tindrumfire.com

OK, everything’s back up. For some reason all my DB accounts were wiped. Go figure. Gotta love the host.

Things that have happened (in brief):

• got a promotion;
• stepped down from being a moderator on a large Australian online forum;
• finished a lot of work around the house and yard (listed in the Wiki);
• bought a Wii; and
• reorganised the house.

And, I’m off in two days for a much needed break.  More soon.  Who knows - with any luck, I may even be able to plug a keyboard into the Wii one day and update this via the TV …

Meh. Just found out that my wiki’s broken. Looks like a restore may have happened. Either that or they’ve changed my directory permissions.

Something to fix tonight. That and I should write an update - it’s been my mandatory few months now, hasn’t it?  A lot’s happened since then.

I saw her die today.

She always smiled. I remember that. She liked the water. I remember that too.
(more…)

Felt guilty for not updating this for so long, thought I’d sit down and write something.  Everything’s been far too busy - this year’s really picked up the pace.  Since writing last, we’ve:

• Ordered and had interior doors and handles installed.
• Ordered and had french doors installed.
• Varnished and sanded four interior doors out of six.
• Learned the value of OHS and wearing filtered masks while varnishing.
• Had almost a week off work from chemical poisoning.
• Drawn up garden designs and changed them about four times.
• Gone geocaching a few times (not enough, sadly).
• Had the coffee machine break down twice and had it fixed under warranty.
• Scanned a big batch of old family photos, but haven’t had time to edit and organise them yet.
• Stopped playing WoW (no time!).
• Brewed lots of homebrew - it’s great!

Coming up over the next few weeks:

• The home and garden show this weekend.
• Varnishing and sanding the french doors (four coats to go).  At a coat every 24 hours, I’m hoping we’ll be finished within the next two weeks.
• Need to find a sofabed that’ll fit in the back room without looking awkward - the room’s got a bit of a funny layout.  Found a great sofabed at Ikea that fits perfectly, but the warranty sucks, it’s expensive, you can’t wash the cushions, and the design is somewhat poor.  It fits perfectly though!  It’s the small things that are really annoying …
• Varnishing and sanding the final two interior doors.  The varnish is water-based, so we should be able to just about get them finished this weekend, with any luck.
• Buy and install the picture rails through the three bedrooms.  Should be easy, assuming I can figure out a way to get the rails home without snapping them.  An Astra isn’t the most effective way of transporting thin pieces of 3 metre plus long wood …
• Come up with some designs for the “new” back yard.  Hey, it’s only the fifth time we’ve been through the process - it gets easier, right?!
• Replace all the faceplates and switches through the house.  As soon as we can get the guy to start returning our calls, that is.

I’ve updated my wiki with everything in flight.  I like the idea of keeping track where I am with most of them.  Plus, I keep forgetting what needs to be done.  Stuff like a new towel rack should be easy to finish, I just forgot to check my wiki …

Other things I want to get done:

• Start working on the programs I’m thinking of.
• Set up the scanner, clean up the study, and organise my CDs.
• Take the dogs for a good walk w/ lunch.
• Write up some of the stuff I’ve been thinking about.
• Maybe bottle the bitter and get the sars bubbling.  If it finishes brewing, which I doubt.  It will be hot though, so it might finish earlier than I’m expecting …
• Play some WoW.  Yes, it’s a pretty sad goal, but I know I’ll definitely do it …
• Read and relax.

Thank God for long weekends.  Like, really long weekends.

43 degrees ain’t fun.  So, we sat around in the house and did nothing for pretty much the whole weekend.  Very boring.  Tried sitting in the hammock on the weekend - not a great idea.  Fell asleep, but I think that may have been a defensive reaction to the heat.  Now I know what a chicken feels like just before it gets roasted.  Nothing like 43 degree air blowing over you all afternoon …

Read some good books though.  Should write about that, actually.

Still, thankfully there’s a four day weekend coming up, between Australia day and a day off.  So, the current plan for this weekend is to:

• Measure and plan the shed redesign.
• Plan the garden and come up with some preliminary designs.
• Play some tennis.
• Go geocaching (finally!).

And some other things as well once I think of them.

I’ve bottled the cider (finally) and have put on a batch of Coopers Bitter.  Apparently this weekend is going to be almost as hot, so I’m trying to get the brew going as quickly as I can while the weather’s cool.  With any luck, it’ll go through a reasonable chunk of fermentation before the temperature peaks.  After that, I’m making alcoholic sarsparilla.

V bought me a Nintendo DS for my birthday.  Very cool!!  I’ve been playing the thing non-stop - it’s really fun!  More than I was expecting, even!  Nintendo’s really onto something with this handheld - it’s complex enough to offer games that are actually enjoyable, but it’s not so complex that I feel like I don’t have the time to play it (like my computer at the moment).  Sheer genius!

More about it all soon.  After cleaning the bottles, bottling the cider, cleaning the kit, and setting up the new batch, it’s almost 8:30.  Time to cool down, take a break, and chill out, me thinks.

For those who can’t see anything, it appears that they seem to be rather … romantically entangled.

1010 and falling!  And, even better, it still tastes like beer!  No vinegar or apparent mould yet.  Looks like I’ll be bottling on Saturday.  Next on the schedule is a bitter, followed by a cider and possibly a stout.  And then, a rest until I can set up a second fermenter to rack it prior to bottling.  240 bottles should last a while, once they’re actually drinkable.

Plan for this weekend:

• Plan the shed.
• Bottle the beer.
• Get the next batch of beer going.
• Get the phone sockets wired.
• Look for and hopefully buy / hang a mirror.
• Whipper-snipper the lawn.
• Fix the vacuum cleaner.
• Wire the shed.
• Read and relax.

Can’t wait.

Looks like I didn’t quite tighten the lid as much as I could have. Happily bubbling away now, hopefully before the wort had been contaminated. Still smells fine, and it’s still sitting at around 1025.

Looks like I’ve got a leak. That’s why there’s no bubbles. The fermentation’s happening (the gravity is down to around 1025 from 1035), but the airlock isn’t bubbling. My guess is that the grommit doesn’t quite fit perfectly - it’s a good enough seal to prevent gas leakage up to a certain pressure, but beyond that pressure, it lets it escape. Hopefully it’ll still be OK - it doesn’t seem to be loose enough to let air in. We shall see by Friday, I think. Looks like I’ll have to head out to pick up a new grommit this weekend though.

That and I couldn’t fix my alarm clock last night. We dropped it while painting the rooms, and I think one of the solder joins cracked (not that I could figure out which one). Not an auspicious start, so far. Hopefully it’s still covered under warranty.