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!
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!
Tonight, we went up to the preschool for Mackenzie’s last holiday open house. Of course, she had a similar program when she was 2 and again when she was 3. Unfortunately, my video camera wouldn’t work, but I did get video of her practicing in front of the tree:
Enjoy a few photos as well:
I bought Kimberlie the new Taylor Swift album about 6 weeks ago when it came out. Every morning on the way to school Mackenzie requests “number 6″, which is called Mean. She can almost sing it word for word. Tonight, I decided to get it on video. She sang it with headphones on while listening to it on my iPod Touch (which I almost never use sing I have an iPhone). Afterwards, I overlayed the original song in the background and took the volume down to 20%. It turned out pretty well. Let’s hope YouTube doesn’t pull it down for using copyright material.
Two years ago, after my mother died, I found five Super-8 film reels in my parents basement. After shelving them for a while, I decided to finally do something with them. I searched the internet for months to find someone who could convert the reels to a digital format at a decent price and found a company in Texas. I was a little hesitant about shipping the reels to Texas because I had no idea what was on them. I finally decided that by not knowing the contents of the films, I wouldn’t miss them if they were lost so two weeks ago, off they went.
Today, I received my films back, along with a DVD of the contents, and my portable hard drive that I sent with an AVI of the films. Even though I really had to pee, I immediately proceeded to watch the movies. I finally discovered what was on them:
The clips also include many other special moments. What is most important, however, isn’t what is on the video, but rather who is on the video. All of the videos contain my parents, my grandparents (all of whom are long gone), and other cousins, relatives, and friends. Many of them I am still connected to via Facebook but several of them are gone. While watching the clips, I both laughed and cried. This was the best package that I have ever received from UPS.
Tonight, I shared the clips with my family. It’s amazing how much my kids resemble my sister and I and how much my sister resembles one of my aunts and how my mother aged to resemble her mother. What was my uncle thinking wearing those red shoes — even in the 1980s? And the clothing and hairstyles? There were several toys in the clips that I held onto and passed on to my kids!
Of course, the clips will be uploaded to YouTube and featured right here. But not yet. I’m going to package the clips on a DVD as a Christmas present to my sister and father. Although neither read this blog, they do occasionally look at YouTube. I don’t want to spoil the surprise.
On Saturday morning, I woke up early in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia to run the Chickamauga Battlefield Half Marathon. I thought we were going to some town in the middle of nowhere, but Fort Oglethorpe is actually a surburb of Chattanooga, Tennessee and was pretty well-populated.
The Chickamauga Battlefield is the nation’s oldest military park and the site of the second most significant battle of the civil war (after Gettysburg). While running the 13.1 miles though the beautiful park, it seems that these monuments are just randomly scattered about, but each one represents a historical site or moment.
The race was one of the best races that I have run so far, both in the organizational and logistical aspects of the event as well as my performance. The race is small compared to other endurance events. The field is limited to 1500 runners in both events. The weather was perfect and the amenities were plentiful. I cut almost 8 minutes off of my best half-marathon time. Although the race is considered by Runner’s World magazine to be the best marathon for families, my family stayed at the hotel just in case I didn’t finish by check-out time.
Next year, I hope to run the full-marathon.
After finishing the race, I returned to the hotel to celebrate Tristan’s 7th birthday. I can’t believe I have a seven year old!
To celebrate his birthday on the road, we stopped at Discover Mills mall near Atlanta and met up with my sister and her family. We played mini-golf and let Tristan crawl around in a hamster ball in a pool. That seems silly, so I’ve included the video below:
For the first time in a very long time, I forgot to take my camera on the trip. That’s why this post is mostly text. After leaving the mall, we shopped for a while, treated Tristan to a birthday dinner, and headed home where the rest was welcome.
My sister got the opportunity to ask Clark Howard a money question . . . and get her two minutes of fame. This was obviously before she had her baby. Check it out:
This video is over 8 years old, but I recently converted it from VHS to digital (apologies in advance for the low-quality). My sister and I went skydiving with a friend from college in 2001. I had to go with Vimeo because YouTube sucks. First, there were length issues and then they didn’t like the licensed music. Enjoy this flashback!
Skydiving from Jonathan Davis on Vimeo.
Last night, Tristan and I went “mountain biking” on some vacant land in our neighborhood. Half of the land is county-owned and the other half is the remnants of a defunct subdivision, thanks to the economic crisis.
We had a great time, until Tristan had a spectacular wipeout, as seen in the video below. It was his first time on the “hills” on a big bike.
This is one of those things that he will laugh about later.
My Latest Run
