I Should be Working, But...

I think I should be working right now, but it is Saturday and I did spend most of the morning moving from Tra Vinh City to where I am now,  Bac Lieu City.  It has been hard for me to get my work requirements accomplished for a myriad of reasons from lack of connectivity, weariness, travel, to a bad working environment...  Anyway, I should be able to cut a few hours into this evening to get something accomplished.  In the meantime, I thought I would put this post up before heading out to dinner.

This morning I woke up early, as usual. I have had a really hard time staying in bed past four thirty or so since I got back from the U.S.  This morning, without an alarm, I got up at 5:20 am.  I had huge bags under my eyes, but at least I got about eight hours sleep.  At just after 7 am, there was a cacaphony of drums and bells in the parking lot of the Cuu Long Hotel.  I didn't pay it much attention and it seemed over as quickly as it started.  But, it kicked off again about 30 minutes later, so I rushed down with my camera to get a few picks of the dragon dance.  The dragon dance is a common lunar new year ritual both in China and Vietnam, and it is quite the flurry of color and sound.  I grabbed this picture of the kids doing the dance.  Sorry it wasn't better composed, but these guys were jumping around like crack addicts and I had to maneuver around the crowd to get even this shot:

Today was the 15th of the lunar month of December.  The last full moon of the 2012 lunar calendar.  I am not sure if that was the reason for the dance, or if it was just some work up to Tet, but these guys seemed to have a lot of energy and it looked like they were having fun.  This was in Tra Vinh City, where the primary work is still agriculture.  Somehow, I think Tet means a lot more to these guys than it does to the folks in the city.

Anyway, there will be quite a few activities throughout the country moving into the lunar new year.  I will try to grad some better shots.  That is, if I can find some time away from work.

Back to Where I Have Been

I just finished some site reconnaissance work in the Western Highlands in preparation for an upcoming mission.  On two of the sites I visited, I actually conducted the initial investigations in 2006.  It doesn't seem that long ago, but when I met the witness for one of the cases, I didn't recongize him.  As a matter of fact, I thought that my counterparts had located the wrong witness.  Ends up, after going through my old photos, that this is the right witness, he just looks a lot older.  It got me to thinking how seven years makes such a great difference between your sixties and seventies, and yet we just fritter our years away in our twenties and nothing seems to change.  I got to thinking how much difference seven years will make when I reach my mid sixties and it made me sad.  It made me even more sad when I pulled out the photo of myself with the witness seven years ago; noting the witness is not the only one who looks older.

I guess the key is to be happy with the way you spend your time.  Growing old is one of the most natural things in the world and there are some perks to it, like seeing your child learn and be successful.

Anyway, I am heading to Saigon and the Mekong Delta region today. Fortunately, I haven't done any previous work on those sites, so I won't be saddened by any ageing I have done.

Human Bug Zapper

Caveat up front: There is no real purpose to this little story, other than it was very surreal for me this morning and I wanted to share.

I woke up this morning at 0430hrs, because I was departing for the Western Highlands to do some advance work on some sites scheduled for excavation. I kicked into my normal routine of making the coffee and grabbing the IPad to read up on what's going on in Twitter, FB, etc.

Around 5:00, I heard a boom that I thought could be a backfire, a gunshot or a firework from outside, but it wasn't enough to get me off the couch.  A few minutes later, I heard another, and through the window I saw a flash of white light.  I got up and looked out the window, but didn't see anything and returned to the couch.  Shortly after that, I heard another boom and got up again.  This time I saw that there was a bare power line somewhere down on one of the backstreets of the apartments.  I couldn't see the exposed area because there was a building obscuring my view.  After standing for a minute, I saw the lights of a vehicle go by and as it passed into the obscurity of the building I saw another white flash and heard a boom.  I watched three more vehicles go by with the same effect. 

