it's a small world after all / turkey day
yeah, now that song's gonna be stuck in your head. mwah hah hah.
happy thanksgiving to everyone. i hope you are enjoying it spending your time with friends and family
TheGeneral crew got a surprise this morning. between about 7:30AM and 7:45AM, we all had our doors knocked and doorbells rung, making most of us a bit crabby. we've trained the housekeepers after months and months of explaining not to bother us before a certain time during workdays and a certain time on days off. 7:45AM is well before they are allowed knocking and ringing, so we all end up getting to the door, cranky, to find vijay, our customer's accounting guy with a basket greeting us "happy thanks day!". we are working until 8PM now and by the time we get back to the hotel, get cleaned up and to the bar, it is about 9:00PM or later. i asked the customer if we could finish at 6PM on thanksgiving day, since it is a big holiday in america usually spent with family and friends. since we are so far away from both of those, i wanted us all to spend thanksgiving together, our little TheGeneral family with the hotel attempting to cook us a traditional (or as close as possible) thanksgiving dinner. the customer called asking the point of thanksgiving and if it was a global holiday. i told him it is for getting the family and friends together and being thankful for all the good things that have happened through the year (you know, the stuff they tell you in grade school, when it's really about turkey, the macy's parade, and football). about being global, he asked it if it was, for example, celebrated in europe. i explained i knew it was in the US and canada, but i couldn't speak for europeans as i am not european. (strangely, most of the dubai office in the UAE is on holiday right now... can't see why arabs would be celebrating thanksgiving, but what they hell). so, with that explanation, the customer is allowing us to finish at 6:00PM tonight and we have dinner schedule for 7:30PM. we'll see what happens there. oh yeah, the baskets had a variety of chocolate bars, assorted nuts, indian cheese, a statue of ganesh, the indian god of wisdom and remover of obstacles, and a liter bottle of fairly good scotch whisky. so the customer is getting some suck-up points right now. i think they may be in a good mood as the owner of the end-user was on-site yesterday rather non-corporeally (no one really saw him or met with him, but apparently he was here and surveyed the site), and the customer wasn't pissed off. for example, if end-user owner is pissed, he yells at end-user site manager, he yells at customer manager... shite rolls downhill and fast. but they were in a good mood and giving us gifts. we actually made some good progress yesterday and may actually hit a milestone today or tomorrow. sweet.
oh check this shite out. when i was in turkmenistan 2 years ago, i met a girl at the one club in town who was doing peacecorps. we talked for a bit because it was good to see young americans overseas who WEREN'T involved in the oil and gas business. turns out, this girl lives maybe an hour from my house, i drove through her town to and from college. small world... so, last night, we are eating dinner at the bar and an indian comes over (nothing new) but, WAIT, WHAT IS THIS?! he speaks *GASP* english? he (shridar) is from new jersey, and is over here for a wedding and a possible funeral depending on how some things go. there wasn't much to say, just hi, wow, americans here... blah, and he left. about an hour or so later, he comes back and sits with us, starts talking. where we are all from, what we are doing, idle chit chat. i told him i was from ohio and he asked where. the same ole' with me... "a tiny little coal town on the ohio river called bellaire across from wheeling, WV". he's heard of bellaire. it took him a minute, but he remembered the name of one jed laroche who he met in college i think in pennsylvania somewhere. he remembered his brother's name was rusty, too (actually dusty but not too bad). now that is strange to be from smalltown, ohio, then go to india; there, meeting an indian born and raised in new jersey who visits smalltown, india, only to find out you know someone in common. strangeness but coolness.
everyone have a great day. all the guys... eat some turkey for me. all the girls... unbutton your pants on the couch afterwards, it's better than the guys doing it (you're welcome guys).
