Pontiac HUD

Over a year ago the Heads Up Display (HUD) on my 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP broke. Well the HUD didn't break, the spring holding the mirror came loose. The spring had actually pulled through the plastic.

When this happened last year i looked online and saw that it was a common problem, several people had written about it happening. The reason i didn't fix it then, was because in order to fix the spring i had to remove my whole dashboard. So i just printed off step-by-step instruction on how to do it.

Last month in October i went over to Katie and John's for the weekend and John helped me fix it.
I was a little worried at first to remove almost my whole dashboard but most of it wasn't that bad. Everything either popped off or was attached by just a few screws. Also having instructions helped out a lot, there's no way i could have done it without them.
This is the actual HUD taken apart.
It's a little hard to see but we used epoxy to attach a metal washer. That's where the spring would be attached.
Once the epoxy hardened we were half way done, we just had to put it all back together again.
Now it works just fine.

Random Photos - Lake Erie

These were taken in October, in Monroe, on the shore of Lake Erie. The water level was about 1 foot lower then it typically is. There were several sand bars 100 feet off shore which are usually under water.


Zebra muscles on a rock.
Also it was some sort of Monarch Butterfly migration. Every tree branch and bush on the shore line was covered. There were tens of thousands of butterfly's there.

Mini Tripods

About a year ago, while checking either Slickdeals or Fatwallet i saw this mini tripod for $1. So i bought it. I didn't really use it much at first, but now that i'm doing more with the CHDK software, i use it all the time.
It turned out to be one of the best things i ever ordered for a buck. I use it a ton because it is so easy to carry around in your pocket. It's not perfect, but for time lapse photos or long exposures at night it a necessity.
Amazon has it for sale all the time for $2 with free shipping. It's definitely worth buying.
Then recently i bought the Joby Gorillapod.
It was $13 and it works a little better. It's definitely a lot more flexible for gripping.
They are perfect because of their small size.