Shakhu's Trickery

Oh!!! I forgot to tell about Shakhawat chicanery!! :D
While ordering, we decided to share the Rejala. When it came, we found that there is two piece of mutton and an egg. The dish was near Shakhawat, he could see what was in there. From my place I asked him to take one piece and pass me the dish. When I got it, I found that the one which I thought as a piece of mutton is a big potato!!!! I was astounded!!!!! Shakhawat then told that he too thought as me. Only God knows!!! (Just kidding, actually Shakhawat didn't do it intentionally.)

A Treat To Remember

Oh!!! I won't forget the day. Our dear friend cum colleague Shantanu took Shakhawat, Palash and me to hotel Star at Thataribazar. Hotel Star is well-known among gourmands. Anyone who doesn't know that place is considered as a fool by food connoisseurs. We went there at noon but the meal must be called a dinner. There was virtually no restriction to place orders. I went there after a long days, so I was particularly impressed by the new segment with air conditioning units and air curtains. The place is wonderful now. However, we washed our hands and took our seats. Palash became the first to order something. To my amazement, he ordered for plain rice. I was not particularly aware of the fact that apart from Kachchi Biriani, plain rice with various dishes are also very delicious here. As usual for me, I ordered for Kachchi Biriani. Shakhawat and Shantanu were also ignorant like me, so they also followed me quickly. Then, aggrandizing our astonishment, Palash ordered for Hilsha fish eggs and Rupchanda fish. When these things came, we, excluding Palash, quickly realised how fool we were. Though we had mutton, egg and Jali kebab in our Kachchi Biriani, we were totally defeated by Palash's dishes in elegance, pulchritude and delicacy. We wanted to recover quickly, so on went our ordering. We asked for Rejala, Jhal Fry, Rupchanda fish and Shrimp Corma. The competition turned hot on that very moment. We were gorging quickly. The waiter, who we were calling "Mama" adoringly, was dazed to see us gobbling. A big two litre bottle of Coke was accompanying us all the time. After finishing main courses, it was time for dessert. We were behaving as gluttonously as before. We ordered Lachchi, Falluda, Curd and Pudding. After paying the bill, we had no strength to move our bodies from that table :D. We dragged ourselves out of the hotel clumsily and after much hassle we got a cab to return to office. It was a great meal to remember. Truly, I would cherish this memory forever. A big thanks go to dear friend Shantanu. Hail to Shantanu!!!

Deep trouble with OpenSSL EVP API's

I was totally flabbergasted with a piece of code today. I was trying to calculate MD5 hash with EVP API's of OpenSSL library. The API's worked fine to calculate the hash but somehow by completely out of my knowledge it was garbling a std::string. Later I replaced the code with some C functions and computed the hash myself. It took me one hour to find the culprit code snippet and then it took me two hours to believe that it is actually the well-known OpenSSL library which is causing the mess. Here is the code I was using:

                const EVP_MD *pMd(NULL);
                unsigned char puchKey[EVP_MAX_MD_SIZE];
                unsigned int uiKeyLen(0);
                EVP_MD_CTX MDContext;
                OpenSSL_add_all_digests();
                // Check if MD5 is available
                if(NULL == (pMd = EVP_get_digestbyname("md5")))
                {
                        LOGL(2, "Digest md5 not found");
                        return sMessageIntegrity;
                }
                // Compute key with MD5 hash
                EVP_DigestInit(&MDContext, EVP_md5());//pMd);
                std::ostringstream ossBuffer;
                ossBuffer << p_rsUsername << ':' << p_rsRealm << ':' << p_rsPassword;
                std::string sTemp(ossBuffer.str());
                EVP_DigestUpdate(&MDContext, static_cast<const void*> (sTemp.data()), static_cast<unsigned int> (sTemp.size()));
                EVP_DigestFinal(&MDContext, puchKey, &uiKeyLen);

It was garbling a member std::string of the class. Can someone tell me what is wrong with the code???

Another Saturday in office

I don't know whether we will be given holiday on Saturday or not at all. I don't like this temporizing.

A nice sleep

What a nice job!!! The Best Job In Bangladesh!!!

Computer based IELTS

I have bought the cd today. It only contained a single test but cost me 800/=. I met the exam administrator. He tried to encourage me a lot. I am also interested in it but the next available date the 7th October is too soon for me. The date after that is the 11th November, which is a very late date for me. I am confused. I haven't prepared a bit for the exam. :-(

Bought an Bluetooth USB Adapter

Though it was cheap and I doubt its longevity, I liked it. I was thrilled to communicate with my mobile (NOKIA 6230). I copied the photos I took with it to hard disk. The nokia pc suite failed but the software which came with the adapter made it easily. I wish I will do some fun programming with this adapter. I saw some projects in codeprojects which communicated with bluetooth device. I think I can follow them :-).