TheGeneral crew got a surprise this morning. between about 7:30AM and 7:45AM, we all had our doors knocked and doorbells rung, making most of us a bit crabby. we've trained the housekeepers after months and months of explaining not to bother us before a certain time during workdays and a certain time on days off. 7:45AM is well before they are allowed knocking and ringing, so we all end up getting to the door, cranky, to find vijay, our customer's accounting guy with a basket greeting us "happy thanks day!". we are working until 8PM now and by the time we get back to the hotel, get cleaned up and to the bar, it is about 9:00PM or later. i asked the customer if we could finish at 6PM on thanksgiving day, since it is a big holiday in america usually spent with family and friends. since we are so far away from both of those, i wanted us all to spend thanksgiving together, our little TheGeneral family with the hotel attempting to cook us a traditional (or as close as possible) thanksgiving dinner. the customer called asking the point of thanksgiving and if it was a global holiday. i told him it is for getting the family and friends together and being thankful for all the good things that have happened through the year (you know, the stuff they tell you in grade school, when it's really about turkey, the macy's parade, and football). about being global, he asked it if it was, for example, celebrated in europe. i explained i knew it was in the US and canada, but i couldn't speak for europeans as i am not european. (strangely, most of the dubai office in the UAE is on holiday right now... can't see why arabs would be celebrating thanksgiving, but what they hell). so, with that explanation, the customer is allowing us to finish at 6:00PM tonight and we have dinner schedule for 7:30PM. we'll see what happens there. oh yeah, the baskets had a variety of chocolate bars, assorted nuts, indian cheese, a statue of ganesh, the indian god of wisdom and remover of obstacles, and a liter bottle of fairly good scotch whisky. so the customer is getting some suck-up points right now. i think they may be in a good mood as the owner of the end-user was on-site yesterday rather non-corporeally (no one really saw him or met with him, but apparently he was here and surveyed the site), and the customer wasn't pissed off. for example, if end-user owner is pissed, he yells at end-user site manager, he yells at customer manager... shite rolls downhill and fast. but they were in a good mood and giving us gifts. we actually made some good progress yesterday and may actually hit a milestone today or tomorrow. sweet.
oh check this shite out. when i was in turkmenistan 2 years ago, i met a girl at the one club in town who was doing peacecorps. we talked for a bit because it was good to see young americans overseas who WEREN'T involved in the oil and gas business. turns out, this girl lives maybe an hour from my house, i drove through her town to and from college. small world... so, last night, we are eating dinner at the bar and an indian comes over (nothing new) but, WAIT, WHAT IS THIS?! he speaks *GASP* english? he (shridar) is from new jersey, and is over here for a wedding and a possible funeral depending on how some things go. there wasn't much to say, just hi, wow, americans here... blah, and he left. about an hour or so later, he comes back and sits with us, starts talking. where we are all from, what we are doing, idle chit chat. i told him i was from ohio and he asked where. the same ole' with me... "a tiny little coal town on the ohio river called bellaire across from wheeling, WV". he's heard of bellaire. it took him a minute, but he remembered the name of one jed laroche who he met in college i think in pennsylvania somewhere. he remembered his brother's name was rusty, too (actually dusty but not too bad). now that is strange to be from smalltown, ohio, then go to india; there, meeting an indian born and raised in new jersey who visits smalltown, india, only to find out you know someone in common. strangeness but coolness.
everyone have a great day. all the guys... eat some turkey for me. all the girls... unbutton your pants on the couch afterwards, it's better than the guys doing it (you're welcome guys).
posted by slyght at 11/23/2005 11:59:00 PM
2 Comments:
HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!!
Hope you all have a great "Indian" prepared meal.
love and hugs to all.
Mom
Have a happy Thanksgiving from amy and I. Hope to see you all in one piece when you get back. That arm was looking pretty bad. Married life has been great. You didn't miss much last night at the Fbar. Would have been a better time with you there. Oh some guy who I think was Dusty Laroche passed out on chads lap. funny thing it was him and then i read your blog. ok brother take care good luck with work.
red and amy
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