#paint tool sai 2 saving lives (mine to be precise)

[toupeetoucher]

[wuxian-vs-wangji]

So like you said, in the show they say flat out that Wei Wuxian didn't die, he was injured by the fall instead and the sacrificing curse used Mo Xuanyu's life force to heal him completely (even his scars other than the four slashes). Why do you think Nie Huaisang kept Wuxian in a coma for so long without trying to heal him?

Hum...

First off, highlighting this ask is about the S-H-O-W (that means *not* the novel)

So just to state it a little more clearly:: In Episode 42(?) when Wuxian unsheathes Suibian in the Jin treasure room, Jin Guangyao says he remembers an old scroll written by Wei Wuxian himself showing a spell in which “a severely injured person can be healed” by someone else’s sacrifice.

Making this change has a cascading effect on the story, since Wei Wuxian does not resurrect into a different body but back into his own (thank god, because we got to keep staring at Xiao Zhan an extra 19 episodes). In general what I think happened is that Huaisang was either instructed by Mingjue to stand in wait or that he just was watching from afar when the Battle of Nightless happened. If anyone understands the dangers of out-of-control resentful energy it is a Nie.

The writing was on the wall, they couldn’t stop Wei Wuxian’s death even if they wanted to. He was going to die sooner or later- by execution, suicide, his own magic destroying him, etc. 

So the Nie- probably unknown to anyone else- were prepared to contain his soul and the resentful energy therein as they do their ancestors. No other sect deals with explosive resentful energy, it was always going to be on the Nie to handle that one (but not in a way the other sects know about because that would risk  exposing the Saber Tombs).

Now, in the NOVEL- putting little clues together- it looks like Wei Wuxian was contained in a Spirit Trapping Pouch, like what Xiao Xingchen’s soul is contained in. He’s bound in some way- no one, not even Wangji, could reach him with any form of spirit inquiry.

So since his body wasn’t destroyed in the SHOW, context clues here say that Huaisang found Wuxian around the same time Jiang Cheng came down the side of the cliff to look for the body. Jiang Cheng has Chenqing at the showdown in Guanyin Temple- so he found the flute. Again, a Nie knows how dangerous resentment is, and they’re EXPERTS at containing spiritual weapons. That Huaisang took Wuxian but didn’t/couldn’t search thoroughly enough to find Chenqing suggests he was rushed.

Wei Wuxian was presumably on death’s door. He burned away the arrow wound to his heart, but I’ll dip to the novel to say that it clarifies that the Stygian Tiger Seal drains Wuxian’s spiritual power VERY quickly. Between that and just how long his attack on Nightless ran, the boy’s batteries were on empty and he probably couldn’t heal a granite belly-flop.

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So, Huaisang leaves with Wuxian’s body (probably with Mingjue’s knowledge because Huaisang couldn’t do this all on his own), then what happened? I straddle the line between two schools of thought on this one.

#1 :: Keeping him in a coma was the safest way to contain him

If Huaisang somehow froze Wei Wuxian so that his injuries neither healed nor bled out, it would be like entombing him in his own body. Generations of Nie went insane at the end of their lives and turned into violent rage monsters. Huaisang- and probably Mingjue because, again, you’d need the Clan Leader on board for this- wouldn’t look on Wuxian in the same light as the others because of Nightless. They don’t consider their father/grandfathers/etc. any less because of how their lives ended, they’d understand Wei Wuxian wasn’t the problem, the Yiling Patriarch was.

Wuxian was so lost and so powerful, he was going to be HARD to contain when he died. If that was possible at all. So while they looked for a solution or delayed the inevitable, it is safer to prevent Wei Wuxian’s death at all. If there is a way to freeze someone (that time stop spell Wuxian uses but on a long-term scale), they could pin him at his last breath to buy time.

Then Mingjue disappears, Huaisang keeps Wuxian sealed away, and eventually Mo Xuanyu brings up the sacrificing curse and Huaisang realizes that unleashing Wei Wuxian might be the way forward against Jin Guangyao. 

******* Click HERE for my post arguing that Mo Xuanyu might be the original mastermind (Though “Fatal Journey” rendered some of it moot, the overall logic is still sound)  *******

I also want to note just somewhere in this whole answer that Nie Huaisang seemed supremely confident that Wei Wuxian wasn’t going to go full Yiling Patriarch when he emerged, either because Wangji was nearby with baby Lan or he trusted that Wuxian wasn’t the monster he was painted to be. Either via a friend’s intuition (Huaisang never seemed to really fear him) or perhaps he had someone playing something like Cleansing over his body to make sure he was calming down. IDK, but the boy doesn’t seem worried in the least. He’s even right next door throughout the resurrection and Saber Spirit Attack, not worried about getting away from the crater in case Wuxian goes nuclear again.

OK, back to my answer---

#2 :: Sometimes they just don’t wake up

Xiao Xingchen had no will to live, even trapped in the soul pouch. Wei Wuxian was very much in the same state mentally.

