Christmas in Nha Trang

I took off for Nha Trang on the 18th of December for my Christmas break with Diep and Megan.  So much happened in that one week, and everytime something new happened, I thought I should get this in my blog.  Well, I am finally at a time where I can update this blog and now all of those thoughts are quickly spinning down the drain, with me unable to stop the flow.

I decided that I would deliberately slow things down this time, offering to let Diep do whatever it was she wanted, as long as it didn't always have to involve me.  It worked out well and I read my way through Stephen King's Just After Sunset with great relish. We were in Nha Trang with another family. Diep and I have known this couple for about 15 years and we happened to be in Nha Trang at the same time.  Diep was able to spend time with her friend and I was able to spend some time with the husband.  The couple has a daughter a couple of years younger than Megan and they played well together, too.

If one gets the opportunity to go anywhere they want in Vietnam, and their primary objective is to relax, I personally believe that Nha Trang is THE place to go.  It is very international and the people are about as friendly as they get in this country.  The hotel rates are more than reasonable and the levels of service span the gambit from roughing it, to 5-star accommodations.  Being a seaside town, the seafood is excellent.  And, if you don't care for seafood, there are plenty of other options.

I feel fairly refreshed after the seven days in Nha Trang, and I am now in Saigon.  Saigon is right up there with Nha Trang as far as places to go in Vietnam.  We plan on celebrating New Year's Eve here.  I talked to Diep about one of my goals before I leave Vietnam, and I think I can get her to go along with me... of course, it will be hard for her to stick with the training plan.  I am working out the broad strokes in my head, but it may be that this time next year, Diep and I will take a bicycle trip from Hanoi to Saigon during the Christmas/New Year break.  It should be somewhere in the way of 1200km (800 miles).  A real goal would be to cover that distance in 8 days... which would be AWESOME, but with Diep, gear and proper hydration as well as factoring in my aged arse I am looking at around 15 days including break days.  If that goes well, I might ask Diep to let me do the following year at a century a day pace.

I know I have some other resolutions I need to make, but I will start with the easy ones and work my way into the harder ones that have to do with character flaws and bad habits.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Saigon.

Stats

I am not sure how much people really check out their blogs.  I have been doing this for some time on blogspot and never really noticed the "stats" tab on my dashboard.  Apparently, one can find out from what sites other people arrived at one's blog postings. 

It would appear that quite a few more people have read my blog than I imagined, but a little more disturbing is the people who arrived at my site through google searches.  It seems one person arrived at my site after searching the phrase "how did buddy newell die".  That seems like an oddly specific search that would bring someone to my site, and I also find myself wondering how DID buddy newell die.  I would just check my magic 8 ball sitting on my desk, except it only gives yes or no answers to my questions.  I could be sitting at my desk all day asking questions like:  Will I die in a car accident?, Will my wife kill me in a fit of fury?, Will I die in a plane crash?  Will I die of old age?...  Or, I just might find my answer after the second question??

I have one and a half more days of work before I go to Nha Trang and then Ho Chi Minh City.  I feel I could use the break.

Mail arrived yesterday

Pouch mail comes in every Monday.  We have two types of mail here and the pouch mail is the mail that is sent to a U.S. address and then by pouch (courier) to Vietnam.  I only use the pouch mail when I can't get something shipped to my DPO addess (which is a USPS stateside address).

It just so happens that Megan's new Panasonic G2 SLR camera could not be shipped by USPS so I elected to send it via pouch.  I thought for sure it would arrive yesterday, but it didn't. I was a little disappointed, and she was greatly disappointed.  That means she will not get her camera until after Christmas when she comes back from vacation.  She will survive, but she was really looking forward to taking her new camera on vacation.

I still have a few things to do before we leave on vacation.  Work items, that is.  I will still end up leaving before some major events take place at the office, but they were last minute pop-up things and I am not going to feel bad about it, because someone else should have planned better.

Personally, I would much rather take a vacation at home because, a. it is cheaper, and b. it is relaxing.  Unfortunately, this whole trip is NOT about me.

Diep lost her wedding ring.  Not sure if it got taken by someone in the house (i.e. maid), or if she just misplaced it.  It was the first ring I gave her, and though smaller, was a very good quality princess-cut diamond. I hope it shows up, but I am not counting on it.  It really makes Diep sad.  But at least she still has the bigger one.

New Computer - Part 2

Okay, I gave up.  All I can guess is the Recovery files on the partition are FUBAR and I can't get Windows 7 to load from scratch at all.  I sent NewEgg a note asking to return the system for replacement, but it is still Sunday back in the U.S. and I am waiting for a reply.  If I can't work a replacement system, I will probably try to load Ubuntu Operating System (http://www.ubuntu.com/ ) onto it, or buy a fresh copy of Windows 7.  Maybe in that order... or I may just stick with Ubuntu.  I like the idea of paying nothing for an operating system that is not as susceptible to virus attacks.  All of this is contingent on whether there are system hardware issues or not.  If there are hardware issues, that complicates things a bit.  Any way you look at it, it is frustrating!

Other than that, it is Monday and I am at work... how could it get any worse?!

New Computer

So the new desktop came in a couple of weeks ago.  Since I ordered to replace a desktop that was still working, I wasn’t in a huge hurry to set it up.  Anyway, I got to work on reformatting the old computer and re-configuring it so we could give it to Diep’s niece.

After the few hours it took to get the other computer ready to ship to Saigon, I took out the new computer.  I ran into troubles immediately because it locked up in the startup process.  The only choice I had was to hard reboot it, which screwed it up really bad.  I had to recover it to factory settings before ever getting it up the first time. 

That done, I figured I would be good to go, but I have encountered software issues and find myself recovering it once again.  I feel like I am working for the computer and not the other way around right now.  I really hate it when things don’t go right with a new computer.  Without knowing the computer at all, it is pretty hard to pinpoint the issue… whether it is hardware or software.

The good news is I have a new computer monitor. It is much nicer than the old one and should make things more enjoyable once I get through these initial issues.

Senior moment?... Maybe.

So, I was sitting here at my desk thinking about working - but only thinking about it - when I saw a picture of this guy on MSN.  I recognized that he was familiar right away, and then, just a few synapsis later I realized he is the Vice President of the United States.  What occured to me, however, was that I could not for the life of me remember his name.  Granted, it was only about 30 seconds that I couldn't remember his name, but still...

So, I find myself wondering if I couldn't remember his name because I was having a "senior moment" or if it was because he has been out of the news for such a long time.  I should have remembered his name anyway, because I spoke to him ever so briefly when he visited our office in Vietnam a few years ago.  Looking back in the recent past, we have had a couple of VP's who were equally unworthy of remembering.  I suspected Dick Cheny actually died in office and nobody announced it for a while, but then he showed up again after Obama got elected.  You couldn't forget Al Gore because he has been so busy saving the world and declaring the sky is falling, plus that whole failed Presidential bid... or did he fail?  Before Gore was Quayle, and if anyone was worthy of getting forgotten, well, it was that guy.  So, then I get into the way-back machine with Mr. Peabody (remember that?) and travel back in time to Reagan's presidency... at first I had forgotten that Bush Senior was the VP under Reagan, but I think that would have been easy to figure out if I were more lucid at this moment (I was impatient and Googled it). I am guessing under Carter was Mondale...and a quick Google search proves I am right.  Under Ford?? Nelson Rockefellar... not lying when I say I would have never gotten that one.  Nixon is easy because Ford had to take over when he was fired, ahem, impeached.

So, it appears the beanie is working well enough, except... I couldn't remember the CURRENT Vice President.  Geesh!  If you are still trying to remember, he is Joe Biden.

Happy Friday to all! 

