XL Fools for Fools

You know what they say: A fool and his money are soon parted. This old saying has no meaning for the fools who worked for XL Fools. It is said that the majority of the workforce of XL Fools Meat Processing Plant in Brooks, Alberta are Africans from torn the part eastern African countries, mostly Muslims. These poor guys fled their countries which were affected by civil war, drought and other problems with the hope that they can find food, peace and shelter here.

They most likely slept in Government provided housings and fed by the Food Banks and the money that the Government paid them on regular basis, at the beginning. Then all of a sudden a fellow countryman of them told them about this magic place that make people able to by cars, apartments and all the luxury that they never even dreamed about before stepping on Canadian soil. So many believed and joined XL Fools and after a while of hard work they decided to have wives and children, Hondas and apartments, like everyone else(!) in Canada not knowing that this is a Capitalist society and the last thing that has value for the owners is the human beings.

I do not know to whom this XL Fools belong to but it should be someone or group of people that they don't care about the plant not operative. They most likely are wise enough not to put all of their eggs in one basket. I remember when I used to work for a similar outfit there was this Caucasian guy who just had joined us. He said that he used to be a waiter and he was so happy that now he finishes around 05:00 PM and would be home soon. He told us about the plant that he used to work for in Edmonton. He said that there were on strike once and then the owner didn't even bother considering their request. The plant was simply shut down and everyone was dispersed!

So these African guys who are said to be crying after hearing that the plant was shut and receiving their Pink Slip had no fucking clue that they are doomed no matter if they are in Africa or Canada. If you are playing, you must know the rules or soon you are going to be a loser. They did not know the game and they did not know the rules. They just look at the others and imitated. That's why they are where they are now!

(Photo: I am not laughing at these poor fools who their life hs turned upside down now but this is he only good picture I found on the net)

Camp Life (3): Great Ideas of the Intellectuals

Camp crew, to the extent that I learnt, mostly comprises of tough Caucasian guys from all over the country. In fact these are the guys whom are called Roughnecks. I barely saw anyone who was as small as I am (5' 7") and these actually are the people who run the projects, practically. Barely anyone form other background was seen. I sat with a few of them, not a planned sitting although I liked to, and talked to them, or better to say they talked to me. Canadians normally do not have a good relationship with non-Caucasian especially in a place like a camp. The smaller people who are supposed to be the intellectual team of the project, are placed in the site office and those are mostly the guys who are physically not capable of doing Roughneck tasks.
I had a little chat with a guy from P. E. I. at dinner table once. Very nice gentleman, in his late 40s and early 50s, I would say. I felt really bad for him that at this age he has to travel more than 5000 KM (ground distance) to make it to work while there are people here from the other sides of globe who simply make more than what he does at ages half of him without travelling more than 10 KM daily. But that is the nature of life. The good thing is he does not have to pay for air fare and also the tax that the foreigner guy pays is going to be spent on places like his hometown and elsewhere.
I really didn't like the assholes of the office that I was staying at, except for a few guys. One of the morons who in fact is a very nice guy but a true hammerhead, was from somewhere in Far East. We were talking about different projects and I explained to him how the equipment are lined up in the project that he is not part of. He seemed that he was not happy because on this one he feels like he is a key player! So he tried to comment just to prove that he has done so much and he knows a plenty. We have three major machinery, each of them weigh tons and are put in distances as far as 500 meters from each other. Each machinery stand as tall as a three story building at least. This fucking idiot said that why would not we put the last equipment on the top of the second one just to save on cables and other communications as well as conveying systems?! Can you imagine something as stupid as this? I mean think before you spell something out! We want to put something as heavy as hundred of tons and as tall as a four story building on the top of another thing which if not taller and heavier than the base one, is not much smaller! I guess we have to have a foundation as deep as a 10 story high rise and cranes with booms of the same size and capabilities of tons!
There was another guy in the same department and this guy is from one of the Atlantic provinces and from French descent. I happen to find his resume in the system and read that. It was quite a shock to me for someone who has worked in many places and has training of different kinds, not being able to prepare an impressive resume without grammatical mistakes, someone who has born in Canada and now is in his late 40s.

The others were not much better than these two samples. So for me working at site has the benefit of working with people as smart as these ones! Forget it!
(Photo: Imagine instead of using a conveyor to carry a pile of stones in spot 1 to a crusher in spot 2, you put a storage facility on the top of the crusher. Wouldn't that be brilliant?)

Camp Life (2): All You Can Breathe

As I stated in the earlier post about the camp life, people's access to alcohol and drugs is very limited. In fact consumption of either of them is forbidden in the camp and the camp security performs random checks using sniffing dogs to find hidden narcotics. However I believe there still could be people who can hide those stuff from the security. After all the security that I saw over there comprises of African people, mostly from eastern Arab-affected Muslim states of eastern Africa who in fact are the most stupid ones, no offence to anyone. In one case we were going to the camp and when we reached the check point, the bar was up and the driver even did not bother swiping the card and simply drove through. The Black guy in the security booth showed that he was concerned and was waiving and going to jump out and stop us but the driver simply ignored him and carried on, parked and we all left the vehicle!