Physically though, it might not have mattered WHAT his mental state was, he was simply too injured to ever regain consciousness on his own. Even if Huaisang tried from Day 1 to heal him, helped re-set bones and stitch his wounds closed, Wei Wuxian’s body was too shattered.

It is possible for someone to simply sustain too many injuries or suffer too great a trauma to wake up from a coma. It happens IRL too. People will even wake up after YEARS in a coma. So Huaisang might not have intentionally kept Wuxian out of it, he may simply have been unable to wake without massive healing work to re-set the body to where it was when it was first injured (like if Wuxian was brain dead).

I will say this theory has a flaw, IDK how fatal it is though:: Jin Ling isn’t dead yet, but Wangji still reaches his soul via Inquiry in the Saber Tombs. So if Huaisang healed Wuxian and just let him lay in a coma undisturbed for 16 years, Lan Wangji should have been able to reach him. I mean, even if it’s hard and the odds of success are terrible, he played Inquiry every single night for 16 years. Even a blind squirrel finds nuts sometimes (unless distance played a factor, or any other protections the Nie had up, which is why I say this may not be a fatal flaw).

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**I do want to make a note about the Sacrificing Curse as a healing tool that wipes out ALL of Wei Wuxian’s injuries. Watch the Doctor Who two-part episode set “The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances” (from Season 1 of the reboot). Sorry, but to make my point I need to spoil the big twist:: The “monster” wreaking havoc on London during the 1940s Blitz is actually a crashed medical ship with healing drones who find a dead child but aren’t programmed to human DNA, so they create terrifying creatures with gas-mask faces because that’s how they think humans are (they save the child, don’t worry).

At the end of the 2nd part, the Doctor reprograms them with human DNA so they burn themselves out healing the individual people and turning them back to normal. There is a line where a physician is approached by a patient who shockingly says her long-missing leg has even grown back.

It is wrong to say the Sacrificing Curse healing all of Wuxian’s injuries- even his scar- is “convenient” (as some people did on a previous post of mine). I think it’s like the drones in the Doctor Who episode- you tell them to heal, they’ll heal abso-fucking-lutely everything that is imperfect or incorrect. Think about it- Wei Wuxian even got a Golden Core out of the deal. The curse used whatever it needed from Mo Xuanyu to heal Wei Wuxian. No exceptions. If he had a PAPERCUT it would treat it as an imperfection no different from a crushed skull. 

A powerful healing spell like that is powerful precisely because it works on a massive scale. Mo Xuanyu was dying to save Wei Wuxian, so he was going to get his money’s worth. Yeah, Wuxian’s burn scar disappears. IDK why that’s so hard for some people to process when they can easily accept that he’s no longer puddle-shaped.

TL;DR:: IDK, but I’ve put a ton of thought into it.

[ednamsgiraffe]

The is a bittersweet post for me to be making. This was going to be a post I was going to make something like 2 months ago, but I kept pushing it off to the side. I had been so busy between work and the wood shop that I hadn’t bothered to drag out the camera. I had really wanted to talk about my rather small garage wood shop, I feel it is important to talk about. There has been a rise in maker spaces and hacker spaces, yet the amount of available work spaces for people who want to own the tools is small. I have been looking at that pool for more than a few months to find that I couldn’t afford anything yet, or the rules behind it were too difficult. I am still in the market, looking for my next shop space. I want to talk about this one, even as I am losing it I guess.

I had also had a post that I had been working on discussing the shop space and the state that I took it over under. It would touch on more than a few things I am not keen on wanting to go into publicly. I have had a falling out with my business partner, and I have my problems with him for various reasons…. It would be tough to discuss the wood shop post and not tread on insulting him. I would prefer personally to be better than that. I am struggling to be. So I have deleted about 3 different versions of that particular post���

Consider that a foreword, I hope this still reads well.

Small Spaces for Small Starts.

My wood shop is fairly tiny. I am using a one car garage for my shop space, well kinda half of a garage really. I am sharing the garage with my business partner. It was a good amount of work to liberate from the horde of boxes that had consumed the garage and continues to be a battle to remove the clutter. Even as it stands, I have about 30 to 40 square feet taken by just boxes of stuff. And that space feels much smaller considering the additional spaces reserved for a spare set of tires, several large containers, a mound of really old paints, as well a wood bench that is neither square nor level. The shelves up on the wall were seemingly built by somebody who has never heard of a level.

Regardless of those faults, the shop space hasn’t been too bad. I am a big believer in thinking vertically throughout the space. I prefer to also have most areas be set in a minimalist way. I like clean open areas. They help me think, as well as gives me the ability to let a project take up the room it requires. This isn’t always perfect, but it works well enough. I have my tools and slowly begun to build out areas to hold general work areas for certain tasks. My one real set of shelves holds the CNC machine and has enough space along the floor for me to slide everything else into place. All of my tools with the exception of the drill press and the CNC machine will fit underneath the shelving unit.