Working out with Diep

Diep is a little sore this morning.  It started two days ago when Diep decided she wanted to go to the apartment gym with me in the morning so I could show her how to use the equipment.  I was careful to tell her to do high reps and low weight so she wouldn't get big (like me,ha!).  I gave her a rep max of 10 - 15 reps, and took her in a circuit that alternated between core, shoulders, arms and legs.  We both enjoyed working out together and felt good afterwards, but Diep's enthusiasm got her in a bind.  She decided she wanted to work out again yesterday morning because she still felt good from the first morning.  She didn't give her body enough time to realize she had worked out (I tend to get sore after a workout following a long break on the second day after a workout). She also blew me off when I tried to stop her at 15 reps on the lat pulldown machine on the second morning.  Its all good... the soreness should go away in a day or two.  I just hope we can keep working out together.

When we workout together, it keeps me from pushing myself too much because I have to wait for her to complete her sets, and I feel better because of it.  I still work out at lunch, so the morning is just a bonus.  We will see how this all shakes out.

In other news, Diep went to buy or Christmas and New Years travel tickets.  We will be going to Nha Trang and Saigon over the holidays.  Two weeks of me being forced to go places I really don't want to go.  I never get a vacation where I can just sit around, drink iced tea, and just enjoy life happening around me.  Oh well.

Long Time, No Post

This has probably been one of the longer periods of time I have gone without posting to this blog.  I have plenty of excuses, but fortunately, it is my blog and I don't need any excuses for not updating it.  Quite frankly, Facebook is probably one of the biggest reasons my blog has gone by the wayside... it allows me to catch up and post small blurbs, sating my need to express myself.

Nevertheless, I feel I owe it to my sister, if no one else, to keep the blog going, at least from time to time.  Since I don't remember the last time I posted to this blog and I am too lazy to go back and check, I will start from my most freshest memories (at my age, memories aren't that fresh anymore).

The biggest memorable event that has taken place in the recent past is the move.  We moved from a nice, roomy  apartment with a spectacular lake view to a smaller apartment with a lesser view.  That being said, it has been good for us in general and me in particular.  The last apartment was not a serviced apartment, meaning Diep had to do a lot of the cleaning (she wouldn't have had to if she hadn't have fired the maid).  This apartment, on the other hand, is a serviced apartment which means fresh towels every day and new linen every week.  The management staff has been more amenable to Diep's requests, also.  That means less work for me and less complaining that I have to listen to.  As far as the view, we can see the nice pool, but have to take a short walk to the lake.  Even so, we are in a better location affording short walks to local restaurants, if we want.

Unfortunately, work these days has kept me busy and away from home.  I have been all over the country and just got a reprieve.  I will be home for the next couple of weeks, and the only travel in the near future is our in-country travel for the Christmas break.

Things at work are much less stressful since August and I don't see any big problems looming in the future.  A stress free work environment is always good.

So that about catches me up.  I started a Vietnamese language blog to document some of the odd news articles and language peculiarities that I notice, but I am not sure how long that will last.  These things interest me, but not always to the point that I will keep track of it on a blog.

Back to work

Saturday morning I took the motorbike in to work for our standup meeting to make sure everything was going well for the teams. I wore my Vietnamese raincoat because it was a little rainy and also to keep the street spooge from getting on my cltohes from the rear tires of other bikes.  When I came home, I was hoping Diep and I could go look at an apartment down the road a ways.  She had already done the advance work and talked to the sales lady, and I just wanted to get "eyes on" before we started moving forward.  I would have gone with her on Firday to talk to the sales lady, but I had a deadline project I had to finish before the weekend.  I mention this, because it seemed to be pivotal in the reason Diep was mad at me for most of the day on Saturday.  She refused to go look at the apartment with me and kept telling me to go by myself.  Since the weather was crappy all the way into late afternoon, I had a good excuse for putting it off, and by Sunday she was willing to go with me.  Results: The apartment is smaller than the one we are in now, but the service and conveniences seem to outweigh the area restrictions.

So, Sunday's weather was generally better by noon, and as the weather cleared up there was a hint of fall in the air.  Diep and I took a motorbike ride around the lake spying all of the eateries and markets in our future home location.  Everything was going fine until the end of the day, just before I went to bed, and Diep found Megan's stash of candy.  Diep went through the roof!  I don't think she realized most of the candy Megan was stashing was from our trip to the US.  She still had jaw breakers from over a month ago.  Anyway, it was an exciting end to an otherwise serene Sunday.

Pommegranates are back in season! I love this fruit and wish it was available year round.  They are great for your heart and taste good too!  This time of year is good for Magnos as well.  It will be nice to have some of my favorite fruits in season again.

Another Friday!

I got up at just before 0300hrs this morning to pee.  It was at just the time that an electrical storm was rolling in from the northwest, with the lightning reflecting off the lake and flashing through our bedroom window.  I never really did get back to sleep and gave up just after 0400.  I watched Taking Pelham 1-2-3 again, after seeing the end of it last night on HBO.  Good movie.

I can’t say that this is insomnia because I got at least six hours of sleep last night.  The only inconvenience is that I will be tired about 7:00pm tonight.  No big deal, because I don’t really do anything on Friday nights anyway.

After some broken down negotiations with our apartment management, it looks like we will be moving out around 1 Oct.  I will miss the lake view, tennis court and swimming pool, but I think the move will be good for us.  I don’t look forward to actually moving, but I think hiring a moving company will take a lot of that burden away.

Lots going on.. gotta get ready for the day.

Holiday

I just got my latest Men's Health Magazine in the mail the other day... I am not sure what month issue it is because they come very intermmitently throughout the year.  Anyway, there was a brief article in it about taking vacations and, in brief, how a person who takes their vacation is generally more productive than those who feel they cannot make the time to take a break.  I don't think I will be cutting the article out and showing the boss, but I do feel a little vindicated.  Some of my co-workers take the light ribbing from the boss a little harder than others, and hence, end up working year round.

I feel only slightly guilty about taking my summer break.  First of all, I never take a full month back home and also I try to cover for other people when they are gone.  I enjoyed this past summer holiday very much and came back pretty refreshed.  Unfortunately, I have only had one full day off since I got back nearly three weeks ago.  I already feel sapped of energy and all I see into my near future is a lot of work.

At the end of this month I will be traveling with the office deputy to do a site reconnaissance of a very technical site.  The terrain features on the map look very steep and the location is about as remote as they get in Vietnam. I will return to Hanoi for a couple of days and then head to Danang to participate in a 100 Joint Field Activity Commemoration Dinner and see the teams off.  From Danang, I will travel to Saigon in preparation for taking a Vietnamese witness into Cambodia (in the area of Snoul) and I will spend around 5 days there before returning to Hanoi.  About a week later, I will travel to Hawaii to participate in US/SRV Tech Talks and remain there for about a week.  As soon as I get home, we will be moving out of our apartment into some place else that Diep hasn't decided on yet... and I really hate moving!  So that is what is on my calendar from now until 1 October.

Good thing I took my vacation.  I could use the extra efficiency of a well-rested person.

Contemplation

I am sitting here at the DoubleTree Hotel on the edge of Waikiki in Hawaii writing this blog just before I get on a bus for the airport.  I have had 9 days to think about everything and nothing at the same time.  I guess the everything would be memorizing the 600-page Security Plus Study Guide (the purpose for my time in Hawaii) and nothing being those things that we are always weighing and considering in the form of life and career choices.

Anyone who has talked to me recently probably knows I have been considering leaving Vietnam to return to a stateside job.  I would prefer a job on the mainland, but I have also considered coming to Hawaii.  No doubt the air is fresher and the trees are greener here in Hawaii.  Aesthetically, it would be tough to beat this place.  But, the financial hit would be big.  Accounting for travel tickets to Vietnam and the U.S. to visit family and buying or renting a house here in Hawaii would leave little or no expendable income.  Final conclusion? I think I will stay in Hanoi until 1) Someone makes me leave or 2) Megan graduates high school.

The computer training has got me to thinking I might would like to slide careers into the technical realm. That, too, has been put on hold. I don't think starting over at this point is such a good idea.  I enjoy the idea of working with computers all day, but the idea of customer service doesn't excite me so much.  The fact is, if you are working on computers or networks, usually you are dealing with people whose computers or networks aren't working.

