Karin's Adventures

Those of you who have lived in different countries can probably relate to the mixed feelings I have about houses in the USA, compared to houses in Germany. The main advantage of home ownership in the US is that it is way more affordable, not just because of the generally lower price of land, but also because of cheaper building techniques.

The notion of economy doesn’t stop at the outside of the building; it continues on the inside, all the way down to the fixtures and appliances. I could talk about doors, windows, rain gutters, roof shingles, siding, water pipes, heating systems, electric installations, lightning rods, sump pumps, you name it – but after a while I realized, that my audience either doesn’t know what I’m talking about, or they do and don’t need to be reminded. 

I personally enjoy my spacious home and find solutions for some of its shortcomings.

With a little help from Costco and Amazon our bathroom has been partially Germanized. It is sporting a shiny faucet, which we installed last year, and a new luxury shower head, replacing an identical one that was getting worn, both made in Germany by Hansgrohe.

My daughter posted a picture on Instagram today, about her first motorcycle lesson. All geared up and excited. As I clicked on “like”, smiling, I was reminded of my own excitement when I had finally saved up enough money to buy my first motorcycle, 36 years ago.

My mother didn’t like the idea of me riding, but she still gave me her father’s old motorcycle gloves, for good luck. I had never met my grandfather; he died long before I was born, but I remember photos of him on his beautiful Indian.

I knew I wanted to ride, in the front seat of course, when one of my classmates in highschool took me for a spin on his new HONDA in 1974. But, since my parents didn’t support the idea, I had to wait and save money to be able to pay for the license, and for the bike, and I had to be independent.

I got my motorcycle license in 1980, and in March 1981 I laid down 9,100.00 Deutsche Mark in cash at a BMW motorcycle dealership for this blue BMW R65 with white hardcases.

After 330 posts on an antiquated platform designed in the ’90s I felt it was time for an upgrade on my blog. Several important requirements had to be met: it should not cost more to run, I don’t want to lose any of my old posts, and the platform needs to be future-proof.

What looks easy enough at first glance evolved into a bigger project quickly, once I started thinking about the details.

• create a subdomain in my webspace
• install WordPress on it
• find a suitable theme
• get plugins (Jetpack, Syndication, Spamprotection)
• configure my theme
• make an about page, and a contact form
• import those 330 old posts from Blogspirit – in chunks of 10 via 33 individual rss feeds

This is what I’ve come up with. I like the clean, modern look of it. Also WordPress gives me more control and flexibility, so if the fashion trend changes, I can simply “go with the flow” and adapt – instead of having to start over.

What do you think?

P.S. - my webhost is having major problems, I can't even login to my wp-admin now, so - back to the good old Blogspirit.