HOT HOT HOT TEX- MEX CHILLI NITE
September 22nd, 2007

........rollin' ...... rollin'.......rollin'............ keep them Dogies Movin....
 

Senorita Shirley & Senhor Percy D’Souza
Ola' Senores et Senoritas!!
 

'R-A-W-H-I-D-E!!! ...... ....was the theme song of the evening, when the "CURTAINS" rolled up....and the Executives, headed, by none other than Gerry "Rawhide" - aka- Clint Eastwood- style, who led us on stage with an impromptu rendition of this theme song, to a thunderous applause, which entertained an ENCORE at that!!! - Not bad for a 5 min.practice session behind closed doors!! - - So don't try to understand us - though we were disapprovin', - Our heart's a mis-calculatin', as this was to be a....
....... "CHILl NITE"!! ........BUT........Archie Lobo, who initiated this event, with his home-style speciality, (Back by popular demand), got us to "Move 'em on,head 'em up, Head 'em out, ride'em in, and let 'em out - cut us out completely back to reality.......with his wife Wilma "Hot on her heels behind him!! He kept us "Movin,Movin,Movin....RAWHIDE......!!

Well., .........Once again the 55+ Executive Committee 'WOWED" 'em in style, with a total of 100 members and out of town guests, as far as Vancouver,England and California, who showed up, all decked out in their "Western Gear" i.e "Spurs" that jingled-jangled- gingled, Cowboy hats, jeans and checked shirts, to help celebrate, TEX-MEX NITE on the 22nd September,2007., when they "kicked up their heels & "STOMPED" the nite away in the early hours of the morning, at the Mississauga Seniors Centre, on Cawthra Road,Mississauga. Had one walked into this hall, one would think they were in a little Texas town in El Paso.....celebrating a FIESTA!
Thanks to our D.J. for the evening, "Marvellous Mel" - who thrilled the crowd, with a variety of music to please everyone,with his "Shakin' & a Rockin' and his twistin' and a Rollin' - (ahem- NOT Rawhide style) combined with Cha-Cha-Cha's, Lances,& Waltzes! - Accompanying him on his Guitar, was Mr. Annibal - who brought on nostalgic Spanish-Mexican songs like, El Paso,Vaya Condios,etc etc. that got everyone spellbound! - and charmed the couples off their feet again with his great hits!

Back to basics, Gerry Almeida, permanent Deacon, and Assistant treasurer, started "Grace before meals" and narrated a very touching poem, on the fact that Sunday,23rd Sept. was the official day of Fall, with Thanksgiving round the corner, and how grateful we all have to be for the many blessings
bestowed upon us...."There are many who are deaf, blind, bedridden,lonely,& have no jobs......"Thank you Lord for the Gift of Life!! - how true this is!!

Needless to say, Archie's Chilli was a "HOT HOT HOT" Scrumptious speciality treat for all, accompanied by Wilma's Special Rice salad, prepared with a lot of TLC. , much to everyone's delite! - There was lots for all to go - second time around!! To accompany this was the Fajitas, with a delicious Bar- B- Que chicken & salad prepared by Juliet Rebello, Mafalda and Valerie
An event such as this takes a lot of hard work and dedication - a lot of commitment and effort, goes into the preparation for such an event and we commend them highly! When asked how can you cook for so many people single handedly.....Archie said "We just enjoy it"!!! words cannot express our appreciation to Archie and Wilma Lobo for their commitment,enthusiasm, and above all, Service with a Smile!! - Well that's not all, folks, Archie and Wilma are at it again......another Chillie nite this Saturday at St.John of the Cross Church Hall, this time to a crowd of 150 people.......and he said that with a SMILE!!!! To those of you who are attending.....be sure to have a scrumptious appetizing meal!!!! - one that you will not regret!!!! for we certainly won't.

Coffee and Tea with a Scrumptious Black Forest Cake and Carrot Cake was served, after the meal.
Many thanks to Joan Rebello for taking charge of this scrumptious dessert!

Many thanks to all the donors of the door Prizes, i.e. 2 tickets for the Konkani Tiatr, from Mr. & Mrs. Lourdino Rodrigues, Laptop Covers, from Ms.Melanie Nazareth, (proceeds of which go out to the poor children's charity), A giveaway prize basket from Mrs. Hilda Fernandes, and a Picture Frame from Theo Fernandes.
Many thanks and appreciation go to all the helpers, too many to mention, who worked tirelessly, behind the scenes, to ensure the smooth running of this event!

A 50/50 draw was held, prize worth $ 100.00 - broken down to 1st prize of $ 50.00, second prize $ 30.00 and 3rd prize $ 20.00, which went out to the lucky recipients.

The evening wound up at 1 a.m. promptly.

Having taken part in this "TEX MEX" Nite as your EMCEE, for the evening, I have to admit, it was a great pleasure in representing & hosting a "fabulous" group of members and friends of the 55+ PGA group!

Last, but not least, our special thanks goes out to our President, Tony Fernandes and his wife Vivien who strived hard to ensure this Tex Mex Nite event would take place, from the planning stages , and especially to oversee the smooth running of this now popular event, right up to the very end!!