So, I think it is good for people to have a little time to sit back and contemplate.  I have had my 9 days in the sun (figuratively; I studied in the room most of my time here) and now I am ready to get back to Hanoi.  Even if I am only there for three days before I leave for the U.S. on vacation.

Taking a class in Hawaii

Since Sunday, I have been in Hawaii.  I came here to take a course to prepare me for Security + certification.  I will take the cert test on Monday.  So, I will be here for the remainder of this week and through the weekend and head back to Hanoi on Tuesday, the day after the test.

I haven't been out much, though I have decided I will try to run every morning before class.  It is easy to run here because the weather is ideal and the roads are very easy to run on.  I do walk to class, which is about a mile from the hotel I am staying in, which gives me a little extra exercise as well.

In the little time I spend outside of the classroom or in the hotel room, I have noticed two things that disturb me.  The first thing is the number of homeless people on the outskirts of Waikiki.  I attribute the large number in this particular area to the close proximity of Wal Mart.  Wal Mart tends to attract the lowest common denominator in society and Hawaii seems to be no exception.  For the most part, these people leave me and everyone else alone.  One asked me for a dollar and another asked me for a quarter (I can only imagine the one who asked for a quarter was in flashback mode, because you can't buy buggars for a quarter here).  I bet the cops aren't too gentle with them if a tourist complains, so they tend to stay clear and quiet.

The other thing that disturbs me is the number of people who smoke here. I think anyone that smokes in Hawaii shold be shipped out... they don't deserve the fresh air here!  I have been living in Hanoi so long that the clean air in Hawaii burns my lungs.  It is so nice to be able to breathe what might be the freshest air in the world, but some just aren't happy with it and have to fill their lungs with smoke.  Go figure!

The hardest thing for me so far is keeping away from the high calorie food.  Take a look at a few of the locals and it gets easier to believe the food is just a tad rich here.  I busted out on Sunday and Monday, but I think I am reigning my control back in now.

The classes are going well, if not a little boring. I can't afford to fail this certification test.  I don't think I could take the derision that would meet me back home in the office.

Heading to Hawaii

Today is my last day in Hanoi. Tonight I will get on an airplane bound for Hawaii for a week of Security Plus training.  I can’t imagine the training will be that tough, so it will be some time that I can relax a little.  Unfortunately, my driver’s license is expired so I can’t rent a car.  The good news is that the training location is less than a mile from the hotel I will be staying at.

This is all coming after a fairly stressful last couple of weeks.  I was responsible for putting together two important visits for high level people who came to see our sites.  That along with the myriad of other tasks I have during a field activity.  It isn’t that any one thing is hard, just that dropping one of a hundred parts of a visit can lead to a bad impression.  It was complicated by the fact that I was tasked with my own responsibilities in other areas making me remote control a lot of what I was doing.

Diep and Megan are in Saigon and I know Diep is thinking about taking Megan to Cambodia for a visit to Phnom Penh.  Megan has a school mate who left last year for the Cambodian Capital and she is looking forward to reuniting for a little while.

My home leave is drawing near quickly.  I will be gone during an important time at the office, but those events did not get put on the calendar until after I had already arranged my trip.  Fact is, there is never a good time to take leave in this job. I won’t let the things I am going to miss affect my good time at home, though.

Can't be in more than one place at the same time...

Things are starting to get pretty crazy at work.  Some new requirements came up and it has changed the schedule around quite a bit.  The upside is that I will be in Hanoi tomorrow to go to Megan's 8th grade graduation ceremony.  She will be a high schooler next year, and that just makes me feel... OLD!

The other upside is that I get to go to Saigon, if for but a night.  I will be doing some field forensic reviews with an old friend who is an anthropologist.  The downside is this new schedule has me gone a lot more overall than the earlier plan and I will be much busier as I get closer to my departure date for the computer training in Hawaii.  And, the home leave that comes up right after that. The other downside - and inspiration for thepost title -  is that I will be unable to manage itineraries that I put together for some VIP visits.  I know someone else should be able to pick it up and go with it, but when something goes wrong it is best to have the guy who put everything together fix it.

I had a small heart attack (figuratively) two days ago when I realized that I am going to Hawaii and my driver's license expired in January of this year.  I haven't even thought about it, because we don't use our DL's here for much at all.  Anyway, the reason this affects my trip is because you can't rent a car with an expired license.  If the training I was taking was too far away from the hotel, I would be taking taxis all of the time and that just would have been costly and time consuming.  After a little research, I found out that my hotel and the training site are only about a mile from each other.  Looks like I will get a little walking exercise every day during the training period.  The weather in Hawaii is much more conducive to walking than here in Hanoi.  One mile in Hanoi at this time of year means I would be sweating through my shirt by the time I reached my destination.  Hawaii temps are much milder... it should be fun.

Memorial Day

Yesterday was Memorial Day.  We have teams out in the field so I went into work in the moring, but pretty much took the rest of the day off.  If it weren't for all of the US Embassy personnel in our apartment complex, I would probably have just gone into work and liesurely accomplished a lot of the things that have been on the back-burner for a while. Unfortunately, any time there is a US-only holiday and I am at work, invevitably there will be at least one person from the embassy asking Diep where I am. Then I catch hell because I wasn't at home during the holiday.  This happens a lot when the embassy is closed for a Vietnamese holiday.  Diep seems to think I should get Vietnamese holidays off, which I don't.

Anyway, our day was pretty full.  Diep and I hit the tennis ball around before Megan went to school and then I took off for the office to see what was going on for the day.  When I got back, we took off for the Metro (which is similar to COSCO) and requires a membership card.  Diep lost her card in HCMC and needed some support to convince the management to issue her a new card.  Good news is that she got a new card, bad news is that it was hotter than hell when we rode the 30 minutes to and from the store on the motorbike.  After the store, we went to eat at Thai Express (fast food Thai restaurant in the center of town) and then stopped off at a local spa for a foot massage.

Megan was home from school shortly after we got back.  If you are feeling sorry for Megan because she didn't get the day off, don't. She will be off for the summer in no time - last day on 11 June - and she gets plenty of breaks anyway.

Megan and two of her friends were invited to make a few episodes of English-speaking lessons for a local television company this last Sunday.  All in all, it seemed to be pretty educational and fun for her.  Diep was extremely concerned that the company was using her talents without pay;  I personally figure it is some experience she gains and lets her get a feel for whether she would ever want to do something like that for real.

Not much time left before I get really busy.  In less than three weeks I go to Hawaii for some computer training and shortly after that I come back to the States on home leave.  I have a feeling it is all going to be a blur.

Today ended with an electrical storm to the south of Hanoi. I captured a little on my flip video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsDBBb2V4j8&feature=player_embedded

Touch and go

Things were touch and go there for a day after I got back from Danang.  Diep was mad at me for not being there for her on her birthday, even though I told her in advance that I would be gone.  Also, not that I am playing the tit-for-tat game here, but she has been in Saigon for my birthday for the last two years.  Anyway, she told me how much she hated me for a day and then got over it.

I find myself at work this Sunday because of some network issues.  I will try to coordinate with our higher headquarters to resolve them, but I was hoping just to come in to get a good workout.  I guess work has the priority.  Hopefully there will be a little time left over for the workout.

Diep goes to Saigon tomorrow and I will head to Nghe An Province.  Megan will get her first chance at being home alone for a night.  This should be exciting for her... I think she is big enough to handle a night by herself.  I am most worried that she will stay up too late on the internet.  I trust her, though, and figure everything will work out just fine. 

Getting back to normal...

That whole thing that happened Sunday was so weird.  The guy who started the little tet-a-tet, no doubt, has been emboldened by his soon departure from this post.  As much of a rock (as in stupid, not hard) as he is, I can't help but to think he was trying to pull me into a battle where he could take my emails and set them in front of his replacement to show him what an asshole I am.  Just the thought of that is enough to temper me in my future dealings.  I handled the last round fairly well by bowing out and stating the audience was too large to be "kidding" around like we were.  I must have shamed him to some degree because he wouldn't even look me in the eye yesterday...  Anyway, I am well over it and now I am moving on with the "thousand" things I have to do before I head to the US on vacation.

