More Books, COVID, Birthdays and Beaches

So, it's been easily over two and a half months since my last post. Sorry about that. Frankly, I haven't felt very sharing lately.  In this time where we are all supposed to be isolating and flattening the curve, I have been stuck in the house, which isn't entirely bad, but the isolation isn't alone... and, well, sometimes isolation with someone else isn't quite as fun.

I was looking at my previous post to see where I left off with books.  In the last two and a half months, I managed to make my New Year's Resolution without even trying hard.  I read two paperbacks, four ebooks, and one audio book.  The audio book was The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. I finished that before things got upside down and I could still listen to an audio book while walking to work.  To be honest, though, TGOTT wasn't the best to listen to because there were a lot of time jumps and a lot of different character perspectives that made me really have to concentrate to keep up. That being said, it was definitely worth the listen. 

On to Ebooks... Probably the longest book I have read in a long time was The Goldfinch written by Donna Tartt.  This was an awesome book (extremely well-written), but took me forever to finish. If I haven't mentioned it, I am a terribly slow reader. I like to think it is because I am enjoying the book, rather than finishing it.  Anyway, this was an award winning book, and definitely worth the time I put into it.

The next ebook I read was The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.  I picked this one up on a lark only because I remembered the protesters right after President Trump's election with all of the women wearing the costumes from the television series that was going on at the time.  While it was an okay read, I don't feel compelled - at least right now - to pick up the next in the series.

After that, I actually purchased a Kindle book that Megan had talked about when she was in high school. I wanted something more young adultish, and it definitely fit the bill.  The name of the book was Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin.  I found it very entertaining and a little thought provoking, even if it wasn't my favorite read in this last little while.

On to To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It took a while for this book to come off hold due to popularity. I am a little embarrassed to admit I had never read it before, and it seems that it had been required reading for many in high school.  This was probably my favorite of all of the books I just finished, if not top 3 for all of the books I have ever read.  I enjoyed it so much that I picked up the next in the series Go Set a Watchman, that I am reading now.

As I said, I also read two paperbacks in the last little while:

The first was Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram.  I have mixed feelings about this book given its history. I have to remind myself it was a part of a personal diary of a young female North Vietnamese doctor who worked in field hospitals in Quang Ngai Province during the Vietnam War.  It really wasn't her constantly expressed hate of Americans that bothered me so much as many of her ideologies. I also didn't appreciate the slant created by the many footnotes of the translator.  Many of the footnotes were just flat out incorrect, and others seemed pointless.  Nevertheless, in the end, I am glad I read it.

The last paperback that I read was Maid written by Stephanie Land.  I really wanted to love this book, but I almost didn't get through it. It isn't terribly long, but there are places that I got really bogged down. I am not sure whether I would have read it with more enthusiasm if I had not been in isolation, but it just left me feeling that there was more to the real situation than what I was reading.  I can see where many struggling moms might find motivation, strength and courage from the book, but I also think that the women that would get the most out of it don't have the luxury of reading for being so exhausted from everything else going on. While Stephanie Land is more than capable as a writer, I think I just didn't have my heart in this one. I do hope that the proceeds from the book pulled her out of her financial woes, and has given her the freedom to pursue those goals that she expressed in her book.

So, that makes seven books in almost three months. I do feel good that I have rediscovered my joy of reading, but because of my own personal circumstances, I wish there was a way I could be more selective in the books I choose to read.  With the limited time I have, I really don't want to waste my time reading something that isn't really what I want.  I have been checking out the top seller lists and book rating sites in an effort to narrow down my next reads.

In other news, the COVID virus shut down our gym at the apartment and the office for almost two months. It killed my motivation to workout and resulted in a substantial COVID belly. I have been working out pretty consistently for the past two weeks, but this belly isn't going away anytime soon. I got a smart scale that tracks my body weight, muscle mass, Basal Metabolic Rate, and some other key indices of my health, and I hope it motivates me.  

On the other side of the motivation is family duties. I spent four days in Quy Nhon last week with Diep. Quy Nhon was a nice beach getaway that I think we needed, but it was also some very slack time with lots of food and drink without much exercise. I got right back in the exercise on returning to Hanoi, but this weekend was filled with birthday party lunches and dinner parties for Diep.  Happy Birthday dear, but I need to get back in a routine.

Not sure how many people even bother reading this. It could be terribly boring for many, but I know my sister reads it from time to time. I really miss talking to her! I can't talk to anyone on the phone right now being trapped in the house. It just isn't natural... and, someone has to critique my conversations when I am done with the phone call.  Hopefully things will get to some semblance of normalcy in the near future and we can resume our talks.

