Poly Clens

I want to talk about a product that I believe few people know about, yet has been around for many, many years.

The product is Poly Clens by LePage. It is readily available in Canada, but I am not sure about other countries.

Poly Clens is basically a paint brush cleaner. Now, many people today use water based paint - one of the reasons is the easy cleanup: just rinse out the brush under the tap of running water. They avoid alkyd or oil based paints because the cleanup is somewhat messier, usually involving turpentine or mineral spirits.

But I often find that alkyd or oil based paints are superior and better lasting, espeically for exterior applications.

This is where Poly Clens comes in. It makes cleaning oil based paint brushes a snap. You just put a quarter of an inch or so into an old tuna tin, and work the bristles of your brush in the solution. (In this case, I am using a tuna tin for a smaller 1-inch brush - obviously, you will need to use a bigger container for a bigger brush, and a bit more Poly Clens - but, you really don't need a lot: use it sparingly).

After a few minutes of working the Poly Clens into the brush, just rinse it under luke warm tap water. The Poly Clens breaks down the oil based paint so that it becomes water soluable. So, cleanup is essentially the same as for water based paint brushes.

If you are really stingy, you can reuse the Poly Clens. Just let it sit overnight and carefully pour off the upper layer of clear solution. All the disolved paint will have sunk to the bottom of the tin. Personally, I just toss the whole mess down the drain when I am rinsing out my brush.

After rinsing the brush, shake out the excess water and towel dry it. Then leave it over night to dry, or put it out in the sun for faster drying. If you really need to reuse the brush right away, you can rinse it out in mineral spirits.

Poly Clens is also great at cleaning old dried up paint brushes. Just let the old brush sit in the solution for a day or so, and then rinse as usual. The brush will come back to life, almost like new. For really stubborn paint, you may need to repeat cleaning with Poly Clens.

If you are the type that uses disposable brushes, then obviously you don't need Poly Cleans. However, if you take pride in your work and use a good quality and expensive brush, and you want to keep it that way - Poly Clens is the perfect cleaner.

Ice Skating Pt. 2

Earlier, I blogged about Lois taking ice skating lessons.

Well, the class is over, and we are now going to 'free skate' each week. I picked up a pair of used skates on Craigslist.. a nice new looking hard-shell pair that give me the extra ankle support.

Got them sharpened and hit the ice last week - the first time in about 45 years. To my surprise, after getting over the shakes in the first 5 or 10 minutes, I was able to skate quite well. Did not even fall down once. Lois had insisted I wear a helmet, so I used one of my old motorcycle helmets.

We only did about 90 minutes, but I was dripping wet with sweat. Took off my helmet afterwards and it was drenched inside. Made a mental note to wear a bandanna under it the next time.

This morning we went for our second time. Once again, I felt pretty good going around the rink. There were probably 20 to 30 people on the ice, and I was surprised to see some very old people (like in their 70's and 80's) skating around the rink (and doing very well.. in fact, no one fell at all).

Except me. I was getting cocky, and decided to try skating backwards. And of course, I fell - hard on my left hip, elbow, and wrist - all of which have minor bruising. It does not hurt - now; I am wondering how it will be tomorrow.

We both enjoy it, and hope to go several times a week. The rink is open for adult skating Monday to Friday, from 9 to 11 am. At 10, there is a small break where we can have a cookie and coffee or tea; this is a nice time to chat with others who are there. It is very friendly, and everyone seems very helpful, especially with Lois who is still struggling. She was a bit envious that I just jumped on the ice and started skating after all these years, and did not have to take lessons like she did. I still have to master going backwards, hard stopping, and cross-legged turning.

Well, I am off to babysit my grand-daughter this evening. Unfortunately, it is raining and Lois is out with the car, so I will have to use the Harley in the rain. I hate this cause it messes up the bike, and more importantly, it is more dangerous to ride in the rain.

The not-so-friendly skies

As the economy is tanking, more and more airlines are cutting corners to stay afloat. They have eliminated free meals and drinks on most flights, and now they are charging for baggage. At first, it was just an extra fee for more than one bag. Now, they are charging a fee for every bag checked.

The above cartoon summarizes my feelings, and really begs the question: why are they charging extra for baggage, when obese people are charged the same fee as non-obese people? They are often much heavier than baggage, and spill over into the adjacent seats making it an unbelievable and uncomfortable ride for the rest of us.

Ireland's Shame

A long anticipated report on child abuse in Ireland was published last week. It took about 8 years to complete, and cost about 65 million pounds. The report covered a period from the 1870's to early 2000; some 35,000 children were abused by 800 Brothers, Nuns, and other lay teachers in these so-called industrial 'schools'

A report from Sky News here.
A report from Global Post here.
A report from BBC here.

And finally, for those that wish to read the 2,500 page report, it is available in both HTML and PDF formats here

Headlines: Yesterday and Today

Beautiful New Stamps

We got a letter from the Income Tax folks... seems they questioned our rather large amount of medical claims, and wanted us to send them copies of all the receipts. We file electronically, so this occasionally happens when things don't look just right to the tax people.

Truth is that we did have a lot of medical bills that were not covered by insurance, and we had to pay out of our own pocket. We did have all the receipts, so we made copies and prepared to mail them in.

Problem was that it was an over sized envelope and I had to stop in at the post office to buy the correct postage.

While there, I was looking at some of the new commemorative stamps. They usually issue one or two new ones each month. Many years ago, I used to collect them. I had an account with the post office with a standing order for a matched corner set of every new commemorative stamp they issued. A matched corner set is 16 stamps - 4 from each corner of the stamp sheet. I discontinued this after a number of years, as it was getting rather expensive, especially as the cost of postage was going up each year. I still have my small collection, which will probably be passed down to my kids when I die.