I leave for Danang tomorrow and things will start picking up very quickly from there.  Things will culminate with the end of the field activity toward the end of June and just after that I will head for Hawaii to take a Security + training course.  After looking into the course and the exam, I figure I could proably just study my book and take the exam here in Vietnam at a vendor school, but that wouldn't be much fun.  If I have to recertify or even if I have to take another exam, i.e. Network +, I might just do the book study and take the exam straight up.  That is all dependent on how easy or hard the exam is this time around.  Anyway, whether I pass the exam or not, I head back to the U.S. just a few days after that.  Three days of much needed vacation!

I talked to Dad today.  He seems to be doing well... except for the brace he has on his foot from a partially torn tendon.  I asked him whether the doctor would get mad about all the grease and oil he has on it (from working on his cars) when he goes back to get a check up.  He said for the $175 he paid for the brace, he doesn't give a shit what the doctor says.  You go Dad!

Diep's birthday is on 20 May.  I will be in Danang, but I have already promised to do something for her birthday when I get back.  That would be Friday night... or we might put it off until Saturday.

That is about it for now.  After I wrote what I did at the top of this blog, I find myself wondering if anyone other than my sister reads this thing.  It could prove to be uncomfortable if it is a bigger audience than I think... Oh well!

Arghh...

This weekend started out pretty good. On Saturday, Megan and I went out to the office to start our 3D model project.  The weather was crappy, but we had a pretty good father/daughter session.

After we got home, we all went out to eat and had a good lunch at one of our favorite Japanese restaurants.  After that, Megan rode her bicycle to a friends house for a sleepover, and Diep and I spent some time together.  Since Megan stayed overnight, Diep and I had the morning to ourselves as well. 

Everything went fine until this afternoon and then the bottom fell out of my weekend.  First of all, Diep got this wild hair up her ass about me being able to access her computer.  First of all, I want to say that I just as soon not have access to her computer, but I have to fix things from time to time - not to mention the oft times she calls me over to help her accomplish some task on it.  Anyway, it started small when her friend sent her a facebook invitation.  She couldn't figure out why she couldn't see the pictures of other members that she knew that were embedded in the invitation.  I explained to her that FB was blocked in Vietnam and that was why the pictures wouldn't download.  I also said that I can't even use it right now.  Apparently, she didn't believe me and got mad at my perceived deception.  I saw the writing on the wall and just got up from the table and went to the office... my place of solice.

So while I am at the office going over my emails that I got on Saturday, I see that a certain member of my office that I have had disputes with in the past, decided to send a barb at me in the guise good office humor.  He attacked my Vietnamese language ability which is pretty laughable since there aren't too many people that can do my job as well as I can.  Even funnier is that he can't speak any Vietnamese to know one way or the other.  There were a couple of back and forths, as he was responding from his PDA, when I realized that there were other unintended recipients on the CC line, and I just stopped.  I probably would have just blown it off in the first place, but I was a little pissed off about the domestic situation and wasn't feeling like taking it from work and home.  No doubt I will have to deal with this tomorrow morning.  It just kills me because I have intentionally handled this guy with kid gloves because of an alleged disrespect that I started.  In fact, I never said the thing I was accused of saying to disrespect this guy, but he doesn't believe me and has had this chip on his shoulder ever since.

I guess life is just like this sometimes. Things could be worse I guess... When I got home Diep was already over it.

Friday... finally!

I guess Friday as a subject for a blog is fairly ubiquitous.  That makes it pretty boring as well, I suppose.  I tend not to pay too much attention to Friday as a day of the week because I often work through the weekends, though at a lesser pace than throughout the week.  Nevertheless, there were a couple of days in this past week that just dragged on, making this Friday a little more worthy of note to me than usual.

I am not sure what the weekend holds in store yet, but I am hoping to get a little father - daughter time in.  What weekend I get, I enjoy, but there are times that lull along and I am hoping to make some time with Megan to go to my office.

Detachment Two Office Building

My plan is to make a 3D model of the office I work in using the free modeling software from Google called Sketchup.  I had seen Sketchup before and even downloaded it, but at the time I held no special interest in it.  Recently, however, I was reacquainted with it and think it could be really neat in modeling the building I work in, which is very unique and probably dates back into the late 1800s or early 1900s.  I want to do it to scale, so I will need to measure all of the sides and angles.  I plan on starting with the basics and adding details to it over time... and it could take a while.  Anyway, I think it could be educational for Megan and give us time together.  I think I will be able to do this fairly easily because gathering the data will be very similar to what I used to do as a party chief on a survey crew. Whether Megan sticks with it or not, I plan on finishing the model.  As a matter of fact, this could be very educational for me and give me some skills I have been interested in getting for a long time now.  Not wanting to drag this on too long, I took an Engineering Graphics course during my very brief college experience at the University of South Alabama.  I enjoyed it immensely and wonder if it wasn't my true calling.  Life is cruel, however, and I am definitely too old to be changing career paths at this stage in my life.

If you are interested in seeing what Google Sketchup does, just do a google search on it.  If you want to see some really cool models on the WWW, open Google Earth and check on the 3D Buildings icon in the layers section in the left hand pane.  There are 3D models in just about every major city in the world.  And, if you want to learn sketchup, there are some really good training videos on the sketchup page.

Mother's Day 2010

So, when I came home on Friday, things went back to normal.  Not sure where the craziness came from, nor do I know where it went, but for now it is gone. And for that I am thankful.

Saturday and Sunday went by quickly.  I have been working a lot, so having both days off was quite a luxury.  I had told Diep we would go wherever she wanted to eat on Sunday for Mother's Day, but she picked a restaurant that we eat at fairly regularly on the weekend, the Quan An Ngon (translated "Delicious Restaurant"):

Diep and Megan on Mother's Day - 2010

Roasted bird on the plate

The food was good, as usual, but the weather has gotten dramatically hotter in the past two weeks, making it hard to eat comfortably in this outdoor restaurant.  Maybe it was just me, because the restaurant was crowded and no one else seemed to have a problem (except Megan).

Megan and I were going to give Diep a piece of jewelry for Mother's Day, but we are bad at picking out the specific keepsake she would like, so we just gave her money to buy a piece that she likes.  This may seem impersonal, but it is better than getting her something she doesn't want... and she seemed okay with it.

Today, I have to give two briefings to visiting military groups.  I haven't done this in a long time because both of our leaders at the moment really enjoy doing this.  Unfortunately, they both went to Danang to see the advance team into the country, leaving me to do the task. I don't mind doing it, I suppose, but it was funny having the deputy tell me how to do it, considering I had been doing it so regularly for the 6 years before he showed up.  Anyway, the briefing will get in the way of any other productivity I may have had planned earlier.

Dilemma

Somehow, after I got back from the trip to Saigon I got in the doghouse.  Regrettably, I don't even know how this time. I know when... exactly when, but I am having trouble figuring out how I fell from grace. It started when Diep was telling me that she had met with her Filippino friend earlier in the day, and it was also related to a chance encounter I had when I was in Saigon:

I had told Diep how I was approached by two Filippinas near the market and they had asked me about my Tevas.  I expressed to Diep that I was sure that they were up to some no good and were using a "chance encounter" to work some scam.  I told the women I had bought them at a specific department store in Saigon, and when they asked, I told them I worked for the US Embassy.  Their enthusiasm for making friends dropped instantly and they departed.  Anyway, just a couple of days later, according to a local paper some Filippinas were arrested in Saigon for scamming a Japanese guy by luring him back to their apartment and talking him into playing cards for money.

So, back to why Diep got mad.  She told me she had told her friends that I liked to flaunt my money and how I was lucky to have escaped the scam artists in Saigon.  I got defensive about her accusations and, apparently, I got loud in my defense.  Immediately after that, Diep was very angry at me and has been ever since.  At least it is the good kind of angry where she isn't talking to me.  I handle cold war tactics much better than nuclear holocaust.  I can hold out for days under these conditions... actually, these battles I come out as the victor.

