Fall of Saigon

... Of course, no one here refers to it as the Fall of Saigon. The victors write the history books. Anyway, today commemorates 34 years since the South Vietnamese government capitulated to the North. The upside: I get the day off. I am off tomorrow also, because it is International Labor Day. Unfortunately, with a day off the family expects to go somewhere, and I really would rather relax.

I have the logic advantage when discussing this with Diep, because she is heading to Saigon on 3 May until 8 May. It is easy for me to just raise this as the reason we can't afford to do anything now.

So here I am, watching TV and relaxing. Get it while I can!

20 Year Anniversary of NSFC

NSFC is the acronym for Northern Service Flight Company. This company is a State-run enterprise owned by the SRV ministry of national defense and provides helicopter services to Det 2 for operational needs. On April 7, 2001, one of their helicopters carrying 7 Americans and 8 Vietnamese crashed in Quang Binh Province killing everyone aboard. I personally knew two of the Americans and one of the Vietnamese aboard. Other than that one flying incident, as tragic as it was, the company provides great support for a difficult mission. These guys are all first-class military pilots, many of whom have experience in jet fighters. Anyway, NSFC celebrated its 20 year anniversary of establishment yesterday and our commander was invited to enjoy the festivities. I also attended as his interpreter.

The event started with a cultural performance, followed with speeches ad nauseum, and finally ending in a lunch for all. The meal was okay, but it was more interesting to meet some of the other guests. Probably the most noteworthy for me was the 918th Air Training Regiment commander and his deputy. He wasn't really that interesting to talk to, but it was interesting to meet a Vietnamese regimental commander. The down side of all of this was the opening of the Vietnamese vodka before noon. I must have shared at least ten shots of vodka and had two beers with lunch. This is not something I am proud of, and it is definitely something I would never do of my own accord, but it is something that is hard to refuse when foreign officers are inviting you to join them in toast. By the end of lunch I was a little buzzed and I had the rest of the day to look forward to... back at work. I managed to finish the day out and get home without falling asleep. I even managed to be back to normal by dinner time. Fortunately, not every day here in Hanoi is like that.

Well, Diep finally let me get ADSL in the house. Not sure how long that will last, because I remember last time we were buying a broadband line she really didn't like the monthly payments. Anyway, it is nice to have it for the time being.

It was an experience setting up the modem and wi-fi router. I was always afraid to work with the router without someone who knew what they were doing, but it looks like my fears were without foundation. I got it set up, but only set the password for the gateway. That means the wifi signal was out there for anyone to pick up that was within range. There is really only one occupied household within range, so I wasn't too worried about it. It ends up, the household (a French doctor at the international medical clinic) discovered my network fairly fast and tapped into it. I know someone was on it because I had turned off all of our computers and the little modem light for the wifi was flickering 100mph. Since my French neighbor has complained about the noise from my house on many occasions (Megan's room is immediately above his 3 boys' bedroom) I felt a certain satisfaction clicking off my modem knowing he just lost his internet connection. Later that evening, I secured the broadcast with a password.

Yesterday, we had a great day. Megan wanted a new cell phone and, after coaxing her mother for a while, got approval to get one. Diep didn't want her to get one because Megan has Diep's hand me down and Diep didn't think she needed a new one. My view was that it was Megan's birthday and she should get what she wants, within reason. Since the phone was less than the price tag I was willing to pay for her birthday present, she got the phone. Before getting the phone, we went to a Japanese restaurant that we had seen several times but had never gone in because it was right next to a Korean restaurant we liked. The food at the Japanese restaurant was definitely worth the stop and I imagine we will add it to the list of approved Hanoi restaurants we visit from time to time.

Today is the fourth day in a row I haven't run. Diep got up early so we went for a walk. I like walking with Diep but it doesn't do much for me physically. I have to start up a regular routine again!

Megan's Birthday!

As I mentioned yesterday, today is Megan's Birthday. Now a teenager, I no longer have a little girl and I would be best to remember that. Megan is probably more independent than I or any of my siblings, and even most everyone I knew when I was her age. She gets up in the morning on her own, makes her own breakfast, goes to school on the bus, comes home and does her homework immediately and gets ready for bed on her own. She has been doing this for the past few years. She washes dishes and, when forced, irons and folds clothes. The only thing she really needs us (her parents) for is to financially resource her activities. So, I need to treat her like the pre-adult that she is. I know it isn't about me, though. The power struggle will be with the stronger sex in the family, that is to say between her and her mother. I just hope there isn't any collateral damage (me).

Megan is having some friends over tonight, and I think even Diep is looking forward to it. I may stay at the office a little longer than usual today to give them more time in the house without me. We have a bar at the office, so I can hang out shoot pool and relax for a little while before going home.

I thought I was going to have a full weekend to recuperate but it looks like I might have to come in for a couple of hours on Saturday. I am working on getting out of it, but I won't know if my ruse worked until tomorrow. I hope for the best.

One thing or another...

