This morning was a rushed adventure. It is the pay bonus month for Nike, and thus I have the car serviced and detailed to a level that it feels like a new car. It is cheaper than a new one!
I dropped of Air Volvo at the service hanger at the mothership in Beaverton. They got me a Uber to get back home. Unfortunately, they could not provide a loaner unless I wanted to wait until next month. As usual, I tell them to spend my money and fix everything. I had already had a warning on tire pressure last month, so I knew there would be extra items besides the 50K maintenance and the SUV super detail.
I managed to get my meds taken, breakfast, and be back on Zoom for the first status meetings. I had four hours of status meetings this morning with a short break. As usual, most of the items required me to pay attention, but as nothing was breaking, I was mostly a watcher.
I ordered Indian Food from GrubHub that was delivered. Biryani Corner’s Chicken Tikka Masala with naan was spicy and nearly too spicy for me. It is still not as good as I have made, but I still enjoyed it. Corwin later finished my lunch; it was more than I can eat!
Susie had Eggo Waffles for lunch with peanut butter.
The Volvo dealership sent me a note for me to approve more fixes. Tires and breaks and alignment, oh my! The price is more than doubled now. I told them to fix everything. I am happy that the tires and breaks were still safe but on their last safe layer. I used them completely without risk. I was surprised that I could wear out tires and breaks in a pandemic, but I then remembered that the car skipped its last two services as it was just sitting around.
It either that or the squirrels are slipping in and sanding down the breaks and tires on Air Volvo to get even for me not planting a nut-bearing tree.
For lunch, I finished some painting of the action tokens for my new board game Ankh. Again, I was painting like an Egyptian. I painted the hard beige plastic with a desert color undercoat from Army Painter a few days ago. I then painted the base color for the token with the larger regimental brush also from Army Painter. I let that dry overnight. Also, the undercoat is not always dry the first few hours, so it is best to let figures sit for a bit.
I then corrected all the overpainting with the hard-to-get Army Painter Kolimsky Masterclass brush. Next, I finished all the detail with the same brush. I seldom use the insane detail brush, also from Army Painter, as I can manage all the insanity with the Kolinsky perfect point. So I did that last night and let it all dry.
For lunch, I sprayed on a shiny Mr.Clean protective coat. This is new for me. My model magazines use a shiny coat as an intermediate coat. It worked well for me today and I will start using this process now. I next washed the figures (Mr.Clean when done lightly dries in minutes) in cold water with some soap and then tried them with paper towels. This allows the paint to flow.
I then went old-school Army Painter and just used the Dark Tone and brushed it on. The protective coat worked, and the colors were bright. I then used some acrylic tinner to dampen a paper towel and wipe away some of the dark from the bright colors. I let that dry for a few hours and then finished with a dull coat spray from Mr.Clean.
I like the look. I painted these items first as they are the action tracking tokens and are used by all players and would be something you look at all the time. Can’t have plain plastic for that!
I have undercoated 30 little camel figures that were ugly grey before. I will likely paint them in the next few days. Again, they are important to the game so I wanted them not ugly gray rat-looking figures.
I returned to work. Some email, slack messages, and more status Zoom meetings. I was tired later in the afternoon and had a break of an hour. I was surprised to wake 40 minutes later. I just closed my eyes!
I did the last meetings at about 4:30ish. I then made dinner. My goulash stew, German-styled. I cut the onions, carrots, and potatoes. I cooked up the beef in a frying pan while cooking onions with garlic and tomato paste. I remember last time to freeze the 1/2 can of paste, so I just used the frozen.
When dinner was made, Susie and I watched Pinocchio from Disney. Yes, the real old one. It is a very short movie.
Got a message from the shoe company, and I am looking into a performance issue.
I hope you like the information on the token painting. Thanks for reading!
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 