Office Remodel Finished

Master Bedroom / Office Remodel 2014 is very nearly complete.

The space is divided into a bedroom area and home office area. I used a four foot high knee wall (below right) to help distinguish between the areas which are decorated differently. The bedroom area is carpet and lighter colors. The office is more wood, tile floor and a stone veneer fire-place.

The desk is unique. It's construction is wood frame with tile on the outside - except for the areas which face the chair - they are hardwood face-frame. The top is granite.

The walls of the bedroom area are pictures themed with affectionate couples and umbrellas. If you ever see artwork or any kind of room decoration with this sort of style, please let me know.

View from the Office to the Bedroom Area

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View from the Bedroom to the Office

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Office Area

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Details on the first phase of this project can be found on a blog from earlier in the year.

Bike Ride Through Italy

The planning and training for international bike trip #3 has officially begun. I've been overseas twice for extended rides on the bike (bicycle). First was Germany in 2002. I rode from Wurzburg to Augsburg in mid-September along a route known as the Romantische Strabe or Romantic Road. I was solo on that trip so it was not too romantic. Beautiful, though. Fall colors were everywhere and the weather was clear and bright for 6 days along well kept paths between small German towns like Nordlingen and Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Highlight was a 70 mile day to the fortress city of Rothenburg overlooking a river below. The last ten or fifteen miles were uphill to the ancient defended highgound that is now home to dungeon museums, small hotels and of course the most welcome of sights after 7 hours on the bike- beer gardens.

In March 2006 I packed up the same bike, flew off to the hemisphere down under, and rode through the South Island of New Zealand from Christchurch to Queenstown. Here are some numbers: 7 days on the left side of the road. A dozen (or so) Kiwi beers. Zero flat tires or breakdowns. 5 million sheep. One beautiful country.

Last Sunday, training for a ride through Italy began. I woke up early and pedaled for a couple of hours before breakfast. Phoenix mornings could almost be considered a little cool now with near zero humidity and Sundays are the best time for street riding just about anywhere. I told my teenage son at breakfast that I had pedaled my bike for 30 miles in about two hours. He remarked that it sounded like I'd just been through a school zone.

Future updates on the trip planning and training can be found here:

 update 9/10  -  The Route is Set:

Firenzie (Florence) - 31 miles to

San Gimignano - 22 miles to

Radda in Chianti - 15 miles to

Siena - 23 miles to

Montalcino - 22 miles to

Montepulciano - 19 miles to

Cortona - 42 miles to

Assisi - 29 miles to

Todi - 23 miles to

Orvieto - Train back to Firenzie

Total distance 226 miles (planned 5 days)



update 9/17  -  Ship or Rent:

On the past two trips, I transported my own bike overseas. In both cases, there was no charge to ship the bike by either American Airlines (to Germany) or on Air New Zealand. Times have definitely changed. It is now a significant additional fee to ship a bike international (or anywhere). Plus, both times I had to break down the bike and place it in a cardboard box for protection from the baggage manglers. When I arrived out of country, I had to re-assemble the bike and store the box, parts and some airline travel clothes in one location. Then when the ride was over I had to re pack the thing for the flight home.

I loved having my own bike for those two trips. It was 100 percent reliable. I never had a flat or any mechanical problem in all of those hundreds of miles. I will certainly miss this. But I think renting is the way to go, now.

There are many bike hire companies around Italy. I chose one in Florence where I will begin and end the Tuscany ride-adventure. The price is not too far from what it would cost me to ship my own.

Voting and Hitting the Jackpot

In a bid to boost voter turnout, Los Angeles election officials are considering some sort of lottery / cash prize system.

By participating in the voting process, citizens would be automatically entered in a contest to win money. Seems almost reasonable for a moment. But think about it. You would have to continue this process for every election into the future. Because if the incentive ever went away, a community would be right back to the same old problem. Maybe worse, since you could see even more voter cynicism at the thought of a prize or monetary incentive that "used to be there, so why bother now?"

And if it is truly a good idea, why stop with voting?  How about a prize incentive to promote the civic responsibility of filing a tax return?  Or jury duty?

Voting is an important right and responsibility. It's made much easier in my community through mail-in ballots. Choosing through voting is not the same as filling out a lottery ticket at the convenience store. You're already a winner every time you turn in a ballot.

Editorials Above the Darkness

Who is the creepy guy in this picture? His name is William Bradfield and he is even more creepy than you might think. More at the end of this post.

This is a page from my February 1978 school newspaper: The Upper Merion Emissary. During my sophomore year, I wrote several articles for the journalism class paper. It was very interesting to read through the stuff - especially an opinion piece I wrote on the death penalty. Funny to see how my views on that issue have changed.

The opinion piece above the photo is uncredited. I wrote it as a project of amateur investigative journalism. Some of those high school teachers were not happy about it, but my teacher liked it and I got a good grade in the class. Looking back, I really enjoyed Ms. Hutson's class and the other kids on the school paper.

As for the bearded fellow, in addition to planning bible lectures, Bill Bradfield also planned and committed murder. Three of them: the victims were a fellow English teacher named Sue Reinert and her two children. Ms. Reinert was found beaten and drugged to death in her car 16 months after this photo and her kids were never found. Bradfield, along with our school principal Dr. Jay Smith were convicted of the murders.

More information can be found about this famous Philadelphia area case by googling "main line murders" or checking out Joseph Wambaugh's book "Echoes in the Darkness." Wambaugh is a very good police and true-crime writer.