As far as the physical tools in the shop, I keep things fairly basic. Infact, I really need to drop a few hundred bucks and finish picking up a bunch of the tools I need, but I have been putting off. I will break things down by the task the tool actually accomplishes. I think that is the best way to approach it.

Sawing

The tablesaw. This is the most important electric tool in the wood shop from what I have been able to tell. The blade is a stupid, simple concept. Put a bunch of little chisels to carve into the wood on a circular disk. Spin the disk at high speed, then feed wood into it. This thing is the cornerstone of the wood shop especially because with some wood and screws, you can make every jig you need. Whether you need perfect crosscuts, or you want to do complex miter cuts, this thing can do it if you build the right jig. I even use mine for resawing wood down to side, it is incredibly messy…. But so worth it.

I am using the Dewalt #DW745. It is a 15 amp, 10 inch tablesaw. It is highly portable, yet highly adaptable. I actually bought the saw just due to how accurate of the fence on it was. It was easy and fast to adjust. It just worked right out of the box. I did pick up a full kerf blade for it, but I own a total of 4 blades for it. The full kerf (1/8″) 24 tooth blade for cutting the grooves on the vaults as well as 3 thin kerf blades at 24, 32, and 60 tooth. Each blade is fairly particular, but I could spend a solid hour explaining why I own those. I will spare everyone that fate. Instead, I will saw the saw was cheap at about $300 (not including 3 of the blades.) It was cheap, heavy enough to stay put, and has a hell of a solid fence for cutting along. As long as I am pay attention, I can get extremely accurate cuts.

It does have it’s draw backs, but they are pretty few and far between. It hates plywood. Or maybe I hate plywood and hate the way this thing cuts plywood. It also bemoans cutting purpleheart and does complain cutting through paduak too. The fence should be checked fairly often, just to make sure the measure is set to the saw blade thickness itself. The short top on it eases with portability, but it lacks mounting points for extending the work surface area. There are no mounting points for outfeed tables too, which kinda sucks. It does function fairly well with the crosscut jig I have made, and I will do a full article on it too. The crosscut jig has fallen off of the table on a few occasions just due to the small worktop and it being a single rail jig… Again will talk about it and why later.

Still it is solid. I would have to recommend it.

Drilling

I have a fairly basic set up. I have a drill press, the Wen 4208. It is small but it does the job. I also have a Ryobi D43K, mainly because I am cheap bastard and don’t mind the cord on it. I would rather save money and pick that up then stress the extra cost of a cordless drill.

Routers.

Okay, most of the money in my shop is tied up in routers and routing. When I say routing I am not talking about the thing that gives people wireless. I am talking about the ability to remove wood using bits that spin around an axis meant to cut grooves, lines, or other shapes. It is hard to explain, but there are things a router can do that would take hours to do by hand, or just can’t be done.

I have 2 different types. I have the CNC machine which is a large platform with motors that guide the router itself over the platform. This allows for it to cut down into the piece, then is guided through the piece via a computer. This whole process is long and complicated. It requires digital files, checks, counters, clamps. It is long technical and involved, but it is also an extremely precise machine with the intention of being used in that manner. I am using the X-Carve by Inventables. Mine is the smaller 500 mm machine and is amazing. I love that machine. I wish I had more time to use it and hadn’t been so foolishly tied up the past 4 months that I have had it.

The other machine is far more barbaric. It still uses the same bits, but it isn’t computer guided. It is literally a spinning bit with a platform that you rest the wood on then feed along a fence into the blade. It is not terribly technical in any sense, yet it does a really good job. It takes only about 20 seconds to set up the table top router to do a job, and typically once set, I can do every cut I need at just the one setting. It is just a matter of feeding everything through the tablesaw then bringing it over. I love my router, it needs some upgrades to accuracy, but I didn’t have the money to get one of the really accurate tables. And with that, I am using a Kreg router table, the PRS2100.  I have a Bosch 1617EVS for the actual router. It is a great set up together. I just need to remember to remove the locking wrench from it when I go to change bits. I have left it in about 3 times and turned on the machine….

Sanding and Shaping

For this, I have a couple of cheap sanders. I have a really cheap electric “precision sander,” the tool is quite awful but it does save time if I don’t feel like breaking out the hand plane (I really need to sharpen it.) I also have a random orbit sander. It does a great job at making quick work of stubborn pieces and if I ever get time I will convert it into a makeshift drum sander. I just need to build an outfeed table and probably need a bigger one. Still, those work quite well.

The electric Planer is the last big tool I own. It really is a great way to take care of all my wood. It is used to shave the wood down to the thickness you need. For me, I do a lot of resawing now on my tablesaw. The tablesaw gives good results that actually is consistent. That said, I need to be able to take them down to an even thickness. That is where the planer comes in. I cut my wood down to the right thickness, then feed it through the machine. Several dozen passes later, I have consistent boards at the right thickness. This also works wonders on my cutting boards whenever I make those. In general the Wen 6550 does a good job. I did have an issue with it suddenly being live… I think a wire came loose and the ground wasn’t set so suddenly it wanted to run electricity through me. It wasn’t too big of a deal and it has survived some abuse.

