Random Things

Here are some pictures that we thought were interesting on a little excursion we took on the motorbikes. It is the new area of Hanoi, with big areas,wide roades, tall buildings and as you can see reminders of being in Vietnam.

It is a fun place to go out to and on weekends we have heard there are many people driving around just to enjoy the open space. While out in this area, Brittany and Ann took advantage of the wide open sidewalk and went walking.

The tall buildings remind us of Europe. The area is still being built but already has restaurants, and interesting shops. They are currently building houses with the same style as the tall buildings. Like most of the houses in Hanoi, the houses will be narrow and go up a number of levels (3-5).

Until the next excursion.

Terry Fox Run

I am not sure how many of you have heard of the Terry Fox Run. It is an annual event to raise money for cancer research. It all began by a young man named Terry Fox who was a cancer survivor; he determined that he would run across Canada to raise money for cancer research, with his one leg and a prosthetic leg. After 143 days and 5,373 km (3,339 miles) he had to stop because of cancer. He died one year later. He was an inspiration because of his heroic effort, birthing the Terry Fox Run which is held in multiple countries every year. Last year when Ann and Joseph participated, Hanoi had the 4th largest event outside of Canada.

This year we decided to go as a family, joining the Hanoi International Fellowship Team, and participate in this amazing community event. Brittany ran with Ann about two times around the lake (about 2.5 Kilometers total). Joseph went for speed and wanted to see how fast he could run around. His assessment afterwards was "I need to get into better shape", but after he figured his time he decided it was not too bad. For his time you will have to ask him. I, well, I could not be outdone by the rest of the family, so I went for the fewest laps and did one, while holding helmets, jackets and sweatpants for the rest of my family. I think I might have sweated a little? ha ha. For Joseph and Ann who were trying to run it was somewhat difficult, because there was so many people crowded together going around the lake.

It was a great family outing, while helping to raise money for cancer research. You can see the pictures soon.

Techy alert

Only read this one if you like computers and an interesting story. This will be co-authored by Mr. Tech in our family, Joseph.

This story begins about two years ago. That is when we decided that we would need a desktop computer sometime in the near future....well, after the two year time warp, we decided it was really time to get a desktop computer!

I (Joseph) had just gotten a new camera and had successfully researched about all there was to research about point and shoot cameras on the market... I thought hey how hard can it be to research computers? HARD!! Besides the fact that there are over 500 HP desktops alone that have reviews online (over 500 don't have reviews) I quickly found that researching computers is about 4000 times harder!! to make a long story short (I have to get off in 2 minutes) we ended up deciding that we would build our own computer... and I will have my dad fill you in on the rest (and I will add the techy details).

Joseph and I went to a Ben Computer to see what was available. We were surprised to find a busy, overcrowded, open air feel (quite typical here, as they do not close the big double doors) store. We talked to a sale agent and we were given a magazine with all the parts and prices the store carries, which is updated every 4 or 5 days. Joseph began to write some ideas down of what we needed in a computer to have one that would allow us to do video editing, plus all the other things we would use it for.

On the magazine it showed the address of another Ben Computer store, which was closer to our home. This store was bigger and had a nice sales agent who talked with Ann and I. He only spoke Vietnamese and our computer Vietnamese is quite limited. So it was interesting trying to describe to him the different items we would need. For example I think it took us 5 minutes to ask about the Ethernet port for internet. We found the right word eventually, it is in-ter-net (no tones). Just in case you needed to know. Fortunately most of the items we could point at and ask for his recommendations.

We were able to decide on all the components and have them begin to build our computer. But then everything came to a crashing halt when the salesman called and said that Ben Computer in all of Hanoi did not have the Western Digital (WD) Hard Drives we wanted. He recommended Samsung. After more research, we decided that we wanted to stick with WD. After several calls back and forth, and it was determined that they were not able to obtain WD hard drives any time soon, Ann suggested we try looking at another computer store. We found the hard drives. I called and asked if we could bring the hard drives we found at another store to the Ben Computer store so that the computer could be finished. He said, "sure". So our computer was built. But then came another issue, software...

Software becomes very complicated in Vietnam. It is very easy to obtain software that is "cracked" as they call it. We were able to purchase a real version of Vista, from outside of Vietnam. We tried to upgrade it over the internet (so Windows Media Player would work), but it is not offered in our area yet so we could not buy it. Those IP addressees our computers give out let Microsoft know we are in Vietnam. Amazing isn't. There is more to this story, but it is just hours of boring detail on fixing our computer from the way it came to us.

We now have a fine working machine that we hope will allow us to edit video to share with our friends and family back home.

Courage

Yesterday (Sunday the 4th of November) I sprained my ankle while playing basketball with Joseph. I went up for a rebound and so did Joseph. Joseph got the ball and I got his foot, well I landed on it anyway. Today I decided that I should go to the doctor as the foot was still quite swollen and I did hear some tearing sound when my foot rolled over. But how to get to the doctor?

This was solved by Ann courageously stating that she would take me....on the motorcycle. That meant me behind her, carrying my crutches (on loan from a friend). On the way to the doctor it was not too bad, as the traffic was relatively low. But on the way back it was the beginning of rush hour. This meant driving in thick traffic and coming within inches of other motorcycles, bicycles, cars and people, with me on the back with my crutches. I was impressed. Ann denies any bravery in doing this, but I really think she is courageous!

About my foot - I have trauma to the ligaments and have to wear a foot brace for three weeks. After that I need to move my foot in as full a range of motion as possible. My foot is still swollen, but I really do not have much pain. Right now we are trying to figure out how I am going to get to the University, as this is my shifting foot for the motorcycle and I am not supposed to move it up and down, or sideways for that matter. Someone suggested I just leave it in 3rd or 4th gear. I might try that. Someone also kidded that I could use a crutch to shift, I don't think that would work too well.

Please be thinking of Ann, as she will have to be driving the motorcycle more often since I am not able to for the time being. Thank you!