In Vietnam, most vehicles traveling down back streets are motorbikes, so I couldn't help thinking that these bikes were getting zapped (and these were huge flashes of white light) and the drivers were piling up on the other side; not much unlike dead bugs in the bottom of a bug zapper.  There didn't appear to be any harried movement of people warning others, and as a matter of fact I didn't see anyone moving other than the few vehicles that went by.  It just seemed very strange that no emergency vehicles went by and I saw no fire trucks. 

After the fourth vehicles got zapped, everything got quiet and I didn't hear anymore booms.  I went ahead and got ready for my day, packed the rest of my gear and left the house.

New Year 2013

If the first 10 days of the New Year are any indication of things to come in 2013, I will be traveling a lot. I already know this to be true just looking at my schedule up into March this year.  Being away from the family that much means that I will have to spend more quality time when I am home or with them.  If that means spending more money for them to meet me some place, I am good with that.

Right now, I am in Hawaii. I know, I know, there are those out there thinking Wow!, Hawaii.  Wish I was there.  Maybe so, and quite honestly I am enjoying the training I am getting right now, but I haven't been out on the town much. I have taken advantage of the early morning hours, though. I have been running since I got here and plan on keeping it up until I leave. Whether I keep running when I get to Hanoi or move into a new fitness program is yet to be seen, but I do plan on keeping something going. Since I exercise quite a bit already, I think I will need to focus more this year on my diet.  Hard to do that here in Hawaii, but I already have a plan for when I get back home.  If that is a new year's resolution, fine. Hopefully my enthusiasm lasts longer than usual when it comes to new year inititatives.

Upon my arrival into Honolulu, I promptly left my IPAD in the airline seat pocket in front of me. I had already cleared immigration, gotten my baggage, boarded the rental car and was bound for the hotel before I realized I had left it. I told my two traveling companions and didn't plan on going back to the airport to look for it, but they were supportive and suggested I give it a try. It took no more than 15 minutes to have it back in my hands.  I must say, my faith in the human race is restored. Seeing a significant pay cut due to increased social security withholdings at the beginning of the year left me praying I didn't have to buy a new IPAD. Many thanks to Korean Airlines and the aircraft cleaning crew for doing the right thing. I seriously doubt I would have ever seen my IPAD again had I left it in a seat pocket arriving in Hanoi.

Regrettably, I didn't get a clean break from 2012. I still have a bit of a rocky road to go in the early part of 2013. Not sure when things will get better, but in the meantime, I will put my head down and just keep putting one foot in front of the other. As long as I don't stop, I don't think I will fall down. 

Never Looking Back

Tomorrow I head off for America with Megan to celebrate the holidays at home. Diep didn't want to go this year because she has some unfinished business in Saigon, and because her back hurts when she sits on the plane for transpacific flights. Megan and I will miss Diep, but we will only be apart for two weeks... I think we can all handle that.

I won't be back in Vietnam until after the new year.  As with every new year I am sure I will have some resolutions in hand.  I may have actually listed my resolutions in a post last year, but I am not looking back to see just how miserably I failed. Never looking back may just be the best approach for me to adopt.  Sure, there are those who tell us that we must learn from our mistakes.  With that, I agree.  But I don't want to dwell on those mistakes and failures.  I don't see the purpose.

So, I will barrel into 2013 with no regrets.  I can only hope this coming year treats me better than 2012. In 2012, I felt overwhelmed with the work load and new job I started.  The only good thing I can see in this waning year from my perspective is that I was able to set myself up for some monumental successes that should begin with the year 2013. Most good things come off the back of blood, sweat, and tears.  Everything else is just luck.

So here I am, never looking back.  I hope I am still young enough to keep looking foward.  I reckon I have a few more good years in me. I need to capitalize on those coming years.

I feel good now. Last week I suffered a bout of what I believe was Sciatica.  Basically, a pinched nerve, or bunch of nerves, that caused my lower back and hip muscles to tighten to the point of severe pain.  I doubt there is anything I can do about it, except hope it doesn't pop up again.  I just sat on my ass for a week and let it work itself out.  I guess I could have gone to a doctor, but my feeling about doctors on things like this is they can't do anything except charge you for medication to ease the pain and inflamation. I can get that on my own.

