Blind Guardian Concert

Last night I went to the Blind Guardian concert at the Forum with O and P. It was a fantastic show. The crowd were in a good mood and the band were excellent. There was no fancy light show or special effects, just really good music. The band worked to get the crowd involved and the crowd was happy to respond. It was easily the best concert I have ever been to, and I will definitely go to see them again if they tour Australia again.

Tasmania 1

I recently travelled to Tasmania, to attend my sister's wedding. I then toured around for a week. Part of the time I was travelling alone, and part of the time with family.

To start with, I was staying with family at a place called Brickendon, in the "Coachmans Cottage".

The place was very picturesque. This is the bedroom I was staying in:

The cottage is one of several on the Brickendon historic farm. The original farm buildings are open to the public (for a small fee).

The primary advantage of Brickendon however is that it was close to the location of the wedding, just outside of Longford, in Tasmania's north.

The wedding went very well, and all the participants and guests seemed to have a great time. I won't be publishing any pictures of the wedding on this blog, as my sister may want to keep them a bit more private.

Window Repair Part 3 (Catch up posts)

It was actually several weeks after replacing the glass before weather and life combined to give me a chance for the next steps...

Step 12: Strip or sand paint on whole window frame.

I discovered that the top layer of paint on most of the window frame was in poor condition, and needed to be stripped back. I used a chemical paint stripper to do this, and discovered that yes, chemical burns hurt! Don't get paint stripper on your skin! If you do, wash it very thoroughly! I got a few small strips of paint stripper on my arm, and immediately got down off the ladder and went inside to wash it off. To be extra carefull, I soaked my arm in a bucket of water (moving it around to "sluce" off any remnant paint stripper) for about 20 minutes after the initial rince. This was probably overkill, but I didn't feel like taking any chances. The result was a mild burn, similar to brushing against one of the metal shelves in an oven. Fortunately I had been wearing safety goggles, a dust mask, and heavy duty gloves, so my arm was the only part of me where I got any burns.

I didn't try to strip all the layers of paint, although in theory I should have done. But the lower layers of paint seemed to be in good condition, so I decided to take a chance on them.

Alas! I discovered that the paint stripper tended to disolve the newly applied putty wherever it came in contact (fortunately only a little). The result was not disasterous, but the putty is no longer so nice and smooth. So note to self: Next time strip the paint off the frame BEFORE replacing any damaged panes of glass.

Step 13:
Once the top layers of paint were stripped, I washed the frame thoroughly with water, and then sugar soap, to make sure there was no remaining paint stripper. I then lightly sanded the frame, and then washed it down again.

Step 14:
During the paint stripping process, a small amount of metal had been exposed. So I painted over these sections with metal primer.


Step 15:
Masking: I masked the window frame with a combination of masking tape and cardboard.

Step 16:
First coat of paint. Once masking was complete, I applied the first coat of paint. I used Wattyl Solarguard, which has a good reputation. I was careful to paint over the putty onto the class a little bit. Apparently this seals in the putty and preserves it's flexibility.

Step 17:
Second coat of paint. This was actually easier than the first coat, as the coverage was better.


Step 18:
Remove the masking tape. A bit more difficult than it sounds on the glass section. The trick is to remove the tape without pulling the paint away from the glass. In the end, I used a ruller and a cutter to cut the paint next to the masking tape, before stripping away the masking.

And here is the final, painted, product! I still need to clean the glass, but I will do that after I have finished painting the wall.

Water pressure good! (catch up posts)

Late last year (after my PC started acting up), I got the rusting iron cold water pipes in my house replaced. I now have actual water pressure! And the water comes out clear when I turn the taps on, instead of brownish red! Although, the water does taste strangely bland now....

Best of all, I no longer need to worry about a pipe bursting and causing a lot of damage and wasting a lot of water.

Loooong time between posts...

Well, it has been a long time between posts, owing to the sad illness of my computer. And the very slow response of the computer shop in fixing it. I made the mistake of thinking that it would be quicker to let the computer shop find the problem, than to try to find it myself. Apparently the RAM module was flaky, and it took several weeks for the shop to find this, then several weeks for the RAM manufacturer to verify this and replace the RAM module (grrrr!).

However, today I finally picked up my fixed PC!

Now that I have re-installed the operating system, and spent several hours downloading security patches, I can read my email and blog again.

Many catch up posts will follow :)