That is my shop.

I will be leaving it soon enough. I may be out of there by the end of this week or the end of next week depending. I am not really looking forward to it, so I am going to be spending quite a bit of time engaged in it over the next 2 weeks if I can. Like I said in the beginning, this is bittersweet. It is really far from where I live, but it… It was my first shop and I had had quite a few plans that didn’t anticipate moving out so soon. Regardless, thank you all for reading. I hope you all have a nice night.

A look into the wood shop The is a bittersweet post for me to be making. This was going to be a post I was going to make something like 2 months ago, but I kept pushing it off to the side.

[rememberthattime]

Chapter 29. Jordan

Chelsay and I have been in sketchy spots before. We swam with sharks in the Maldives, kayaked through claustrophobic shafts in abandoned Slovenian mines, been surrounded by a political demonstration in rural Morocco, and even scratched by a human tooth peddler in the souks of Jemaa el F’na. We aren’t extreme travelers by any stretch, but we’ve still managed to find some questionable situations.

That said, Chelsay and I haven’t been to a place quite as turbulent as the Middle East, one of the most consistently unsettled regions in the world. That isn’t to say that every country in the Middle East is dangerous though. In fact, one oasis from the desert unrest was the site of Chelsay and I’s 29th adventure: Jordan.

There are beautiful places throughout Jordan, but THE reason we chose this trip was Petra. Ever since Chelsay introduced me to Indiana Jones, I’ve wanted to go. There just aren’t many 2,000 year old cities carved directly into the rock.

One of our favorite restaurants in Seattle (named Petra) had the famous Kazneh painted on its walls. As we’d eat our lemon, garlic, and tahini chicken, Chelsay and I dreamed of braving the Arabian Desert to find “the Lost City”.

The problem with a trip to Jordan isn’t the desert though - it’s the turbulence in the surrounding area. Petra is located in the middle of Jordan, which shares its borders with Israel, Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. It’s also about an hour ferry away from the dangerous Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.

Despite the country’s unstable neighbors, Jordan has actually maintained relative peace. Everything I’d read painted the country as progressive and welcoming.

That reputation wasn’t enough for Chelsay and I to book this trip though. When we moved to London two years ago, Jordan was not even a possibility. ISIS had just taken Aleppo, which was only a six hour drive north of the Jordan-Syria border. Even a year ago, after ISIS was pushed back, I was hesitant largely because of my lack of real research.

Finally, about two months ago, I looked into a potential trip and realized the danger was all in my head. Jordan hadn’t experienced turmoil in decades, while tragic shootings and attacks were a monthly recurrence in the US and UK. We was genuinely in more danger in London than we would be in Jordan.

So, with just eight weeks left in the UK, I booked Jordan for our second to last weekend abroad (...we had save our last weekend to pack).

I’d booked the trip from a Thursday to Monday, with flights out of London on Thanksgiving Day. Needless to say, our meal on the Royal Jordanian flight was the most unique Thanksgiving Dinner I’ve ever had. (Side note: Chelsay and I’s last two flights have been on Turkish Air and Royal Jordanian, and they’ve been our best flying experiences).

It’s a five hour flight from London to Amman, the Jordanian capital, and with the time change we actually arrived pretty late. Instead, the trip really began the next morning when our tour guide Hazem picked us from the airport hotel.

Our four day trek was largely based around three sites: Petra, Wadi Rum, and the Dead Sea, with a few smaller stops along the way. Day 1’s focus was Petra, though it would have to start with a two hour drive through the desert. This was actually useful because Hazem used the time to introduce us to Jordan. He explained the Kingdom’s hierarchy, and its tradition as a warm and welcoming culture despite its neighbor’s turbulence.

He shared the reason for the country’s relative stability, which is largely driven by their acceptance of all religions. Jordan IS the Holy Land. It is the site of many stories from the Bible, the Quran, and the Torah. This geographic significance allows Jordanians to understand and respect the similarities and differences between beliefs. 60% of the stories in the Quran are also in the Bible, and 100% of the stories have the exact same intention: to be kind, show respect, and spread peace. I won’t get into how this message gets lost when believers squabble over whose story is correct, but the point is that Jordanians do not judge.

This spiritual discussion was briefly interrupted throughout our drive down to Petra. At one point, we stopped to admire the Dana Natural Reserve, placed within the “Jordanians Alps”, and stopped again outside of Shobuk Castle, where we drank sage tea with one of Hazem’s friends. Hazem’s friend was actually a member of the Jordanian Parliament, so he had pictures with several famous politicians: from Jordan’s current King Abdullah II to former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer (....I’m not sure our new friend knew Spitzer’s full story).

