24 October 2009

Detifoss



Today, I've been learning about Detifoss, Iceland's largest waterfall. Look at it! It's out of control! And can you believe that guy, standing casually on its bank? Does he have a deathwish!?

Detifoss is in Jökulsárgljúfur National Park in northeastern Iceland (you can find it on Google Earth or Maps). I'm not completely confident in my ability to say that word just yet, but I will. Iceland ranks pretty highly on my to-do list, and I don't feel comfortable going there, not knowing how to pronounce the name of their National Park.

It has the largest volume discharge of any waterfall in Europe (about 200m³/s) and I guess, compared with Niagara Falls' 2800 m³/s, it's not all that out of control after all. I've been to Niagara Falls twice, and I'm not exaggerating at all when I say it blew my mind. Have you been there? It's crazy. We loitered around at the top of the Horseshoe Falls there in 2005 and got wet from the spray, at least 100m from the banks. It's intense. After that we enjoyed curly fries at Hooters. We're classy.


I'm all excited about Iceland today because I've put some more crap up for auction on TradeMe. Recently, I sold my road bike and today I listed my beloved Safire (Artemis). I received what could only be described by Nic Magill as a more "princely sum" than I could have ever imagined for my Avanti, so I'm trying my luck with Artemis, along with a bunch of other stuff I no longer need or want. Sure, it should probably go in the Japan fund, but I casually told Curtis I could afford a trip to Iceland out of the profits, and then proceeded to learn as much as I could through Wikipedia. The world's most *reliable* source of information.

Currently I have twelve items for sale on my TradeMe page. There's my bike, two saddles (that dastardly thing Ritchie convinced me to buy, and my Ruby 143), my Garmin-Slipstream jersey, my sister's jodhpurs (I know, crazy?!), my Desperate Housewives boxed DVD set, a Johnny Cash DVD that I love but never watch, my sister's triathlon wetsuit (don't be fooled, she was never a triathlete, she just considered it for a long enough period of time to buy herself a wetsuit and a bike), a lamp, my vinyl copy of A Perfect Circle's Thirteenth Step (I'm convinced it's the reason I continue to dream about Donny. My mum suggested this afternoon that maybe he could buy it? Sob), my tow bar-mountable bike rack, and finally, my old DH knee and shin guards. Yeah, my TradeMe account is a mess, but I'm going to be rolling in cash by the end of this week. Provided people buy my shit, which they SHOULD! If you like the sound of anything I'm selling, go bid on it!

Finally: more threadless.com! Last night, I became a member, so I get to score other peoples' submissions. Being the design expert that I am, obviously. I'm also entitled to submit my own art destined for tshirt glory, but despite my early childhood (which, admittedly, strung out into high school, then re-entered my thoughts once it was time for university) dreams of being artistically talented in some shape or form, I'm actually pretty crap at it. Instead, I submitted a "slogan" for one of threadless' sister sites, typetees.com. Apparently out of 20 voters so far, I'm the only person who would wear a tshirt reading "Ain't nothing but a thang". Whatever. These people obviously haven't experienced the greatness that is Thom.


My friend Ben's service is to be live-streamed internationally online so those who can't make it to Ngaruawahia on Monday can watch it through their computers. Here's the link:
http://bit.ly/21Ud0f
It's not going to be a funfilled day, but at the very least it should be... nice. Somewhat, anyway.

Peace, love, and bankrupt Scandinavian islands, guys.

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