I think I have a problem with blood clouding, last week I woke up on a pool of bold, and when I took the picture my leg was still bleeding. I also took a video but i don't think you will enjoy that so here is a picture ;-)./
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Monday, December 24, 2007
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Late Update on US Visa
I was in Colombo, near Kiribathgoda, and suddenly the phone rang, Guess it was, Well it's the US embassy of Sri Lanka. My hart started to pound, wondering , Oh God what is it this time. then the kind voice slowly said that My US Visa was ready. and the bomb was I had to reach the embassy by 3 PM., wow, and I'm miles away from the embassy building and it was 2 PM, I had 1 hour to reach the cost. I normally go slow and always take the safe root, but this was not the time , And I drove like I had never done, sneaking like a 3 Wheeler , changing lanes, and ignoring the Red light when ever it showed up. It was the drive of my life. with lot of luck, I reach there at exactly at 3 o'clock. and my sweet US VISA was ready and waiting for me. after all the scrutiny, finally I got my visa. So Don't ride off your luck too soon and give up. things happen in a very unexpected way . and always for the good.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Free Stuff for macLife
Just found a website which has loads of free software for mac. you might want to check this out.
http://web.mac.com/simon_elliott/iWeb/simon_elliott@mac.com/Software.html
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Scrutinized at the U.S Embassy
(Sep 21)
2 weeks ago I received an email from Pradeeper asking me if I wanted to visit the Google summer of code mentors summit in CA on 6th of October. Since I didn't have any thing important to do ,I didn't refuse it. then on the IM window Chintana showed up who had returned form a similar event from US, and he gave some pointers and tips.
(Sep22)
I got up early in the morning around 2 AM and drove to Colombo form Kandy to schedule a visa interview with the Colombo U.S. Embassy. and I was able to reach there at about 9 PM. even at that time they had a Long Que. so after waiting for a while I got the date fixed for 27th of September. After that I came back home just in time to break my fast. So I was driving 19 Hours with no food or Water. and I couldn't feel my feet after coming home.
After that I was able to get the required documents sent over from Tiffany who is working at Google. because there was a delay in fedx postal service the docs didn't reach me by 27 so I had to visit Colombo again to re schedule the appointment again. this time the date was extended to 1 st of October. and on the same day met Isusru who is a LSF Employee who will attend this meting with Miffan and got the required documents from him. since I'm not so familiar with the colombo roads. I got stuck in Havelock town, driving in circles so this time I was driving 22 Hours. :( (again with no food or water)
29th)Since I had to reach the Embassy by 8 am an
d also since I have no relative living in Colombo. I decided to Book a hotel room. near the embassy. Hotel Renuka came up on a web search so I booked my self a room.
on the 30 th morning I left to colombo. On the web they said internet was free. but I had to buy a package from dialog to access Wifi inside the hotel :( .
then finally it was the day of the interview. I got up early got print outs of all the KBFX related articles and magazine reports and lot of details about the summit. and the Hotel bookings I had made earlier. I though I was ready ;-). so I when to the embassy gate at 7 AM. and I was advice to stand out side the embassy gate. for the first Time in 2 years I was wearing Shoes .and my leases were tied :P, And I had Hair Gell on my hair. and looked and felt like Jurk . and when people walked by I felt very strange too. after waiting out side the gate i was invited in at 8 .45. after they scanned me for fire arms , explosives. they told me enter the Embassy finally. inside the consulate area there was another Que. and after waiting there for another 2 hours. I got a Number and then they scanned my index finger. after this was over Isuru was Invited into room 4 for his interview. and he came out in 2 seconds and told me that he got his visa after showing the latter from Google. after that I was lot more relaxed and even loosened one button from the Shirt to look more regular ;-) . then at around 11 I was called in. I showed him the latter and he read it then he asked me " how do u use ur Name in Full: I said "Mohamed Razick Ahmed Siraj" then he asked me where do u work> ? I said I work for Aphria and I'm working from home. and he asked me How much do u earn , I said xxxx Euros :P and he asked me what kind of software do u write ? I said Free software , ( he looked as if almost to say Gee?) . and he requested for a latter to confirm this. And I gave the latter I got fom the CEO of Aphria. Then he said "Mr Siraj when do u need to leave to US ? and how long will u stay " I said 6th of october. and 2 days. then he said.
