Cincy Lights

Most of the lights are installed and there are only a few loose ends to wrap up tomorrow and we can go live on Saturday. We've been having issues with one of our controllers and the company rushing an overnight package with a new board to us that we should have tomorrow morning. Great customer service from Light-O-Rama, probably the best I've ever experienced, so you can call me a very happy customer even with the few issues we've had with the hardware. We still have a few static elements that need to go up, but all the animated elements are in place and wired when we get all three controllers online, so we're in really good shape. We'll be testing and flushing out any bugs tomorrow, so big day and I'm so full of Turkey right now I really can't do much, so I get to sleep in tomorrow!! No black Friday for me, I'd prefer to shop online to find my deals, so while others are out at 3AM to get in line, I'll be happily dreaming of Christmas lights and extension cords.

Oh, and a big thank you to Zac Fritz and High Strung Holiday Lighting Services, once again Zac and his crew put up the lights on the roof (and all the places where one is skittish of heights) and have been a huge part of making our Christmas brighter. If you need someone to help out with your lights, Zac is a really great guy, someone we would recommend to all of our friends.

www.highstunglighting.com

Picture : Porch Columns Being Wrapped and Lights Going Up on the Windows and Porch.

The Christmas lights are going up and we've been able to add several additional songs for opening night. Were still hoping to get the lights ready for a first show on Saturday, baring any set backs the very first show of 2009 will start at 6pm Saturday evening.

David working to install the candy canes.




Shannon

-- Post From My iPhone

Things really do have a way of working themselves out. I've felt that we were really, really behind in our Christmas preparations as of late and we've both been sequencing like two people possessed, but I have one new song done for this year and HOPE to have at least two more brand new songs done before Christmas.

Here's the lineup of songs:

Linus and Lucy - Vince Guaraldi Trio
All I want for Christmas (is a Hippopotamus) - Gayla Peevey
Your a Mean One, Mr. Grinch - Thurl Ravenscroft
Chritmas Eve Sarajevo - Trans Siberian Orchestra
Wizards in Winter - Trans Siberian Orchestra
So This is Christmas - John Lennon
Carol of the Bells - Wilhousky
Stille Nacht (Silent Night) - Mannheim Steamroller

With so much to do before the we turn on the lights, I thought I'd post a little update here, then back to this sequence I'm working on. We finally sat down and finalized the show for this year. There were a few changes, which requires some tweaks to the sequences, namely adding a few additional channels. Until we got the electrical circuits installed, we weren't really were we might use these extra channels, so now we're reworking the songs from last year and adding at least one new song and hopefully a few more to rotate in before Christmas.

This year I've actually gotten involved in doing the sequencing. Last year I helped with the overall design of the light show, then build the website and this blog, leaving all the hardware and other technical details to my partner in crime. This year with so much work to do I thought I'd give it a try. Here's a little snippet of what I'm talking about. It's MUCH harder then I thought.

I just hope we can get all the work done before launch day, which right now we're looking at 11/28 for our first show, so only 19 days to go.

Got home and decided to start dinner.. the thought was meatloaf.. some part of me had a hankering for Italian. What's more "Italian" then meatballs, right?

Actually I was inspired by the Boca de Bepo Anniversery dinner David took me to where we had the most flavorful (and the size of your head) meatball, so I decided to go with larger then normal meatballs as well.





I have never made meatballs before and quite litterally began mixing in things I had on hand. A little ground turkey and ground chuck, dry Parsley and Tyme, Italian style breadcrumbs, an egg, plus salt and pepper... finishing by rolling in yet more breadcrumbs.

Cooked for about 25 minutes and then under the broiler for a few minutes for a little color. Because of the turkey they were a little dry (overcooked??) after coming out from under the broiler. In heinsight I would have cooked them 5 minutes less and let the brolier have a go without risk of drying them out.

The maranara saved the day and the flavor was really nice.





I've satisfied my inner "italian" craving and now relaxing by the fire with my cat-- life is indeed good.

-- Post From My iPhone

We finally found someone to do the electrical work for us and it so happens it's our neighbor! We've only spoken to him a few times we've lived accross the street, so not only do we get to know our neighbors better, we're getting the work done at a very reasonable price.



These are the outdoor outlet boxes.. recepticals have yet to be installed.

We're adding three dedicated curcuits for a total of sixty amps of Christmas light goodness.

-- Post From My iPhone