Solar Eclipse

I was lucky enough to witness my first solar eclipse.  I didn't even have to travel to see it!  I used my Nikon D40 with 3 stacked filters (6 ND, CP, and a Hoya R72).  When sighting the sun in I used a shade 14 welding glass to protect my eye.  I then closed my eye, removed the glass, and snapped the picture.  This is a very amateur attempt to photographing a solar eclipse and I DON'T recommend anyone try it this way.  I did however get decent results!  I did do some color correction in paint.net. 

High Speed Video

Here is a quick edit of the first high speed video I shot with a Canon S100.  It is bottles full of ice being shot by .40 S&W. 

Transfer Angry Birds Saves

Transfer Angry Birds Save

I played the new Angry Birds Space (free) version on my Motorola Atrix.  It is great, but the ADs get in the way.  Shortly after playing a large portion of the game I decided to buy the AD-Free version.  The problem is that the game saves and high scores (progress) do not transfer over to the paid version.

Here is the solution:

1.  Download Angry Birds Backup from the android market.  LINK
2.  Ensure that only the version of the Angry Birds you want to back up is installed.  (uninstall the paid version for this step)
3.  Open the Angry Birds Backup app and back up your game saves.

4.  Uninstall the free version and install the paid version of Angry Birds.  Once installed play at least one level of the paid version. 
5.  Open up Angry Birds Backup and restore your saves.

6.  Enjoy ad free Birds!

Winch Use!

Got a chance to use the 2010 mount in the snow! I was stuck with bald stock tires. Got one front tire of of the packed and sunk down to the frame. Mount and winch (ENGO) worked GREAT!

Infrared Winter

Infrared Winter

Photo taken with Nikon D40 with Hoya R72 filter.  This is one of my first IR photos.  The shutter was held open for about a second.  

Xterra Stock Winch Mount

I was lucky enough to get Engo 12k Winch from a group buy on thenewx.org.  A user on there makes winch mounts for the stock bumper that fit the second gen Xterra.  I finely got all of the parts collected to do the install.  

My truck before the Install:

Unpacking the bumper:

-I started by removing the outer bumper cover.  It was relativity easy, just tons of little tiny phillips head screws.  I used rags on the edges to prevent scratching the paint on the fenders.
-After removing the bumper cover there were 4 bolts holding the stock mettle "bumper".
-Then I installed the ROCKYMTNX winch mount in place of the original.

-After getting the bumper bolted up, I installed the lower frame mounts (These come with out holes drilled to account for any differences in frame tolerances).
- I used the included transfer punch to mark the holes.
-I pre drilled with a 1/4 inch drill and then moved up to 1/2 inch drill.

-Brackets drilled and ready for install.  I used a old CD to "mask" off the silver while I sprayed bed liner in the holes to prevent rusting.

-Lower brackets all bolted up.

-The hardest part of the install: cutting the stock bumper.  I had to use a combination of tin-snips, sawzall, and jigsaw to get it perfect.

-Got everything all bolted up and put back together.  Cant see it in the picture but I bought Warn Steel Fairlead from Amazon.  Only thing I have to do now is get some longer wires, to relocate the solenoid box.  

Reverse Camera Install

Since I have the Pioneer AVA 2300DVD already installed and I figured I would add a reverse camera.  I purchased a reverse camera from Amazon for about $15.  You can get it on amazon here: Universal License Plate Vehicle Back Camera.

The camera is designed to be mounted on a licence plate.  I don't want it to get stolen or disappear so I decided to mount it inside the vehicle.  I cut off about a half inch from each side of the camera mounting bracket to make it fit.

The reverse signal in the rear is located in the drivers side pillar behind the tail gate.

You can see that the red with purple stripe and black wires on the connector match up to the red and black wires supplied with the camera.  I used heat shrink butt connectors to prevent any short circuit later down the road.  

Now for the tricky part!  Getting the power, and RCA wires through the wire boot for the tail gate.  I wrapped all the wires with electrical tape and a zip tie.  I fed the zip tie through the rubber boot.  Once the zip tie is through the boot I sprayed some spray silicone inside the boot to aid in passing the wires through.

You can see in this picture the zip tie wire mess i used to pass the power and RCA through the tailgate boot.

I then ran the RCA down the drivers side of the vehicle all the way to the head unit.  I had to buy a 3' RCA extension from Radio Shack because the RCA that comes with the camera was about 12" too short.  

I then went to Home Depot and got a piece of 1.5" angle aluminum to make a bracket for the camera.  I finished the bracket with Duplicolor Spray Bed Liner.

Here is what the camera looks like when its all setup.