The ultimate commuter vehicle

Fuji Sanibel bicycle

I recently took the plunge and bought my first new bicycle since eighth grade.

Electric.

Though many consider electric bicycles “cheating” (when they zip past regular bikes on a trail), I had many reasons for venturing into this new category of cycles.

  1. In October-ish, my office is moving from 7.2 miles one-way to 11.4 miles one-way. The difference in my regular bicycling commute will be roughly another 40 minutes out of my day. A commute on this bike is close to the time of driving. And with the typically bad traffic along the new route, the electric bike might actually be faster!
  2. Every time I ride the electric bike rather than drive, I’m preventing a significant amount of pollution. (I plan to ride as many days as I can.)
  3. It’s still exercise… the motor won’t go unless you are pedaling. (It’s a “pedal assist” bike.) Even though it doesn’t provide as much exercise as a commute on my road bike, I am still getting way more exercise than I would be behind the wheel of my small automobile.
  4. It’s a lot cheaper to charge the battery than pay for gas (once you factor out the cost of the bike).
  5. Upkeep expenses will be undoubtedly less than for any of our cars.
  6. It can only go 20 miles per hour, so it’s pretty safe.
  7. 50% of the bikes sold in Belgium are electric (source). They must know something.
  8. Ironically, the frame color is very similar to that of my road bike, which I had custom painted a million years ago.
  9. It was a super good deal, via Performance Bicycles – like less than half of what most electric bikes go for.
  10. It’s fun.
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Life is short

best cat ever

This morning, our beloved kitty went to “the happy hunting grounds,” as my dad used to call heaven for cats and dogs.

Floof was the best cat ever.

So as I write this with tears in my eyes, I share with you these few little things:

  1. Be thankful for those around you. I am very thankful for the eleven brief years we had with Floof.
  2. Show love to those around you, because you don’t know how long they will be part of your life.
  3. Don’t take your own life – you will leave lots of pain behind for those who survive.

If you want to make a donation to the pet rescue organization where we found Floof, the Denver Dumb Friends League is a worthy group. Or give to the pet rescue organization in the town of your choice. Thanks.

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Abundance

a Victrola collection from an open house home tour

We love open houses. Visiting a home that’s for sale reveals a lot about the people selling the home. Their lives are on display for guests to see.

Some homes are time capsules – nothing has been changed for twenty years or more. Other homes have been cleaned up and fitted with the latest accessories and appliances so they could be in almost any community of the same demographic in another part of America.


Our latest open house visit was to an immaculate farmhouse that was never a real farmhouse. The owners recreated a country home in the heart of suburbia. The matron of the home had impeccable taste – every room was perfect.

The Victrola room seemed a little excessive to me. Though the collection was small, each of these music players was not functional in the face of today’s entertainment landscape.

But that wasn’t the point. The owners most likely enjoyed the beauty of their hand-crafted machines and the era they represented.


Then I had to reflect on my own collections. Many would say that I have too many small toy cars or pairs of headphones. But at least I don’t have a room dedicated to any collection – like the Victrola museum.

Collecting things can be fun or reach a compulsive addiction level.

Collections are a good way to enjoy human creativity through variety and also experience the spectrum of form and function.

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Very cool new Schneider pens

Schneider LinkIt! pen set

A new concept in drawing and writing has arrived on the shelves of Walmart – the Schneider LinkIt! pen set.

You can take any two pens and snap them together to make a handy two-sided two-color pen. Mix-and-match is the name of the game – they easily snap apart too.

Another cool thing about these pens is that they are BioBased. Schneider has introduced the first fineliner and felt tip pens on the market made of bio-based materials. The plastic is produced from renewable raw materials – agricultural by-products such as vegetable fats and oils, corn starch, or microbiota. The LinkIt! has 88% bio-based plastics, as certified by DINCERTCO, an independent certification body of DIN German Institute for Standardization.

Like all Schneider pens, they are super-high quality. The tips are very durable and smooth-writing. Colors are bright. Each 16-pen set has 8 thin-tip pens and 8 broad-point pens.

Schneider LinkIt! pen set

Writing a personal letter with multiple colors adds variety and interest. (I wrote my sister and her family in Belgium a few days back – definitely more fun than normal blue or black ink.)


Schneider has a contest that you should enter. If you buy a set of Schneider LinkIt! pens from Walmart and take a photo, you might win $80 worth of Schneider pens!

  • Details on the contest: here
  • First check the list of Walmart stores that carry these pens: here
  • The contest expires June 30th.
  • Note that you may have to look a bit to find the pen set. (Apparently, Walmart has put them high on the shelves.)

If there is not a Walmart near you, you can buy them from Amazon.


My favorite part of buying Schneider pens is that the US distributor is Stride, a New Mexico-based company that employs several people in the special needs spectrum. I love this report that tells some of the story:

Stride Inc., featured on KOB-TV

So when you buy Schneider pens, not only do you get the best pens made on this planet, you will benefit a company that brings new life to many with special needs.


Finally, a secret tip: you can buy Parker- and Cross-compatible Schneider refills for your favorite fancy pens and have much better performance than the factory refills. Passion4Pens is my favorite source.

Disclosure: Stride provided the pen set for my review, and my unbiased opinion is that the pens are great. But I get nothing from the sale of these pens other than the satisfaction of knowing that you have benefited a great company and are writing with excellent pens.

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