If it isn't one thing, then it is another. I am sitting here after lunch wanting to go to bed something awful, but I know I am just suffering a temporary bout of the after-lunch blues. I spent most of the morning working on gathering information related to my performance for the past six months to annotate in our performance packages that will be kept as part of the overall yearly rating scheme. It is pretty boring, and I am having a hard time keeping focused. As if the surge we have been going through for the past month and a half isn't enough, I am stuck trying to get this done in a day. The good news is tomorrow is Friday and all of this should be behind, or at the very worst, I will have residual tasks to take care of.

I talked to Dad this morning. He seemed happy to hear from me and I was equally happy to talk to him. Of course, everything seems to be going fine for him. I hope the only thing physically wrong with me by the time I hit his age of 72 (if, in fact, I do) is only foot spurs - or rather calcification on the heel. We talked a whole lot about practically nothing, but it was still all good. I really shouldn't have gone this month or so without calling him, but things were pretty tight here.

I neglected to mention in my recent past posts about my credit card being charged for online fee with an online company that I had never heard of. It is nuts, and I managed to sucessfully dispute the 20 dollar charge, but then I got another 50 dollar charge within the next week. The credit card company had let the first error go, but they made me change my credit card number the second time. I am not sure who got my number, but I suspect it happened after staying in the Bangkok Conrad Hotel. Of course, I have no proof, but I am pretty careful about where I use my card and it wasn't too long after my 5-star stay that the charge was posted. It is really frustrating, but it could be worse! Identity theft really scares me!

Megan turns 13 tomorrow. Dad sent her $25 so she has some spending money... of course, she always has spending money. If it was up to me, she would have a lot more, but Diep seems to have pretty strict standards on how much money Megan can carry around. At least she is never for real want of anything. Happy Birthday Megan!

Busy Week

This will be a busy week... at least the first half. We have our Unit Commander here, a two-star admiral. She will be the principal in a meeting we have tomorrow. I will be her interpreter. There are a lot of potential issues that could lead into excited banter from both sides, which is never good for an interpreter. Wednesday is my shoot-for date. If I make it to Wednesday in one piece, I am gold for the rest of the month.

I put together the whole schedule from the admiral's arrival to departure, and so far things have gone relatively smooth. I hope this keeps up. It usually isn't the principal, but rather the entourage (who often believe they hold the same position in my heart as the principal) who causes great ass pain and consternation for me. As I said, the shoot-for date is Wednesday. If you don't see anything in the news about a USG employee going postal in Vietnam by then, figure I am doing fine!

Emergencies

Sorry if my blog yesterday rambled on a bit. I was trying to finish my entry and things just started popping everywhere. One emergency after another and I was the "go to" guy for it all. These were work emergencies, so they weren't "real" emergencies as we know them, but rather the emergencies of people who think I live to see to their each and every whim. Anyway, I was torn between editing and publishing the blog and seeing to the so called emergencies. The emergencies won, as I just pushed the publish post button and let her ride.

Anyway, today is Sunday and I am back at work. I actually came in to do something very specific that had to do with "me". Unfortunately, I got called off track more than once and now find myself writing this blog before I see to "me". The specific task I have to do will take a couple of uninterrupted hours and the "uninterrupted" part of that is very hard to come by. Therefore, I thought I would get this out before burying my head into this task.

Diep went out with some Thai friends last night. I stayed home with Megan because I am not big on going out and dancing and drinking, or whatever. Diep likes to dance and I suppose I should be concerned that someone would want to dance with her and show her more attention than I would appreciate. I give her enough credit not to worry about that, though I wish she would reciprocate and let me take a night off every now and then with the fellas. We do, from time to time, go out with each other, but I am usually pretty wiped out after the week to stay up too late. Last week we went to a happy hour at a US Embassy compound and stayed until about 11:00pm or later. I didn't feel well for the better part of my Saturday and I ended up feeling very much like I threw my Saturday away because of it. Had it been up to me, I would have left around 9ish and I would have felt much better the day after for it.

Megan's birthday is next weekend. She will be 13 and I guess she plans on having a couple of her friends over to spend the night. She will probably go shopping with them the following day. Sounds a lot easier than having to throw a party for her.

Other than that, everything is pretty normal. The day is nice out here in Hanoi. A truly rare occurance. Too bad I am stuck inside for the duration.

Working on Saturday...

I suppose I can come to work to get some much needed tasks completed, but that doesn't mean that I will complete the much needed tasks. These days, the internet is much too fun to just let go. I have spent the better part of the last hour just checking email, reading facebook, updating my blog. It is a good thing I decided to come in an hour earlier than I felt I really needed to.

I haven't had internet at the house for the better part of two weeks now... ever since IBM left the apartment directly below ours. For some reason, IBM didn't feel it necessary to secure their wi-fi signal so I was just pulling from theirs. I didn't feel particularly criminal since they left it on all the time and I usually only used it during off work hours. Early in the morning and after all of the IBM staff had left for the day. I am sad to see them go! Now I have to pay for my internet and getting it set up is not as easy as I thought it would be. The money doesn't bother me so much.

