The Sorrow Of War

This morning I finished one of the books recommended to me. The book is called "The Sorrow Of War" by Bao Ninh. I have read many books about the Vietnam war but this is the first one I've read that was written by a North Vietnamese soldier.

The book was extremely well written and proves to me once again that there are no winners in war. The other underlining theme of the novel is that wars don't end when treaties are signed. Wars stick with people forever. The author wrote: "Each of us carried in his heart a separate war which in many ways was totally different, despite our common cause. We had different memories of people we'd known and of the war itself, and we had different destinies in the postwar years. Our only postwar similarities stemmed from the fact that everyone had experienced difficult, painful, and different fates."

There are many powerful stories and images within the novel but perhaps the most powerful thing of all is when you read the last page. After the novel is finished, on a single page is the paragraph about the author. It says: "Bao Ninh served with the Glorious 27th Youth Brigade. Of the five hundred who went to war with the Brigade in 1969, he is one of ten who survived. He lives in Hanoi."

Saute Moutons (White Clouds)

(PICTURE: Evan, Mike, Brad and Me in the front row.)

This blog is long overdue. My excuse: I scanned these pictures last night after having them for nearly two months.

For those of you who don't remember, upon coming back to the USA I almost immediately got back on a plane and went to Montreal for my best friend Brad's bachelor party. Brad had told me he wanted to go jetboating in Montreal but unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate with us the day we planned on going. On Sunday morning I woke up and called the jetboat company around 8:30 and asked if they were doing a 10AM boat trip. The person who picked up said they were, but we had to get there an hour early. I woke up Brad and asked if he wanted to go. He did. I then called a couple of guys' rooms and asked if they wanted to come. I got two more suckers -- Mike and Evan -- to join us. We all ran downstairs and jumped into a cab which got us to the dock at 9AM. We were dropped at the wrong dock so I ran down the port and got to the right one. When I arrived NOBODY was there except a few staff. One of the staff was the owner who told me that he had a trip booked with a middle school. He said they would make room for us or take a second boat. This was great...sort of. There were a few things that weren't cool...or in actuality, waaaaaay to cool:
1) It was FREEZING outside.
2) We did not have warm clothes on.
3) We were given damp sweaters to put on.
4) The owner preceded to talk and talk and talk...until Brad told him he had a flight to catch at 1. The owner literally talked for an hour so we got on the boats at nearly 11AM. This put Brad into a small state of panic that he'd miss his flight just so he could be drenched in rapids.

In the end, it all worked out and we had a blast. The ride was ridiculous. Basically these jetboats go head first into Grade IV rapids. Everyone gets annihilated by freezing cold water...which feels extra chilly because of the insanely cold winds. After we docked, the four of us threw off our clothes and sprinted to the street. We got a taxi and back to the hotel in pretty good time. The rest of the 1PM flying crew was waiting for Brad in the lobby and they all quickly took off and caught their plane. Without a doubt, it was one of the most memorable parts of the weekend.

Oh, and we got these great pictures:

Fifteen Months!

The count-up continues! Huyen and I have officially been together for 15 months!!!!

More importantly though, the countdown continues. I'll be hugging Huyen at the Nobai airport in SIX DAYS!!!!

F*$K!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You do the math: What happens when you take a person who sleeps with a glass of water next to his bed because he wakes up every night thirsty AND this person happens to have a girlfriend in Vietnam that he talks to on his laptop right before going to bed?

I'll give you ten seconds to figure this one out...


Yup, last night at 2AM I woke up to take a sip of water and spilled my glass. I immediately sprung up from bed and grabbed my laptop to dry it. There was only a little bit of water on my computer and I thought the cost was clear when I opened my laptop and saw that it was working. I then immediately closed my laptop and placed it on dry land. This morning I woke up and it isn't working. (FYI: I'm writing this from my mom's desktop.) I went on to a bunch of computer forums this morning and the #1 piece of advice was to do exactly the opposite of what I did last night. Everyone says that if a liquid gets on your laptop you should immediately take out the battery and unplug the computer. By turning it on you can short the components inside. Greeeeeeaaaaat. There were a few other people who said that they just let their laptop dry out for a day or two and then it worked again. My fingers are crossed that this will work.

The best/worst part of this whole thing is this:
1. Every night I've worried about this exact situation happening. I usually get out of bed and place the laptop on higher ground after talking to Huyen.
2. With my last mac I had Applecare. I didn't end up needing Applecare since the ninjas stole my computer. With this laptop I opted to not get applecare because, well, I was worried it might get stolen again and an extended warranty means nothing when your computer is stolen.
3. This of course had to happen the last week I'm in the states. Hopefully the computer will work again when I next give it a try...or else I'll be able to fix it before I head back to Vietnam.

Maybe this is a sign I should not be a computer owner.

Monsoons

One thing that New York and Hanoi has in common is monsoon-like torrential downpours. Yesterday for the second time since I've been home, I've gotten caught outside in the middle of a ridiculous thundershower. There are a few differences in getting caught in the rain in Vietnam and in "The Big Apple" though:

1) In Vietnam everyone and their brother will try to sell you a poncho as soon as it starts to rain. In New York, every other store will sell you umbrellas.

2) In New York you can duck into the subway to stay dry and get where you need to go. In Hanoi, You've got to throw on your poncho, roll up your pants and drive your motorbike.

3) In New York you're pretty sure lightning will hit a tall building with a lightning rod. In Hanoi, well, you might be that tall building.

Congratulations Dave and Abby!

(PICTURE: Dave and Abby.)

I'm getting closer and closer to earning the title of "Last Man Standing."

David Levinson, one of my oldest friends, recently got engaged to his girlfriend Abby. I've known Dave for as long as I can remember. When we were little kids we lived around the corner from each other. I always loved to sleep over Dave's house because he had a real tent that we used to attach to his bed. There's little doubt in my mind that my love of camping started by sleeping over Dave's house.

When we got a little older, Dave and I invented a modern form of Gladiator combat called "Sock Wrestling." Basically Dave and I would each wear tube socks on our feet and have to maneuver to step on the other's feet in order to pull off the other person's sock. It sounds ridiculous but was actually a lot of fun...until Dave tripped me and I hit my head on the edge of his door and got probably the first concussion of my life (Dave later went on to be one of the best high school wrestlers in the state...or at least the county. I can't remember but want to say state since it makes me look better that a kid half my weight could take me down so easily.).

Dave was also the person who I always talked ice hockey with. Dave was a hard-core New York Rangers fan while I was idiotically a Boston Bruins fan. Up until 1994 I could win any argument with Dave by simply saying "1940." Now, I've got nothing to brag about when it comes to hockey.

I've only met Abby a couple of times but can easily see why the two of them get along so well. Abby is a ton of fun and really feisty -- something a girl needs to be in order to put up with Dave. In fact, I have no doubt that Abby could kick Dave's butt in sock wrestling.

Congrats to Dave and Abby!

Vietnam Science Might Be Right

(PICTURE: A common chart at a Vietnamese Hospital.)

On Saturday August 8, 2008 I wrote a blog called "Vietnamese Science." Basically in the blog I made fun of Huyen for some of the crazy things Vietnamese think. One of the scientific things Huyen had told me and that I pointed out in that post was:

Dr. Huyen: "Married couples must have a lot of sex to get rid of bad genes. It's science."

Well, my brother sent me a link to a medical article the other day entitled, "Daily Sex Helps To Reduce Sperm DNA Damage And Improve Fertility."

I guess I owe Vietnamese Science an apology because this study basically confirms Dr. Huyen's statement. As Huyen would say, "I told you. That's science!"