Shandy's Blog

For lunch today I went to the Shonar Bangla restaurant at Premier Pacific's Pinnacle on Duplication Road. I have mentioned this excellent restaurant once before in my blog but the food is so good I'll mention it again :) Today I had Mutton Biriyani served with a kebab (basically a small mince meat ball) and sauce accompanied by a chicken curry in gravy. It was excellent. I used cutlery today as last time I used my hands to eat with (a common custom in Sri Lanka). My only issue with eating with my hands is no matter how much I wash my hands afterwards if I rub my eyes after eating a meal with Chillie in it always gets into my eyes :(

I arrived around 13:00 and was the only person eating from the restaurant. The eating area is a communal one shared by a number of outlets. The views over Colombo are impressive. My only criticism is that the air conditioning is a little too fierce. The breeze generated by it blows paper napkins off the table if they aren't held down and the temperature is consequently a little cool. Anyway the meal today cost 330 rupees including a sprite.

Whilst I was out for a walk today I thought I'd get my hair cut. I use a barbers recommended to me by Pete Abrahams, now sadly departed back to the UK. I believe the road it is on is Vajira Road, between Galle & Duplication Roads, just a few roads down from Premier Pacific Pinnacle. I like it in there because I never have to wait. There are usually about 10 barbers working at any one time. I've been three times now and have no complaints. It costs about 200 rupees (£1) for a trim. You have to pay the bill at the cashiers desk so I always tip the barber 100 rupees or so. I have had a head massage there, which I can recommend. Really gets rid of tension. If memory serves I think I paid 200 or 300 rupees for that.

The first time I got my haircut over here I went to the Trans Asia hotel. Although they did an OK job, it was no better than the barbers I go to now and cost considerably more. I also had to wait. I think most of the 5 star hotels have hairdressers but my advice is to try elsewhere. Like most things at 5 star hotels over here it is overpriced and overhyped.

I think the haircut I have now is probably the most severe I've ever had. 6 years ago I had my hair half way down my back. Today I have it cut on a number three. How times change!

I have to say that internet access in Colombo is pretty good. I have an ADSL connection into our apartment and most of the time it is pretty reliable. Today, admittedly, is not one of those days. It seems to be up and down every 5 minutes or so. Whether this is to do with the series of power cuts we have in the building today or due to something else I'm not sure. Anyway I've no complaints with the general service provided. The download rates are good and I have no more problems with the line than I did in the UK.

One word of warning about ADSL in Colombo. They are currently pretty short of ADSL connections. When I moved from Rajagiriya to Colpetty, even though I ad ADSL in Rajagiriya I could not transfer the ADSL line because in was on another switch. I had to wait around 2 months to get connected again.

Dial up is also pretty widely available. When I was without ADSL I used to use scratch cards. These provided you with a number ot dial, a user name and a password. You could buy them in various denominations and your connection was simply dropped when you ran out of credit. The cards were pretty easy to buy and use.

There are internet cafes all over Colombo and the rates are pretty cheap. I haven't actually used one as I've got internet to the apartment but there are so many you should be able to pick and chose to find an internet cafe you like.

I've spent most of the day, bar a couple of hours, in the apartment today. During that time we must have had at least half a dozen power cuts. I doubt whether many of them lasted more than 10 minutes but when I'm working on the computer they are infuriating. Although I understand the power supply situation is much better than it was a few years ago it is not uncommon to have a power cut. Back in the UK I'd expect 2 or 3 a year. Here expect 2 or 3 a month, maybe more as I am not in the apartment usually during the day to notice them. I've been told the area we live in, Colpetty, is one of the areas in Colombo least effected by power cuts. Whether that is true or not I'm not sure.

Where we used to live, in Royal Park out at Rajagiriya, they had their own generators. It was good in that they could be switched on whenever there was a power cut in the area. It was bad in that twice a day they used to switch over between generators. This meant that the power went off for a few seconds. A real nuisance if you were cooking in the microwave on timer or frightening if you were in a lift at the time.

Anyway today the main thing is that the beers in the fridge are still cold ! ;-)

Edit: We have just had another powercut and now it is dark I noticed the lights in the surrounding area were still on. I checked downstairs with the guards and it looks like the problem is isolated to our buildings' electricity supply.

As part of my Microsoft MVP award I also get a free gift. Last year it was a rucksack, which proved to be extremely useful. The rucksack has travelled all overSri Lanka Text with me. I keep what I term my travelling esssentials in it so I can just pick up the rucksack and go! It holds enough stuff for a long weekend.

Anyway I, as usual, digress. This year they sent me a Creative Nomad MuVo TX MP3 player. Its a customised one with the Microsoft MVP logo on it and is in silver not black. It came with a battery, earpieces and a zip up case and armband with plastic holder. I have to admit I have never used an MP3 player before. I actually wasn't 100% sure what one was <:-I However, I've got it up and running and its pretty cool. It plugs into a USB port and I can download MP3 files to it and then unplug the player, take it with me and listen to the songs. For the record Blondie's Maria was the first song I downloaded onto my MP3 player :)

The only problem I can forsee is whether I can keep hold of it when my wife gets back off holiday ! Anyway, I'm filling it up with MY songs before Helen gets back ;-)

Well yesterday the first parcel of my order using up my MVP voucher at the Microsoft ECommerce stored arrived. It was like being a kid at Christmas time again!

Microsoft Custom 3D USB Drive

I got the 32Meg 1.1 version last year with my MVP store voucher but the 128Meg 2.0 is much sleeker. It also has a keyring attached. I've not got to make the decision as to what data I shall save onto the drive to use up the extra space!

Microsoft Tech Kit

This consists of

• USB powered torch on a semi-rigid lead that you can bend into a set shape but which will then hold its shape.
• Retractable RJ45 network cable.
• 4 Port USB hub.
• Set of ear phones

The 4 port hub is going to be usful at work as I have 3 USB devices I can plug in (mouse, mobile phone link & USB drive) and only two USB ports on my laptop. The retractable RJ45v network cable is well useful. I got one last year using my MVP voucher but I used it so much the retractability stopped working eventually! I got a USB light with my MVP voucher last year too but the one last year was one that was with a non-rigid cable and came with a clip. I used to clip it onto my laptop screen when being driven home in the dark so I could see the keyboard and what I was typing! This new one could serve the same purpose or be used to cast some light into the darker recesses of a computer case!

Software Project Survival Guide

I've already had a quick flick through this book and it looks exactly the type of thing I have been looking for. It seems Steve has obviously had the same frustrations as me with lack of tools, basic understanding of project management, not only by me but by all those around me! I'm hoping his book will give me a shortcut to taking the right decisions and pointing out to me the critical issues I need to address. Finding out by trial and error is proving both time consuming and stressful!

Velocity Pens

These are pretty useful as when you unscrew the lip the pen is on a spring and expands out to the size of a normal pen, although when the lid is screwed on they are only 2/3 the size of normal pens. For some reason I really took to the one I got with my MVP voucher last year. Sometimes I just get a pen that feels really nice writing with it and these pens fall into that category.

Age Of Mythology : The Titans

Although I was a huge fan of AOE I'm not a big fan of AOM. However, my wife does like it so I got this for her.

GrandPaws Brown Plush Bear

He's really cute. I got my wife the Microsoft Beanie last year. This bear must be 4 times the size of the Beaine. I think Helen will love him when she sees him after getting back from the UK.

So lots of toys to play around with on my week off!