We arrived in Petra around 1:00, which was perfect timing for our two-day tickets. Despite Jordan’s dip in tourism over the past few years, Petra will always draw a crowd. A lot of these tourists are just day-trippers from Amman though, so the buses are only present from around 10:00 until 3:00. With this in mind, I aimed to avoid the tourists by arriving in the afternoon on Day 1, then returning early on Day 2.

Some background on Petra: archaeologists have determined the city was built between 100 BC and 100 AD. It was a thriving Nabatean town, serving as the hub for Egyptian and Eastern trade. With this wealth, the Nabateans chose to display their affluence through architecture, carving their city directly into a large, 6.5 mile stretch of surrounding rock. The city is hidden within the Wadi Musa valley, and the tall surrounding mountains provided lookout views into present-day Israel.

Architects today still marvel at the perfectly calculated design and permanence of structures built 2,000 years ago using only pick axes and chisels. Meanwhile, engineers are equally impressed by the culture’s mastery of hydro-mechanics, which allowed them to divert floods and store water while living in the remote and arid desert. Despite this architectural skill though, the Nabateans couldn’t avoid natural disaster: an earthquake in the 300s crippled the city’s water supply systems and residents abandoned the city, leaving it lost in the desert for centuries.

For nearly 1,500 years, historians theorized on the location of Petra, but the lost city remained a mystery until it’s rediscovery in 1812. Its significance was immediately obvious, and the city is today considered one of the 7 New Wonders of the World.

Whew. Okay, that was a lot of background, but it gives you an idea of everything Chelsay and I were thinking about as we made our way through the narrow gorge known as the Siq.

The Siq itself is beautiful, rising to heights of 600 feet and widths as narrow as 10 feet. It’s also surprisingly long, so if the two hour desert drive hadn’t built our anticipation, this mile-long walk did the job.

We weaved through the narrow Siq wondering which turn would eventually reveal the mysterious Kazneh. Finally, between smooth bends in the rock, we caught a glimpse of the ancient wonder: red stone columns, steps, and pediments. This glimpse makes you feel like you’re the first to discover the lost city.

Only a few steps later, Chelsay and I left the Siq into the city’s open entrance, where the Kazneh (Treasury) was now in full view.

Like I said earlier: I never thought I would see Petra in person, yet here we were. Chelsay and I stared up in awe for an hour, unable to fathom how something like this could be built 2,000 years ago. The structure is 130 feet tall so how do you even go about cutting the top? Scaffolding? There isn’t any wood in the desert! (The trick is that they cut from top to bottom... carving their “platform” lower and lower as they finished each level.)

What’s impressive about Petra isn’t just in the building method, but the executional perfection. There are no re-dos when you’re cutting into stone, so every swing of the pick axe had to be perfect. The weight distribution to each column had to be precisely calculated or the building would collapse. I’m not even sure modern engineers could build a structure to stand for 2,000 years with today’s material and technology... let alone using primitive tools on a rock canvas.

The Kazneh is certainly an impressive structure, but it isn’t the only building in Petra. This was probably the biggest surprise for me: the city is 6.5 miles end-to-end, so a half marathon to do the full loop. It’s also built into the encompassing mountains, so there are some STEEP ascents up worn staircases. To get to the Monastery, which sits about 5 miles from the Kazneh, Chelsay and I had to climb 850 steps!

This trek was well worth it though. We arrived as the west-facing building was illuminated by the setting sun. The tour groups had left for the day, so it was just Chelsay and I peacefully taking in the panoramic view: the ancient Monastery, setting sun, and Israel in the distance.

We then made the long 6.5 mile trek back through the city and Siq, stopping at the Kazneh one more time for some high exposure night shots.

We wanted to be the first ones in Petra the next morning, so knowing that the park opens at 6:00 AM, we were asleep by 9:00. Also, we were exhausted from our hilly half marathon.

It was still dark out when we woke up at 5:15 the next morning. Given how early we went to bed though, the hot start wasn’t a problem. We entered the park around 6:00 and breezed through the dimly lit Siq. It was chilly and eerily empty, except for a wild puppy that tagged along for Chelsay and I’s trek. We named him Short Round.

Short Round, Chelsay, and I followed the same path as the previous day, but were just as awestruck when we again caught a glimpse of the Kazneh between the Siq’s smooth bends.

It was silent this time, the same absolute peace it had been left in when lost for 1,500 years. Without any tourists though, Chelsay and I went trigger-happy with the pictures. Between the GoPro, our iPhones, and the camera itself, we had to have taken 200 photos. All 200 are mesmerizing.

I’d seen pictures of the Kazneh from above, and I wanted to see if we could get there before anyone else arrived. The map showed a route wrapping behind the city, so Chelsay and I set off. As you’d anticipate, Petra doesn’t have the most precise visitor signs. We followed the map, but quickly wondered if we were heading the right direction… Our first warning was when Short Round stopped and started barking as we departed down this particular path. 45 minutes later, after scaling a sketch metal ladder (which I think it was actually just a twin bed frame) and basically rock climbing across 2,000 year old Nabatean homes, we decided this wasn’t the right route. By this time, the local Bedouin vendors had arrived, so they were all looking up and wondering how these white people got so lost...