My dressing habit has to be changed

I think I should wear panjabis more often now. I also need a sky blue shirt and a "Kolapuri" sandal. Oh, one more thing, I must have a jeans pant. This will be my dress in the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitre. :-)

Strategy Page

It is a great site for military news.

CBT IELTS

I am thoroughly confused about it. The CBT form is introduced very recently. It is out for only two months. Very few examinees are opting for it. The test is also being taken less frequently, only once per month. There is no sample exam cd's in the market. I have to buy one from British Council. The cd costs 800 taka, which is very high. It seems B.C. is trying to make a profit out of selling the cd's too. I don't know whether I should go for a paper based test or a computer based one. I am confused. The new form seems to be untested and not widely known yet. The next available date is 7th October. Time is running out if I choose the CBT. :-(

Coming office on Saturday

It is very disappointing. The whole country is enjoying the weekly holiday but we have to come in office. I don't know how much motivated people will be in their work. I don't find it an apt decision to work on this day. Hope the authority will choose the right path.

Great BLOG search tool by GOOGLE

I liked it. When I searched with keyword "russoue", I was elated to see all my blogs in the result. Hope people will find my blogs when they search with various keywords. :-)

TOEFL

At last, my TOEFL is over. If I have to tell my feelings, I have to go section by section. In listening, I am happy. I made three mistakes. It is the best performance I have made in mock tests. In reading comprehension, I took my time. I gave my best to it. I made three mistakes. About structure, I will not forget it ever. While I was answering the last but one question, I thought it to be the last. When only 5 seconds were left, I confirmed my answer and saw that one was remaining. My heart started pounding. 5 seconds whisked away. I am still regreting for it. However, my range is 220 - 277. The score distribution is 27, 12 - 29, 27. My composition was not well in the written part. Now, I can only hope for the best. Final score is supposed to come home within two weeks by mail.

TOEFL tomorrow

Oh, I am feeling nervous. I don't know how I shall fare. I am not confident in listening and reading comprehension. Amazingly, reading comprehension is giving me some troubles, actually the questions where I have to educe something. May Allah help me.

A GREAT LOSS

Yesterday, my grandmother-in-law passed away. She was 70+ years old. For several months she was completely bedridden because of serious illness. Sharna and I rushed to Sirajgonj yesterday afternoon. We both were very very sad. Though her funeral will be held today, I had to come back because of my TOEFL preparation. Sharna will be back on Saturday. May Allah rest her soul in peace.

Hooray!!!

Bangladesh government has announced today that from 9th September there will be two days weekly holiday on Friday and Saturday. A news couldn't be better than this. We, all of our colleagues, are thoroughly excited. But we are also fearing about what our company will decide. Will it go against the decision? We are just praying that they abide by the rule.

Washing the pen drive

Yes, my pen drive has been washed today. It was in a pocket of my pant. Our domestic help took the pant and without checking the pockets started to wash it. It was discovered some times later but water with soap has already entered it by then. At this moment I did the most foolish thing, I inserted the drive to my USB port and tried to check it immediately. Thus I diminished the slightest hope of getting it back. I should wait for 2 days to let it dry up. But now the damage is done. I have to buy another one. :-(

Still not improving

Yesterday, I took one sample exam by Powerprep's software. My listening is still awful. Though I am continuing to ameliorate my reading comprehension skill, I am not improving in structure section. I am dissatisfied with my preparation. Though I knew that TOEFL exam will not be a piece of cake, I thought it not to be hard either. The software has primitive interface. It switches to very low resolution and reminds me the days when I used to play with some DOS games. There are only two sample tests. I think I don't have the latest version, but may be the latest one is not free of charge.

Disappointed with my performance

I took two sample test exams from Barron's sample test CD. My performance was poor. I was most disappointed in listening section. Seems that after hearing the conversation clearly, I couldn't deduce what was implied. It is shocking because I had no problem with the main test of listening that is to understand clearly what was told but I fail to educe the implications. I have to work hard in this area. In the two structural test, I fared bad. One of my reading test was terrible with 9 mistakes out of 45. But in the second one, I managed to improve my performance, I only made one mistake.