Discontinued...

Hi all,

This is a quick note to say I have discontinued this blog, mainly due to most posts being interesting to friends and family only.

Content that would normally be posted here will in future be placed directly onto Facebook.

If we know each other, even if you've just commented here in the past, feel free to contact me via my FB account: https://www.facebook.com/rodney.maas.

Cheers,

Rodney
PS: my aviation blog, www.flying.geek.nz, continues as usual!

Home improvements

This is a quick update on the exterior repaint that has been happening recently...

Firstly, most of the prep work has been completed, including the primer/ undercoat for almost all of the main body of the building and much of the railings on the deck. Nice. A portion of the window and door prep is also complete. It is mainly the deck surface and a couple of trickier bits of the building to be finished.

Assuming the weather improves, that should be all but complete in the next few days, then on to the top coats. The three of us who own the building are all but agreed on the top coat colours - I hope to have confirmation in the next day or two, so that can start next week.

I doubt it will be finished before my next holiday, but it would be well and truly finished, and looking rather flash, when I get back from my break!

A funny video...

Here is a very funny video. I came across this cruzin the interwebs the other day. Its sooo funn3y! :-)

The prep is almost finished

This weekend's update shows the progress that is being made with the prep for painting. The painters are sanding back the original prep work, and the builders have just about finished the minor repairs that are needed [thankfully there was very little on my unit that needed repair].

I was told today that the primer might be applied as soon as Monday, which would be a great result - it is only 2 weeks since the prep work started.

Having said that, even once the main building have been done, there's still the desks, balustrades, stairs to do, so I can't imagine that it will be all finished at the end of next week as originally suggested - but still much closer than I expected!

Anyway, here are a few pictures from today.

The prep continues....

The preparation for the repaint continues with more sanding, more anti-rust stuff and a strange yellow-tinged paint being applied in several parts... not sure what this is for, but it's different to what appears to be primer applied to other parts...

Today is the first time I've had a good look in the light. Hopefully the painters are noticing what appears to be some basic repairs needed [I must have a word with them on Monday when they are back in] and are not going to just paint over it! There will be words if they do...

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures...

Exterior repaint is underway

The long awaited exterior repaint of the building I live in is finally underway!

While I am a little sceptical about how long it will take [after all, it is winter in New Zealand], you can't fault the enthusiasm of the painters. They also look to be doing a reasonable prep job and it's very clear that given the state of the outside, the prep work will be even more critical than many jobs...

Anyway, here's a photo of the scaffolding that has been erected under my kitchen window - not a great photo - it was a 2 second exposure and I was trying to hold still :-)

There will be more photos as the work progresses!

A few more pictures from Christchurch

As noted on my Aviation Blog, I was working in and about Christchurch and Dunedin last week. There wasn't much time for sightseeing as such, but here are a few pictures from the IBIS hotel we stayed at while in Christchurch.

The Ibis is right in the central city area and so has views of the destruction from the 2010/ 2011 earthquakes - including that icon of the city, the Cathedral.

More Fog!

As I had predicted, the fog returned this evening. At this point it is no where near as bad as yesterday evening. I had to go shopping, so I took the long way to the supermarket [via the airport :-)] and took a photo from a couple of beaches at Lyall Bay and Island Bay.

I've converted to these images to monochrome... they just look better.

... still rolling in

... and now the visibility is well under 100 meters. This photo taken at 8:07pm this evening and I imagine it will get worse...  Welcome to summer :-)