Rebuilding together - New orleans

Chevron's XYZ network is working with Rebuilding together NGO to rebuild houses that were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Katrina was a category 5 (speeds up to 175 miles per hour) and killed close to 2000 people and left thousands homeless.
Before....
After...


I have never done any painting or labor work in my life before. India has labour that does all such work for a very affordable price, so i never had to work on any such tasks. Now was a chance to learn that and it was fun.

Our assignment was to continue working on an unfinished house. I learnt painting and also to cut plywood accurately to fit them on the exterior walls. Check out the photos above.


Although its quite a physical work, contributing like this once in a while makes us feel good that you are doing something for the society. The homeless family will remember.
Chevron also donated a large sum to rebuilding together foundation.

Canadian geese in Covington Louisiana

We see lot of Canadian Geese in Covington.
Canadian Geese start nesting during spring time. Our office has few small ponds and few Geese nest here. Canadian Geese defend their nests very aggressively from humans dogs and any other animals.

This pond is one of the many ponds in Covington, Louisiana

Many employees jog along these ponds and since some of these Geese were nesting in our office premises, there were some incidents where these Geese chased any one who wanted to jog or walk around these ponds. Our nature friendly Management issued a notice to block all walkways that lead to the nesting area to avoid any further and posted signboards to educate everyone and also sent out a notice to all employees.



I remember we had nominated an employee as a egg monitor and use to check the health of eggs. They even tried to have a live web camera fitted so that everyone could watch them live. Because of firewall and other issues that idea was dropped. But it feels good to be working with an organization that is sensitive to nature.

Related Article: Swans in Stratford Canada.

Mardi Gras - 2010

Yet another Mardi Gras season. This year we attended Mardi Gras in New orleans, Slidell, Mandeville & Covington. Undoubtedly New orleans hosts the biggest Mardi gras parades.

We attended Endemiyon in Mid-city. Indeed, its at much larger scale compared to Covington or Madeville. Whole new orleans gets filled with flood of cars during Mardi Gras. We attended following parades this year.

Eve in Madeville

Olympia in Covington

Dionysus of Slidell

Orpheus in Mandeville

Endymion in Mid-City

Lions in Covington

As always its a wonderful time to be in Louisiana during Mardi Gras season. Dont miss it if you happen to be in Southern part of America during February.

Who dat -Saints day

Today we had Saints day.

Edited: 07 Feb 2010



New orleans Saints are NFL Champions. Saints won the by 31 - 17 against Colts.
Whole of Bourbon street is crowded with Saints fans in festive mood. This Mardi gras is going to be very special and crazy.

We all cheered for Saints with Saints shirts.