Nevertheless many do not risk bringing drugs and alcohol to the site and just make a fool of themselves using cigarettes. For those who say smoking cigarette is not addiction should come and see this. These people when they are inside the camp, at work or on the bus, barely can control themselves and as soon as the bus stops or they step out of the camp building, they light a cigarette and gather in groups and enjoy tobacco smoking! So when you are walking from the camp to the parking lot in the morning to catch your ride, all you can breathe is cigarette smoke for the first 5 minutes or so! That is disgusting. I guess if the Project owner announces a smoke-free camp, they will lose half of the work force but hey who cares about the people's health and well-being and the environment? What is important is getting the job done so the client can start the production and sell every barrel of crude for around $90. That is what is matter.
(Photo: This picture although not clear shows workers in a sunny day enjoying a smoke in smoking designated areas. This can bee seen as early as 05:00 AM)

Argo

I wanted to see this new movie of Ben Affleck not because I like him as a good actor or director, only because I wanted to see what has been gathered by Americans to narrate one of the important events in the history of Iran, one of many that I personally experienced as a child.

In fact that was the first movie of Affleck that I watched. He, to me, always looked like a grade 3 actor, someone as low as a B Movie star but I didn't mind giving him a few bucks to watch what he directed.

I remember as a child one night my family was walking in front of the US Embassy in Tehran. It was for sure shortly after the embassy was captured by the people who called themselves The Universality Students Followers of the Path of Imam (Khomeini)! As much as this tile sounds stupid, what they did has impacts that today still affects Iranians all around the globe and inside Iran as well. I remember that it was a little cold fall night and we were walking on the sidewalk and there were all these peddlers who were selling books and newspapers. It was just shortly after the Revolution and different parties were still free to express themselves. Of course the Revolutionary Court put them all in prison or send them to fire squad later, in a few months! It was me, my younger brother, my Mom and of course Dad. My Mom now says that she was sick and tired of Dad's Political participation/games but there was not much to do at the time! Dad were always political and eventually got fired from his job for expressing himself and supporting anti-government opposition groups after the Revolution. He even once was called to Evin, one of the most notorious prisons in the world, and was interrogated. That had a very psychological impact on her.

I remember that Dad was always supportive of my studies. If I wanted to buy a book or a magazine who never would think twice. That night, in front of the Embassy of the US, in Tehran, I remember that I saw a little book of a French artist who had cartoons which their titles all had the word CIA in them! For example there was Ambulancia and many more but that is the only that I have in my mind. Dad bought that for me and    then we went home after a few hours of walking around. When I say that that always supported my reading and studying it means that what I know about English language is mainly is because that always encouraged me to study. At times he would sit with me and we would read books in English, translate and discuss it. 

Nevertheless Affleck's Argo starts with a brief history of Iran from the time of the American-British Coup which resulted in overthrown of Dr. Mossadegh's elected government to the Islamic Revolution. The narration is done by a woman which clearly has an Persian accent. The way she narrates the story and condemns the exiled King (Shah) at the end results in justification of the Islamic Revolution! I don't know whose message is that but there so many things behind that 1979 Islamic Revolution and can not simply pointed out in a 5 minutes narration of a movie. The stealing of the Revolution from the people and handing it over to the extremists, the role of the British and many other things. As Oliver Stone says in JFK it is a mystery wrapped in an enigma! 

Then there are scenes in the movie which clearly are untrue and exaggeration  It is made almost the same way that Not Without My Daughter was made. Street executions, truck loads of guerrillas driving around with their fingers on the trigger and looking around, etc. The movie has been probably filmed in Israel with Iranian-Israeli actors and actresses. That's what I can say by simply listening to their conversations. Stupid Affleck forgets to provide caption for most parts of the movie where Iranians talk in between themselves so I have no idea how the American and Canadians audience are supposed to understand the movie. The story is so simple and lacks almost any excitement but only one scene. In general the audience would not be happy to follow the story. I looked at my watch two times wanting to know when the movie ends possibly because I knew what the end was. I personally knew that the Canadian Embassy in Tehran helped 6 Americans to escape by issuing Canadian passport for them. I also knew that for that reason the Canadian Embassy remained closed until 1988 but never knew anything about the science-fiction called Argo. The movie would be exciting if Operation Eagle Claw was part of it but then it should have been called The Hostages, 444 Days or something like that. Overall It's a poor movie, with weak direction and low-quality play. I do not know why a Canadian or American would want to see this. They are not mostly political people, especially the young. They don't even care what is happening in their own country. Forget about a country at the other side of globe! I would not recommend the movie at all. I would not by the DVD and I would give it 1 out of 5. 

(Photo: A popular photo from American hostages in the American Embassy in Tehran. A marine and an African-American. The African-Americans where freed shortly after their arrest among with women employees of the embassy as part of Islamic kindness that Khomeini wanted to show the world. The rest of them were released by Iran after 444 days and that was after the failure of the Operation Eagle Claw. F. F.   said that the six who escaped to the residence of the ambassador of Canada to Iran, would have been released by the Iranians simply if they had been patients and did not have to go through the risk!)