The dilemma is that Mother's Day is on Sunday and I want to do something nice for Diep.  I just don't know if she will be talking to me by then for me to be nice.  Oh well.

Saigon - Part 4

Brothers 3 and 4

After visiting 5's house, we went back to Saigon.  There, we did what the people in Saigon call "nhau" with Brother 3 and Brother 4. Both of these brothers were with the revolutionary forces, better known as VC, and went to the north after "reunification".  Both of these guys are old enough to be called "uncle" but because Diep's father was the uncle of these two guys, she calls them older brother.  Actually the youngest one is like 76 years old.  The guy on my far right in the picture is an old comrade of Brother 4 and he is 79 years old. I like 4, and met him before Megan was born at his daughter's wedding.  I also envy him his age, in that he has reached the point in life that he can wear PJ's all day long and no one will say anything to him about it. 4 actually owns the restaurant we went to and he had his own special blend of medicinal moonshine that he shared with the group.  Apparently, this blend included goat testes along with a myriad of other "performance enhancing" ingredients.  I personally could have done without it. Before the end of the night, everyone exchanged phone numbers, and I am sure I will be getting a call in the not too distant future.  I took quite a few pictures during our day trip and I plan on developing some to give to all of Diep's relatives.

Uncle 3 and Diep's Mother

So, that was essentially my 30th of April, 2010.  The following day, we went out to Diep's house to see her mother.  We then visited some maternal relatives, but the day was tame in comparison to the day before.  We took a short ride from Diep's mother's place to Uncle 3's house.  Uncle 3 has asthma and cataracts, but he is a pretty nice guy.  He wanted us to have a small drinking session, but even if I were inclined, I believe his wife would have stopped it before it even got started, giving Uncle's general state of health.

That is pretty much the end of my trip to Saigon. Diep and I went out to one of her friend's bars that evening, but we didn't do much else.

Saigon - Part 3

Brother 10 and wife

Apologies for the short post yesterday.  My internet connection wasn't working well at home and I was busy at work, so I didn't have much time to write.  Anyway, after visiting 7's house, we took off for Brother 10's house.  10 was an ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam Nam) soldier, supporting the southern regime and he got his legs blown off by a mine.  He was one of the friendliest guys of the bunch and seems to get around fine without the legs, though the recent stroke had numbed his left arm. His wife was a great woman and very charming.

As you can see by me sweating in the photo, things were starting to heat up.  We then left Brother 10's house for Brother 5's house which was a little motorbike drive away.  We hopped on the bikes and came to the edge of Brother 5's property where we had to negotiate a bridge path over a small canal.  As you can see by the video accessed through the link, it was not as easy to get across as one might think:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0vLCoUpDis

I didn't get it on video, but I went in as well.  The sides of the canal were very slick, and though I took it slow, I slid my foot to a soft spot and just went down.  Fortunately, I understood my abilities and had emptied my pockets before hand.

We had some fresh boiled crabs and shrimp at Brother 5's house and then left on a small boat to avoid the canal again.  Back on the road, we headed back for the city.

On the boat leaving 5's house

Saigon - Part 2

Sister 7's house

So after visiting Sister 3's house, we walked along a small trail to Sister 7's house.  7's son is a couple of months older than I am (photo) and appears to live with his wife and sister at Sister 7's house.  Her son works at the hospital where Brother 3 was a director and according to Diep, he is a doctor.  I was still in good spirits at this time, but this was still early in the day and I figured this was our last stop before heading back to Saigon... 

My Trip to Saigon 29 April - 2 May (part 1)

35th Death Anniversary Gathering on 30 April 2010

On the evening of 28 April I traveled to Saigon to meet Diep and Megan who had went ahead because Megan was on a scheduled week holiday from school.  This time in Saigon was a little different for me because I spent more time with Diep's family than I usually do... not particularly because I wanted to.

On 30 April Diep, Megan and I went to Can Giuoc Town in Long An Province.  From the town, we took a small ferry across a river towards a cluster of properties that belong to Diep's relatives, to gather together to mourn the loss of her cousin's husband.  The gathering isn't really mourning as much as it is tradition and custom for animists.  I don't recall anyone actually talking about the man who died, and I spent most of my time trying to figure out who was who.  This gathering, in Vietnamese, is called a "Dam Gio" and mostly entails drinking and eating.  Without Diep and Megan there to watch me, I would have been sucked into the drinking part until I was as loud and beligerent as the rest of these guys.  The drink of choice was a local brand of "ruou de", better known as moonshine from the parts I am from.  This was just the beginning of the day...

Megan's Fall in Saigon

I just got back from Saigon this evening and have lots to blog about.  In the meantime, this is a little taste of what went on during the trip.  This little clip has a background beginning with me teasing Megan about signing up for the long jump on a recent sports day at her school... enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBkQAvzFgz4

Heading to Saigon Today

Through my travels with the office, I earn points on the national carrier, Vietnam Airlines.  After 40,000 points a member qualifies for free round trip travel to Saigon, among other places.  So, I am taking advantage of this time to meet up with Diep and Megan.  Diep seems to feel that she and Megan have to travel every time Megan has time off from school, and Megan's school takes from 1- 2 weeks off every change of season (Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter) all have an associated break.  That is a lot of off time, so I try to join them when I can.

Since Diep is already in Saigon, I was able to hang out with the fellas at the office after hours.  The office has a bar that is maintained by the administrative NCO.  I had a couple of beers, ate a little pizza and then came home... pretty tame, but it was nice to hang out.  Unfortunately, when your work is your life the coversation tends to center around work, and that is something that I wasn't really into last night.  I left a little earlier than everyone else, but I usually do that anyway.

I'm Feeling Better Now

Yesterday, we had a central government-level round of talks between my boss's boss and our counterparts.  This happens at least twice a year, but there is always lots of preparation for it when it does happen.  Two things make this event especially stressful for me: 1) I am the go-to guy on a lot of what is happening - from schedule, to events, to in-country coordination; and 2) A lot of the members of the visiting delegation are special-needs people, i.e., they need a vehicle to take them shopping, or they need to change their airlines ticket, or they need me to fix their PDA.  No one need is really too much for me to handle, but all of them put together adds up to a lot of my time invested in their need.  These two primary issues, coupled with the fact that we just finished a field activity (I am exhausted and haven't had much time off for a very long time), and the last minute translation of the 11-page script that we finished the night before the talks make this the most stressfull event that I have to deal with throughout the year.

Anyway, it is over now and about half of the crew have either left, or are leaving, this morning.  The other half will be nothing more than a slight annoyance until they trinkle out of here over the next couple of days.  A huge burden has lifted from my shoulders and I feel much better now.

Diep left for Saigon yesterday.  She wasn't helpful before she left.  I had to work on Saturday and Sunday to get ready for Monday and she was acting as if I had some mistress at work.  It sucked being at work already and then to come home to the cold shoulder because I had been "neglecting" the family didn't help my morale at all.  Not that I didn't see her issue: That was the weekend of Megan's Birthday.

So, I will joint Diep and Megan in Saigon tomorrow night.  In the meantime, I will do a few things at work and make sure that I get my workouts in and enoy this next day and a half away from family stress.

Hanoi weather, this morning, is beautiful.  That doesn't happen very often.

Censorship

Slowly, over the past few months, access to my FaceBook account has started disappearing.  At first it was an occasional 404 message when I tried to bring up the main page and then the main FB became a rare access event.  That was okay, because I had the FB lite web site as a back up.  Now, that appears to be gone. I have been relegated to access via my PDA, and even that has started occasionally giving me access issues.  No doubt, someone in Vietnam doesn't want me usinng FB, but I can't figure out why it is any different than any other social networking site in the eyes of "Big Brother" Vietnam.  My Space and Twitter are allowed, but those aren't the site I have accounts with... and to be honest, I don't like to switch from one site to the other, it gets confusing and all of the usernames and passwords are hard to remember.