More Reading, Working out, traveling and Work, Work, Work

Seems like I am just busier these days than I ever remember before. I eat lunch at the desk more often than not, and have stopped working out at the office altogether... something I had been religious about before I went to DC.  But, this isn't a self-pity blog so I'll move on.

I finished two audio books this month and find myself well into an ebook I started at the beginning of the month.  I started out with Calypso written by David Sedaris.  David reads his own audio books and actually reads chapters from his books at readings. He makes tons of money doing this, or at least I figure he does, because he seems to do nothing else and lives everywhere and travels often.  Anyway, Calypso seemed to be an endless stream of thought from a gay man who tends to be on the bitchy and dark side.  Listening to him, I find he spends a lot of time in idle thought, not much unlike myself.  He gives me hope that I one day could make tons of money doing nothing but letting my mind ramble on, uninhibited. His book was perfect for audio, since it's pretty much like listening to someone who hasn't much to say, just talk and talk and talk.  It's something I would play to someone in a coma hoping the mindless drivel would eventually wake them from their deep sleep, if for no other reason than to turn it off.

The second book was also audio; The Rooster Bar, by John Grisham.  This mystery book was a good format for audio book, and though there were moments I wasn't especially enthralled, I found it was a good distraction on my walks to and from work.  Generally, the book was a story about these three law school kids in their last year of school and how they had been essentially robbed of their money getting a sub-par education through this diploma mill call Foggy Bottom Law School in DC.  Their disenchantment led them to unauthorized practice of law with assumed names.  Worth a listen to if there is nothing else to do.

In other news, we started our field activities again. The challenges have been upped by the COVID-19 (new name for New Corona Virus) and the need to plan an exit strategy in the event of mass panic.  We always have lots of challenges, so it hasn't been especially more stressful than normal.

Travel Season again. Boarding my flight from Saigon to Hanoi.

The plus side of the activities is that I got to spend a few days in Saigon.  I was on the road for about nine days, so I was definitely read to get home, but I did manage to get some runs in.  I learned that running on a treadmill for the same distance and time as on the road is much easier. I had been on the treadmill for a couple of weeks before getting on the road, and the road nearly killed me.  I never thought I would find running so hard.  I am going to keep it up, though. Avoid injury and take it easy until it gets easier.  Take it one day at a time.

2019 Novel Coronavirus and Me

There has been much talk about the 2019 Novel Corona Virus around here for the last three weeks, or so.  Knocking at the southern door of China, we are taking it pretty serious in Hanoi.  I am fortunate that I get a lot of updates from the U.S. Embassy, and also happy that we have a robust CDC presence.  Everyone is emphatic that there should be no panic.  Since my only daughter is in Nepal, fairly distanced from this epidemic, I am calm about the matter.

The advice given by U.S. officials expert in these matters to our in-country American citizens is to wash hands frequently and limit touching your face.  Stay home if you are sick, and call into the medical clinic if you have flu like symptoms before walking in and infecting everyone around you.  Schools have been out, but classes should resume next week, barring any upsurge in infections.

I remember the SARS outbreak nearly two decades ago, and the bird flu we suffered through not long after that. It seemed, at least to me, that we didn't take things as seriously then.  Now, you can see people wearing masks - though the efficacy of a mask to prevent the virus is negligible - all over the place... at restaurants, airports, on motorbikes, everywhere.  I don't recall that before. The only real prevention measure I recall was the flight attendants spraying permethrin down the aisles of commercial aircraft just before take off.  Strictly a psychological prevention, and probably not good for the respiratory system, either.

By far, the worst epidemic I have seen while here in Vietnam was the bird flu (H5N1).  Vietnam killed hundreds of thousands of chickens in the outbreak, and I didn't eat chicken for at least six months due to unavailability. I love chicken, especially here in Vietnam, and I didn't realize how much until it wasn't available.

Anyway, I'm just sitting here holding my breath because I figure this NCOV (New Corona Virus) will either go away completely in the next month, or spread like wildfire.  My heart goes out, right now, to the doctors and nurses in Wuhan who are overworked, tired, and devastated by this outbreak.  No relief in sight and people dying daily in their wards.  I will reserve my prayers for them for now.

Good Reads - January

In the interest of writing about my New Year's Resolutions, I will focus on my reading in this post. It has been a month, and I already talked about the first book I finished in January, Flying through Midnight, by John T. Halliday. Since I already briefly talked about it this excellent audio book, I will move on.

