Aurora Support Forum: Introduction

Hey Everybody!

Since I asked to have this forum, I suppose it’s only fair that I eventually get around to posting an introduction. So here goes:

After moving here from San Diego in the summer of 2002, I embarked on decorating our house for Halloween. It was bitterly cold on that night, and we did not have a single trick-or-treater, so I didn’t revisit Halloween decorating for a couple years. Christmas was another matter, however, and our expanse of gutter was just begging for something…so the saga began. But first…

Past Life In a Nutshell: The 80's were a blur: married, was a projectionist, was an Film Inspector/AV Specialist, got an A.A. in Business, got a divorce, and embarked upon a career in professional theater.

Career in a Nutshell: Earned a B.A. in Film/Theater in 1988, and an M.F.A in Technical Direction/Sound for Theater in 1992. Remarried in 1999. I continued my theatrical career until, while in San Diego until 2002, I herniated my C-5/6 disk and had fusion surgery. That and a pulmonary embolism told me that I was getting too old to do dozens of productions each year. Hence the move to Wyoming in 2002, where my wife continued her career. I started working again by the end of 2002, but we had this wild notion that our only son, Alex, should have a sibling. So Andrew was born in May of 2003. I've been a stay-at-home dad ever since.

Home Improvements: With one sledgehammer blow to the wall of our half-bath by my then pregnant wife, remodeling began on our home. In the five years since then (between "diaper changes") I've done landscaping, electrical, plumbing, insulation, ventilation, plaster, painting, etc. But the half-bath is still unfinished!

Oh, yeah. And our youngest was off to kindergarten this year!

Display: It all started innocently enough with 6 or 8 stings of icicle lights in 2003. Then I went back to the store for more. The next few years went something like this (from my original bio on PC):

2003: First year in house. 175' of icicles (2400 lights)
2004: Added path/window snowflakes and some candycanes.
2005: Added presents with three lighted trees, peak rope lights, and two Digital Decorating 6-channel controllers. About 14,000 lights total.
2006: Added 12 roof snowflakes, four more 6-channel controllers (36 channels total), and an FM transmitter.
2007: Added sixteen 5' trees, yard lines/outline, Peanuts cutouts, 4-color Mega Tree, 20 more roof snowflakes, 200' more of roof rope light, a 100amp subpanel/distro, a scrolling LED sign, and 192 channels of D-light. Whew! Display was 28,000 lights (animated, but not synchonized) with about 20,000 lights still in their boxes.
2008: After christmas sales brought the light count up to about 75K, so I suppose I have a lot of sequencing to do this year.

I have ideas for all sorts of gadgetry (pneumatics, motion, sound, etc), as I used to engineer all kinds of stuff for theater, but being a stay-at-home parent takes more time than that one would think, even when the kids have started school. Now there's soccer, cub scouts, piano lessons, choir, school programs, homework, making Halloween costumes, birthday parties, shopping, cooking, still working on the house, and laundry, laundry, laundry! Even though I waited to have kids until I was nearly 40, I now know why my four sisters were brain-dead by the time they hit 30.

Anyway...that's me...dreaming of actually finding the time to work on my display...between being a soccer dad, Bob Villa, and looking for creative ways to re-enter the workforce.

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Slinkard Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DMX Joined: 10 Dec 2007 Location: El Cajon CA Online Status: Offline Posts: 243	Quote Reply Topic: Introduction Posted: 29 Nov 2008 at 9:14am
	Stay Classy San Diego! Slink
	Coming soon www.computerizedlights.com

compfire Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 01 Sep 2008 Location: Greeley, CO Online Status: Offline Posts: 53	Quote Reply Posted: 31 Oct 2008 at 11:22am
	Nice intro. Tony. I too am a San Diego transplant (1998). I also need to find the time to write up a little Bio, but I'm not sure mine will be as detailed.

tonyjmartin Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 11 Dec 2007 Location: Traverse City, MI, USA Online Status: Offline Posts: 144	Quote Reply Posted: 29 Oct 2008 at 12:24pm
	Hey Everybody! Since I asked to have this forum, I suppose it’s only fair that I eventually get around to posting an introduction. So here goes: After moving here from San Diego in the summer of 2002, I embarked on decorating our house for Halloween. It was bitterly cold on that night, and we did not have a single trick-or-treater, so I didn’t revisit Halloween decorating for a couple years. Christmas was another matter, however, and our expanse of gutter was just begging for something…so the saga began. But first… Past Life In a Nutshell: The 80's were a blur: married, was a projectionist, was an Film Inspector/AV Specialist, got an A.A. in Business, got a divorce, and embarked upon a career in professional theater. Career in a Nutshell: Earned a B.A. in Film/Theater in 1988, and an M.F.A in Technical Direction/Sound for Theater in 1992. Remarried in 1999. I continued my theatrical career until, while in San Diego until 2002, I herniated my C-5/6 disk and had fusion surgery. That and a pulmonary embolism told me that I was getting too old to do dozens of productions each year. Hence the move to Wyoming in 2002, where my wife continued her career. I started working again by the end of 2002, but we had this wild notion that our only son, Alex, should have a sibling. So Andrew was born in May of 2003. I've been a stay-at-home dad ever since. Home Improvements: With one sledgehammer blow to the wall of our half-bath by my then pregnant wife, remodeling began on our home. In the five years since then (between "diaper changes") I've done landscaping, electrical, plumbing, insulation, ventilation, plaster, painting, etc. But the half-bath is still unfinished! Oh, yeah. And our youngest was off to kindergarten this year! Display: It all started innocently enough with 6 or 8 stings of icicle lights in 2003. Then I went back to the store for more. The next few years went something like this (from my original bio on PC): 2003: First year in house. 175' of icicles (2400 lights) 2004: Added path/window snowflakes and some candycanes. 2005: Added presents with three lighted trees, peak rope lights, and two Digital Decorating 6-channel controllers. About 14,000 lights total. 2006: Added 12 roof snowflakes, four more 6-channel controllers (36 channels total), and an FM transmitter. 2007: Added sixteen 5' trees, yard lines/outline, Peanuts cutouts, 4-color Mega Tree, 20 more roof snowflakes, 200' more of roof rope light, a 100amp subpanel/distro, a scrolling LED sign, and 192 channels of D-light. Whew! Display was 28,000 lights (animated, but not synchonized) with about 20,000 lights still in their boxes. 2008: After christmas sales brought the light count up to about 75K, so I suppose I have a lot of sequencing to do this year. I have ideas for all sorts of gadgetry (pneumatics, motion, sound, etc), as I used to engineer all kinds of stuff for theater, but being a stay-at-home parent takes more time than that one would think, even when the kids have started school. Now there's soccer, cub scouts, piano lessons, choir, school programs, homework, making Halloween costumes, birthday parties, shopping, cooking, still working on the house, and laundry, laundry, laundry! Even though I waited to have kids until I was nearly 40, I now know why my four sisters were brain-dead by the time they hit 30. Anyway...that's me...dreaming of actually finding the time to work on my display...between being a soccer dad, Bob Villa, and looking for creative ways to re-enter the workforce.
	Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson