Anthropologie Plagarie

Aaliyah recently ripped her favorite jeans at the knee. An unfortunate consequence of youth, playgrounds and a generous dose of crazy. What with the onset of Fall and lower than average temperatures around the 'Golden Horseshoe', I would be billed as a bad parent for sending her to school with ripped jeans.

Borrowing from an idea that I saw at Anthropologie, I set about to repair her jeans while upping the cool factor at the same time.

Using a patch cut out from a Byvik cushion cover meant for an Ektorp sofa that we got at the IKEA AS-IS section and some strips of Heat-n-Bond I mended the knee section of the jeans that should see her through the season, while looking cool at the same time.

She LOVED it!!!!!

Ripped!!

IKEA Byvik cushion for EKTORP

Cutting the patch to size

Aaliyah, rocking the look

Sounds So So Good

After over two years of being in storage, I finally bit the bullet and got my Rotels converted to 110V. Sure I could've run them through a step up transformer - Not!!

The local agents are Brack Electronics in Toronto and they did an amazing job of the conversion. Thank You Mr. Claudio Landucci!!!

I spent an hour connecting everything together and spent the next few listening to music the way I should've been doing so for the past two years.

Oh. They sound so so very good!!!

Jewelery Storage Solutions

With Lynda's jewelery overrunning her small closet, I had decided a long time ago to solve her problem.

OK, I know the drill, we're supposed to listen and do nothing - but I thought that just this once.....

So I decided to go all out on this one and got her a Gerstner International GI-530 Red Oak Tool Chest. These chests were made to store precision hand tools and are felt lined to protect those tools.

Me thinks it does a good job of storing her jewelery.....

The chest in it's natural setting

The top section holds watches (Lynda does not wear a watch)

With the drawers open

Get Your Tenori-On

I just discovered, while strip mining the web, this unique instrument called the Tenori-On. It's made by Yamaha and is quite something else. It consists of a 16 x 16 matrix of LED switches that allow the musician to create a range of sounds on different levels and BPM.

Search Tenori-On on YouTube and see what it can do.

The downside???

It costs $999. That's puts in the hands of only very serious musicians.

"There has to be an alternative" - I said to no one in particular. "What about a software version?"

Well what do you think.

Drumroll please..............................

May I introduce you to the Weepr (Not sure which name is worse...)

It costs $999 less than the Tenori-On - Which makes it free!!!!!

I down loaded it and Aaliyah and I sat in bed trying to get some beats going. Great fun. Worth a try!!!!

Tiramisu

Tiramisu - Literally meaning "Pick me Up" probably in direct reference to the Sugar and Espresso content. Sort of like a sugar high!!!!

Lynda and I first discovered this amazing 'comfort food' somewhere in the 90's when DHL moved their office to the Al Maskan building in Karama. Located in the East corner of the building, the cafe, whose name escapes me, was our favorite go-to place for a cup of Earl Grey and a slice of Tiramisu.

Through the years that we lived in Dubai, we would visit the small cafe with increased frequency and knew the exact days when the Tiramisu would be prepared. By the time we moved to Bahrain, I had sort of mastered the dish. In my mind at least!!!

This Thanksgiving weekend, we're driving across to London, Ontario to have lunch with Lynda's Uncle, Stanley and his 5 sons.

I've made Tiramisu to take along and hope that they like it.

I've realised through the years, that it's not to everyone's taste. And that's not a problem as well. I'll just bring it home.....

Show Me Your Billy

The ubiquitous BILLY bookcase, the most versatile of IKEA bookcases, is turning 30 years old this month! Over 41 million BILLYs have been sold worldwide since its introduction in 1979 - enough to circle the globe twice. Now, THAT’s a lot of bookcases!

To celebrate, IKEA has introduced limited editions of the BILLY bookcase, BILLY BJÄSTA and BILLY JÄDER.

But the real action is over atwww.votrebilly.fr where BILLY fans upload their hacks

I like this one where the rear hardboard panels have been replaced with translucent colored panels of acrylic.

Owl City - Fireflies

I just caught this song on the radio a couple of days ago. It's no. 6 on my playlist at the bottom. You can scroll down and play it if it is not already doing so.

Quite amazing as Owl City is a one man project. Turn the lights off or close your eyes. Free yourself from any distractions and listen to this haunting track.

More about Owl City here.