Word on the streets is that our work servers will soon be opened up to FB.  Our servers reach out to the web through Hawaii so Vietnamese firewalls would not be a factor.  They sure are taking their sweet time about it, though.

I wish I had a reason as to why Vietnam is blocking FB.  In this world of communications, it just doesn't seem like shutting FB down from the Vietnamese community would make even a small dent in the security conundrum the Public Security folks are up against.

Megan's Birthday Pictures

Megan doling out the ice cream cake... yum!

Happy Birthday Song

Birthday Cake

Mom still cuts the cake

Couldn't sleep

I tend to get up early though I have been trying to sleep later these past two weeks.  I pushed my wake-up call to 5:00am and I have enjoyed the extra sleep.  This morning, however, I woke up at 3:30am and couldn't get back to sleep.  I laid in bed for a little while as the distant lighting lit the sky outside the bedroom window and beyond West Lake, but even that with the distant roll of thunder couldn't lull me back to sleep.

Today is a national holiday in Vietnam.  It is one of those holidays that prove Vietnam is improving economically.  The holiday is the Hung Kings Day set on the first king's death date (giỗ).  The holiday is relatively new and has been added to the calendar for the week before May Day.  I say it is proof of economic development, because in the not too distant past, Vietnamese people worked 6 days a week taking only a week or two off during the Lunar New Year.  Now that people have more spending money, they want more time to enjoy it.  The holiday is a good opportunity to take a three-day weekend trip.

The day is not a holiday for me. I have too much to do getting ready for a round of technical discussions between our headquarters and Vietnamese counterparts.  The meeting isn't until Monday, but the group is coming in on Saturday and I have a few things I have to do before they arrive.  I will take my holiday from 28 April - 2 May, through the "Liberation Day" and May Day weekend.

Megan has the day off from school today and will have all week next week off as well.  This time off sandwiches spring break between the two holidays.  It is also her 14th birthday on Saturday.  I guess I am not the only one feeling old.  Diep pulled out some pre-Megan photos and had them sitting on the table when I got in yesterday.  Obviously she has been reminiscing as well.  Anyway, Megan is growing up into a fine young woman and I hope she has a great birthday.  This year, she has invited some girlfriends to see a movie at the local theater, they will enjoy some pizza and an ice cream cake, and have a sleepover.  I will try to stay as much out of the way as I can.

Oatmeal

I have been eating oatmeal at work to avoid going out and eating huge calorie lunches every day.  The thing is, oatmeal is not easy to find around here.  Last night, Diep and I went on a search for oatmeal at the local supermarket and came up with nothing; so on the way back, we stopped by our apartment complex shoppette to see if there was any there.

After looking through the five rows of goods that the shoppette had, Diep asked the counter girl if they carried oatmeal.  The conversation went back and forth for a couple of exchanges before she said they didn't have any left for the moment.  We didn't really expect them to carry it anyway, it just happened to be on the way back from the store, but her question as we were walking out the door kind of caught me by surprise.  She asked Diep if we wanted to buy it to eat or if we were visiting friends.  After I asked Diep if she said what I thought she said, I thought it was hilarious.  Vietnamese custom is similar to western custom in that when visiting friends for dinner you would bring a gift, i.e. a bottle of wine or some flowers.  In Vietnam, apparently it could be something else like... a can of steel cut dry oatmeal.  So, don't be surprised if I come over to dinner with some oatmeal next time!

Friends Visiting

Diep and I met a very long time ago when her and her friend walked into a pool bar.  Diep's friend, Trang, asked her to come talk to me and introduce us.  I dated Trang very briefly, usually while Diep came along, and I saw things weren't going to work out between Trang and myself fairly quickly.  Anyway, that is how I met Diep... and Trang.

So, since then, Trang married an Italian man and went to Italy.  She had a daughter and then got divorced.  I am not sure what jobs she has done or how her life has been in Italy, but she does visit Vietnam from time to time.  This time, she came with her boyfriend and visited Diep in Hanoi.  Trang and her boyfriend, Andrea, invited us to eat at one of the older eateries in what is known as the Old Quarter, the Cha Ca La Vong.  This is one of the most famous of restaurants in Hanoi and it hasn't changed much in the past 20 years.  It is run down and the service is lacking.  Nevertheless, it is one of the "must do" things on the list when traveling to Hanoi. 

Trang is a naturalliy pretty woman, but has put on a little weight in the past couple of years... nothing like a woman in her 40s in the U.S. but still she isn't the skinny girl she used to be.  The extra weight makes her tattoo on her lower back a little misshapened and that, along with the blond highlights, boob job and less-than-conservative dress made her a topic of not-very-flattering conversation for everyone in the restaurant.  Hanoians love to talk about other people.  I have, over the years, learned to ignore these snide little comments, but even I felt a little uncomfortable at the restaurant.

Diep and Trang reconnected, and Diep invited Trang and her boyfriend/husband (not really sure what the relationship is) over to dinner at our house.  This was good in that we didn't have to go out in public again, but not so good in the fact that two social events in one week is about 1 1/2 too many for me.

The dinner went off well and the reconnection, overall, went well for me.  Apparently, it was an opportunity for Diep to see how lucky we are to be doing what I am doing, living where we are living and enjoying generally comfortable lifestyle.  I am always aware of how lucky I am. I remember very vividly how it was in Mobile before coming back to Vietnam, but I think Diep needs reminding from time to time.

In a nutshell, life has been good since Diep saw Trang.  Not sure how long it will last, but it is good for now.

She said...

One of Diep's friends from when we first met came to Hanoi today.  Diep knew about this a few days ago and had made plans to have dinner with her friends and "husband."  I was given the choice of whether I wanted to go or not and in the end I let Diep make the decision yesterday when she told me it was better that I stay home because I have to go to work the next day.  That was fine with me... I was looking forward to spending a relaxing evening with Megan and hitting the hay early.  So, it was a little distressing for me when I came home from work today to find out I was, in fact, going out with Diep, her friend, and her friend's husband - who just happens to be Italian and speaks very little English.

It ends up the evening went okay and I came home a little earlier than everyone else.  I just hate that whole thing of a plan having been made and then it changing the next day.  For example, I wouldn't have gotten up at 4:30am had I known that I would be going out tonight.  Anyway, all is well that ends well.

Unfortunately, now we are scheduled for dinner with these friends on Friday.  There goes my free time...

113th repatriation ceremony in Danang, Vietnam

Rendering honors at the 113th Repatriation Ceremony in Danang, Vietnam

10 April 2010 was the last day of the 98th Joint Field Activity.  Anyone who is a friend on my facebook has seen the pictures go up over the past 6 weeks from the advance work period through the main operations.  10 April was also the day that we sent seven sets of remains back to the U.S. for further identification.  This was the largest number of transfer cases I have seen on a Vietnamese tarmac since the early 90's.  The ceremony went well, and the U.S. Ambassador and Defense Attache were present for the ceremony.

As proud as I was to be present for the ceremony and participate in the operation over the past six weeks, I was very happy to come back to Hanoi yesterday.  Diep has been getting mad at me for staying away from home for so long and my early flight back on Sunday left us the rest of the day to go see a movie and have all three of our meals together.  It sounds simple, but it was a happy time.

Over the past six weeks I traveled extensively throughout Vietnam.  I worked in Quang Tri, Danang, Quang Nam, Kon Tum, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, Binh Phuoc, Binh Duong, and HCMC.  That is a lot of provinces and municipalities for me and I don't necessarily hope to cover so much ground in future field activities.

We now have less than a month before the next field activity kicks off, with lots to do in between.  I will try to find some down time where I can before this whole things starts all over again.

Amazing Race Asia

I figure everyone knows what Amazing Race is.  There is also a show on the AXN channel here in Asia called the Amazing Race Asia.  They are accepting applications for the newest show right now.

Diep told me I should apply for us to play... I have an emphatic two word answer to that:  NO WAY! 

