How to record / video log your road trips

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Steve

If you like to take frequent road trips like I do, then you may have driven through certain section(s) of your trips that you wished you'd capture on video. It could be a scenic drive, an urban utopia, a coastal drive, a desert stretch or even simply within your city of residence.

I've tried several option, including hand holding a camera while driving (pretty dangerous), having a passenger hold the camera and even mounting an actual weighted tripod on the back area of my car to support my Canon 5D Mark II. I found these options cumbersome, especially driving around curves or roads with frequent stops.

The answer to my woes is the Targus TGT-SP travel tripod:

You can mount a compact point-and-shoot camera with video recording mode, a cellphone camera (with included cellphone clip) or a dedicated HD camera, such as the Flip Mini HD cam (which I use) onto this handy dashboard mounted tripod for a foolproof method of recording your travel. The great thing about this dashboard mounted tripod is it has a quick-release (just like a traditional camera, see components photo) and it has a built-in ball-head so you can position your camera with a wide variety of angles.

Since this dashboard mounted tripod is secured with a suction cup, a smooth surface is a necessity. You can mount this on your winshield, but that would mean mounting your camera upside-down or side-way as well. To solve the mounting problem, I adhered a spare Garmin Nuvi GPS dashboard disk onto the surface of my dashboard, then mount the Targus travel tripod onto the disk.

The setup works like a charm and is very secure. At a little over $8.00 from Amazon.com, it packs quite the value for its price. If you're going to do any moving video recording using this method, be sure to adjust your camera (i.e. recording, stopping, adjusting tripod angle, etc.) only when you've stopped completely. Keep your eyes on the road when your vehicle is in motion, drive safely and have fun.

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Fall 2011 quarter is finally over!

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Steve

After a lengthy week and a half of sleep deprivation and stress from finals, I am happy to say that Fall 2011 quarter is over once and for all. It is the toughest quarter I've faced throughout my academic career. I'll enjoy the next 4 weeks of winter break and resume to finish my last quarter. Fortunately all of my classes for winter 2012 quarter starts at 6pm, allowing me time to swing by the apartment to catch up on sleep or do some pre-class study prior to start of class. No more stress trying to beat traffic to get to a 3PM or 4PM class.

Incidentally, I can apply for winter graduation next month :) . Once I am done with my study, I can focus on projects that enjoy partaking in but had to be placed on the backburner due to time constraint (like my online business venture) and also pick up new skills during my new free time. Cheers to a restful winter break and to a stress-free winter 2012 quarter!

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DIY: How to change and replace the cabin filters in the Acura RSX

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Steve

Here's a simple DIY instruction on how to replace your interior cabin/heater blower air filter elements. The filters are located within the filter frame just above the glove box inside of your dashboard. The filter element part number is 80292-S5D-A01 and costs $10.97 each from Acura (you'll need two). You can purchase aftermarket carbon activated filter elements for about the same price but for two units instead of one.

1. Start by removing the lower right hand screw that's securing the glove box:

2. Carefully lift the glovebox and dislodge the tabs from its stopper (inside the dash) and let it carefully hang. By partially removing the glove box, you'll be saving some time. Becareful not to twist the glove box as it is not secured onto the dashboard by a single tab and can break easily if force is applied. You may need a support to hold the hanging side of the glove box to prevent it from twisting.

3. With the glove box out of the way, locate the filter frame. It's the white plastic box situated immediately behind the glove box.

4. Press the release tab on the filter frame to release the filter element.

5. Carefully pull out the first filter element.

6. Slide out the second filter element using the guidance tab on the filter element and pull it out once its within reach.

7. Remove the filter elements out of their frames.

8. Comparison of new vs. old filter elements.

9. Reinstall everything in the reverse order, drive around in fresh-air mode and enjoy the fresh clean air.

Creative Commons License
DIY: How to change and replace the cabin filters in the Acura RSX by Steve Khou is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://blog.machanon.net.