Google Street View - Canada

Wednesday, the 7th of October, saw Google Street View being rolled out in select cities in Canada. I was fortunate to recognize the cars as they passed by our neighborhood earlier in the year. I did not catch the car as it zoomed past our house, but later as we took the girls out cycling to Clark Park, we saw the car again as it imaged Balmoral Drive.

Me: "Hey Lynda, Girls - The Google Maps Car again!!"

Lynda: "So there's this pair of shoes that I need"

Me: "This is big. We're going to be immortalized on Street View"

Lynda: "It's Tan. Can we go to Anthropologie later"

Me: "Smile & wave, girls - Smile & wave."

Me: "OK - I'LL smile & wave"

Lynda: "Who the hell are you waving at??"

(pause)

"Long Sigh"

ND Magnetic Hooks

ND usually stands for Non Destructive and is usually followed by the word 'Testing' when used to describe material analysis without destroying the material in question.

In my case it stands for hooks that will affix to the walls of Lynda's cabin without the need to affix a fastener.

The walls of Lynda's cabin at work are sheet metal partitions covered with fabric. Lynda had been issued strict instructions by the building manager that no hooks of any sort would be allowed to be affixed to the panel for the purpose of hanging her frames.

I sorted through the box of magnets that I had culled earlier and isolated those that had some sort of threaded hole within the body. Using the screws that I had saved, I affixed hooks (I used the Hilti Fix hooks that are not normally sold in North America) to the magnets.

They are super strong and should hold almost anything. They're not that good looking, but it does not really matter as they will be hidden by the frames.

The hooks affixed to my fridge

Another angle showing the profile of the hooks

These hooks are part of the Hilti-Fix system that is sold in the

Middle East and Europe and are meant for fixing into concrete walls

Craiglist Score

I just scored me a pair of Vintage Radios on CL TO.

One is a 1940's GE AM/SW Tube Radio that works and the other is a 1930's Spartan Farm Radio.

And I got this for the most amazing price of ..................

Not Telling!!!!! Would rock the world economy!!!!

Not sure what I'm going to do with these..

1940 AM/SW Tube Radio Model G-71

1930 Spartan AM/SW Farm Radio Model 637-6

Second Harvest

No. No.

No fruit trees were involved this time.

My cuz Avi dropped off a carton of hard drives that were culled from servers at his place of work.

Now you may or may not know this - but all hard drives contain either one or a pair of rare-earth magnets which comprise part of the actuator arm that propels the read/write heads across the platter. The magnets can be either neodymium or samarium-cobalt magnets. What's the point of this info overload - you ask!!!

Rare earth magnets exhibit a magnetic field in excess of 1.5 Tesla v/s 0.5 to 1 for ferrite or ceramic magnets. What this means is that these magnets are strong - frickkin strong. Each one of these magnets can lift in excess of 25 lbs. And for the best part, they're free!!! Compare that to Lee Valley at CAD 8.00 - 12.00 for comparable magnets and you've got a great thing going.

And since these magnets are so strong, they make great holders for tools in my shed. They will hold the heaviest of my hand tools without a problem.

So after an afternoon with my trusty B&D AS600 and my torx bits from my Bosch set, I harvested 18 pairs of magnets and 36 platters along with assorted screws, mini bearings (from the actuator arms) and a few motors (that drive the platters)

If you're planning on going this route, watch your fingers. If those magnets snap together on your fingers - OUCH!!!!!!

Here, in pictures is the fruit of my labour (pun intended)

Box of Hard Drives to spice up my weekend - Pathetic

Gratuitous OCD shot

Garbage!!!

Pretty magnets all in a row!!

Platters!! Unsure what I'm going to do with these!!!!

Harvest

Last Saturday, Lynda, the girls and I undertook the task of harvesting all the apples from the tree and then pruning it down. It took the entire afternoon and the better part of our effort went towards keeping the girls focused on the task at hand.

I'll let the pictures speak WRT the quantity of apples that we harvested. We got some really good ones and the ones that were touched get pickled or chutnied courtesy Mum & A. Ayn.

Apples!!

We ran out of places to hold them!!!

The tree, pruned!

Removed the grass from around the tree trunk

My lawn! Probably the only thing I'm doing a good job of!!!!

Final Shedonism

Well, the garden shed is more or less complete. I could go on and on tweaking it but I had to call it a day somewhere. I'm not personally happy with the way the doors turned out. They looked too featureless and slab-like. I will address that next year.