The second book I finished this January was Mr. Mercedes, by Stephen King.  This was another audio book that I listened to as I walked to and from work.  It sounded so familiar at first that I thought I had already listened to it and forgotten about it. I wasn't too deep into it when I realized it wouldn't have been hard to forget about it.  The familiarity of the book, however, came from the fact that I had listened to End of Watch when I was in DC about two years ago.  End of Watch was the third book of this series... I just didn't realize at the time that it was the end of a series.  Though the story line was entertaining enough, I found the book to be unrefined, like it was a first draft and just never got filled out in the end.  Even having listened to two book ends of the series, I can't say I will get to the middle book, Finder's Keepers.  Oddly enough, I was an avid Stephen King fan when I was on my first tour at Det 2 in the early '90s.  I enjoyed several of his books immensely.  I am still not sure if I grew out of his style, or if his style just took a nose dive. It might just be this series, so I may go for something else from him before throwing in the towel.

My third book was interesting, Dreams from Nepal, by Bikul Koirala. It is a fictional story about a boy sold by his parents to save the rest of the family from sure starvation in a rural area of Nepal, not too far away from Pokhara.  He worked as a slave/servant for a well-to-do family with two boys in Kathmandu, and later found himself working in Egypt as a construction worker.  The story is presented in very much a storyteller's voice,  with very little dialogue. The text is riddled with little mistakes that made it past the editor, but all of that can be forgiven as the story moves along well.  It felt obvious the author was inexperienced, and I learned through the internet that Bikul is a very talented man with many interests and enterprises.  I wasn't too impressed with the ending, but overall I don't think it killed the whole story for me; I read some reviews from people who felt differently.  My selection of this particular book was because my daughter is in Nepal as a Peace Corps volunteer. I can't say the book taught me anything special about the people or culture, but in the end, I am glad I read it.  This was the only Ebook that I read this month, as the other two books were audio.  Having finished all three books within the same month, I feel more confident in saying that the difference in retention, for me, between an ebook and an audio book is negligible.

Since my resolution was to finish one book in each month of this year, I am way ahead of schedule.  I was a little proud of myself for getting through three until my daughter informed me she was on her fifth book this year.  The difference is that I have  a TV and places to go, while she is living a stoic existence in a remote village.  Sorry sweetie.

Nostalgia

While I was with our host nation counterparts in Ha Tinh Province for training during the second week of January, I was at a dinner with some guests of one of the Vietnamese team leaders.  All of the team leaders from the Ministry of National Defense come from some background that isn't necessarily related to what they are doing now.  Recently, we have had some military counterparts with a background in the SRV Navy.  One of these navy officers had invited two of his previous leaders to dinner and he introduced them to me.  One of the gentlemen, Tien, came to the table to which I was sitting and started talking about an aircraft that crashed with three crew members. I automatically assumed he was talking about a wartime crash, and I started to fret because I had nothing to take notes with, nor reference materials. Since it was a fairly relaxed atmosphere, I let him continue without interruption.  I realized after a couple of sentences, he was talking about a 1988 ditching of a navy aircraft in the South China Sea. All three of the crew members survived and were picked up by the Vietnamese navy. I remember this incident clearly, because I happened to be flying in a U.S. Air Force aircraft at the time and had a special interest in the downed navy bird.  Anyway, Mr. Tien (I didn't get his rank but assume he was at least a Senior Colonel) described the incident very clearly, and went on to say he was on the Vietnamese vessel that picked up the crew.  The details of the aircraft loss are at this link:  https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-07-16-mn-6036-story.html .  Interestingly, our relationship with Vietnamese at the time wasn't awesome, but it was clear by the return of the crew that we were warming up to each other.  I am not sure how much of the story was exaggerated since Mr. Tien stated that one of the officers, a pregnant female, had named her child after him... the local moonshine was flowing, and some stretching of the truth could be forgiven.

Mr. Tien was on the Vietnamese ship that picked up three members of a CT-39 crew in in the South China Sea - 1988

It isn't often that I think of my military career before the MIA mission in the U.S. Air Force. I do remember it fondly; the hard work, comrades, and real world mission we had made it an awesome job, but it took a back seat to the high profile job I had that followed at the Detachment in Hanoi.  Anyway, Mr. Tien's story took me back to a time that feels like a previous life. It left me with a great sense of nostalgia and dredged up some memories that had lain dormant for a very long time.