Anyway, today I was struck by the beautiful commemoratives depicting two nebulae. Fortunately, I only had to buy a sheet of two, so the cost was reasonable.

Below, is a copy of the stamps: (click to enlarge)

These two stamps were issued last month to commemorate The International Year of Astronomy, and more information about them can be found here

Just a bad cold

So I went to the doctor this morning. My regular guy was not in, so I had to wait for the 'walk-in' line. Waited about 1 hour and 45 minutes.

I wore a N95 mask just in case I was contagious. The doc examined me and said it was not N1H1 - thank goodness. Just a very bad cold.

Had a hard time sleeping last night.. woke up a lot, coughing. This morning, the throat was very sore, and the pain had migrated up to my ears. My chest and back are quite sore from the coughing - feels like I am all bruised.

Speaking of doctors, today's humour:

Do I have it?

With all the buzz about swine flu (now officially called N1H1), I am wondering if I got it. On Thursday eveining, the day after my experience on the TTC, I developed a very dry cough and sore throat.

Yesterday, it got worse, and today even worse. I keep taking my temperature, but no fever. I don't want to sound alarmist, but I am wondering if I have N1H1. Did I pick it up from the crowds on the TTC, or is it just a common cold or flu?

Because I have no other symptoms (like fever, aches, nausia), I am doubtful it is N1H1. Yet, I hear the emergency rooms and doctors' offices are crowded with people who think they may have N1H1, so I a reluctant to go myself. I will wait it out another day or two and see what happens.

In the mean time, some pictoral advice:

Sometimes newspapers screw up.. even online ones

There was an article today in our local paper about T-shirts and the whole process of making them with child labour.

The odd thing is that the ran the following image and caption with the story, and it made no sense at all:

The Better Way

The political cartoon in my last post made me think about yesterday's trip downtown.

I needed new tires on my bike and it was also due for its 24K service, so I made and appointment for Toronto Harley for the work. I usually go to Davies Harley north of the city on Yonge, but for a change, decided to try the downtown shop instead.

It started off as a pretty cool day, sunny but only about 6 degrees, so I dressed in several layers and put on my heavy leather jacket. After dropping off the bike, I decided to try to get back home using public transit - what Toronto refers to as the TTC or 'the better way'.

I ended up taking all three modes: first an electric streetcar from Bathurst along King to Yonge; then down to the Subway to take me north to the Sheppard/Don Mills station, and finally transferring to the bus which took me to my house. The whole trip back on the TTC system took just over an hour and a half. Rather long, I thought, for the 'better way'.

Despite living here for over 25 years, it was my first experience on a streetcar and bus; I had been on the subway system once or twice, but that was a long time ago.

Some things that surprised me: The streetcars are surprisingly quiet when running. I was sort of expecting to hear a lot of rail noise, but didn't. The subway is dirty - very dirty. There seems to be this black dust over everything, including the subway cars, making the originally clean aluminum train cars look a dirty grey. I did not dare touch anything. I can't see why it would be so hard to pressure wash them every now and then.

There appears to be no chivalry or politeness on any of the TTC modes of transit. It is a pushing a shoving match of everyone for themselves, as they race to get one of the few rock hard seats. Seats, which I must add, are even smaller than those on airlines; I always thought they were small, until I sat beside someone on the subway.

While the frequency of TTC vehicles in the downtown core leaves passengers with a minimal wait, this lengthened considerably as I approached my home north of the city, where my bus only ran every half hour. Fortunately, my wait for the bus was only about 15 minutes.

Returning later in the afternoon, I planned it a bit better. I called the TTC to ask when the next bus was due to stop near my house, and left the house just in time to catch it, and avoided a long wait. Catching the subway and street car was also almost immediate with no wait time, as they run much more frequently. So, I arrived back at Toronto Harley about 15 minutes faster than my morning trip home.

I picked up my bike around 6pm. Despite it being rush hour, I still made it home in about an hour.. faster than either of my trips on the 'better way'.

In the parking lot, I met another guy who was also picking up he bike. We began to chat a bit - I mentioned that this was my first visit to the service dept at this location, that I wanted to try somewhere else since I was not completely satisfied with the service at Davies. He said just the opposite - he has had nothing but bad, uncaring service at Toronto Harley, and he was thinking of going to Davies for his next service. Apparently, his bike was in the shop for over a week, and every time he called to inquire about it, he was treated badly. They told him to stop calling, that it will be ready when it's done, and they would call him when it was ready. There was a sense that the service techs did not care: it was just a job, and they did not care about the customer. Hmmm.. sort of had me wondering what kind of service my bike got. Needless to say, I rode home very cautiously - hoping my wheels would not fall off.

Someone should remind them: "The customer is always right - even when he is wrong!"

My main reason for trying them out was that they are supposed to be moving to a new location north of downtown.. on Lawrence, just west of Victoria Park. If and when that happens, they will be ideally situated and quite close to my home. But, for now the new place sits vacant, despite all the Harley signs on the building. I suspect the decision to open this new larger facility was made before the economy tanked, and now they are sitting tight - probably trying to get the funding to complete the move.. or maybe even reconsidering the move altogether. After all, Harley is not immune.. it is a luxury bike for many, and when times are tight, luxuries are the first things to be cut back.

Even their stock value has tanked over the past few years:

Getting back to the 'better way' - I think the close contact with all those people on my two TTC trips may have given me a cold. I woke up this morning with a scratchy dry throat and a bit of a runny nose. I guess the TTC is an ideal place to pass along a cold or flu. Let's just not hope there was anyone there with the Swine Flu that is running rampant right now.