As far as functionality goes, I could not have asked for anything more. It holds everything garden and lawn related and that is exactly what I had wanted.

Dad and I had even levelled the ground in front of the shed, deposited topsoil, some grass seed and it has taken root well.

Shed done

Too Slab Like for my liking..

The doors hold all my gardening implements

More gardening implements

Trailer Trash - Part Three

I did not do this post in the right sequence as I just could not locate the photos that I knew that I had taken..

Anyhooo... I found them!!!

This was one of the last things that Dad and I did prior to his departure to Bombay.

We isolated what would become the chassis of the trailer and discarded the remainder of the frame. We used some of the rubber caps from other parts of the frame to seal off any openings that would allow the ingress of water.

I have to start building the box one of theses days.

Trailer Trash - Part Two

I sat down today and prepared some conceptual drawing of what I would like the trailer to look like. The drawings are more or less for me to decide construction details as well as proportions of the trailer. In my earlier post I mentioned that I wanted to base the unit on the iconic Radio Flyer Wagons. I think that I more or less got the unit to look like the Radio Flyers, and I even christened the as yet unborn trailer, "Brampton Flyer"

Have a look!!

I tried to match the look as closely as possible

The Ventilated floor is an attempt to keep the weight down

The "Brampton Flyer"

Oh! Oh! Canada

Just heard this on the radio and had to give props to Luke Boyd AKA Classified from Nova Scotia. This is a damn good song and says it all.

Oh! Canada! We stand on guard for thee!!!!

errr.... What are we guarding????

More Shedonism

The shed is almost done with most of the interior fittings in place. The doors have been readied and Dad has painted both sides with the weatherproofing paint. I've been having trouble getting a matching set of hinges to the pair that I have in possession. I'll have to work something out....

Full frontal shot. My lawnmower will be happy to spend Winter indoors. It told me so!!!!

From the side

Shingled roof

Dedicated storage for my shop vac

Dedicated shelf for my fuel canisters

I used the wall cavity on one side for my garden waste bags

Trailer Trash - Part One

I'm not sure at what point I had decided that I needed a trailer to tow behind my bike. Maybe it was when Layla finally graduated to a real cycle that enabled us to start cycling to progressively greater distances. Anyways what I need (want), I cannot normally afford, so I gravitate towards making stuff. However with the very little time that I have being divided between taking the girls cycling and swimming and the rest in construction..... the prospect of building that trailer seems further and further away.

Till yesterday.

I found this left out for garbage collection......

A fully functional child carrier made by our very own "Chariot Carriers" in Alberta. Oh Joy!!!

It's an amazing piece of tech with cast plastic wheels shod with street tyres and with fully sealed roller bearings attached to a solid axle. The frame is aluminum so it will make for easy working. The only problem is with the hitch that attaches to the cycle, but that will be rectified.

I ripped off the protective shell and it is now laid bare for hacking.

I plan to make the trailer look like the Radio Flyer Wagons.

Shedonism

This summer I decided to build a smaller auxiliary shed for my Lawn Mower and garden tools. It would be a lean-to against the shed that I had built last summer. Dad and I poured the concrete pad a couple of weeks ago and while the concrete was wet, we set a small garden plaque into the pour for a touch of whimsy.

We chose to 'Grow Giggles' as we will get a lot of Free Laughs when people see the state of my garden!!!

Yesterday, I built up the frame out of balance 2x4' that I had around the place. That's not bluwood you see, but regular and PT lumber that Dad coated with a coat of Weatherproofing stain that was sold as a mis-tint at the Re-Store.

The plan is that the vacuum cleaner will go on a shelf on the right, below which will be stored my off-season tires. On the Left will be the Lawn Mower, above which on a small shelf will stand my fuel for my gas powered equipment and above that will rest my ladder on two hooks.

I will use one of the in wall cavities to hold the lawn waste bags. I have not as yet decided what I will do with the others. All of my garden implements will hang from the two doors, that we will start building tomorrow.

Curb Appeal - Part 4

Not much progress really, but what does not seem like a lot, actually took three whole days to complete. I wanted the front porch to be free of any visible fastening system and this is what took all of the time. I used Simpson Strong-Tie Deck Board Tie (DBT1Z) to hold the boards in place. The system took a longer time that the traditional method of fastening the boards from the surface down. The results though are quite different. There will be no wear or splintering that is normally evident when screws are driven from the top.

Still a long way to go.