We were drenched in sweat and finally decided to retrace our climb back. When we got back to the shaky ladder, Short Round was still there waiting for us!

After course correcting (and another hour up an ancient staircase), we made it to the perch overlooking the Kazneh from above. At the top, cushions and pillows had been left my some saint (...this is the Holy Land), so Chelsay and I recharged our batteries as the rising sun crept down the face of the Kazneh.

We could tell the tour buses were arriving as more and more visitors exited the Siq and came into sight. Chelsay and I realized it was time to make the long trek back. After about a million steps, we weren’t walking the whole way though: we got horses for part of the ride back. I actually wasn’t bad for my first time, getting my horse up from a slow trot to a steady gallop. Chelsay, on the other hand, kept kicking her legs to make the horse go faster. At one point, I heard our Arabic speaking handler mumble to himself in broken English: “Pull back lady.”

After relaxing back in our hotel, we met back up with our driver Hazem and started towards our next destination: Mars.

By Mars I actually mean Wadi Rum, though it’s red sand, towering plateaus, and desolate valleys were the perfect film set for the movie The Martian.

We were staying in a desert camp, though I’ll get to that later. For now, just know that we quickly dropped our bags off before heading out on Jeep tour.

Our driver, Mohamed, was a local Bedouin that had grown up in Wadi Rum. He started working in tourism when he was just 12, and had been giving tours for the past 10 years... I write that for two reasons: first to say that he knew all the best sites (including a perfect view at sunset), and second to explain why he was so comfortable mobbing through the desert like it was Fast & Furious. Mohamed was a cool dude though, and because we got along so well, he took us sand boarding before it got dark.

We returned to the camp afterwards, where I can now tell you about the surprise I kept from Chelsay. I normally tell Chelsay each trip’s itinerary beforehand so that she has an idea where we’re heading. This time, I left out one detail: the desert camp.

After The Martian’s filming, camps in Wadi Rum started to capitalize on the alien setting. One even set up “bubble tents”, which look like the hab-unit from the movie. Though covered during the day, the top half of the bubble is see-through so guests can stargaze from bed! Once the sun set, Chelsay and took in the interstellar show from the warmth and comfort of our space pod. (Note: our camera sucks and can’t capture anything at night, so I actually had to use someone else’s travel photo. First time I swear, and only because I want to remember the view.)

The next morning, we woke up at 4:00 AM... Yes, the day after waking up at 5:15, we woke up at 4:00... on vacation. This early wake up was for good reason though: I had arranged a hot air balloon to take us 3,000 feet above Mars. I mean Wadi Rum.

Because it was still so dark, I could see Mohamed’s headlights rattling through the desert from miles away. He was clearly far more awake than Chelsay and I, and kept jokingly turning his headlights off. Dude, stop or you’re going to hit a camel!

We then made our way to the balloon site through a series of bizarre and somewhat sketchy car changes (apparently it takes three cars of people to get these things in the air), before finally cramming seven people into a single pickup.

Our three cars converged on a dehydrated clay flat, where the men began setting up. Some pulled the large basket from one of the pickup trucks, while the others began unfolding the massive balloon. The men setting up the basket then attached two massive hydrogen gas tanks, which they used to start filling the balloon. All the while, Chelsay and I looked on at the sunrise began to illuminate the desert valley in various shades of red, orange, and yellow.

The balloon was soon ready for takeoff, so Chelsay and I hopped in the basket. The ascension is an interesting feeling... the basket floor is obviously rising with you, so it isn’t like you’re levitating. Instead, the objects below just shrink as you get further and further away. One minute, you’re only 10 feet off the ground and waving goodbye to a fellow ballooning Australian couple… Two minutes later your 3,000 feet in the air and the pickup trucks looks like specs in the expansive desert.

Chelsay and I were speechless as we were in the air. It was silently peaceful, and the views were unbelievably dramatic and alien. I’m actually still speechless now... it’s definitely top 5 action experiences for us, and may beat out Sahara ATV’ing, Slovenia cave kayaking, and the Iceland trio of ice climbing, black sand ATV’ing, and glacier snowmobiling. Just like while we were on the balloon though, I’ll shut up and let the views do the talking.

This hot air balloon had the same effect as a massage. After landing, we stepped out of the basket in a peaceful daze. Hazem picked us up while blaring celebratory Arabic music, but quickly realized Chelsay and I’s state. He turned the radio off and led us on a quiet ride past the Red Sea and through Wadi Araba, the bordering valley shared between Jordan and Israel.

To complete this relaxing ride, we then stopped at the Middle East’s natural spa: the Dead Sea.

