The entire three hours of last night's class was spent stripping paint. We worked in pairs, each working on a motorcycle gas tank and fender. Spencer chose those because they offer compound curves and areas hard to access. We took both items down to bare metal. Noisy! Dusty! Time consuming! And involving a wide variety of tools and supplies.
While holding the fender for my partner I talked (OK, pretty much yelled) with Spencer about the truck, asking his opinion on having it media blasted instead of going this route. "Absolutely."
It will cost more up front but I'll get a much better outcome: no residual paint, even in the most difficult to reach areas, no noise to offend the neighbors, no dust getting everywhere, and the whole thing done in a week instead of a year. Subtract the cost of tools and supplies from the price of professional stripping and it makes a whole lot of sense. That stage is still a ways out, but when the time comes I know what I won't be doing.
Tonight we learn what to do after it's down to metal, including getting some hands-on experience with epoxy and fiberglass fillers.
I was up at 3 a.m. but used the time to knock off another of this week's assignments. Two down and three more (long ones) to go. Ugh.
I gave the VW some lovin' this afternoon. I'll work an hour or so each day between now and Saturday's car show to get her detailed and ready for her appearance. Today the exterior: wash and dry, glass, and wheels/tires. Next comes all the chrome, and then I'll move to the interior.
Tomorrow is Pam's birthday. Yeah, the day before Valentine's Day. There was a time in our marriage when that caused me stress and caused her disappointment. I tried to get two gifts (she's VERY hard to shop for), inevitably got one or both of them wrong, and generally made a mess of the whole week. Then she figured out I am romantically challenged, it's a syndrome for which there is neither cure nor treatment, and we were both best served if she accepted that reality. I think that may have saved our marriage. So now we'll go out for dinner tomorrow night, just like we do every Thursday night. I'll call it a birthday dinner, we'll both pretend that's the case, and we'll avoid the crowds out for a romantic dinner on Valentine's Day (although wherever we end up for dinner will almost certainly not be anything close to romantic). Friday night we'll stay in and watch TV, just like we do every Friday night. This week we can choose between the Olympics and the NBA celebrity game, which will include Mike & Mike on opposite teams.
We're a couple of lovebirds, aren't we!
2 comments:
Would it be unromantic or weird for you guys if Pam just told you what she wants for her birthday, and then you get it for her? That's how we often do it. I think it's a win-win.
Back in the day, that would have been unromantic. She wanted me to show my love and interest by coming up with something on my own. Like a lot of married couples we grew past that and no longer exchange gifts for any occasion. We know what we're about, how we feel about each other, and don't need gifts to prove it. If we buy something for the other it's spontaneous, not b/c of an occasion.
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