Camp Life (1): Disgusting Eating Habits

One of the most important factors in camp life is food. For the people who have no access to alcohol, drugs and women, mostly, there is nothing amusing more than food and not to forget cigarette for some. Sex, I would say, is practicable for some who can find a girl in the camp or know someone from before but I personally did not notice anyone having sex in the camp although saw a few that seemed they were intimate.

There is plenty of food and is all free in the camp and lots of it going around. The problem is most of it is garbage but North Americans eat it. This is how the food is served:

1- Self-service restaurant: Three quarter meals are saved daily. You scan your card and can stay inside and each as much as you want. I personally did not try that but is possible. There is a salad bar and then drinking fountains and the kitchen where you order the main meal. I saw people who seemed that they had picked more than they could handle. No problem! Just leave it in the try and walk off! Salad is not fresh. It is either frozen or bagged. I tried a pasta-tuna salad and tasted like sand! I never saw avocado because you can not freeze it and then thaw and serve. It turns black and tastes like crayon! That is my easy test to prove the salads are not fresh. The beverages were all plastic bag beverage, like the orange juice in McDonald's. I never tried once but I saw several people who drank soda, milk and orange juice together! What a disgusting animal. Dinner was available of different kind, mostly horrible. Vegetables were the worst! I am someone who enjoys vegetables but tried once over there and spat them all out. Rice was the worst I ever had in my life. It basically is made of cheap Chinese rice mixed with so-called herbs and its like a dough you make to prepare your pie! Meat it not as bad, I mean beef steak and pork pieces including sausages because you can simply freeze meat and then serve it later without having much difference in taste. Meat is disgusting by itself if you eat too much but to me that was the only food that I could enjoy. I easily could say that they were not freshly made meat but I did not want to limit myself to salad. Fish was not bad as well but the only time I tried chicken I did not experience something good. Bread was available for the time the food needed it but mostly white bread that I dislike a lot. Soups, I did not get even close because they all would be can soup. My wife makes the best soups and I never contaminate myself with that can soup garbage.

2- Bag-up Room: There is this room that ready food is picked up for lunch. People have no limit. Everything from sandwiches, pizza, fruit, soup, salad, bread and sweet is available here. Let's analyse them all:

a- Soup: I did not even bother trying.

b- Sandwich: There is cream cheese and cucumber sandwich on whole grain baguette and lettuce and tomato on whole grain toast which are the healthiest. Cold cuts are also available and tried them a few times. Horrible!

c- Fruit: Grapefruits are awesome but those idiots barely eat them. $1.28 each in a supermarket. Orange was the best I had ever had in Canada. Yellow apples and bananas are good. Forget about red and green ones. Not ripe. Cut watermelon was disgusting. Frozen and thawed. Tasted like baby vomit!

d- Other sorts of garbage available for the fans!

3- Snack Room: Coffee and tea as well as muffin and sweet bars are the most available foods in the snack room. You also can find hot soup, of course from can. And that's all. Snack Room is open 24 hours. I enjoyed quite a large amount of pastry.

4- Store: Although huge amount of food is served, consumed and also wasted in the camp, you still see the people who are walking with a bag of chips or other snacks. There is a small store in the camp which sells anything from ice cream to juice, pop, chips and newspaper.

Overall because the food is not fresh (someone told me it's made in Edmonton! Possible!) and contain lots of preservative and other chemicals, if your digestion system is not used to it, you get sick. I had joint, stomach and headaches! Something that had never happened in my whole life after eating my meal! The food remains in your stomach for hours and hours before it leaves. Very hard to digest. I still could feel the food in my stomach hours after and was trying to get it down by drinking glasses of water! One day I had my left arm hurt and I said I would be done but I managed it. I stopped eating breakfast after two days not only because it was holding me back from catching the truck on time but also because it became useless. I did not do any physical work and all the egg, hash brown and other would be accumulated in the body. However the breakfast was healthy. The best bet for someone who does not do anything physical would be going to gym, having a shower and then enjoy a good meal.
(Photo: I intentionally selected this photo for this post. This a healthy juice that I make at time and is a combination of beet, celery and carrot and if available watermelon rind!)

11 Days of Camp Life

I just came back from a project camp after 11 days, last night. I am so tired as a result of lack of enough sleep and having a cold. The period had advantages and disadvantages but if I am asked to go there, I will most likely say that I would not go for so many reasons. I witnessed a lot and learnt plenty. Felt good and bad but overall disappointed. There are lots of things to say and I will tell them all separately under a different post. Here, I am just going to say how I got there and it was pretty similar to my previous trip, just a bit easier. My flight had been scheduled in the afternoon so I did not have to wake up at 04:00 AM again. And when I got there I simply moved in to my room because everything had been planned and there was no delay or mistake. For that I am thankful to the organizers.

(Photo: This picture shows a pit on the top and a lake/pond on the left bottom and of course the propeller of the airplane. The plane was a bit noisy but not very annoying. That was the first time I was on a propeller plane. We flew over this Project site shortly before landing and I have no idea what site it is but would not be so hard to find out)