, language, discount percentage and so on. Many publishers already uses computerized system to keep track of their publications, so for them it is a matter of migration. And by use of OCR, information from traditional publishers can be easily computerized. Initially this data gathering process will take time, but in the coming years only the new publications are needed to be added.

Many POS terminals can be installed throughout the premises to make the purchase a less hectic process. As and when a deal is done the money can be transferred to the publishers account automatically. Around 1-2 (max)% from the book's value can be charged as service charges on behalf of  Book Publishers Society of Sri Lanka.

So that solves how the money is sent to the publisher and how SLBPA earns.

For the second question, the solution is Help Desks or Kiosk Machines. Kiosk machines can be placed so that a reader can search publications by any criteria they wish. After finding, the reader can be provided withe a small direction sheet.

So that's my plan. Obviously this plan can be more streamlined. I think the biggest benefactors of this new approach would be the publishers. The resources they need to invest on the exhibition can be cut off by a huge portion. A trained group of personals representing SLBPA is all that is needed to operate the exhibition. Giving MORE ROOM for the book lovers.

Idlers and perverts can do their work without being a nuisance to book lovers. Non-book-worms like me would actually spend some money to buy a book, and won't come out empty handed like I did for the last couple of years.

Logos Hope book exhibition is a good example of a well organized book exhibition. But the problem there is the limited range of choice and unavailability of best sellers.

දැන් මේ වැඩේ ලංකාවෙ මිනිස්සු එක්ක කරන්න පුළුවන්ද?

my answer for that question is... කොහොමහරි කරන්න ඕනෙ, බැහැ කියල බෑ...

Now tell me, is this a fairly good plan or not. What are the loop holes? Where did I missed out? Lets get this plan together! And make sure the authorities see this and implement the damn thing! Cause WE ALL WANNA BUY GOOD BOOKS!!! :D

P.S. මම මේ ප්ලෑන අස්සට social media දාගත්තෙ නැහැ, හැබැයි දාගත්තට පාඩුවක් නැහැ සරියට වැඩේ කරනවනම්. ඒක පස්සට, මේ වැඩේවත් මුලින් කරගමුකො.

the train commuter..

Finally, typing... kinda like a සෝඩා bottle. However I really had to give a thought of what am I going to write about as my first proper article.

Image from here

So I thought of telling you what my life as a daily train commuter taught me. Trains are used by people from all walks of life at some point in their lives. That diversity is what makes the dull daily travel to work exciting, memorable and a learning experience.

The overall public opinion of Sri Lanka's railway service is negative, but I must say it is quite good. යකා හිතන තරම් කළු නැහැ. That is my first comment, most of the morning and evening office trains are punctual. Office trains which are express are given top priority so try to stick with those.

Trains get late frequently because of rain. If the ancient signals technology and the safety policies are updated, late trains can be brought to a minimum. Do you know that in a time of a signal malfunction, the train comes to a full halt for about 15-20 minutes? it is because the guard or the station master should manually switch ON the signal, then go in the driver cabin to the next and signal post and get off again? Seriously, use technology dammit!

I have faced only a handful of locomotive breakdowns in my 3+ years of daily train commuting. And most of them ended with a sweaty & crumpled shirt and 10-15 minute late. Tip: don't use public commuting all-together if you can't get ready a bit early. Buy a motorbike, it can catch up on time :)

විවිධත්වය in the trains are so amazing! I have seen beggars from no eyes and burnt faces to neat සීයා who plays the mouth organ in a very very nice way. It is now illegal to beg in trains, but still it happens. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවනෙ. The සීයා I told you is one person I put my earphones out for.

Remember beggars are NOT honest. But they taught me one thing, don't give up easy. A full grown man plays the damn flute with his drowsed son (ලු) when he can make some money by farming or working. A handicapped sell snacks sweating without a slight hesitation.

When you are in a train, forget "you" and look around. It really helps and teaches a lot, about life. පැය ගාණකින් මුළු බුද්ධ ධර්මයම ඇස් ඉදිරිපිට. When you are living the life in the fast lane, it is easy forget what life is all about. So I suggest to listen to what people talk about, observe how they react to each other, watch their body language.

ගෝත්‍ර වාදය in trains. You have to be a daily commuter to be in a clan. This is really serious, a survival technique in a way. I have been in couple of clans in my train-life, so here are some pros and cons of being a member.

Pros: You are bound to get a seat even for a brief time, very handy when the compartment become a spa in times of heavy rain. Occasional treats. Quality (reasonable, do NOT expect top class) opposite gender interactions. Heads up news of late trains, even if the trains are late you loose track of time. Plus fun.

Cons: Privacy (when you're in a clan, everyone know or dying to know everything about you). You turn into a ලිඳේ ඉන්න ගෙම්බා. Hard to change the membership. No control over what you see, hear, feel, smell or taste!

To be or not to be in a ගෝත්‍රය;it is up to you to decide. I do not wish to type in කෝච්චි කතා, bloggers are already here for that.

I should say this for the high class posh people in SL who say "ඕ-එම්-ජී" and "Fuck You Dad". The reality can be experienced first hand in a journey to Colombo from Galle in a weekday morning on the සමුද්‍රදේවී train. 12 compartments filled with people from all walks of life, with different expectations, objectives and  opinions.

If you want to know more about the railway service in Sri Lanka visit locolanka.blogspot.com.

තව කියන්න දෙයක් මතක් වුනොත් ලියන්නම්...

test post...

just to see how this will look "live"...