It has been almost a month now and it looks like my repair work to my fascia board is holding. I think I deserve a pat on my back. Not perfect and a bit rough on the edges I know but this is what I'll get by working with what's at hand. What's left now is to have it painted in the right colour.
I wonder if my 5 year old Canon SX530 HS camera is approaching its end of life. Last week, while trying to take some pictures of the fascia board that I have repaired, there was a zap, then a pop and a second later some smoke coming out from the top of my camera. I panicked, got anxious and then had that uneasy feeling.
A quick press on the Playback mode button shows that the captured photo was alright.
I took some more pictures just to satisfy my curiosity. No zap and pop this time. No smoke either. I previewed the pictures - they look alright.
So what went wrong? Where did the smoke come from?
If you were to read the Product Data Sheet for 'Dulux Timbercolour' under section "Pre-Application -> System Information", you will get the impression that a Primer coat is not needed when painting on a wooden surface. I assume "N/A" means "not applicable" here.
But from what little knowledge that I knew, a primer or at least an undercoat is needed to ensure good adhesion for the top coat.
Confused, I fired off a question to Dulux Malaysia. I got a reply a day later from Customer Care. They said that they didn't know either and they will get back to me once that get an explanation from RDI, whoever they are. I waited, and waited, and waited .... More than a month later, the said reply has yet to come.
I then sent off a question to Dulux Singapore since 'Dulux Timbercolour' is available for sale in Singapore too. I got a reply from them 3 days later and this is what they say:
The leather cup valve in my bicycle pump broke. I can't get any build up in air pressure while trying to pump my tyre. This comes as no surprise as this pump is something like 30 years old maybe more.
I tried a quick fix by supporting the broken part of the leather cup with a piece of flimsy plastic. It worked for a while, but then there was a 'pop' and the leather cup is now in worse shape than before. A bigger tear now. Needless to say, it is now beyond repair. I was obviously disappointed.
I tried a couple of things as a fix but the cap of an old 35mm film canister, that has been lying around the house for years, did the job for me in the end, believe it or not.
My old wallet, that very wallet that has been me for something like 20 year - is crumbling. It is falling apart.
So one day last month, I had this silly idea about crafting a wallet of my own. It looks easy enough on Youtube. So I thought, why not? Besides, I already have some of the cutting tools and self-healing mat from my last crafting project. I craft them with leather, faux leather like PU/PVC or even by recycling a Tetra pack box. As long as it is functional, it does not matter.
Vacuum cleaner filters, like car filters, will lose it effectiveness with usage and needs to be replaced regularly.
For some reason, the Deerma DX900/DX920 dust cup sponge filter is sold at an exorbitant price. The worse part, they are not even a Deerma original. The cheapest that I could find is from one seller from China at Shopee Malaysia. The price is at RM12.40 a piece, if I were to buy 1 unit, but at RM20.00 a piece if I were to buy 2 or more. One strange pricing scheme here. Why?
Not wanting to pay such an outrageous price, this is what I did in the end - I made them myself.
It took me about 2 weeks before making one that I find acceptable. Functionally, it works and it traps minute dust particles. Without blowing my own trumpet, I think they are as good as the one that came with the Deerma vacuum. Not perfect in my cutting (if only I know how to make those stamping die cutters) but they fit snugly into the dust cup. After using them a couple of times over the past month, I do find them quite usable. As far as I can tell, I don't think any dust particles did slip through the filter, either through it or via its side.
The cost per piece of my DIY vacuum dust cup sponge filter - about 50 sens (15 US cents) per piece.
I have just bought myself a new vacuum cleaner last week, a Deerma DX900. A small, lightweight portable vacuum with good suction that is budget friendly to my pocket. Also, it is easy to clean and I do not get dust flying all over the place like before with my old vacuum cleaner. The build looks good and sturdy. A squarish to round converted is included in the package. So I have the option of connecting my pipes and nozzle from my older vacuum cleaner to my new one if need be (note: additional connectors and adapters needed). Or I can get additional vacuum accessories (brushes for example) when my need arise. Good.
