.: bistan.net :.

4 Halloween events yesterday, 1 today, 3 tomorrow.  Exhausted.

Sometimes, you have to go back to work to recuperate.

I’m such a sorry blogger. I take hundreds of photos and tons of video and I rarely get them off of the camera.  It was so much different when the kids were younger.  I guess I need some motivation.

The weather was perfect again this weekend!  Last weekend, we let Tristan spend the night in his playhouse outside.  This weekend, we saw The Lion King in 3D, and then spent lots of time outside — running, playing soccer, visiting the local park, etc.  Here are a few photos:

We try to get to Turner Field about once a year to see the Braves play.  Just like last year, we went on an August Sunday again.  On Sunday, kids get to go down on the field and run the bases after the game.  Enjoy the photos and video below:

A little over a year ago, when I still worked for Mercer Law School, a student worker was cleaning out a faculty member’s storage closet.  They stumbled across a vintage Macintosh Performa 200 (by vintage, I mean 1992).  Thinking it belonged to the technology department, they brought it to us for disposal.  I decided to keep it to see if it would work.  It didn’t, but it was too cute to trash.  I remembered seeing photos and stories on Instructables.com about people turning old computers into working aquariums and I knew that this would be my next project.  I promptly took it home.

After some online research, I stumbled upon a great set of instructions by Andy Ihnatko. Like cleaning the insides out of a pumpkin, dismantling the computer required special tools and certain protruding portions of the case had to be removed as well.  Between a Dremel and a hacksaw, I finally removed the portions of the computer necessary to build the aquarium. (My apologies for using “Mercer Law” and “hacksaw” in the same blog post.)

The mac, still covered in Splenda

Gutting the mac

Out with the unneeded

Pretty chinese art from 1992

The garbage pile growing

Sawing off the protrusions

After getting the case like I wanted it, I cleaned the outside thoroughly.  When the computer was found in the closet, it was covered in spilled Splenda.  I also used black spray paint to give the insides a nice, new look.  Some vintage macs have Steve Job’s signature engraved in the inside.  This one, however, did not.

Next, I needed glass to build the actual tank.  I went to Lowe’s and learned they only carry 1/8 inch glass, which wouldn’t support water.  Home Depot had the same.  Specialty glass shops online wanted big bucks to cut the glass. At this point, I lost motivation and put the case in the attic for over a year.

At my new job, I desperately needed some sort of decoration, etc. to personalize my office.  Perhaps a conversation piece?  One day while riding down Riverside, I discovered a glass shop about 3 blocks from the office.  I printed out the dimensions I needed and took it in to see if they could do it.  Not only could they do it, but it was only about $9.00.  Score!

I came home and assembled the pieces using regular silicone and leak-proofed it with aquarium-safe silicone (which was difficult to find). I also constructed a wooden base to position the glass box on (and keep the electrical, etc. underneath).

Constructing the glass from instructions on the macbook

The glass assembly - waiting on silicone to set

Next, it was time to design the look of the aquarium. My friend/former boss Chris had an aquarium in his office at Mercer for several years and over that time I did a few different shots of the law school as the background for it. That background got rave reviews. Since I work in a beautiful building now, I thought that might be a good plan.  I also love bubble bars and Mackenzie picked out some neon-colored gravel, which I bought against my better judgement.

I also needed a light to illuminate the tank, for visibility and to make the fish think its daylight inside.  I wanted to go LED even though the price was a little steeper.  I found a great LED light that can even be submerged if I ever decide to put it under the water line for about $20.00 on eBay.

Because changing the water would be difficult, I also needed a filter.  I found an under-gravel filter online (powered by the same air pump that will generate the bubbles) that is supposedly perfect for small tanks.  Since I plan to start with cheap goldfish, a heater/thermometer isn’t necessary.  Of course, I can always add one later and go with a better filter.

Upside down case, mounting light into position

Aquarium safe silicone, found at Ace for 3x the price

Under-gravel filter, perfect for small tanks

Here’s the complete list of supplies:

Glass: 10.26 (also bought a second set, just in case — if you want it, let me know)
Silicone: 3.77
Aquarium-safe silicone: 7.41
Wood for the base (select pine): 6.84
LED light from eBay: 20.73
Under-gravel filter: 10.72 (shipping was more than the actual item)
Air pump, tubing, valve, gravel: 17.42
Fish catcher, food, and vacation feeders: 6.89
Distilled water: 1.21
Fish: 54 cents

Total cost: $85.79 (yikes!)

I went a bit over my $50.00 budget, but shipping killed me on a few items (filter, light) and I spent more to get better stuff on others (light, wood).  You can purchase a similar sized aquarium kit at a local pet store for $25 or so, but it wouldn’t be nearly as cool.

I also bought a small table to sit it on for $8.00 at IKEA so that any leaks wouldn’t damage my office furniture, but I ended up not using it because it was too small.

I initially set the tank up on Friday to give the water a few days to circulate, I ran into a few problems.  The air pump caused a loud vibration noise that was not conducive to a work environment.  I also had issues with the gang valve leaking and ruining my background print.  Currently, I have removed the bubble stone and I moved the pump to outside of the computer case. I set the filter up to run continuously, but put the LED light on a timer so that it simulates daylight for the fishies.

Today (Sunday), we added two goldfish from PetSmart: a regular orange one and a white one with an orange spot. Let’s hope they are still alive tomorrow when I get to work!

Finished product

Close up

Macquarium

The photos above as well as the video below were taken with my iPhone.  I forgot to take a camera!  I’ll try to post more shots soon.

Hopefully I don’t get fired for having this at work.  Nobody knows about it so far.  Remember my motto: It’s better to ask forgiveness than permission!

This year I only have to do one post for the first day of school because BOTH of my kids are in elementary school!  I still can’t believe that my “baby” is in kindergarten and I have a second grader!

And, in case you missed it . . .

Last year:

• Tristan’s first day of first grade
• Mackenzie’s first day of 4K

Even older:

• Tristan’s first day of kindergarten
• Mackenzie’s first day of 3K

We recently discovered a no-frills water park only 35 minutes from our house.  We finally visited yesterday.  For $10, you get all day of wet fun.  It’s a great local find, if you don’t mind lots of skin and tattoos.  (When I say “lots of skin”, I don’t mean revealing).

Of course, I only had a camera out for a few minutes.  I wouldn’t want to repeat the swim that the camera and iPhone took last year!

We bolted to Panama City Beach for Memorial Day weekend.  It looks like that will be the major trip this summer, since I still haven’t built up a healthy amount of time off at the new job.  We will certainly make up for it next year with our Disney Cruise.

My “baby” graduated from 4K tonight.  It is sad that she is leaving the wonderful preschool that she has been a part of for three years.  Now she will be at the mercy of the public education system, which is miserable.

Make sure to check out the video and the photos below:

Did you see my poor baby trip? She was the shortest in her class and her cap and gown were a little large!

Congrats to Tristan!  He received a scholastic award for first grade!  He didn’t get perfect attendance, because he has cool parents who believe that some things are more important than school — especially public school.