Other than that, not much going on in my life. Nothing new anyway. I spend a good portion of my time thinking about ways to lose weight, or at least control what I have on. I guess we continue to grow throughout our lives. One or two pounds a year on average which doesn't seem like much until you have a bad year or two that five or ten pounds go on, and when those one or two pounds over the course of 20 years goes on. So now, at the age of 43 I feel the creep is really taking its toll. About four years ago, I put my foot down - my heavy foot of 215 pounds - and decided to lose the extra weight. Mostly because I saw a picture of me in a magazine during a military repatriation ceremony. I looked pretty blobbish. So, after about one year I was down to around 170ish. It felt good, but the running I was doing took a toll on my knees. I cut down on the running and started to gain a little each year and now I am close to 200 again. Soon I will begin the whole process again... except I am four years older than the last time I tried to do this. In my defense, I won't be starting over because I still run from 3 - 5 miles at least every other day. I also started Pilates. I know that sounds like a very feminine program, but in fact Joseph Pilates created the program as a general fitness program for men and women. The exercises aren't incredibly difficult in and of themselves (at least up to the intermediate level) but the series of exercises gives a good workout. I started the program once before and was impressed with the initial results, but being out of town a lot made it hard for me to make it stick. I started again last week and I will add on a couple of exercises each week until I reach a certain point to have a good 30 minute abs program. Even if it doesn't help me lose weight, I think it will help me strengthen my core and enjoy the benefits of better posture and generally good physical fitness.

Swimming again...

The weather is getting warmer here in Hanoi. When I say "warmer" I actually mean hot. I finished a fairly short run (a little shorter than five miles) and I was drenched when I got back to the house. For what it is worth, I was using Joe Galloway's method of running for five minutes and walking for one. This sounds like it would make running easier, and in a way it does, but I definitely feel more taxed at the end of the run using this method. I think it is the stopping and starting aspect, plus it allows me to run faster for the five minutes that I am running than I would for a prolonged run without stopping.

Anyway, with the weather getting hot, humid and soffocating, I have started swimming again. Cautiously, mind you, as I suffered a severe ear infection just a little over a year ago (or was it two years ago) and I am pretty convinced it was from swimming in the apartment pool. I have to dry my ears immediately after the swim and "jump" out all of the water that gathers inside. I went so long without swimming and really missed it. Now that I have started back a little, I want to make sure I do not do anything to jeapardize my hearing, or my ability to swim.

I was chatting with my sister this morning and mentioned my thoughts about leaving Hanoi in the next year or two. I had initially planned to stay in Hanoi at least until Megan graduated high school here, but now I am thinking about returning to the U.S., maybe Hawaii, for her to enjoy high school in America. It would also give me an opportunity to progress in my career and expand my possibilities outside of interpreting. This is just talk right now, but I think I can swing it. The biggest thing will be negotiating a high enough salary to survive in Hawaii. And, of course, there is a huge possibility Diep will have to get a job. Of course, I think she would like that in Hawaii. With any change, there are huge risks to a family, relationships and comfort, but there are also great possibilities. I think I need to draft out a plan of action and take it from there.

I blurted out my site address to Sis, so it is likely I will have one reader of this blog in the near future. As I was telling her, my blog can be pretty boring because I can't say what I really feel sometimes for fear of what people will think of me, or hurting someone's feelings.

Why can't I just be happy and have good thoughts?!

Tech Talks next week

So I am sitting here at work on the computer, and taking a little time to update this blog. I want to say the last week has been crazy but I can't really remember too much of it as it was quite a blur. I have been spending most of my time at work hashing out our schedule for next week. We have a major meeting with our host nation counterparts and there are lots of ancillary related events going on.

These things keep me pretty busy, but because of the quasi-sensitive nature of what I want to talk about, I always find myself typing me into a hole... then I have to delete what I wrote and try to talk around it. It leaves me with text somewhat less than interesting. I guess the most sensitive part about what I write is the stupidity of others with regards to what is going on. Poorly thought-out emails, duplication of effort, and no evidence of thought in so many things that go on here. The sad part is that some of these people don't even get the less-than-subtle hint that there are much smarter ways to get things done. I have, from time to time, done some things that lack forethough, but I must admit that when someone else brings it to my attention, I try extra hard not to make the same stupid mistake again. At least not in front of the person that pointed it out to me. I wish these people would take the hint. I am fortunate in the fact that the people I work with here in this office - in this physical space in Hanoi - are generally a smart crowd.

The home life is okay right now. It was much better before last night. Megan got caught on the computer too long and Diep was all over her. The worst part is I walked in Megan's room five minutes before Diep did and told her to get off the computer so her mom wouldn't give her hell. She said she would so I left. I wish I had stuck around and forced her because in that five minutes between the time I left and the time her mom came in, the computer was still on. That meant I had to hear all the complaining for the next 30 minutes or more. Now I am forced to take the computer out of her bedroom for the next week. I feel worst about it because Megan didn't do what I asked her to do. I try to keep it simple for her so she doesn't get confused with the difference between being told what to do because it is in her best interest and being told what to do to prove who is in charge. I can be a real SOB so I don't need to prove who is in charge... that leaves me reminding her to do things to keep her and myself out of trouble... because anything Megan does wrong it is always her fault and my fault. Or rather, my faulty genes.

This could be a glimpse into the future teenage years of Megan Newell. She turns 13 on 24 April.