There is one problem though. I find the perforated metal particle steel filter to be too small. It clogs up easily in less than 5 minutes of use, even faster when used in a very dusty part of the house. Just emptying the dust container will not help as once the steel filter is clogged up, I get practically no suction at all. A thorough cleaning of the steel filter is required when this happens. You can tell that there is poor or no suction when nothing is twirling around in the dust canister.
The annual MY Garden Birdwatch Survey was held this year on the 5th and 6th June, 2021. As in previous years, I did my count from my home, starting from 7:51 A.M. till 8:21 A.M.
As usual, not all the birds species around my home were accounted for - the Black Crows, for example. There's nothing much I could do as I have to follow the rules that have been laid out.
I am a total dork when it comes to knife sharpening. I always feel like the knife that I have sharpened is no better than before I started, if not worse.
In the old days, there is this knife sharpening peddler that cycles by my neighbourhood on his bicycle peddling his trade. We get him to sharpen our knives and he does quite a good job. But I don't see him any more these days. Last sighting of him was something like 15 years ago.
I think my problem all along was in keeping my sharpening angle consistent. The very old worn out concave surface of the sharpening stone just made things more difficult for me, if not impossible, I think.
So to aid me in sharpening the dull knives in my house, I got myself one of these fixed angle knife sharpening device (DISCLOSURE: this is a Lazada Malaysia affiliate link) last week. There are a lot of different fixed angle knife sharpener designs out there in the market. But I settled on one that is easy to set up where no additional tools, like an Allen key or screw drivers, is required.
After something like 7 years, my cactus bloomed again. Unlike the last time where I only had a single bloom, this time I had 6. One flower came earlier by about a week. The rest of it bloomed later together, all five - picture above. Three set of flowers on two separate cactus bulb.
As far as I can tell, there doesn't seem to be any correlation between the month that it bloomed. Seven years ago, it was around August. This time, it was in April. Blooming time though is the same - from night till late morning, lasting only one day.
I wonder when will it bloom again? Such beautiful flowers.
After something like 4 months (beginning early November 2020), it looks like my cat is on her way to recovery. I think I have managed to unclogged her digestive system.
How do I know, you asked? Well, the proof is in the pooping. She has been at it for the last 2 weeks or so - daily.
I tried cow's milk initially. But that didn't quite work out.
So I tried coconut oil next. Daily doses is about 0.5ml - 0.75ml per day.
A severe case of hairball with my cat, I think. It took almost 2 months before things started moving. Taking her to the vet would be the best and fastest remedy. However, with Covid-19 floating around ... you know.
It has gotten to me. After all these years, I think I have gotten tired of burning MP3 compact discs (CD). I find the tasks cumbersome these days. The last CD that I burnt was something like a year ago. Besides that, the CD burners on my computers are getting old and needs to be replaced. One by one they are failing. And oh yes, there is some problems with getting my CD detected in the Phillips DVD player. That needs to be replaced too.
It would be ideal if I could have all my audio music digital files installed on flash drives and I playing them off from a media player of some kind.
That was one thought that I had not too long ago. With all the debating going on in my mind, the idea of upgrading my hi-fi system came flashing across my mind one fine day. After all, I had never ever bought a hi-fi system for myself before. All along, all I have was just a 'make-do' system. As a matter of fact, they are just hand-me-downs from my father and brother (Dad passed away while my brother bought a better system for himself and tossed the old one). Some repairs were required along the way, like my brother's Mission speakers for example. Foam for the woofer got chewed up by cockroaches some 35 years ago. Fixed that myself by making my own 'foam' using nappy liner cutouts and silicone sealant. It works, minus the aesthetics unfortunately. It's a 'make-do' system after all. Quite a fun project there.
My Internet Service Provider (ISP) Yes has gone generous recently. Instead of 15GB previously, I get 50GB worth of data now after a plan upgrade on 31st December 2020. That's an extra 35GB here. Lots of data now, all at no extra charge. I still pay RM47.40 (sales tax included) per month as before.
Now, the problem is I only use about 14GB of data per month all this while. I am wondering now on what am I going to do with all this available data. 36GB in all? It would have been better if they lower the monthly fee, I think. But beggars can't be choosers.
