Back in Hanoi

I got to Hanoi yesterday afternoon, a Sunday.  The two days before that were good because Diep and Megan had traveled to Danang and stayed with me for the last two nights I was out of town.  Unfortunately, they were on their way to Saigon as I headed back to Hanoi.  It only makes sense because Megan is out for a week on Spring break.  We made the best of those two days, though, eating seafood, swimming and taking pictures with Megan.

When I got to the apartment, I saw Diep had bought about eight tropical fish while I was away.  I guess she didn't worry about them without food for the two days that she was gone and I wasn't back yet.  When I looked in on them they looked like they were starving.  That is to say, they were wagging their tails and pressing their little noses against the glass.  Of course their lack of food didn't stop them from crapping in the bowl until the water was all clouded up.  As much as I wish I did, I don't have too much compassion for mindless tropical fish.  I did feed them, but only enough to keep them alive, not enough to turn them into aqua-pooping machines.

I enjoyed no days off before going into work.  I got right to it today with all kinds of catch up work.  Tomorrow will be more of the same, even though it is a local holiday - In honor of the Anniversary of the First Hung King's Death Day.  The locally hired staff and embassy workers get local holidays off.  We at Det 2, on the other hand, get federal holidays only.  No biggie, I have about three weeks of use or lose coming up at the end of this year and I can't see any period of time in the near future that I can afford to take off.  I have some big events coming up in the very near future, to include a ten day trip to Laos.  Not the good Laos, but the Xepon Laos type of trip.  Good Laos would get me to Vientiane or Luang Prabang.  Because of the type of work,  I will really have to think about whether I want to take my DSLR with me, or not.

I started to file my taxes today and realized I left me check book at the office.  I needed the routing number on the check to file electronically.  This isn't a show stopper since I still have a couple more days.  I almost didn't even bother getting started this afternoon, considering how pooped I was after work, but I am glad I did now.  It is all over but the sending now, and though I won't get rich on my return, it could make Diep pretty happy.

In the meantime, I have some Budweiser Budvar imported dark lager from the Czech Republic that Diep had left in the fridge to keep me satisfied.