There was a waiting list for them a few weeks ago so I signed up for their email notification. They sent me an email last week and I ordered three of them withing 30 minutes of getting the email. A few hours more and they were totally sold out. I will get into the setup in a few days when I get everything mounted correctly. Until then you will have to setting for a few iPhone photos.

I have to redesign the Pint Tracker UI now that I have this sweet little monitor. The new version will take up the entire screen unlike the photos above.

I have to say I am more than pleased with the outcome. I think I am the first to mount a Nikon WC-E63 to a Flip. The other videos I have seen were done with cheap Sunpak lenses. The Flip UltraHD takes such great HD video for the price and size that I did not want to downgrade the quality by modding the Flip to take a $30 lens. I got real lucky when I found the left over Nikon wide angle lens in my basement. The lens today costs as much as the Flip UltraHD does, maybe more. Pretty funny!

I practiced putting the step-down ring on straight. I even debated taking out my contacts so I could see (near sighted) better. The basement doesn’t have the best light. I finally went up stairs and used Terra’s sewing lamp for ultimate bright (white) light. I practiced a few more times. The posts and videos I have seen from other modders said you have a few seconds to move the right around before it sets. That was not the case. As soon as I put the ring on the Flip was rock solid. Couldn’t adjust it at all. Ah, the wonders of super glue! Maybe because my ring was metal and not plastic but I am not sure. It freaked me out a little that it took so fast because I was worried about it being on straight. But in the end it went on just fine and was is not coming off. Practice makes perfect I guess.

Here are the photos. The step down ring looks like it belongs on the Flip don’t you think? I shot some video of our tree in the front yard this morning walking out the door to work. The tree is so orange and red it looks like it is on fire. As soon as I get a chance I will get that online. For now enjoy the photos.

Make sure you mark your calendars for The Beer Event. If you like beer and tasting different beers then this is your event. See the website for more details.

There is some content yet to be written for each of the sites but the structure is done. Click their logos to visit each site.

I added the chicken wire as well tonight. This should keep those damn chickens out!

Finally Terra was able to plant the upside down tomatoes in the buckets. Not sure where we are going to hang these.

Noah admires mom’s hard work.

This is the deck off the bedroom.

This is the deck off the living room area.

The plan next is to take off all the rails and bridge the gap between the decks with a new step down deck. Then extend a step down all around so there are no rails at all.

Not the best photos but the frames hold martial parts from some of the quilts she has done. I have to admit it is a pretty nice touch above the sewing machine area.

I won’t dig the boxes in until tomorrow so I can check the sun in the A.M. Here are three photos from the progress today.

I ended up having to take all the buttons off the control panel to get old trackball out and the new trackball in. I moved the new spinner right above the trackball any drilled a new hole for it. The trackball instructions said only one mouse button is supported on OS X but I had no problem getting a left and right button working. I put a new hole in the middle for the spinner and split the mouse button on each side. Here is the spinner installed with the two trackball (mouse) buttons.

I also got an little 3 LED light that is powered off 12v. It gives the trackball a fantastic glow. Since it is powered via 12v I had to hack up a hard drive molex power supply. Not sure if you ever thought about it but a typical hard drive molex has both 12v and 5v connections. Have a look at this graphic.

That was pretty easy to do so now the trackball has a sweet light. Since it is LED there is no heat and no need to turn it off and on. Here are a few photos of the glow. It was hard to catpure via in iPhone camera. It looks even better in person.

The lower left photo is about the closest to what the glow looks like. It is not a white glow but a nice red.

Now you probably notice that the overlay and Plexiglas cover is missing. Since I had to drive new holes I have to create a new overlay and Plexiglas. The Plexiglas is a real pain in the butt when you have to replace the trackball since you have to take every button off. Here is one final shot of everything back together.

I want to create a new control panel that is attached to the cabinet and has hinges to open the panel to access the guts. So for now I will leave it as is with the unpainted or covered top.

I put in a few rounds of Golden Tee last night and the trackball is rocking. I had to force myself to go to bed. Another game that is a blast is also from the makers of Golden Tee called World Class Bowling. And we can’t forget about Shuffleboard!

Then there are all the classics like Missile Command, Centipede, Tron, Discs of Tron, and Tempest. All great games that used a spinner or trackball.

The last bit to do is get a brighter light for the marquee. Not sure if I mentioned it but I did put in a sub and speakers already so that is done. Final step is to make a decision on building a new control panel. But everything is working now so time to put in some game time.

The old one. Original Arkannoid marquee that came in the cabinet when I pick it up about 8 years ago.

Here is the new one. I will get a bright florescent light to even out the glow. I might also put a white paper behind the image. It might even out the glow even more.