[Gocamino] Air Purifier

[blaroli@aol.com]

Hi Glenn,
The Gitzmo is called a "Mini-Mate Ionic Air Purifier" and is made by Wein Products in Los Angeles, CA.   www.weinproducts.com    (I think). It is about one third the size of a pack of cigarettes, weighs next to nothing and it hangs, unobtrusively,  around one's neck. 
Last February  I couldn't resist the temptation of flying to Vienna for three days to hear two operas that were being sung on consecutive evenings.  To be fair, I probably over-excited myself: who can possibly sleep, eat, or calm down after hearing Der Rosenkavalier one evening and Tristan und Isolde the next at the Staatsoper, the greatest opera house in the known universe except for La Scala in Milan?. Also, to be sure, it was early February and cold as the dickens. (Although I did try to protect myself by drinking endless cups of "Gluhwein", the hot very spice wine which the Viennese believe prevents or cures all ills). The day after the operas I flew back to New York and sitting next to me was a very dapper-looking guy who was flying through Vienna on his way to Washington from Singapore. While the fellow was somewhat charming, he would cough now and then with a raspy and strange sound that I had never heard before.
Within five days of arriving in New York I was in Saint Vincent's Hospital quite seriously ill, with a strain of viral flu which the doctors found baffling and which they believed I had caught in the plane.  It took me a week in the hospital and  several at home to recover.
After such a painful and bothersome experience I began paying attention to the reported risks of catching all sorts of bugs in the small confines of an airplane cabin  which is, by necessity, bereft of fresh air flow.
Since I wouldn't stay put, my son gave me the little gizmo and I wore it when I went to Spain for Holy Week and in my subsequent visit to Seville and, again a couple of weeks ago, during the very long flight to and from Rio de Janeiro.
On each occasion there were people sneezing and coughing around me, almost throughout the duration of the flights, and, blessedly, I caught nary a germ.
The packaging with the little machine says that the "Ions" (whatever they are) emitted by the gizmo,either repel or destroy airborne bacteria, germs, vira and the like.
The replaceable battery lasts for about 100 hours and I, for one, wouldn't fly anywhere without it.
----
As for your other query:next summer I'll semi-retire (will cut my case load and professional activities in half), and will commence to live half the time here and half the time in Seville. Eventually I expect that I will spend less and less time here unless the political/social/economic/educational and constitutional conditions here change for the better, a prospect which, sadly, seems more and more like a receding impossible dream.
Of course I will keep in touch with things Camino.... wherever I may be, and ever and ever.
 
Big hug!
 
Rosina  
 
 
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Guha2005 at hotmail.com
To: Blaroli at aol.com
Sent: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 11:52 AM
Subject: Air Purifier


Rosina,
 
Some months ago you wrote of an apparatus hung around the neck that would purify the air in airplanes.  I usually save the good advice that you share, but for the life of me I can't find that email with the name of the product.  I am sure it was you who sent the message.  Could you refresh my memory?  I think I would like to purchase it.
 
Also I think you mentioned that you are thinking about retiring to Spain.  Is that in the near future?  I hope that if and when you do, you will keep contact with the group.  I appreciate all the information you have given in the past, and hope you will continue to share information with us in the future.
  
Before my first Camino in 2005, I had not even heard of this path through Spain, and really never thought of going to Spain at all.  I had always been oriented to northern Europe.  Since the Camino, I have had the strongest drive that I ever had in my 60 years to do anything, and this obsession is to learn Spanish and to return to Spain.  I spend time daily trying to learn the language on my own, and went for a month to a language school in Mexico.  I will return for 3 weeks to the school this fall and for another 2 weeks in the Winter.  I already have my tickets to return to the Camino for 6 weeks May 2, 2007.  Sounds really crazy doesn't it?  I see myself returning as long as my strength and resources hold out.
 
Take Care,
Glenn 
________________________________________________________________________
Check out AOL.com today. Breaking news, video search, pictures, email and IM. All on demand. Always Free.