Yea!!!! I’m Alive

OOPS….. I missed yesterdays post. It did not publish for some reason, therefore, I will publish today’s as usual, but will publish yesterdays blog tomorrow…. Sorry if the pictures look familliar, but you will ubderstand as you read on.

Here is an interesting update to the saga of my stolen wallet. I received in the mail today, a letter from Saigon containing a note of few words informing me that if I wanted my wallet back, I was to call a phone number. I had Mai call and we were “told” that a young man had found the wallet on the street and that he was very poor. He would be willing to meet with me and return the wallet if I gave him a reward. Yea RIGHT!! This is the way the scam works. I have been told of this before by other victims. They get you once by stealing your wallet, and then again by returning it. I decided that the id could be replaced and it would be better for me to lose the wallet but catch the little buggers by sending a policeman to get my wallet for me. Some in my family agreed and I started off on this course. I met a little resistance to this plan among other family members and decided to call a 3rd party. I phoned my friend Hau and explained the situation. He told me that the same thing had happened to a co-worker recently and that the crooks would be watching out for such a tactic. Also, they could not be traced through the cell number as all phones here use sim cards, and the call to me was probably on a

Halong Bay

 cheap sim card that was purchased for this purpose and would be thrown away after the extortion attempt. He thought it would be best to just pay the “reward” and get my id back. I asked him if he could do it for me, and graciously he agreed. So the bad guys win…. What a good friend. I owe him. He drove to the location and gave the 500000. Hau now has my id and has saved me some inconvenience. I owe him and will pay him back. There you go. Life is truly an adventure. I like it!! Makes the soul feel young, even with the screw-ups.

The back-up to my big hard drive crashed. I cannot get it to read. Disaster!! I have almost one terabyte of information on there including all of the pictures I share. All my tax info, movie library…… everything is on it. What is really

A small house

scary is that it is the back-up of another hard drive that failed, so…….. I know, I know… those that know me will think that I am a computer wiz and it should be no problem, however, this is not a bug or a software problem. This is a good old mechanical failure. I will have to venture into an unknown world to try to fix this one.

About the hotel…. Again we are surprised at the bookings we are getting. Last minute deals from people who have heard that we are the place to be. Wow!! I am honored. At the moment, we are ¾ to capacity and all guests are foreigners. Because of this, Mai and I set off to talk with some local restaurants and stores about how to deal with foreigners. Some of the restaurants are now making up English menus. Great!! Soon there will be many services here that can be done in English. There are hold outs however. There is a little store 2 doors down from us. One of my customers went to buy cigarettes and came back angry that he was charged a little more than in the tourist area. I asked someone to talk with her and she replied that it was a good opportunity for her to make more money from a westerner, so she will charge more. How STUPID!! I am now telling all of my customers not to buy from her, but walk up the street a bit. I will not tolerate the old thinking, and will bully my way through it.

Another development is that I went home today to find a truck unloading bricks across the street from my house. Huh?? I discovered that there was a plan to build a security post right in my line of sight out my front door. NO WAY!!! I spent some time arguing and explaining, and whining, and threatening, and whatever else it took to get my message out. In the end I had the whole neighborhood agreeing with me and the fight is on!! If for some reason they are able to build the security in from of my house, I will use my resources to have the government expel them for not having the correct authorization, and if that does not work. I will make a very big show of putting the house up for sale. The whole neighborhood has come to like us and believe we are an asset to the community by living there. All of this adventure keeps the blood boiling and the mind racing. You might think that it is all not worth it………… But man….. I feel ALIVE.

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2 thoughts on “Yea!!!! I’m Alive

  1. Computer problems? Just call Ken W. the computer wizard. I sure he’ll can solve all your problems and for you one heck of a deal!

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