LiquidRetro.Net’s Blog

The 2008 Animated Christmas Light Show has officially started. This weekend we got the show up and running. Right now we only have one show running but we expect the second song to be added this week with others coming soon. For updates check out www.liquidretro.net/lightshow

Here is a link to the first song post and video on the lightshow’s website http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/2008/11/29/2008-show-is-up-and-running/

This past week I built an AMB labs Mini3 headphone amplifier for my Sennheiser HD595 headphones. The amp is still burning in but so far I am very impressed. It really helps when playing audio through my computer and especially through my iPod. The build was very fun. I soldered my first surface mount components. I also built it first time around correctly with no problems. The case is also great. So far I am very impressed. Here are some pictures of the finished project.

I have been very busy and have forgot to update the blog. The Christmas lights are down and we have begun designing next years. Keep an eye out here and at www.liquidretro.net/lightshow for more info.

I have lots of photos to update the blog with but this will take a few posts to do it. Keep coming back for new ones. I will try and post more regularly.

Last week a very good friend of mine asked me to take some photos of her, I’ve always wanted someone, who I like, to be my model for the day. She asked, and I said yes. The results turned out quite beautiful, she was very happy with the photos. It was a really relaxing day, taking photos, eating Mexican food, topping it off with cheese cake, and spending time with friends.

The photos below have gotten great response on Fred Miranda and other Photography forums. Look for more photos like this in the future especially when it gets warm out.

Here are 2 galleries that contain more of the processed images.

http://www.jbmphoto.com/gallery1/Jessi-vday-final/
http://www.jbmphoto.com/gallery1/jessi-vday/

My animated Christmas light display is up. It took several weekends to get up and get everything tweaked. It was stressful but its not up and running. For more information on the display go visit its website at http://www.liquidretro.net/lightshow/ View the video below of the entire performance.

This years songs are Tran-Siberian Orchestra - Sarajevo 12/24, Tran-Siberian Orchestra - A Mad Russian Christmas.

I found this tonight on DIGG (http://digg.com/apple/5_Free_iTunes_songs_For_Facebook_Users) and thought it was worth a repost. You get 5 free songs in iTunes with it. I tried it and it works great. Enjoy

Directions:
-Log in to Facebook
-Search for “ticketmaster live”
-Join the group
-After joining at the top of the page will be a code for 5 free songs.
-Copy the code
-Go to iTunes Music Store and click redeem on the right side of the page
-Enter the code and you have free songs.
-Leave the group if you want

You get 5 songs priced from $.99 - $1.29

Update on the blog and whats going on with me. I have been very busy at at school and I have not had much time to post on the blog or take pictures. I have some pictures of the A8L and a short modeling type shoot that I did that need posting. Hopefully I can get that done soon.

Last Friday I had an accident. For months, my dad has been researching new grills to buy. He finally decided on one and bought it. It arrived last Friday. This is no ordinary grill that you buy at the Home Depot. It is a DCS and its solid stainless steel. With its cart, it weighs approximately 200 lbs. That evening we were assembling it and needed to move it. I went to get a good position and had to readjust my hands to keep them from slipping. The spot my fingers found when the lifting began somehow inside a louver. It was sharp here and the weigh, lifting and sliding cut my fingers like a knife. Lots of blood began flowing and we made a prompt visit to Urgent Care about 3 blocks from my house. The dogs were happy to clean up the blood that was on the floor.

We arrived at Urgent Care 3 minutes before they closed. For the first time I could see the severity of my injury. I had deeply cut my middle, ring, and pinky fingers on my left hand. They made me was out my cuts and then the worst part of numbing them came next. After that, six stitches went in. I received two stitches in each finger. The entire process took about 15 min. After this, we went to the Culvers car shot right across the street. Below is a picture of what my fingers looked like 24 hours after the stitches when I was changing the dressing. Some people had requested the pictures after hearing about what I did.

It is good to be done with school. Everything ended up great. I was very satisfied with my grades for the semester. Microsoft Office 2007 finally came into the campus bookstore and its great to get the Enterprise edition for only $15.

The first week off from school Aaron, Ryan, and myself finished the ChristmasLux project. More on this later but the project now has its own blog. Look for more soon. http://liquidretro.net/lightshow/

The second week off I detailed the Ferrari extensively. It now looks like a completely different car.

Day 1 of the road trip went well. Lincoln, NE to Saint Louis, MO. Nothing too eventful happened. We had a great dinner at “Tony”

Day 2 started off well after a good nights sleep and a great breakfast at the Embassy Suits Hotel. South of Mount Vernon, IL the Audi warned us that its oil was low. After stopping at a gas station a manual check of the oil confirmed that it did indeed need some. But not every truck stop stocks synthetic 5W-30. After a quick call to Onstar to locate a auto parts store and short drive to another town we purchased a quart of full synthetic oil and the car was happy for the rest of the day. Its getting great gas millage 23.8 mpg through the mountains at 80MPH.

Stop for Oil

Mountain Driving

Well I have an update. The car was taken to the doctor yesterday and I must say service is very good when you drive in with the flagship car. It seems the dealer is the only one who actually know what the car is.
He called today and said that the reason the check engine light came on again was the catalytic converters were blocked with carbon. The reason for this was because the car was driven approximately 500 miles with the bad ignition. The dealer said he also suspected that the previous owner or the dealership we bought it from did not always burn premium fuel in the car and this led to the failing of the ignition coils.
Audi is replacing the cat’s which cost $1800 a piece under warranty. He said if the car was not under warranty he would of said it will burn off if you drive it. He also said it is a very long process of replacing them and the mechanic would spend all day or more on this. He also said that the car looks great and is in great shape and should have no more mechanical problem and he hopes not to see it back till it needs its normal service.