09 January 2022

48th Birthday 2022

It's ma' fourty eighth birthday! Jana sent me a message this morning to remind me, because I had truly forgotten!! Normally I look forward to buying myself a gizmo on this day, but the van sucker punched me in the wallet this year so I kinda forgot about national-spending-day.

Grandma and Grandpa brought over some cake and ice-cream and we all need a post-pigout-nap.


In the morning I got busy on the van and removed the front discs. They're just inside spec for Road Worthy inspection, but some inspectors cry when they see a worn lip around the outer edge. I took both discs to work to scrape off the lip on the lathe. I suspect these are the original discs, and wear indicates they've lived up to their 260k/km life. It took seconds to take off the lip. I've never lathed cast iron before. Wow it's so soft and powdery. I shoulda' known from drilling XP.

Garrick drove us there and back to contribute to his 120hrs required on his L-Plates, and we collected my annual Red Rooster discounted birthday lunch! Awesome.

Jana got me an awesome AEG jigsaw!! Now I don't have to steal Wes's from work. The AEG stuff is absolutely awesome. It comes with a 3yrs warranty by default, and extends to 6yr with registration. The warranty covers trade-use, unlike Ozito which is infrequent DIY only. (Ozito have a "Full-Boar" brand for trade use). This is my 3rd AEG tool, and they're absolutely awesome.

Some time ago I deliberately decided to stay with 240V tools except for (some) drills. It's just too expensive for me to either stay brand-loyal, or switch to a new battery-standard when batteries die. My next big AEG purchase will be their drop saw as it has an awesome 70 degree mitre tilt. Most saws only do 45 degrees and we CONSTANTLY do 60-cuts at work. Can't wait for that tool. :)