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Found some fish fries in the Fluval

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Steve

As I was observing my reclusive albino bristle-nose plecostomus in the Fluval Chi, I noticed a few peculiar dots lined slightly beneath the substrate and pressed against the glass. When I took a closer look, it became apparent that the dots are fish fries that were probably born quite recently. I looked around the gravel for more traces of fries and sure enough, I counted about 7 fries scattered across the tank. I suspect the gold-dust mollies gave birth as the zebra danios and neon tetras are both egg layers. I doubt all the fries will live to adulthood, if any. They'll probably be eaten by the other fishes, by the shrimps, sucked up by the albino pleco or by the filter pump. It would be cool to see even just one reach juvenile status though!

Also, one of my zebra danios decided to make the leap of faith (literally) and jumped out of the tank. It landed on my carpeted floor, approximately 4 feet down and lied there for at least a good 20 minutes. When I found it, it was almost completely dried up. I examined it briefly before making the executive decision to toss the fish carcass into my turtle tank and noticed that it was still alive, albeit crossing the line between life and death. I released it back into the Fluval and it floated about, then its gills began to vibrate rapidly as its entire body is gradually being hydrated by the water. About 5 minutes later, the danio came back to life and swam in random motion, probably suffering from brain damage from its exposure to dry air. About half an hour later, its fin are fully hydrated and flowing (however with strands of coagulated fish mucus stringing along) and it assimilated back into the community. Pretty amazing recovery if I must say so myself.

Get your Fluval Chi 6.6 from Amazon.com and save!

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Two more weeks of fall quarter 2011

Posted on November 26, 2011 by Steve

It's been one quarter over a year since I started my study at Cal Poly Pomona. As I reflect back the past five quarters (fall '10, winter '11, spring '11, summer '11, fall '11) at Cal Poly Pomona, I'm still amazed at how I was able to sustain what I've been doing on a routinely basis for over a year. With the exception of winter and summer breaks whose break lasted 3 and a half weeks each and spring break's one week break, I've been commuting to school every week, Monday through Thursday. With slight variation to my schedule every quarter, I generally drive a distance of 22 miles to get to work by 5:30am - 6:00am, work until 2:00pm - 2:30pm, then commute 40 miles to Cal Poly Pomona to start my class anywhere from 3:00pm or 4:00pm to 8:00pm or 10:00pm (depending on the days). I then commute back home at a distance of 20 miles for a grand total of approximately 80-90 miles a day. I've been getting an average of 4 and half hour to five hours of sleep daily, no more than six hours during a weekday. The only days I get to sleep over six hours is the weekend, but only to wake up to catch up the preceding week's worth of homework and project. In addition, I've been putting over 400 miles per week on my Acura RSX for the past year and spending anywhere between $200-$300 in gas per month; versus approximately $60-$80 if I am commuting only to work and back.

Suffice to say, fall quarter 2011 is coming to an end within two weeks and that means two weeks of massive stress, project scrambling and papers due. All this takes a back seat when I fast-forward 5 weeks from now and envision myself enjoying my much needed 10-day roadtrip vacation up north with my girlfriend. And of course, winter quarter 2012 will be my last quarter at Cal Poly Pomona. This means I will be done in six quarters, about a year and a half. Had I been more lenient with my schedule, I would not be graduating in a year and a half or six quarters. Instead, I would be graduating winter of 2013. That's about 2 years and a half. I cannot possibly see myself committed to my current schedule for another year. :O

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Reduced the neon tetra population down to two and added two gold-dust mollies

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Steve

So I decided to trim the neon tetra population down to a mere two; yeah I know they swim in shoals, yeah I know that keeping just two increases their stress level, however they seem fine (for now). In their place, I've added two brightly colored gold-dust mollies. They have a nice glow to their iridescent gold color and they are active swimmers, instantly making them the stars of the Fluval Chi.

I also added a 1" albino pleco to clean the sides of the tank. It assimilated with the community fairly quickly and had at it at the heater tube as soon as it was released into the tank. The shrimps are doing just as well, though they seek shelter in the artificial plant ornament most of the time during the day. They do come out when they smell food, i.e. feeding time for the fish. And when they do, they come out and warily forage for pieces of flake that made it to the gravel floor.

Have a festive and safe turkey day everyone! :)

Get your Fluval Chi 6.6 from Amazon.com and save!

