December 31st, 2006 at 03:59 am
So after my exams are over, I was pretty bored. I have about 3 and 1/2 weeks to kill before I start work in January. The commute to my new work place is about 40~50 min in rush hour and my poor old Tercel has no car stereo! I've been using my iPod with one earphone on for the past few years that I drive my car. So I've decided to do a little project of my own -- design a car stereo!
I took apart an old pair of computer speakers I had (about 12 years old). I examined the circuitry and found that it was simple enough to be removed from its speaker casing. The existing speakers were too small to fit inside my car's speaker hole so I needed a bigger one. Luckily, I had a large old-school speaker case which housed the tweeter, mid-size and bass speakers. I took the mid-size speakers, hooked it up to the circuitry and found the quality to be acceptable. Real audiophiles will stop here and complain about poor impedance matching and damping factor. Fortunately, I am not an audiophile -- I primarily need this stereo to entertain myself only. A few more tests showed that the existing circuitry can drive the larger speakers fairly well, even with the supply voltage fluctuating.
Next, I fitted the speakers into my car's speaker hole and, although not a perfect match, I did not need any screws to hold it in securely. There were existing wires running throughout the car, so I also saved on wiring.
Finally, I removed all the circuitry that was once inside the computer speaker and popped them inside a small paper box I found. After poking a few holes and attaching some screws, I have the new control unit for the car stereo. To my surprise, this box fits perfectly into my car's radio slot. A few more wiring and I was done and ready to roll!
The overall sound quality was decent, and the volume can be cranked up really loud. I took it out for a test drive and everything was working smoothly.
Total cost: $0. All old parts are found at home.
This is the box after it is installed into the car.
With my iPod video hooked up to it playing "Bad Day". Ironically, it was a good day.
A close up view of the connectors and buttons. There is even an LED!
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December 14th, 2006 at 11:28 am
Done my exams!! Finally!!
I wish I could say these are the last exams of my undergrad curriculum, but unfortunately due to some stupid rules with my university I need to end on an academic term. So I need to take one more course while I work in the next 8 months as a student engineer.
Plan to do some bottle returns and see how much cash I can get. This will be interesting because I have two large 20L jugs that are worth $10 each + just tons of other small bottles/cans. I'd guesstimate around 40 bucks.
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December 9th, 2006 at 07:53 pm
Been studying for the past week or so in preparations for my last 2 exams. I'm technically in my last semester at school, but I will not be able to graduate until late next year. Will work in the meantime.
Wednesday and Friday have been no spending days. I love how you can buy lots of stuff on one day and kind of just keep eating away at it for a long time. That lettuce I was talking about earlier in my last post? Well it's still there, after serving about 4 plates of salad. All for $0.69! Thursday I had a cup of coffee for $1.49.
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December 6th, 2006 at 06:44 am
I'm not sure how many of you shop for your groceries regularly at Asian markets. If you do, you'll realize just how cheap those groceries can be!
i.e.
Romaine Lettuce at Safeway, puny little thing -- $1.69 each
Romaine Lettuce at chinese market, oversized thing -- $0.69 each
Sure, the one at the chinese market may not look the freshest since water isn't periodically sprayed on it, I'll just eat around it. But to differ as much as 145% is a little uncalled for.
And sure, you probably have to prepared for the occasion since these markets don't have the cleanest floors, friendliest employees, or the most polite customers. Sometimes you have to learn how to shove people aside, or say the word "Jie Guo (please move)" to get to what you want. Is it worth the 50% reduction in your grocery bill? Most definitely.
But today, I felt bad for an elderly eastern European lady who was shopping for meat. The meat store was busy, so she was waiting for someone to help her. I was standing close to her also waiting for someone to help me (although she was first). The clerk turned to me first, either because I am asian, or because he wasn't able to see the old lady behind the meat counter. Thinking to myself that the elderly lady was already served, I blurted out what piece of meat I wanted to get. It was about half a minute later that I heard the elderly lady complaining to the clerk that she was waiting all this time. I guess when I shop at asian places my politeness level drops significantly.
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December 4th, 2006 at 02:31 am
"What motivates you to save?"
If you can provide some concrete answers to the above question, you are ready to take a step towards financial independence. Now why do I have the feeling I sound like a bloody book?
I like to take the time here to recognise some important influences that have bestowed upon me. My parents' financial health had a great impact on me ever since my early youth. They are savers - frugal individuals who have worked hard all their lives. Plagued with the dual responsibility of supporting their elderly parents and taking care of their own children, they lived a harsh life. Obviously, there were many arguments that surrounded money. As a result, I become the individual that I am: being an early saver now so I can enjoy a future without arguments over money affecting my children.
I would like to stress the importance of saving and investing money when you are young. A number of factors apply:
1) Power of compounding. You've got a whole sh#t load of time for the rule of 72 to work its magic. Combine with RSP/IRA and you've got yourself a stew.
2) You don't have to buy that expensive toy for your kid. In fact, you have no kids to worry about. Or a wife/husband for that matter. Hopefully you have a gf/bf to give you mental support. A friend will do, even if s/he's imaginary.
3) You can jump into that start-up company proposed by your buddy knowing that if you fail after 1 year as most start-ups do, you still have lots of time to recover.
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Well there are many other factors to starting young. But even if you are old, it's still okay. It'll be tough, but still possible. Considering my limited expertise in this area, I'll leave other members to address this topic.
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