Diep used to trust me in all of our travels. Now she sits back and waits for me to make a mistake so she can take shots at me.  Of course, hindsight is 20/20.  If she were making the decisions, we would be worse off... I know this firsthand. As far as my mistakes go, my favorites are when we get off an airplane in an unknown part of an airport terminal.  You have two choices in general: turn right, or turn left.  There is a 50 per cent chance that I will head in the right direction, but I always look for a screen to tell me which gate and terminal my next flight boards at, so even if I go the wrong way, it isn't more than 50 meters. She will give me hell on those mistakes (if you even consider them mistakes), even though I appreciate stretching my legs after a long flight.  There is no way I would let her berate me on TV like that.  The list goes on and on why I wouldn't go on that show with Diep.  I saw an American and his Philippino wife on that show one year... the guy was in tears before it was over.  I would have been in some Singaporean jail if it had been me suffering the abuses he had gone through.

Today is Monday.  One day of work and then I am off again.  This time, taking a two day walk to a field site and then to Saigon for a day before heading back to Hanoi on Saturday.  Could be an interesting week.

Megan Has a Good Day

I imagine Megan has some pretty crummy days in Hanoi.  As an only child with a very protective mother, she doesn't get to get out very much.  As she gets older, we are trying to give her the chance to get out and enjoy some of the events that are appropriate for her age.

So, yesterday she had a school friend over from the night before (this girl has an Ethiopian mother and English father) and they took the bicycles out around the lake to a cafe.  Megan enjoys the freedom she has on a bike, but I can;t help but to worry about the traffic when she is out alone.

Later that day, she went with a Korean and Belgian friend to the MTV-sponsored concert I mentioned in the previous post.  She said she enjoyed that more than she expected.  It was a little tough on us, though, because we had to take off at nearly 11:00pm from our house on the motorbike, find her in a crowd of around 30,000 young people and then hunt down a taxi to take them home. We had to actually hunt the taxi from the motorbike, get Diep in the taxi and drive back to the stadium that the concert was held.  When the taxi stopped to pick up the girls, the taxi was surrounded by kids thinking it was available to take them home.  It was mass craziness!

The stadium is a good ride from the house and the pollution and traffic was pretty bad. It was all worth it, though, if Megan had a good time.

MTV Exit Concert in Hanoi

I went to the country team meeting at the US Embassy today because nobody more important than I was at the office today... that is to say it was just Daniel and I (not to say Daniel is less important, just to say he would chew off his arm to stay out of a meeting like this).  Anyway, the upside of the meeting was the announcement that MTV is the orgnanizer for a concert at the My Dinh Stadium this Saturday and the embassy was giving away free tickets to embassy personnel.  The email went out to everyone except those at JPAC, so I would not have known about it had I not gone to the meeting.

Anyhow, I don't want people to think I am a big MTV fan, because I can only watch Lady Gaga and Jason Beaver, or whatever his name is, so many times in a row before I start pulling my hair out.  I scored two tickets that I plan on giving to Megan and letting her enjoy the concert.  Actually, the concert is a boy band from Korea and some Australian pop artist... not my idea of a great time.  But, I think she will like it.  I managed to deceive my way into an extra ticket because I mentioned Daniel may want a ticket - knowing full well he would give up his ticket to another friend of Megan.

In other news, I just got back from my second 10-day TDY tour.  I posted the pictures on my Facebook even though I can't get on Facebook at this time.  No doubt, Vietnam is clamping down on Facebook and it may be gone forever from this communist nowhere land in a matter of weeks.  If that happens, I figure I will be turning to Blogspot to put out my missives, photos, and just plain blabbering.

Some poor lady got run over - and killed - by a cement truck just a hundred yards or so from our office two days ago.  She must have been on the road for at least 45 minutes before they carted her away... isn't it ironic that animals get cleaned off the streets immediately and people are left to the gawkers for hours... of course, there is a reason the animals disappear so quickly - two words:  Fresh meat.

My newness still hasn't worn off of  Diep yet... give her a few days.  She is still hugging and kissing me.  She keeps checking next to her in bed to make sure I haven't left again.  I figure I am a couple dozen farts and other infractions away fromm getting on her nerves again.

For the time being, it is good to be home!

On the road again...

I have been on the road significantly for the past couple of weeks and, after a brief time in Hanoi, I will be heading out again tomorrow. I missed the last two weekends to work and it looks like I will miss the next one as well. The upside is that traveling is easier than working because it is mostly sitting down and waiting for the next form of transportation to pick you up, move you, or drop you off. My time in the office is a little more hectic because I find myself trying to catch up on all the things that have gone by the wayside while I was gone. Getting it done isn't so much the problem as prioritizing and remembering what needs to be done.

I just got back from Danang two days ago. Diep had stopped by and stayed with me for the night at the Furama Resort on her way down to Saigon. Megan, too, was not in Hanoi because her class took a road trip to Hoi An and Hue from 8 - 12 March. She was very excited about taking this trip with her class, and I imagine she suffered a little anxiety when her mother boarded the same airplane she was on going to Danang... unannounced. Diep didn't plan it that way, but they managed to get on the same flight. Too funny!

So today and tomorrow will be pretty busy getting ready for the trip and then getting on the road for the next ten days. In a way, I am looking forward to it, but the other part of me dreads not being able to follow everything that is going on.

Family reunion

Diep and Megan returned to Hanoi last Friday night... late. I was happy to see them and they seemed happy to see me. The weekend went fairly well, but Megan didn't want to go to school this morning. I think she was just exhausted from all the travel and time with her maternal relatives. Hopefully she will get back into it this week. She will take a school trip to Hue and Hoi An in early March and I think she will really enjoy it.

Of course, Saturday everything was great because Diep hadn't seen me in a week, but by Sunday I think I started to annoy her. Ironically, I annoy her with the things I can't help or do anything about. Two summers ago I got a pretty serious ear infection that, in my opinion, led to serious hearing loss. I can't even hear what is being said on the TV when Diep has it set at a "comfortable" level for her. Twice this weekend she made a comment that I couldn't hear and she started berating me for it. Of course, she doesn't blame my hearing loss on the ear infection, she blames it on my listening to the IPOD with the earplugs in, which I haven't done in over a year because of the ringing in my ear. I asked her not to make fun of me for that as it is no different than if I had lost my arm to an infection or accident. She doesn't buy it, but this is something that is going to start to annoy me pretty soon.

Besides that little dispute I have going at home, I have this thing with a co-worker, too. This particular co-worker I have decided I would not socialize with when alcohol is involved because he has this Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde thing going on. With the last days of the lunar new year, I decided to forego my "rule" and have a couple of drinks with him and a couple other friends. It got pretty ugly and now I find myself thinking too much about the things he said. Some things I can disregard completely because even if he was sincere in his observation, it just isn't true. I mostly found what he said offensive. Probably out his need to feel superior and partly out of his insecurities. While he probably views me as a threat to his self-perceived alpha status, I really don't find a need to compete with him. Not really having the time or inclination to go into details in this forum, I will just leave it as this: I will not be socializing with this guy again when alcohol is involved. And, on the brighter side, I had just enough juice in me to robustly defend myself and get in a couple of barbs that should have stung as well. What really sucks about this whole thing is that I do respect this guy professionally more than anyone else in the business. Too bad his insecurities and arrogance get in the way of me liking him personally, anymore.

Having re-read this post, it looks like my age is catching up with me. I feel like I am getting curmudgeonly (yes, I had to look up the spelling) with age and I hope that isn't true. I think I just need to defend myself more and apologize less.

Diep and Megan Return

Diep and Megan come home really late tonight. I am sure they will be exhausted before they walk through the door... and hopefully Diep will just go to sleep rather than try to tell me every story of her trip she can think of before she nods off. I still remember when we first met how we would stay up all night riding around or just hanging out in Saigon, and watching the sunrise in the morning... not just sitting on a beach watching it come up, but more of a passive act of doing whatever we were doing in the dark and it gets gradually lighter. I can't imagine just sitting and waiting for the sun to come up... sort of like watching water boil or grass grow.

