http://vietnamzen.com Just Livin' It! Sun, 08 Jul 2007 03:36:36 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Just two hours before everything has to be packed and delivered to the Hue train station. Wonder if we will make it? Packing is such an intense experience, one is certainly happy when one arrives and finds out that most everything that one forgot can be purchased locally ... http://vietnamzen.com/2007/05/02/packing-aint-fun/ I've forgotten how video cameras are everywhere in the Western world -- it's called "The Panoptic Age" -- the age of constant surveillance which is being increasingly implemented by the NWO. Constant surveillance leads to "self-censorship". One rule-of-thumb is that if the videos of any event are systematically removed by ... http://vietnamzen.com/2007/04/30/are-americans-being-a-merri-coned/ Probably the greatest impact for me will be returning to the USA after one year outside the USA. Living in Vietnam has had its frustrations -- especially the very limited sense of humor, constant negativity and having to be watchful of not being cheated on prices... at the same time, we have ... http://vietnamzen.com/2007/04/30/impact-of-coming-back/ This trip has been one of quiet exploration of myself and the Vietnamese culture. Every time I go into Hue, I see Western tourists zipping around to see everything in their allotted 2, 3 or 4 week timeframe. Sitting off to the side, I am amazed at how ... http://vietnamzen.com/2007/04/30/last-days-in-vietnam-part-2/ Sitting here in front of the computer listening to the rain on the tin roof, Mai sewing a new outfit for herself (using the Brother sewing machine which we brought over and are leaving here) and Megan playing in the rain with her cousin Em Win on the front porch ... http://vietnamzen.com/2007/04/30/last-days-in-vietnam/ We just celebrated Gina's first memory day -- she died one year ago today at approx 4:00am. A bit of the Vietnamese tradition "rubbing" off. Megan also wanted to celebrate because she has been doing it since her Grandfather died last June 14th, 10 days after we arrived in ... http://vietnamzen.com/2007/03/26/ginas-memory-day/ In the Americas and Europe, we use DVDs, but in Asia, they use VCD, SVCD, DVCD, but not DVDs. Being here, I've learned to convert DVDs and DivX files into VCD format so it can be played on the TV. Today I had to decide whether to convert the Home ... http://vietnamzen.com/2007/03/12/converting-vcd-vs-svcd/ It was one very hard decision. I was even on the telephone yesterday midday asking Keith, who teaches English in Hanoi, questions regarding the Vietnamese work visa papers and his advise regarding when to attend the CELTA course. The work visa papers are very complex here in Vietnam and it ... http://vietnamzen.com/2007/03/12/celta-training-postponed/ Yesterday, Megan left with Mai's oldest sister when she returned to her house in Dang Ha (30 mi/70 km from Hue). This is the first time that Megan has been away from Mai and I since we've been in Veitnam. Megan has occasionally gone with either my sister, ... http://vietnamzen.com/2007/03/09/megan-in-dang-ha/ On the downhill run -- 1 1/2 months left until we return to the US. Time has certainly sped by, don't know where the time went. Megan has certainly learned Vietnamese well enough to talk with all her playmates. I know that she needs to learn more vocabulary and ... http://vietnamzen.com/2007/03/08/almost-end-of-the-trail/ Behind the scenes, I've been struggling to learn Linux. I want to move away from Microsoft WinXP toward open source Linux software. First I tried openSUSE v10.2 but the transfer speeds were too slow because they didn't have a server in Vietnam, only China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and ... http://vietnamzen.com/2007/03/02/first-post-from-ubuntu-amd-64x2-computer/ Struggling with the decision of whether to spend approx $1,500 to take the 4 week CELTA1 course. CELTA is overseen by the University of Cambridge to teach native English speakers the ins-and-outs of teaching English to non-native English speakers. In the US, one must obtain a MA2 in English (and ... http://vietnamzen.com/2007/03/01/celta-in-bangkok-or-hanoi/ The Vietnamese telephone company [VNPT] has a "customer service" department which Mai and I visited yesterday and I delivered a written complaint. Their employee, who supposedly spoke English, had attended an English class fifteen years ago with Mai when she worked for the post office. Mai had to ... http://vietnamzen.com/2007/02/27/vnpts-customer-service/ WOW! For the first time in six weeks, I've been able to access the website! I emailed GoDaddy.com who hosts the website last month and got "farted" off by some (probably off-shore) tech support personnel. They told me they couldn't do anything for me. Of course, ... http://vietnamzen.com/2007/02/27/wow-i-have-access/ Electricity and the internet has been up and down and I cannot bring up this website in my browser (could it be blocked by the gov't)? And there was another earthquake near Taiwan (signal from the elite?) on Jan 19th which again broke the undersea telephone/internet cable. So I’m ... http://vietnamzen.com/2007/01/24/just-a-quick-update/ Just heard on a lecture that Hugo Chavez's approval percentage in Venezuela is 70% and President Bush's approval rating in the USA is 30%. Is there something wrong with the social conditioning and/or mind control in the US? No wonder Venezuela's Chavez is giving the multi-national corporations a "fit." ... http://vietnamzen.com/2007/01/12/birth-of-a-new-economic-system-2/