THE LAST TIME WE...

On Facebook, many people post a lot of useless stuff.  However, someone recently posted something that I got very emotional thinking about it.  It was a quote that goes like, "One time you had fun with your friends but did not know that it would be the last time you would be together."  I am not much of a party animal but I suppose the scenario can apply to any gathering.  Maybe just a simple dinner with loved ones.  More recently, on Mac Geek Gab podcast I heard about an iOS app called Last Time.  Supposedly you make an entry in the app and it keeps a running count of whatever that you just entered.  Looking at the app some time later, you would learn that you have a certain pair of shoes for so many months, you last had dinner at some place so many weeks, and so on.  In my emotional state, I am not sure I want to install the app but I think eventually I will.

This week I learned of the sudden death of an elderly friend.  He is older than me by some twenty years.  He was a young medic during the Vietnam War while I was still a toddler.  Vietnam is a big country and we never met there but some forty years later in Brooklyn, NY we did, through a run club.  He took up long-distance running late in his life but he was good.  I am not fast to begin with but he was indeed faster than me.  I used to think that when I get to his age I would be happy to still be able to run like him.  One time he paced me at a Summer Series 5K and it was one of my best times.  I was in much pain, since on my own I usually don't run that hard, but I was very happy too.  He was a good friend and a good coach.  A very nice guy overall.

For me, his sudden death left two unfinished businesses.  I am not 100% sure, but I think he once mentioned he had this letter he found on a wounded enemy combatant.  Recall that he was a medic in the Vietnam War.  He wanted me to translate the letter, just out of curiosity.  He never got that letter to me.

The other unfinished business is that at one time I wanted to make a route-art, StravaArt if you will, for him.  Since he was in the armed force, I thought it would be appropriate to use his last name.  At the end of his name, I would add a red cross, to signify his role in the war as a medic.  Maybe I thought that I better run the idea by him first, but never got around to it, nothing ever came out of my StravaArt idea.  I may still be able to do that one of these days.  I do plan to resume running regularly so it's a good possibility.

The Thirtieth of April

Today, April 30th, or ba mươi tây tháng tư in Vietnamese, meaning the thirtieth of April, is a historical day in Vietnam. April 30, 1975 was the day that the Vietnam War was over. There was no more South Vietnam and North Vietnam, just one unified Vietnam. Sounds nice, but it wasn't. On the surface, all Vietnamese were brothers and sisters again, but I heard stories of revenge, which were more likely the case when a government is overthrown by another. But seriously, I didn't have any personal experiences on that day. I was just a mere teenager tucked away in the countryside, away from all the actions.

This year's April 30 turned out to be an important day in my life, too. My old department, LAN Account Admin or LAA for short, finally got the official word from HR that their job is, for all practical purposes, done with. All LAA functions in the Northeast and Mid-West will be transferred to Tampa and Houston. I suppose they will have the chance to move to those cities to keep their jobs, but I doubt that many people will move. People have roots where they live and it is a major change. From the firm's point of view, of course, change is good, that everyone should embrace it.

Some consultants already got their fateful phone calls. They only have 30-day notices, versus employee's 60. Some time in the third quarter the employees will get their notice. That put their last day of work, at most, around September 1. For sure I'll come out to Jersey City to visit them for some farewell dinner before then. I will miss them.