High Altitudes

From 11,000 feet in the atmosphere, Joe Robert has 1 bar available on his Droid. How do I know? He used it to wish me, from a Utah slope, an early Happy New Year while mentioning, “I am waiting for my kids to join me so we can snowboard down.” First of all, where the heck does the one bar come from? I’ll never know. Secondly, you will not hear those words expressed by me (the latter not the former). Ever.

Neither Danny nor I recollect the last time we teetered at 11,000 feet, because we passed-out there, or so we were informed. The malady is termed high altitude sickness, and the only cure, per Eric, is “to get lower, sooner than later”. I mention Eric because he left Howard Lane in Bellaire, going on 8 years ago, to reside in Evergreen, Colorado, near mile high city (5,280 feet in the air for those of us who cannot convert a simple mile to feet), and has duly adapted to the oxygen available, or not available, so to speak.

Shortage of oxygen; I prefer sea level, where the oxygen is plentiful. What do Houstonians exchange to live here versus Evergreen? Crisp, clean air for the water infused, dirty variety (and though not life threatening, but worth noting, great hair). My lungs have adapted to living zero feet above sea-level, though my hair and nose never will. I am allergic to everything.

This malady is termed “rhinitis” and the only cure is staying inside, or swallowing nightly the non-prescription pill – Zyrtec. At just over one dollar per dose, it is worth it. How much would I pay to breathe uninhibitedly? More than one dollar, less than…let us hope it never comes to that.

Challenge me, but I don’t think humans were meant to “go high”. Case in point: The frozen cadavers littering Mount Everest; Into Thin Air is a sobering read. You may ask, what about the Sherpa community? They are indigenous to the area, as are the Papua New Guinea dwellers. I will state the obvious that we Americans are not indigenous to either; we should rightly stay put.

Thank you, mom and dad, for choosing the Brazosport area on behalf of us, blessed are we. Here is to a happy, frizzy-haired, 2010!