Today is Friday and I am very relieved of that. This week just creaped by and I am anxious to move on from it. It was probably the most unremarkable week I have had in several years. The weather was just too boring to be bothered with going out. I really wanted to get some photos of the new year, but it just didn't happen. Not because I didn't have the energy, but because the gray skies and threat of rain didn't motivate me.

My weather forecasts says next week will warm up into the 70s. I look forward to that. After next week I will be going to some phenominal places. Very rugged. I am looking forward to it and only hope that nothing happens to make the trip miserable, i.e. injury or blisters. Last time I went on a long walk in the jungle, I got a blister that just ruined the whole trip. It was on my heel and I just couldn't stop thinking about it. I will bring some sports tape just for that sort of thing this time. The funny thing about these trips is that I am good to go after the first couple of the year, because I have ditched the things in my pack that take up space and added the things I need. But it is a new process every year, and this is the first trip of the season coming up.

Here's hoping I manage to trudge through this Friday without going nuts...

Last official day of Tet

Today is the third and last official day of Tet - the Vietnamese Lunar New Year. Since the lunar new year's eve was on Sunday, the Vietnamese will be taking Thursday off as well, but from a tradition point of view, this will be the last day of festivities. That means the restaurants and stores will start opening tomorrow. That's good because I am getting tired of eating pizza.

The Vietnamese that work in our office and the US Embassy will be off until next Monday because the ambassador gave them Friday as well. Good for them... I guess.

Yesterday was pretty boring at work. Only me and the boss. As much as I don't like to be over worked, I hate boring. I just felt cold all day yesterday, too. I couldn't seem to warm up. Today is even colder than yesterday outside. I will dress a little warmer to try and offset the cold.

The weather wouldn't bother me so much except that two days before Tet the weather was beautiful. I was even thinking about taking a swim after work before the weather got cold again. I guess my thought is that this far into the year once the weather started to warm up it would stay that way. I really hate the feeling that we escaped the winter only to have it come and bite us in the ass so late in the game. Oh well...

Internet Security

As a US Govt employee, I am privileged to have access to free internet security to load onto my home system(s). I am given a choice between Symantec (Norton) and McAfee. Both of these anti-virus programs work fine, but they seem to bog down my system's resources.

As it happens, when I loaded up Windows 7 on Megan's computer, I also loaded Symantec anti-virus. The version I was using seemed to work on Megan's computer, but the Windows 7 OS told me it was disabling a driver associated with the Symantec program. This concerned me.

I actually hate thinking about internet security. I try not to use thumb drives from other people and I don't download pirated music and videos. That along with the fact that I am fairly conservative in the sites I go to (I go to the same sites all the time: MSN, Yahoo, Google, Amazon), I feel like I would be wasting my money paying for one of the high-end, popular AV programs. Bear with me, this is going somewhere...

Anyway, since it appeared my free symantec was not compatible with Windows 7, I decided to totally remove it and load up Microsoft Security Essentials. It is free from Microsoft, provided you have a genuine copy of Windows on your system, and in conjunction with the Windows firewall, should cover me for all of my internet needs. As far as Megan is concerned, I hope it covers her, but even if it doesn't, her system is free of any of my usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, etc. If I were a little more careless in my internet surfing habits, I would consider two other free programs in conjunction with each other to cover down on my security: AVG and Zone Alarm.

After running the Microsoft security program, Megan's system seems to be lightning fast and I can breath a little easier that she is, at least minimally, covered against computer threats.

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I am back at work today, but it is just me and the boss. Everyone else is gone. Either sick, on leave or TDY. Not sure if that will make it a quick day or a slow day. Only time will tell.

Back to work for me...

Mindless Meandering

Yesterday was not the omega man experience I had hoped for. There were more people and beeping cars on the street that I wanted on my run around West Lake. Of course, this link will show you the relative quiet of the streets compared to a normal day's traffic:

http://vnexpress.net/GL/Xa-hoi/2010/02/3BA18D10/

As you can see by the pictures, the weather sucked. After the run, I stayed in for the rest of the day. I really wanted to get out and take some photos with my digital SLR but I wasn't willing to take a risk of ruining the camera in the mist. Plus, it would be hard to get a really nice picture in this crap weather. It just doesn't feel festive.

I am battling my inner self to take a ride out to work and work out at the office. I think Iwill win the fight, but I am not sure how long it will take to muster the energy. I slept in for the past three days, something I hardly ever do, but I feel like I really needed it. If nothing else, this weather is great for sleeping in!

I spent most of last night loading up patches and new programs on Megan's computer. I really like Windows 7 and look forward to getting my copy. Since Megan had already torqued up her upgrade, I was able to use her computer as the guinea pig and even reloaded Windows 7 a second time to make sure I got the order straight on it. She still has a little work to do on it, but I took the bear's share of the work on myself.

After finishing this post, I can't help but to think this is mindless meandering. The funny thing is, throughout the day things will happen that I will think would be great things to post about, but inevitably I will forget about them, unable to recall any aspect of it. I do remember a couple of weeks ago I thought I would start doing a picture blog... where I would go out and take pictures at some point during the week and choose one to write about at the end of the week, both satisfying my wish to take more pictures and explain a little more about life here in Vietnam. Unfortunately, the weather has intervened. I am even afraid to take out my little point and shoot camera for fear of ruining it right now.

Oh well...

Sitting at home...

So, here I am sitting at home on the last day of the lunar new year. Quite honestly, the lunar new year has no meaning to me anymore than Halloween. I am not a farmer and I don't much care when the planting season starts. Nevertheless, there is something quite lonely about being in the house with no one else here while the outside weather is nothing short of dismal. Of course, three days ago we enjoyed some of the best spring weather I have seen in a long time in Hanoi, but then everything changed yesterday... temps dropped into the mid-50s and now this non-rain mist is all over the place. Yeah, I know mid-50s is not really cold, but it ain't shorts weather either!

Yesterday, I loaded up Windows 7 on Megan's computer. I took extra joy in it since she pooped the upgrade and, as she was exiting the house yesterday, asked me if I could un-poop it. This is after she refused my initial offer to help her upgrade her system. She even punctuated the refusal with the "I am a pretty good IT gurl" and mentioned that I had to refresh my computer because I couldn't un-poop it after it started acting up. I was really hoping she would read the instructions and do it the way it was supposed to work, but it looks like she just put in the disc and started it... omitting some very important steps. Anyway, it gave me an opportunity to check out the new operating system... and it made me happy that I have already ordered an upgrade for my system. In short, I like Windows 7.

I ordered a large pizza that should get me through the next couple of days. Most restaurants will be closed and even those that will be open will have very limited working hours. I am stocked up and ready to ride it out. Tomorrow will be fun because there won't be anyone on the streets at all. I always like the first day of the lunar new year in Vietnam. I feel like omega man!

Tet - Vietnamese Lunar New Year

Just a couple more days and the Vietnamese will be in a New Lunar Year - The Year of the Tiger. This only means to me that I have been enduring tons of traffic on the streets as the Vietnamese populace prepares for this festive occasion that they liken to Christmas, New Years and Easer all rolled into one. What a pain in the ass!

Diep and Megan leave tonight for Saigon. They will be there for a week as I stay in Hanoi trying to catch up on some unfinished work.

I talked to Dad on Skype today. I sure hope I am as healthy as he is when I reach 73. I believe my genes are more maternal than paternal, however, leaving me with a much abbreviated lifespan.

This year has had a decent start for me. Lots of time to get ready for what is to come ahead. I will be on the move quite a bit in the latter part of February and into March. I had a couple of New Year resolutions that I have been trying to stick to. I am doing generally well, but the whole "being nice to people" and have a "generally cheery attitude" just isn't going well. Being nice to people just leaves me open to getting stepped on or rolled over, and the cheery attitude is fine, but just isn't my style. I may try to stick with it for a little longer, but I ain't sure people are noticing anyway... so what's the point.

I know this is a short post, but who knows, maybe it is a sign of more posts to come.

Cheers...