Show’s almost over!

Wow. First just let me say thanks to the thousands of people that have watched the videos and come to see the house!  This has been a huge success, and I’ve been happy to bring a little Christmas cheer, and UD Pride to so many people around the world!

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end at some point.  And that point is tonight.  Wednesday 12/16/2009 from 6:00pm to 10:00pm will be the last showing for 2009.  So tomorrow at 9:30pm will be the last time to see this until next year, because I need to take everything down before we leave for Christmas break.

I need to extend a thanks to a few people who helped make this a success:

• First is Derek Gerdeman.  We spent countless hours freshman year sitting around watching Youtube videos of these amazing light shows, and just imagined the day that we could do it ourselves.  Derek helped with planning this out, and spent countless hours on the roof with me getting everything put up.
• Bryan Hoersten also spent a lot of time with me twisting light strands together, and putting stuff on the house.  He and Derek spent a long time making the UD logo, that made this light display awesome, and hit home for so many UD Alumni.
• The guys of 202 Lawnview – Due to location, I was unable to put these lights up on my own house in Dayton this year, and these guys let me use their house as my canvas.  From letting us climb out their window, to putting up with the same songs playing every half-hour for weeks, I can’t thank them enough.  They were incredibly cooperative, and I greatly appreciate it.
• Everyone at DoItYourselfChristmas.com – There is an incredible group of people who are unbelievably dedicated to this hobby, and have put together some amazing projects.  All the guys who wrote the PIC firmware, designed PCBs, organized group buys, and of course KC who wrote Vixen; I couldn’t have done it without them.
• Mike Malloy, who took the videos with me with his camera/tripod.

Thanks again! I’m looking forward to next year with goals of 48 channels and 10,000 lights!

FAQ:

Q: How long did it take you?
Short A: “A long time…”
Long A: I spent around 20 hours building and wiring the controller (which should go quicker next time!)  Probably 6 hours just designing/planning (erasing, re-drawing…)  Easily spent 60 hours sequencing music.  At least 12 hours constructing UD, twisting lights together, etc.  And probably another 12 hours actually putting all the lights up, wiring, testing, and re-installing windows :-\   This gives us a total of around 110 man-hours, some of which go to Derek and Bryan.

Q: How much did all this cost?
Short A: “I don’t want to know…”
Long A: If you look back at the Background post, I spent around $80-100 on my 24 channel controller, after all the wiring, etc.  This is substantially less expensive than a commercial Light-O-Rama system with as many channels.  I had hardly any Christmas lights going into this, so I had to buy almost all of them this year, probably upwards of $100.  And all the accessories (mainly a few hundred zip-ties) add up, as well.  (Donations accepted!)

Q: Are you going to do this next year?
Short A: “Absolutely!”
Long A: I’m obsessed, and will probably do this until I die.  Next year, Derek, Bryan and I will be 5th-year seniors, and will have a house in the Ghetto ourselves.  I’ve already got some parts for another Ren24, and big goals in mind.  It depends on which house we get, but my goal is to more than double this year’s show: At least 48 Channels, and 10,000 lights – any help there is appreciated 🙂

Q: This is great, I think you’re amazing…  Can we go out to dinner?
A: Facebook me.