Obstacles

In the interest of making semi-regular updates, I am back again, and still working on the resolutions.  It's funny that the older I get, the quicker time flies and the more things get in the way of what I want to accomplish.  My meaning is, I have been working on my three main resolutions, but the holidays seem to never want to end. I go from Christmas, to New Years, and now I am on the cusp of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year - Tet, which is a big deal here.  My biggest challenge is getting a routine, and that seems nearly impossible with the work and holiday travel schedule I have.  I tried to wriggle my way out of the Lunar New Year travel, but I failed... miserably. If there is any victory, it is in that I only will be away from home for three days.  That travel starts next week.

Due to work and other pressing requirements,  I have only had three days off in the month of January.  I have been working on Sundays and Saturdays, week dependent, and I am starving for some real weekend time.

As much as I love the public library, I already have a lesson learned... Don't bite off more than I can choose. With the 21 day borrow policy, I don't want to take a chance that I won't be able to extend my borrow. I had to turn in my last book halfway through it, and that was mostly because I was trying to get through three books at one time.  It's hard to settle down to just one book, but I think my new rule will have to be one audio and one digital book at a time.  Otherwise, I will be returning books unfinished, and then waiting for them to be finished by someone else before I can get back to it.

My exercise plans aren't too bad off, I am managing to get closer to my goals, and I hope after the Lunar New Year, I can focus more on that.  I started running in the mornings, but the increase in traffic as early as 5am due to the New Year preparations here have forced me to move it indoors to the elyptical and treadmill.

Since my online course resolution is more long range, I find myself falling a little behind, but I think that will pick up soon.

Other than that, Diep, Megan and I are working on our travel plans. We are working on a July or October return to Mobile, but hoping to make a detour to the Austin area to visit my sister.  Still working out the details, but looking forward to getting back stateside near family, if just for a little while... with travel still relatively far in the future. 

Still in Active Pursuit

Since we are only 12 days into the new year, it shouldn't be a surprise that I am still in active pursuit of my new year goals.  In some I am doing better than others, but in none have I given up completely.

With regards to reading, I finished one audio book Flying Through Midnight by John Halliday.  I very much enjoyed it because it gave me more perspective on some of the special operations activities along the wartime Ho Chi Minh Trail that ran along the border of Vietnam and Laos.  Since it is written in a first person narrative with an interesting story behind it, it wasn't dry and hard to listen to, though I must admit my interest built as I neared the end of the book and the author's story moved towards the climax.  John Halliday was an aircraft commander of C-123's flying in the 606th Special Operations Squadron out of Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand.  His story was captivating, and it was well worth the time I spent listening.

I would like to explain a little more about my reading resolution since this is my blog and I have the time.  I have read a little bit about the benefits of listening to audio books. Though many traditionalists may scoff at those who listen to books rather than read them, I can say I get as much - if not more - out of listening.  I would also like to say, from my perspective, in the last two years or more that I have been listening to audio books, my listening and retention skills have improved.  Initially, I lamented the drawbacks of listening to books; the difficulties of going back to previous pages or chapters to affirm or refute something I read.  While I have found no easy way to get around that, I do feel like I am getting better at retention and find myself less inclined to refer back to previous pages and chapters as I had in the past.  The benefits for me in listening to audio books lie in the ability to "read" at times that I wouldn't have been able to in the past:  when walking to work, on public transportation, and when on road trips on roads that would make me car sick if I tried to read a hard  or soft copy. In my time-crunched world, these time blocks are very valuable in that I can accomplish two things at once.  For the record, I do have a digital book I am working through at the moment.  When I finish, I will talk about it a little.

Another thing about my reading right now is where I am getting my books.  I have a Fairfax County library card that allows me to read and listen to thousands of contemporary and classic books.  I use Libby and RBDigital apps to borrow the books, and extend the loan when needed.  These apps usually sync across devices and allow me to download the books to read or listen to when I am not able to get a wi-fi or cell data signal.  The public library is one of the few perks that I get my money's worth from my local taxes.

As far as my exercise resolution, I must admit that I am behind on this one, but I have made some improvements.  I was able to run half a dozen times since the new year for at least thirty minutes without stopping. This, while I was performing temporary duty and staying in a hotel, rather than at home.  I am still slow and not up to the four full hours per week I committed to, but I am definitely doing something more than before, and I am progressing to meet my goal.

I also started a course to learn the programming language Python.  I registered on edX.org (an online site that allows you to audit Massive Online Open Courses, known as MOOCs, for free).  I haven't spent as much time as I would have liked on the course to date, but I am plodding along at an acceptable rate at the moment.

Finally, I just got back from seven days of temporary duty, as I mentioned above, in a place I definitely wouldn't want to live. It's very nice to be home. Here's hoping the routines will solidify while my home life is stabilized!