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.