{
"well i'm sorry to say I can't give you visa that quick and you will probably miss this event (The Google thing) , But what I can do is , put your VISA at a pending state, till our records are cleared from Washington. which would take about 6 weeks +. And our officer will call you in a moment to scan in your finger prints and then you can collect your documents and the passport from him".
}
I asked him if there isn't anything I could do. and he reply "No ".
then I came out of the room blue. and I waited on the chair for about 2 hours till they call me again. and finally a guy called my name. and I when to him. he said we need to take all your 10 finger prints. for that please pay 85$ to the counter next to me. I told him I didn't bring money and I asked if I can walk out and come back . he told the security and I was able to visit the bank, and come back with the money. so now it's about 2 PM and I paid the 85$ as requested and an American lady came and scanned all my 10 fingers oppose to the Sri Lankan lady who scanned by index finger :P, They don't even trust their employees I guess if they are sri lankan. and after that she told me to wait. After several hours, I got my documents and the passport back . And my degree certificate was bent into two and it was crushed which made me really mad. but I wanted to walk out of the embassy alive. at around 5 PM I was set free. and when I went back to the hotel, the checkout time had passed and they charged me for an extra day :( . so I cleared the room and came back to kandy :(
so US embassy really treats a recommendation + sponsoring letter from Google like dirt. and it's very sad to see that. and even more Free software developers are Scrutinized. what did i do wrong, to be treated this way ?
on the 30 th morning I left to colombo. On the web they said internet was free. but I had to buy a package from dialog to access Wifi inside the hotel :( .
then finally it was the day of the interview. I got up early got print outs of all the KBFX related articles and magazine reports and lot of details about the summit. and the Hotel bookings I had made earlier. I though I was ready ;-). so I when to the embassy gate at 7 AM. and I was advice to stand out side the embassy gate. for the first Time in 2 years I was wearing Shoes .and my leases were tied :P, And I had Hair Gell on my hair. and looked and felt like Jurk . and when people walked by I felt very strange too. after waiting out side the gate i was invited in at 8 .45. after they scanned me for fire arms , explosives. they told me enter the Embassy finally. inside the consulate area there was another Que. and after waiting there for another 2 hours. I got a Number and then they scanned my index finger. after this was over Isuru was Invited into room 4 for his interview. and he came out in 2 seconds and told me that he got his visa after showing the latter from Google. after that I was lot more relaxed and even loosened one button from the Shirt to look more regular ;-) . then at around 11 I was called in. I showed him the latter and he read it then he asked me " how do u use ur Name in Full: I said "Mohamed Razick Ahmed Siraj" then he asked me where do u work> ? I said I work for Aphria and I'm working from home. and he asked me How much do u earn , I said xxxx Euros :P and he asked me what kind of software do u write ? I said Free software , ( he looked as if almost to say Gee?) . and he requested for a latter to confirm this. And I gave the latter I got fom the CEO of Aphria. Then he said "Mr Siraj when do u need to leave to US ? and how long will u stay " I said 6th of october. and 2 days. then he said.
{
"well i'm sorry to say I can't give you visa that quick and you will probably miss this event (The Google thing) , But what I can do is , put your VISA at a pending state, till our records are cleared from Washington. which would take about 6 weeks +. And our officer will call you in a moment to scan in your finger prints and then you can collect your documents and the passport from him".
}
I asked him if there isn't anything I could do. and he reply "No ".
then I came out of the room blue. and I waited on the chair for about 2 hours till they call me again. and finally a guy called my name. and I when to him. he said we need to take all your 10 finger prints. for that please pay 85$ to the counter next to me. I told him I didn't bring money and I asked if I can walk out and come back . he told the security and I was able to visit the bank, and come back with the money. so now it's about 2 PM and I paid the 85$ as requested and an American lady came and scanned all my 10 fingers oppose to the Sri Lankan lady who scanned by index finger :P, They don't even trust their employees I guess if they are sri lankan. and after that she told me to wait. After several hours, I got my documents and the passport back . And my degree certificate was bent into two and it was crushed which made me really mad. but I wanted to walk out of the embassy alive. at around 5 PM I was set free. and when I went back to the hotel, the checkout time had passed and they charged me for an extra day :( . so I cleared the room and came back to kandy :(
so US embassy really treats a recommendation + sponsoring letter from Google like dirt. and it's very sad to see that. and even more Free software developers are Scrutinized. what did i do wrong, to be treated this way ?
Monday, September 10, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)