Blog
7-15-08 - Well the 4th is behind us, and Summer is here FINALLY in the PNW. The house is getting it's summer project out of the way. In 2008, that is replacing the cedar shake siding on the entire upper story, and a few sections at ground level. Additionally a storage shed was bought and installed to get the garage more organized and to give me more storage for, well, in reality Christmas stuff. So to date for Christmas, all my planning is finalized, my Master Spread Sheet is 98% done, which now allows me to start sequencing my lights to the music. I have my song list that will get more refinement as I start programming, I am sure. I am waiting on my big LED light order to arrive so that I can get some things worked on. Most likely all the planned items that need fabricating will be done by mid-August, hopefully by then the LEDs show up. My DMX enclosures, color washes, Nutcracker (yoke lights) and strobe are all in various states of completion. Once I finish the house projects, probably by this weekend, it is full steam ahead on the plan. I just got word late last week, it's back to Shanghai for me in the first part of November. Knowing about the trip now, allows me to plan much better than last year, when the trip came up very late, and was 13 days long. This will be less time and only Shanghai, not Malaysia this year. It has been a strange couple of weeks health wise for me, but long story short, no heart attack, had a skin infection, the neck issues got a steroid injection today to help with the right arm tingling/numbness issues. It's heck getting older!
6-15-08 - Happy Fathers Day! The life sizes Nutcrackers are almost finished. The bodies are in the final painting stage and will be done this week. I really need to get my How-To's and journal pictures on this site so you can check them out a bit early. Once done, I have to mock them up in the yard to get my Yoke light measurements off the house to start the sequence programming. Additionally, I have been prepping for the Wireframe Workshop that will be at my house next weekend. I had to spend some time getting ready for that activity today as well. Once done with that, I can get my Angel and Bethlehem Star wireframe underway. I decided to toss in one last set of features for 2008. I have always liked Ron Listers (Christmas Wonder), church window type arches. I decided to add 3 of them this year to augment the nativity vignette. The Leaping Light Arch that it sat under is going to be moved in 2008, so this gives me a way to still high lite that scene.
6-2-08 - We are finally productively underway with the 2008 additions. We will be adding significant DMX features in 2008. One item will be yoke lights. These are moving head type fixtures, that give a roving spot like effect, sort of like at a concert or show. They have to be housed in water resistent housings. So to accommodate that, I am creating 2 larger than life sized Nutcrackers based on a design from Mike Liguori on Planet Christmas. Mine will be a bit smaller in size and only 8 feet. The yoke light will sit inside the Nutcracker, and the back will be removed so that the lights can hit the house. The entire effect will be awesome. DMX cords have been ordered to get my flood was fixtures into their weatherproof housings as well. I also started to make what will be known as Zmans Z-Tree. It's a spin off of the Mega Tree that has fashioned itself in our display for the past 2 years. Instead of a vertical look to the lights, this will be a horizontal version. It will replace what was called my Cat Tree. Storms have tried to kill the Cat Tree many times, but I kept fixing it extending it's life each time. My song list is selected, and I just need to narrow down the list, do some editing to shorten them. Once that is done, and get my display items finalized, I can start to sequence those songs. I hope to start that in July.
5-19-08 - Computers! Can't live with or without them. I have spent the latter part of a week attempting to get a sound bite from my voice morphing software. Well that turned out to be a fiasco. I had all kinds of driver / computer / disk problems on my main computer. I think I am out of the woods some, but have no back up disk drive as the one I got from Costco a while back is not functional. I will be picking up steel rod this week for the welding/wireframe workshop on June 21st. Started to get my LED Colorsplash enclosures done. I decided to go in a different DMX strobe direction and ordered and received an Martin Atomic 3000 DMX unit. This baby is going to be something when it goes off! Started working on the new LED radio/welcome sign enclosure, finalizing my display items to start the yard plan. That will allow me to start song prep and sequencing pretty soon.
5/5/08 - Happy Cinco De Mayo! We had our Pac NW Mini Plus on 4/26. It was good to see some again, and get to know some of the newbies to our group! We ran a bit late, but had an awesome day with some great presentations. Based on the Mini, I will be setting up a Wireframe workshop here at my house. The date is TBD. This will also help with my 2 wireframe projects for the display in 2008. Work has been done to get all the controllers that were acquired built, assigned, tested and then put away till set up. Once the controllers get done, we need to start building the enclosure for the new LED sign. My new song list is being whittled down, editing needs to start, as they are shortened for the show, then sequencing based on the planned display items needs to start. Otherwise, the major work starts once the LED light order from CDI comes in in June or July.