Feeling inspired...

I believe my sister's inspiration is contagious. I see that she has posted several blog entries in the last couple of weeks on her site and she has inspired me to want to do the same. Unfortunately, where the spirit goes the mind does not always follow.  That is to say, my inspiration will be in the mere form of a lowly sitrep. I attribute this lack of real spirit to jet lag.

Sunday, I got on a plane and traveled East, stopping briefly in Seoul and then continuing on across the International Date Line to the Island of Oahu.  I felt upgrade-fortunate because I was upgraded to business class from Hanoi to Seoul, my colleague and traveling partner was upgraded in auto rental (he is now my Chevy Malibu Chauffeur) and then when I arrived at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, I received an upgrade to the Rainbow Tower (which, by the way, has nothing to do with alternative lifestyle choices).  

I will be in meetings all week and leave on Saturday. I arrive in Hanoi Sunday night and leave again on Wednesday for a couple of weeks in Mobile, visiting Dad.  Megan will be traveling with me while Diep takes care of some things in her hometown of Saigon.  Megan will also take a detour to DC to see her friend for a couple of days. This will be her first independent trip in the U.S. and I think she is pretty excited. I am excited for her because I know in my heart her life adventure will blossom this year.  The choices she makes in the next few years will drive her the rest of her life and the excitement of those decisions and experiences is powerful. 

I had some back pain the past couple of weeks that has left me tender in my core region. From what I have read, I believe I have experienced sciatica.  I believe this is pretty prevalent in men my age... especially when they refuse to act their age in the gym and on the road.  I believe I brought it on with over exuberance in a new program I had and this time traveling will make it easier for me to take it easy.  I will begin anew next year in January and hopefully reach new heights.  As much as I have denied myself, I believe I will have to concentrate on my diet more than exercise next year if I want to stay pain free.  Walking around with an extra 20 pounds on me, no matter how otherwise fit I am is not good and I have to do something about it.

I am not sure how often I will update during the holiday season.  So, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Helicopter Inspections

Eevery six months, we do helicopter inspections of our contracted helicoper company to esnure safety of flight for our personnel and cargo. Our helicopter company has grown in the commercial arena leaps and bounds since I first flew on one of their aircraft in 1991, but many things remain unchanged. 

The helicopter company is a Vietnamese state owned enterprise (SOE) (a sort of hybrid between a government orgaization and a commercial entity).  These SOE's were born out of the communist system and offer a government entity the opportunity to make capital from commercial business with the government assets they are assigned.  Our servicing aircraft are Mi-172s, that look much like Mi-8s and Mi-17s. They are Russian manufactured aircraft, and the pilots are military personnel transferred to the commercial company.  Most of the pilots are senior colonels in their late forties and early fifties who cut their teeth in Russian training and Cambodian warfare.

I just finished interpreting for a group of inspectors at the helicopter company today, and in closing we drank copious amounts of vodka... Russian vodka.  Toasts were made to those inspectors who were here on their last inspection, the inspectors who would return on the next trip, the new facilities at the company, the success of the inspection.  And as we ran out of righteous toasts, we were forced to toast every new menu item that arrived at the table.  Needless to say, I am still "toasted" as I sit here writing this blog. And, I am writing this blog for fear I would otherwise delve into real work and find myself un-screwing things I did today, tomorrow.

Anyway, the point of this post is that I found myself sitting at the table reminiscing about the early days when I first arrived in Hanoi. There were dishes on the tables and smells in the air that took me back some twenty one years to when I first arrived in Hanoi. The simple pleasures of eating simple foods and drinking simple drinks.  The uncomplicated banter that military men talked under the now cold, misty, and cloudy skies of Hanoi.

I won't shed vodka tears over years gone by, but I do feel that empty feeling in the pit of my stomach wondering if I spent my youth the best way I could.