Well folks - all good things must come to an end......we promise as usual to give you the best possible entertainment you have come to expect....and we trust we have delivered......until the next time...
May we take this opportunity of wishing you all a "Happy Thanksgiving weekend", when nature's "AUTUMN PALETTE" comes flowing down on us......... remembering,how fortunate and thankful we all should be.....besides having to "Keep movin', movin', movin,......
Our Execs.will be awaitin'....till the end of our term.......move'em out...cut us out, ride them new ones in.............................................ADIOS AMIGOS,

Muriel Lucas-
General Secretary

THE VERY VERY NICE SHRIMP CURRY & RICE NITE
Friday, Sept 7th, 2007
 

( Click to view large )

Laughter and gaiety filled the air as a sold out crowd of 230 members gathered together after a brief recess for the summer. The very name of the event brought out our gastronomical taste buds and not only were we treated to a delicious plate of shrimp curry, rice, vegetable and fried fish followed by dessert, but TEGSA provided us with grand entertainment that we will long remember.

First was a performance by 20 year old Rosemarie Juno who trains in Bollywood film songs and dances in classical Indian “KATHAK”. It was a delight to watch her hand, feet and hip movements.

This was followed by The Soprano Senior Steel Band. This well known group has achieved a level of excellence that has enabled them to perform at events like the Seniors Jubilee at Roy Thomason Hall, the Caner Society of Toronto, the Police Forces amongst others. It wasn’t long before we were swaying and singing to the beat of the calypso sounds and soon got up and danced.

Our biggest surprise were the entertainers from J.R. Promotions – Jennifer and Ritchie. Jennifer is the singer with the beautiful voice and Richie plays the music. Our members could resist no longer and packed the dance floor prompting Ritchie to often remark “This ain’t no senior group”. Karaoke followed and again our members performed admirably with Elvis, Humperdinck and other songs.

In their wisdom, the committee realizing that this would be a good show, asked for and were given an extension and every member stayed to the very end.

An e-mail I received states: “TEGSA always organizes wonderful, entertaining shows. I had a great evening and thanks to the organizing committee, we always have a gala time when we attend. Thanks!”

Saving Power With Linux
Posted by Savio Rodrigues under Open Source , linux
http://saviorodrigues.wordpress.com/

Via Stephen Shankland at CNet - Very cool news about an effort to run Linux more efficiently on servers, laptops & mobile devices. The effort was kicked off by Intel, but is open to all.

According to Stephen’s report:

“On a current laptop, running Fedora 7 from Red Hat uses about 21 watts. “If you apply six little changes we propose, that same laptop takes 15.5 watts,” Hohndel said. “You have just added a more than an hour to your battery run time.”"

“Taking Intel’s advice and fixes can trim about 10 watts of power consumption off a modern dual-processor server, said Dirk Hohndel, chief technologist of Intel open-source technology center. That’s not a gargantuan amount–until you consider that if done correctly it’s free power savings, that each watt of server energy saved cuts another 1.3 watts from air conditioning (according to Intel figures), and of course that 10 watts per server is a lot when multiplied by the thousands of servers that populate larger data centers.”

There is a lot of pressure to consolidate commodity hardware onto, bigger more efficient systems. The competition between commodity systems & larger systems may well result in Linux becoming “the most energy efficient” operating system on servers. It appears that Intel is focusing on this goal from a commodity server standpoint. How long until the larger systems vendors decide to do the same with Linux? (Note: they may be doing so already - so please comment and update us all!)

The Nightmare That Is The American Dream
Published on August 5, 2007, In The Standard
By Chris Wamalwa

With very little information about life in the US, 45-year-old Samuel Kamau, a university lecturer who is a father of three, relocated his family to start a new life in America, the land of dreams.
This was on a Diversity Visa Programme, commonly known as the Green Card. Kamau left Kenya to escape insecurity.

He had survived two carjacking incidents and a raid on his rural home. "These were very close calls that left me very scared and traumatised," he said in a recent interview. He also wanted to find education opportunities that would guarantee a future for his children.It turns out that once in America, everything changes.

After a frustrating six-month job search, Kamau was forced to do what he considers very humiliating odd jobs. These chores include taking care of people with severe mental and physical disabilities, the aged and even cleaning toilets. To settle his bills and provide for the family, he is also forced to take up a second job as a watchman.

In Kenya, these jobs are "reserved" for the uneducated and underprivileged. Kamau has become so frustrated and depressed that he resorts to alcohol consumption. This, he says, gives him temporary escape from the painful reality of his miserable existence.

While Kamau continues on a downward trend, his wife, formerly a "mere" housewife, finds within her the energy, creativity and staying power that she never imagined she possessed.
She rises above the challenges and goes for the so — called American Dream.

Naomi has enrolled in a nursing school, has two full time jobs to sustain the family and participates in community and church work. She is the leader of the church choir.

Kamau’s story is true, although his second name was changed to conceal his identity. At the time of this interview, he was making final preparations to return to Kenya.

It is also the sad story of African immigrants in the West and obviously part of a much older story going back in modern times to the horrifying European slave trade period when millions of shackled African men and women were shipped to the Americas. Though slave trade was a painful experience, it established the subsequent African-Euro-American relations.

"Contemporary patterns of African overseas migrations are woven in intricate and complex ways in the older processes, each successive wave creating new layers of memories and meanings, new braided histories of Africa and its Diasporas," says Prof Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, the Chair of Department of African American Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago.

But, what accounts for the patterns of contemporary African global migrations and what is the impact on the immigrants and the affected countries?

"Clearly, changes in both Africa — the political conflicts, economic hardships, and social disruptions are obviously important. There is also the issue of the transformations in the US political economy and cultural ecology primarily related to the civil rights struggles," Zeleza says.