The Dead Sea is located 1,200 feet below sea level, so the excessive salt content makes it uninhabitable for fish (hence the name). Driving in, we could see the salt deposits at the base of the cliffsides. 

The “heavy water” also means that you naturally rise to the surface, so you have to float rather than swim. It feels like you’re a boat with your entire body on the surface, but any sudden movement will “capsize” the boat. Chelsay struggled with this....

One benefit of the salty water is that the mud is actually very mineral rich... I swear we weren’t doing blackface when we covered our bodies in the skin-softening mud.

After this refreshing dip, and with our flight the next morning, we made our way back to the airport hotel. We made a few religious stops, including Mount Nebo (the site where God showed Moses the Promised Land in Israel) and Madaba (home to a 2,500 year old mosaic map of the Holy Land), but these were very brief.

We’d already filled our enjoyment tank with Petra, Wadi Rum, stargazing space pods, Petra, Martian hot air ballooning, Dead Sea mud masks, and of course, Petra.

Genuinely, this trip could not have been any more fun. It’s too immediate to say for sure, but Jordan MIGHT have been our best trip. It had elements from all of our favorite adventures: the desolate alien setting of Iceland, the quiet desert of Morocco, the unique culture of Seville, and the active pace of Croatia. One element that was not present: a sense of danger.

I started this post by listing some of the questionable situations Chelsay and I have been in. Instead of sketchy hosts though (like looming sharks in the Maldives or handsy souk peddlers in Marrakech), Chelsay and I enjoyed the welcoming hospitality of the pleasant, genuine, and accepting people of Jordan.

[extraupdate-blog]

Learn How To Set Up iTunes and iPhone Sync on Your Mac

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Learn How To Set Up iTunes and iPhone Sync on Your Mac

If you have had a problem with putting in place iTunes to your new Mac and syncing along with your iPhone, you then aren’t alone. While regularly misdiagnosed by the “geniuses” at the Apple Store, this is definitely a common trouble for brand new Mac users.

However, when Mac customers try to find a recommendation for this trouble on their own, they often find out that they want to struggle through quite a few bad advice first to get to the right solution. A higher way to resolve that is to seek advice from a Mac restores professional or an Apple Authorized Service Provider.

Here is a trouble a consumer came into our store with these days. Whenever he tried to sync his iPhone with the iTunes application on his new MacBook, he changed into prompted to “switch purchases from iPhone”. The only trouble was, his MacBook wouldn’t apprehend the iPhone. A friend advised him to make the switch directly from his old PC, or observe the net forums and troubleshoot the trouble on his personal. He didn’t advocate him to discuss with an Apple Store or different Authorized Apple Expert.

Like a lot of our clients, he observed statistics online about a downloadable iPhone power, but he wasn’t positive he preferred the idea of paying Apple for the privilege of syncing considered one of their merchandise with some other and he changed into afraid it might be a rip-off. As Mac professionals, we’ve got heard approximately many iPhone/Mac customers who tried this approach and it did not remedy their trouble.

Fortunately, as Mac Repair Experts we stay current on the forums and we were capable of discovering an easy and effective solution for syncing iTunes on a new MacBook. It grew to become out that this consumer didn’t want to buy a new force, nor did he want to make the trek to the Apple Store.

If your iPhone isn’t always recognized by using your MacBook, the satisfactory answer is to install software program updates on your laptop. The hassle will now not be resolved with the aid of reinstalling iTunes to your MacBook. Even if it syncs up as soon as, you can have this hassle time and again till you replace your software, and who wants to reload iTunes every time you sync?

Instead of losing more money and time with the Apple Store, you ought to usually strive software program updates first. In this example, what you should search for is the “iPhone compatibility SDK” replace. A consumer of ours took his new MacBook returned to the Apple shop last year after having troubles with this actual trouble, and the fellow on the “Genius Bar” informed him it changed into a horrific logic board. After getting a replacement laptop, he experienced the identical problem the following week. A frustrating and costly experience that could have been averted with a higher recommendation from an Apple Authorized Service Provider that is targeted on servicing your Mac in place of selling you a new one.

If you simply added your new MacBook home from the Apple keep, or you obtain the brand new iPhone 4, then you may not have this issue at all. Save your self the time and frustration of seeking to clear up issues like those on your personal. Take your Mac all the way down to your nearby Apple Authorized Service Provider to troubleshoot the hassle.

Great Ways To Maximize Efficiency With a Mac

Computers are purported to make such things as work simpler for people who use them. Often just the alternative can be the case. It is simple to get slowed down with all the menus, packages, caution messages, and interfaces. However, in case you be conscious of this newsletter you have to (key phrase being ought to) discover that you may navigate through your computer a lot quicker and accomplish hard responsibilities with fewer complications. While there are is a vast array of “weapons” available to you in terms of the use of your laptop correctly, the maximum various and beneficial ones are software.

