Anita (in blue) and some friends.
posted by Unknown @ 2:04 PM
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Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Saturday at the grill...
Last Saturday we had a little barbeque get together at our place. We got the eating supplies from Port of Spain and invited a few guests from work to share some time outside the work environment. Some of the crew members helped set up the show and also lent their expert hand to cooking. People started showing up about 4:30 and stayed till almost mid-night. About thirty five guests turned up (including a few uninvited ones, but who was counting!)
The Mayaro area, where the project and every one working on it is based, does not boast of a very developed intertainment industry (there are two restaurants - a Kentucky Fried Chicken and a chinese food place - one night club and two grocery stores in the town) so this chance to socialize was hugely enjoyed by every one!
The Mayaro area, where the project and every one working on it is based, does not boast of a very developed intertainment industry (there are two restaurants - a Kentucky Fried Chicken and a chinese food place - one night club and two grocery stores in the town) so this chance to socialize was hugely enjoyed by every one!
posted by Unknown @ 1:48 PM
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Monday, October 18, 2004
Interesting Word
Mugwump
Very apt for this election season in the US, and highlighted in the Merriam-Webster's web site last week, mugwump signifies undecided or politically neutral person. The word is derived from the Algonquian word mugquomp meaning the big chief, the war leader (or the king maker). The word was first used to describe Republicans who refused to support their own part's nominee, James Blain, in the presidential elections of 1884 in favor of the Democratic Party's nominee, Grover Cleaveland. Cleaveland won the election with 219 electoral votes to Blain's 182 votes; thus the first mugwumps literally proved themselves to be the "king makers".
The meaning of the word later gradually shifted to mean politically neutral. In today's quicksand political alliances, however, with voter loyalty an unsure thing, the mugwumps still retain their power for the making or unmaking of leaders.
The word was immortalized in a 1930's humor postcards as "a bird who sits with its mug on one side of the fence and its wump on the other."
Other election related words:
druthers: free choice, one's own way. Alteration of "would rather"
suffrage: right to vote. From Latin suffragium (to vote)
References: Infoplease.com, Merriam-Webster, Encyclopedia Britannica, and a number of other web sites.
Very apt for this election season in the US, and highlighted in the Merriam-Webster's web site last week, mugwump signifies undecided or politically neutral person. The word is derived from the Algonquian word mugquomp meaning the big chief, the war leader (or the king maker). The word was first used to describe Republicans who refused to support their own part's nominee, James Blain, in the presidential elections of 1884 in favor of the Democratic Party's nominee, Grover Cleaveland. Cleaveland won the election with 219 electoral votes to Blain's 182 votes; thus the first mugwumps literally proved themselves to be the "king makers".
The meaning of the word later gradually shifted to mean politically neutral. In today's quicksand political alliances, however, with voter loyalty an unsure thing, the mugwumps still retain their power for the making or unmaking of leaders.
The word was immortalized in a 1930's humor postcards as "a bird who sits with its mug on one side of the fence and its wump on the other."
Other election related words:
druthers: free choice, one's own way. Alteration of "would rather"
suffrage: right to vote. From Latin suffragium (to vote)
References: Infoplease.com, Merriam-Webster, Encyclopedia Britannica, and a number of other web sites.
posted by Unknown @ 5:18 PM
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Sunday, October 17, 2004
Welcome to the family
Yesterday we had a new member join our family... a five-week old pompek puppy! A pompek, for those of you who do not know (like me just three days ago!), is a cross between a pomrenian and a pekingese, a very popular breed of dogs in Trinidad. They come in two varieties - fluffy ones and short haired ones. We got a very cute greyish brown fluffy one with a broad white band around its neck. We all are still thinking of an appropriate name but concensus seems to be coalescing around "Calypso".
We, (or, more exactly my wife) had thought about getting our kids a dog for some time now as they are good for teaching kids discipline and responsibility. Also, our daughter is some what afraid of animals and this seemed like a good way to get her used to them. So yesterday we decided to travel to Port of Spain to look for one. After checking several pet shops during the course of the morning we decided to return to the very first one that we had visited in the morning and where we had spotted this grey-brown and white ball of fur in his little cage that he shared with two other friends. He seemed to be the more curious and friendlier one of the three and so resulted to be the winner.
More posts and some pictures on Calypso (?) will be upcoming periodically.
We, (or, more exactly my wife) had thought about getting our kids a dog for some time now as they are good for teaching kids discipline and responsibility. Also, our daughter is some what afraid of animals and this seemed like a good way to get her used to them. So yesterday we decided to travel to Port of Spain to look for one. After checking several pet shops during the course of the morning we decided to return to the very first one that we had visited in the morning and where we had spotted this grey-brown and white ball of fur in his little cage that he shared with two other friends. He seemed to be the more curious and friendlier one of the three and so resulted to be the winner.
More posts and some pictures on Calypso (?) will be upcoming periodically.
posted by Unknown @ 7:34 PM
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Saturday, October 02, 2004
Hello old friends...
A special hello to Debu, Luis and Santiago who wrote to me this week wondering where I was...
So those of you who are interested: for the last several months I have been living in the beautiful island of Trinidad in the Caribbean Sea (home of the great Brian Lara). I have done some travelling during the last few years, principally work related. Came here for a drilling project and now I am managing a small pipeline project.
Anyway, this e-mail from Debu has given me an idea. I would like to turn this blog into a sort of repository for e-mail addresses for our friends from my Roorkee days. What do you think? You can send me your address and, with your permission, I will post them on the blog. If you don't want your address up for the world to see then just your name would go up and I would forward you the address of anyone interested in getting in touch with you.
So those of you who are interested: for the last several months I have been living in the beautiful island of Trinidad in the Caribbean Sea (home of the great Brian Lara). I have done some travelling during the last few years, principally work related. Came here for a drilling project and now I am managing a small pipeline project.
Anyway, this e-mail from Debu has given me an idea. I would like to turn this blog into a sort of repository for e-mail addresses for our friends from my Roorkee days. What do you think? You can send me your address and, with your permission, I will post them on the blog. If you don't want your address up for the world to see then just your name would go up and I would forward you the address of anyone interested in getting in touch with you.
posted by Unknown @ 11:44 AM
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