4/15/08 - Ah the dreaded TAX DAY, here in the USA. Lot's are scrambling including me, to get payments to the IRS. Display update - I picked up 8 LOR controllers from Bill Foley, and have assembled them. I will be getting 3 more at our Pacific NW Mini on April 26th and that should be enough channels for this year and next. I ordered and received 2 - 30 gallon barrels for my full sized Nutcrackers, 25 wreath easel frames for my 16 tree chase scene, and am in the process of putting in my final light order, (4 more LED colorsplashes, another zap strobe and a Light Ball). Outside of assembling the controllers, I have been playing with the DMX Lighting, and getting more familiar with the newest version of my light controlling software, Light-O-Rama II (S2). I will be using both of these 2008, and need to prepare a presentation for our PNW Mini on April 26th. I am starting to run a bit behind on my to-do list, but as things settle down at work, I expect to get caught up pretty soon. The thing lagging most is my wireframe items. I should have at least had the rod and bar purchased for them by now. Lastly, my radio sign was damaged in the tear down, the one that told visitors to tune their radios to 104.9 FM. The last major item I have gotten for the display is a new LED sign to welcome visitors, tell them where to tune and display specific messages. It should be here within a week. Should be a great addition!
3/13/08 - Still no video on the website, Arrghh! Work has been very demanding and I have quite honestly procrastinated. I did get my Holiday Lights DVD from Greg Young, and he did a good job of making my bad video quality, presentable. A few boxes have been filtering in, with items for next year. Rock speakers for the yard, a antenna for the radio station, some misc warranty replacement items. I have set up in the office some of the DMX components and started playing around with them. We are having our PLUS Pacific Northwest Mini get together on April 26th, and I stepped up to discuss and present DMX. Mostly, I have been trying to finalize my 2008 display plan to get a feel for what exactly needs to be done. My planned items, my To-Do list is broken up into the 3 month yearly quarter. So Q1 end this month. The planning has spawned some ordering, and will drive a bit more. I am contemplating a major overhaul of the yard and how things are placed. While I have my new items to add, during the course of the off-season, I will review shifting the display to be primarily viewed form 236th Ave to handle car traffic better. I may decide to block 183rd, and for those wanting to see that aspect of the display, make that a walking display on the street. We will see how it shakes out.
2/24/08 - Hola Amigos! Just got back from Mazatlan Mexico, for the annual family vacation. Usually this is my break point. Meaning, after tear down, I do nothing on the display until AFTER this event. Well 2008 so far, did not let me get any down time as you can see with the entries below. So the time away was greatly needed on all levels. Just before vacation, we took delivery of a new roof wireframe, and a bunch of DMX flood lights. It looks like the work schedule is going to get hectic for a while, so it looks like the work done to date, was good that it got done already. I still have no video on the web, and it looks like that will still be a while in coming. Not that I am that thrilled with the quality of what was taken, but it is still better than none at all. Additionally, the season LED order was placed with CDI, and with LOR offering an end of year close out sale, I had Bill Foley order 8 additional controllers. This will more than allow for the growth planned for 2008 and give me some needed spare units that Bill was so kind to loan me last season when 2 of my LOR units lost channels.
1/30/08 - The first delivery of the off-season just arrived yesterday totally unexpected (I thought it was not going to arrive until summer!). New C9's will line the house with the icicles, and go on a new wireframe planned for the roof. The multi minis that outlined the house itself are going to be replaced with C7's to stand out better. Part of my planning is looking at totally modifying the 9 tree scene next to the train. Not sure yet which way this will go, but I need to figure it out soon to finalize my large LED order with Creative Displays.
1/28/08 - January is almost behind us. I have been working on the video footage, and will hopefully posting links on the site very soon. There has been a bit of planning being done. My LED orders are half done, some LED wash lights have been acquired via Ebay, and Tracy wanted a "Santa on a Harley" wireframe for the roof. Not an original idea, rather, she got it from our friend and fellow light enthusiast, Kevin Thomas. Travel, health and weather have prevented getting the rest of the lights down. Currently, the roof icicles and snowflakes plus the "Road Tree" still need to come down, and it looks like the weather through next week is not going to cooperate. We totaled out at $2600 collected for Special Olympics - Washington. We want to extend a HUGE thank you to everyone that donated to our cause.
1/4/08 - We officially closed last night. I had two local Planet Christmas buddies over to look at the display, Pete Peters, and Terry Dyke. We talked about certain aspects of items, planning for next year, and a multitude of subjects. It was good to see them, as Terry was just getting back in town. Tonight, weather permitting, I will get my final shot at some video for the season. I think I worked some kinks out, to get better footage. Then I need to submit material for Greg Youngs, Holiday DVD series. This is a fabulous collection of displays that even gets international entries. He does an awesome job, check it out on his website - http://www.youngschristmas.com
12/31/07 - Well 2007 is almost behind us, and this will be my last entry for the year. I am overwhelmed with the success we had this year. There were difficulties last year with our weather plus personal and work commitments The display was good last year, but I wanted 2007 to be something special. 2007 ended up more successful than I could have ever imagined. The warmth, curiosity, generosity, support and gratitude expressed by those who stopped by was humbling. Donations for SOWA have not yet been finalized, but to date we are at around $2000. It was great to meet and talk to visitors that also had a special place in their hearts for SOWA. I can't THANK everyone enough, you made my Christmas special. One final wish I have for you all. I hope that the New Year brings everyone "dreams that come true, and life lived to the fullest extent possible". HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Copyright 2008 Woodinville Wonderland