The software is the catchall-term for any software, application, executable-file or widget that is composed handiest of “code”. It differs from hardware in that in case you opened up a laptop you couldn’t bodily see or hold it. For example Quicksilver is a software this is downloadable on line and is prime to using your Mac efficaciously, at the same time as your GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is a silicone chip interior of your pc that permits so that you can view video and video games to your laptop. The distinction within reason clear now I hope. The software is tons greater flexible, very regularly less expensive, and permits you to do loads extra with it. As I noted in advance Quicksilver is an application (software) that you may down load at no cost of the Internet. It is the centerpiece of my set up for quick and smooth use. Once downloaded and installed Quicksilver takes a tiny little bit of set up. After putting your “warm-keys” and choosing a coloration scheme that tickles your fancy you are geared up to blaze through your computer. The nice part of Quicksilver; in my view, is that it permits you to easily open, close and transfer among any variety of documents and packages with out ever having to touch that mouse or song pad. That is a huge intention of mine, no mouse…No problem…Adopt that motto proper this immediately. Back to Quicksilver, the recent-key installation controls what keystroke will activate Quicksilver. One example (the only I use) is command + area, the command is a.K.A. The apple key. The possibilities are limitless and it’s miles without a doubt personal choice. Once we’ve Quicksilver activated you truly kind the name of this system or record you desire to engage with. In most instances, you most effective should type the first letter or two as Quicksilver catalogs your usage and determines which files and packages you get right of entry to the maximum. I will deliver an example to better explain what I mean. I press command, then area bar, I then press the F key and then input. Quicksilver is aware of that I use Firefox WAY extra then another document or app that starts of evolved with the letter F, so it opens Firefox. To cease Firefox while it’s far open it handiest takes me a further 2 key strokes…Tab to replace the record/software box into the feature field in quicksilver, and the Q to alternate the function to Quit. So you could tell that Quicksilver can make accessing packages and documents in your laptop a breeze.

Another notable piece of software program you could use is Spaces. It comes already mounted with all Macs and can be accessed through your device preferences. It creates some of the separate Desktops in your computer permitting you to have numerous programs open and going for walks at one time and segregating them into their personal screens. It also allows you to speedy transfer between programs using a pre-set warm-key (command and arrow keys). Spaces are awesome for all and sundry, from the iTunes user who’s browsing the net to the video editor who is operating in Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, After results and iTunes all at the equal time. In the set up you may specify what number of spaces you would like to be energetic and you can additionally lock sure Applications right into an area. This makes it in order that each time an application, says Microsoft Word, is opened; it’ll always appear and live in a space, say Space #1. While this will appear stringent it is also very clean to drag a window or software from one space to some other for those precise instances when this is required. I have handiest talked about packages but an endless wide variety exists, USE GOOGLE, look for packages. Whatever the particular requirement is I guarantee you that you may discover prison and loose software program to perform it.

I even have mentioned the time period hot-keys numerous times to date, rightfully so, as they are extraordinarily crucial to making you brief on the draw in terms of computing. A hot key’s only a combination of key-strokes (like command + S) that performs a characteristic. The functions are nearly always mundane and used often. The nice instance that I can think of is saving your paintings in a phrase processor. If you recognize anything approximately phrase processing you already know that you have to shop frequently. But rather than clicking on the File drop-down menu, and then clicking on keep; simply actually press command and the S key concurrently.This will store your report and you could hold on typing, without ever having to leave the house keys or touch that dreaded mouse. The key to hot-keys is in reality motivation. It could be very smooth to discover the listing for a warm key, as it is also right next to a characteristic inside the drop down menu. It is as much as you to locate it, take into account it, and USE IT. It does take some paintings and determination to become quick at computing. If you need to be a more effective computer then analyze the new-keys. I cannot pressure that greater.

Finally, we come to the set up of your computer. By set-up I actually mean synergy, however, this isn’t always an enterprise assembly so I am going to attempt to keep away from that time period. What I imply is the manner in which you chose software, hot-keys and other tools to work together. The goal is continually velocity and minimum input. Conveniently I discussed two unique packages that work nearly disgustingly properly collectively. By putting positive programs to a positive area and then switching among programs with Quicksilver I can blaze via multi-program initiatives conveniently and all the at the same time as maintaining the proper tunes on to feature the greater touch to the whole revel in. This all comes from enjoying, sit down along with your computer and paintings thru your programs. It is your laptop, so cater it to your self. If you do one form of assignment on it time and again, then find a manner to do the challenge faster and extra efficiently. Or better yet, automate it so you do no longer have to do something at all.

The desire to be brief and mouse much less is a private preference. If you’re nice with your computing experience then forget about what I have to mention, however, if you desire greater then dive proper in. Remember I have simplest mentioned what I use and the way I paintings. This is ready you! So get available, locate software program that will help you, research your hot-keys and rate via laptop paintings with ease. If you’re ever misplaced, overwhelmed or in trouble use the pleasant information aid in existence: THE INTERNET. Got a trouble than Google it. But please press Enter as opposed to clicking on Google Search.