Khufu, Justinain, Shah Jahan, Louis the XIV...de-I

Khufu had the Great Pyramid at Giza
Justinian the Hagia Sophia in Byzantium
 Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal in Uttar Pradesh
 Louis the XIV - Versailles

And now de_I

Not content with the splendor that is The Tower.  de-I and his loving consort and co-monarch, Wife are starting on their next epic project - The Crystal Palace and Hanging Gardens.

Stay tuned for more!

Preparing For The Regatta

I'm sure you have all been watching breathlessly at the America's Cup races as they have unfolded over the last few months.  Gad even cricket test matches take less time. 

I have never taken Wife to be a nautical type person but evidently there must be some hidden sea faring tradition on the Northern Plains because she told me today that she was going to be gone most of the day GARAGE SAILING!

I'm not terribly familiar with sailing but I do know there are all kinds of competitions from small craft as they have in the Olympics to long range trans-oceanic races.  But for the life of me, I never heard of GARAGE SAILING.  I mean just the engineering and construction required to transform a perfectly serviceable garage to a water worthy craft has to be daunting.  Or maybe they just take the wood from old garages and use it to make a boat?  What kind of rigging and crew would you need to sail your garage boat?  Was Wife the ship master or was she just crewing this event with a bunch of Midwestern buddies?

Naturally I peppered her with these questions.  First I got this quizzical look.  Then I got the sigh.  (I get lots of these 'sighs'.  Not sure quite why).  "Its GARAGE SALE-ing for cripes sake."

"Oh."

Suppose that explains why I never heard of it.  Still wonder how you'd get one of those garages to float and what rigging you would use.

I Think I Got A Bad Reference From MUPGT

A couple of days ago I made some sarcastic remarks on our local news coverage of a rare event - steady, daylong rain.  Subsequent to that the rains have kept coming.  Now we really are having flooding.  In some places in the state they've gotten 50-60% of their annual average rainfall in just three days.  The Rio Grande river that just a week ago was at a historic low point will reach 8 feet above normal today which is the height of our lowest levees.

I'm thinking there's some demi-god out there for the news industry that saw my blog post and did a little reference check with other deities and found some pretty bad reviews posted by the Magical Unicorn Pony God of Travel. 

In the meantime, according to the news in spite of the epic rainfall we're still in drought.

Reviving Medieval Medicine

We have Western medicine, Eastern medicine, Holistic medicine, New Age medicine.  But I intend to be the poster child for the revival of Medieval medicine...namely blood letting (with or without leeches)

A little background.

About a year and half ago I went for my annual physical.  My doctor was upset that a particular marker, Ferritin (iron in you blood) was too high.  Evidently that can cause organ damage over time.  So he said he wanted me to see a hematologist.  So I make the appoint with said specialist.  We go over all kinds of potential causes and he can't find anything...except one...consumption of alcohol.

Well I've cut back my drinking substantially ever since I sent on the calorie counting diet years ago.  Nonetheless he has me to go on an alcohol fast.  I did this (it sucked).  And sure as shooting the Ferritin number dropped.  So the hematologist is all over me to cut my drinking way back.  I asked him how much time it was going to take off my lifespan.  I decide I'd rather enjoy myself than just add more years.  I don't think he liked my answer.

As I'm walking out of his office, he just happens to say in passing, "you know you could just donate blood.  When people have this problem worse than you, that's what we do.  Draw off some of their blood."  I think about this.  Well if I can give an organ I can certainly give blood.

A few months ago I did just that.  I went and had another Ferritin blood test.  The level had dropped in half! Let the alcohol flow :)

So if you're feeling a little under the weather just remember.  de-I Sandia Bloodletting is here to help you.

Get the Frickin Ark Build Now!

We've had what long time readers will know is a rare event here in New Mexico...sustained rain.  It started this morning and has been going all day and will most likely continue into tomorrow.

You will have remembered from earlier posts that we are in the midst of an epic drought here so this type of rain - long, steady, and sustained is exactly what the doctor would order.  So one would think there would be public rejoicing.  Perhaps the local news would have something like:

"Let's all give a prayer of thanksgiving for this blessed rain!"

or

"It may be just a first step but thank the Lord for this much needed rain!"

Instead we get:

"Local area pummeled by rain"

(Mind you that anyone from the Midwest, Southeast, Northwest, or Northeast would look out and say, "Hmmm slightly rainy today.")

Or:

"Cars in danger of flooding on commute home!"

(While showing a picture of a car going through a largest puddle with water maybe halfway up its tire)

Oh well, I suppose if your in the news business and you're in a place where you get something like 310 days of sunshine on average annually, no hurricanes, no tornadoes, no earthquakes, you have to make the most of what potential disaster you have to make the most of what you get.

How de-I Sandia Outfitters Choses A Trail

We at de-I Sandia Outfitters (You have nothing to lose but yourself) take our mission of helping those who want to put their life on the line (even if they don't realize that when they hire us).  Therefore the selection of trails that will bring to our clients the proper 'life on the knife's edge' feeling is very important.

Veteran Sandia Outfitter guide, Wild Bill, recently moved to the other side of our mountain which has opened new venues for us to consider for out tours.

His selection of was the Agua Sarca Trail

     At the start the trail seemed a little benign.  Bill told me that the trail had a moderate climb.

                               But soon we were really climbing at a rather prodigious rate

After about an hour we were really hurting.  Bill said he needed to look at his guide book to find out where we were.  I looked over his shoulder and it said "Difficulty - Extreme",  "Altitude Gain - 2700 feet over 3 Miles!"  

I realized that Wild Bill was just doing what any good de-I Sandia Outfitter should do, disseminating misinformation to ensure the client has no idea of what they are getting into. 

                                                  Our firm is in good hands