December 31st

I went out into the garage and (with Vic's help) managed to get the brake caliper off the van (115ft/lbs my arse).  The rotor came off with a little wiggling, but I can't get the guts of the carrier off at all... it looks like the bearing race is stuck on the spindle.  We tried hammering some of the melted bearings off, but I'm going to have to think about it some more.  The whole thing might end up needing replacing, and that'll be a joy to behold, I'm sure.

In the evening, we met Jen and watched "Rogue One".  It was pretty good, but I hear they're going to let George Lucas direct the sequel.

December 30th

I pulled the van out of the garage and turned it around, then jacked it up.  Yeah, the driver's side wheel bearing is shot - the wheel was all floppy.  I took it off, and the bearing looks like it collapsed a while back (silently), as the bearings themselves are gone.  Joy.  I'm just hoping I don't need to replace the spindle.

December 29th

They've finished the fence.  It looks OK, but then I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so I'd have done it... differently.  Still, in a year it'll just be background nonsense and I won't notice it any more :o)

I jacked up the front passenger side of the van (the other side's against the garage wall) and can't see anything wrong with it.  There's no noise when turning the wheel, other than a light scuffing of the disc against the pad, and that's expected.  Hmmm.

December 28th

They're still working on the fence.

December 27th

The guys came over to start replacing the fence to the West.  I pulled stuff out of the way and left them to it, but it meant that Tilly had to go out with me, on a lead.  She's interested in everything that's going on, but thankfully doesn't feel the need to bark at everything.

In the evening, I went out in the van to get some stuff, but it started making weird noises from the front end.  I pulled over when it sounded like I had a flat tyre, but everything looks OK.  I then limped home with a light squealing when I turned the wheel at all.  Wheel bearings?  Dunno - I'll have to wait for time to look at it when it's not too cold.  I did get out and check the temperature of the wheels and brakes, and there's nothing untoward there.  I took the Jeep instead.

December 26th

Today was a holiday, as Xmas day was on Sunday, and I just wasted it playing Warcraft.

December 25th

We pretty much ignore Xmas, so I went to the airfield and took the Flightstar out for an hour :o)

December 24th

I had intended to fly, but the weather was too cold and humid, meaning there was a decent chance of carb icing, and nobody likes it when their engine coughs.  So I stayed in and played Warcraft.

In the evening, we watched "Sausage Party" and "X-Men:Apocalypse".

December 23rd

We had the day off work, so obviously it rained pretty much all day.  I spent the day playing Warcraft and getting over my long day yesterday.

In the evening, we went out to dinner as my work Xmas party :o)

December 22nd

I got up stupidly early and drove to the office to pick up some mince pies made by the current Mrs Kelly.  ~5.5 hours' driving.  Worth it.

December 20th

We watched "Suicide Squad".  There were good and bad bits...

December 19th

The 1050 video card I ordered from Dell 2 weeks ago finally showed up, so I installed that.  It seems faster than my (now) old 750, but it'll take a really busy section in Warcraft to see how fast it really is... I'd been below 15fps with the 750.

December 18th

It was blindingly cold, and I'd already decided against going to the airfield again, as the forecast showed crappy visibility.  Of course, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as the forecast in the afternoon, but by then I was playing Warcraft in the warm.

December 17th

I went out to the airfield and did circuits until it started to get busy, so that was almost a whole hour :o)

In the evening, we watched "Finding Dory".

December 16th

After playing Warcraft while waiting for it to warm up, I went to the airfield and took the plane out.  It was pretty bumpy, so I only did a couple of circuits.

December 15th

It rained and rained and was windy all bloody day, so I stayed in and played Warcraft.

December 14th

We went to the EAA Xmas party, where a fun time was had by all.

December 13th

I took the Jeep in to Costco to get a new tyre fitted (the sidewall's punctured, so it can't be patched), only to be told it was going to take 3 hours.  So I spent 3 hours walking around trying the free samples and picking up stuff that I figured we needed.

After that, I dropped everything home then went to the airfield to pick up the T-shirts, as I figure we can try and get rid of some at the Xmas party tomorrow.

December 12th

I've taken the week off to kill vacation time, so obviously the weather's not looking great.  It was foggy all morning, so I decided to take Tilly for a longassed walk, only to have it brighten up while we were out.  Oh well, she enjoyed herself.

In the evening, we went to watch some TV, only to find I'd plugged the antenna into the wrong socket on the media centre PC.  Oh well, The Simpsons generally isn't that funny these days, so I can live without having seen it.

December 11th

The last time I was at the airport, I picked up the PC I'd left there for the EAA that isn't getting used for anything - the rest of the board agree that we don't need it.  I got it all updated and set up so Vic can give it to one of her friends.  I then decided to get the new hard disc into the media centre PC.  I plugged it in, only to see a 3Tb drive as 750Gb.  Hmmm.  That's an artifact of MBR, so I figured I'd just copy everything to that partition, then expand it.  I was expecting to get 2Tb and a 750Gb partition, but after a few hours and some screwing around, I ended up with 2Tb and 750Gb that was unavailable.  At all.  Screw that.  I ended up creating it as a GPT disc, and copying everything again.  I now have a 2.75Tb (formatted) drive that can only be  booted on a UEFI system, but it all works.

December 10th

It was raining, so in between playing Warcraft we got the old TV mounted to the bedroom wall.  Then took it down and put it up again, as I hadn't got the mount bolted to the TV quite straight.

December 7th

The Jeep has a flat, and Vic took the van, leaving me to ride the DRZ over to Lincoln for the EAA board meeting.  Just as well, as there was an accident on the Southbound carriageway of 65, meaning all the rubberneckers caused the traffic on the Northbound lane to stop.  I got to filter through all that, then had to watch for arseholes doing U-turns in the centre reservation, and trying to then pull away from the dirt into the fast lane of the freeway.  Jeez.

December 6th

We met Jen for dinner after work.  She's trying to decide what to buy with her VW money when they take her diesel Golf back from her.

December 5th

I took Tilly for her annual inspection, which she passed, but the blood tests left her with a couple of swellings on her legs, and the injections obviously left her a little uncomfortable, as we had a very unsettled night.  The guinea pigs were having their annuals at the same time, and one of them has ended up staying there as he hasn't been well for a while, and the medications he's on aren't working.

December 4th

I wasn't feeling the greatest, so I just stayed in and played Warcraft.

December 3rd

I started the day at the airfield cooking breakfasts, then went home and puttered about the house for a while.  After that, I went back to the airfield and took the plane out for an hour or so.  It was pretty cold, so I think I'll wear my skiing over-trousers next time :o)

November 27th

I started the day putting the new SSD in Vic's PC.  Interestingly, the old one was 7200rpm - it was slow enough that I thought it was 5400rpm.  I've obviously been spoiled by my systems having SSDs :o)

I played Warcraft while waiting for it to warm up, then gave up and stayed in.