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Giant guinea pig spotted at Pet City in Whittier

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Steve

As mentioned in my previous entry, I spotted a giant guinea pig of epic proportion while at the Pet City in Whittier. Here's the photo I snapped of it:

It literally was the size of a small cat, probably weighs at least 5 lbs if not more. The photo is a little hard to discern, but the guinea pig measures well over a foot long. Yours for $29.99.

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Added some dwarf freshwater shrimps and neon tetras to the Fluval Chi 6.6

Posted on November 20, 2011 by Steve

Just one day after introducing zebra danios into the Fluval Chi 6.6, I added a school of neon tetra and two freshwater dwarf atyid shrimps. The neon tetras brought curiosity to the school of zebra danios, piquing their sense to the point where they were chased around the tank.

School of neon tetras.

 

They eventually learned to get along. The rule of thumb in keeping tropical freshwater fish is to have 1 gallon per 1" of fish. By the population number alone, we're looking at 13 fishes or 13 gallons minimum tank space requirement. I don't think it would affect the health of the fishes too much. The danios appear to be mid to top level swimmers while the neon tetras are mid to lower level dwellers. We'll see how the community turns out. The shrimps, one red and one blue, found solace within the crevices of the artificial plant ornament that sits at the bottom center of the tank. I spotted the blue shrimp scavenging on some uneaten flakes already, doing what they were brought home to do - within 20 minutes!

Blue dwarf freshwater shrimp.

 

Red dwarf freshwater shrimp.

 

I got the new set of freshwater creatures from Pet City, which I found to offer a much better selection of pets and supplementary items, such as foods, vitamins, medicines, tanks, etc. than Petco. I think I'll be checking it out more often. Also, I spotted a giant guinea pig while browsing around. It was literally the size of a small house cat and rivals its neighboring rabbit. It was a sight to behold :O! I took a photo of it on my iPhone 4 and I'll post it subsequently.

The Fluval Chi is turning out very nice. I also did a bit of wire tuck on the fountain-filter and heater wire. They are now nicely hidden within a 3/4" wire conduit which runs along the corner of the tank and into the back of the stand. I think it looks pretty concealed and clean. The conduit is black, which still stands out, but if I used a white conduit (or paint it white), it would blend with the back wall very nicely.
Get your Fluval Chi 6.6 from Amazon.com and save!

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Fluval Chi 6.6 up and running with zebra danios

Posted on November 20, 2011 by Steve

Here's a small update regarding the a side aquarium project that I've been working on. The aquarium is a Fluval Chi 6.6 gallon tank, measuring 10"x10"x16". I chose this tank because of its minimalistic, yet all inclusive design. I think it's great because it also incorporates feng shui elements into it, such as the "floating" filter/fountain combination system that sits on the top of the tank. This fountain-filter also integrates a bright underwater LED lighting system and another dimmer LED light that shoots up from the bottom. If you do not add pebbles into the pebble tray, then you'll see a spectacular lit fountain at night. More importantly, I specifically selected this system due to its feng shui inspired design. Ever since relocating to the new abode, my girlfriend and I have designed our living quarter with feng shui in mind. The Fluval Chi harmoniously blends in with our current design guideline. The tank sits on top of an Exo-Terra terrarium stand that is only 12.5"x12.5" wide, perfect for the Fluval. My later plan is to relocate the Fluval into the study area and put up a Red Sea MAX 250 65 gallon marine aquarium at its current location.

At the moment, I have 7 zebra danios happily residing within the confines of the Fluval Chi. I've also added a 12" Amazon sword plant to compliment the background and hide the 50w Hydor aquarium heater.

Zebra danios.
7 zebra danios inhabit the Fluval Chi.
The Fluval Chi at night.

Get your Fluval Chi 6.6 from Amazon.com and save!

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Custom aquatic turtle wet / dry filter schematic

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Steve

I've taken a few minutes of my spare time to dissect grifloki's (see previous entry) custom wet / dry filter build and constructed a diagram of the diassembled filtration system and identified its components. This is for those who want to build a similar system.

I modified the filtration elements to include two lighting grates that sandwiches a custom polyester media filled with activated carbon. I'll work on diagraming the schematics for the overflow box and refugium when I have a chance. Once all the individual components are diagramed, I'll begin building the turtle tank. Stay tuned.

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