Minnisota Mini

[ErnieHorning]

This was just posted on PC.

Tentatively, lets plan on this:

Sunday November 1
Start time: 1:30 (gives me time to get home from church, eat, and do any final preps)
End time: I need to be at a meeting at 7pm. We could probably do some sort of potluck supper if everyone wants, but I need to bail by around 6 or shortly thereafter. Cathy will still be around so it's not like we need to kick everyone out

Again, that assumes I'm hosting. If someone else would rather host, that's fine too.

Go ahead and spread the word --and I'll formalize/finalize this soon.
__________________
Tim Fischer

[bmcgeeny]

This was just posted on PC.

Tentatively, lets plan on this:

Sunday November 1
Start time: 1:30 (gives me time to get home from church, eat, and do any final preps)
End time: I need to be at a meeting at 7pm. We could probably do some sort of potluck supper if everyone wants, but I need to bail by around 6 or shortly thereafter. Cathy will still be around so it's not like we need to kick everyone out

Again, that assumes I'm hosting. If someone else would rather host, that's fine too.

Go ahead and spread the word --and I'll formalize/finalize this soon.
__________________
Tim Fischer


See ya there Ernie

[rkhanso]

I'll try and make it.

Maybe sometime I'll try and host - but I'm just a blinky baby as this is my first year.

[mnmike3]

This might be one of those dumb questions that i've been told don't exist here but being a newbie to this hobby, whats with the mini? is it just a meet and greet?

[ErnieHorning]

It is a meet and greet, show off and talk your ears off get together. Several people will bring things to show off. New ways to do old things, new ways nobody thought of or just new ideas.

We all enthusiastically talk about anything and everything to do with putting up a Christmas display. You likely don’t find someone else at home that nearly as excited to talk about Christmas lighting as you will at a mini.

BTW, its called a mini because there are much bigger ones.

[ErnieHorning]

Double post.

Man, internet is really slow for me right now.

[rkhanso]

MN Mike....If you'll be going to the mini - maybe we could pool our broadband store enclosure order together and save the shipping costs. Now that they have the special pricing we may be able to save even more $$.
But I'm not sure how fast their shipping times are - if they'd arrive before the mini on Nov 1st.

[dirknerkle]

How does one sign up? Anything special to bring? I could perhaps bring a couple of my new wireless Renard adapters...

[mnmike3]

MN Mike....If you'll be going to the mini - maybe we could pool our broadband store enclosure order together and save the shipping costs. Now that they have the special pricing we may be able to save even more $$.
But I'm not sure how fast their shipping times are - if they'd arrive before the mini on Nov 1st.

sorry just ordered mine tonight:oops:. i've got tons of stuff to do for the display yet and am trying to get as many things checked off my list asap.

as for the mini i'm not sure if i will attend or not yet. sounds very intresting, thinking it might be very helpfull to learn a bunch of new stuff that most likely isn't all that new to those who have done this for a while now.

This also brings up a question i have been thinking of asking on the forum, What is the general age group of members here? at 25 i kinda get the feeling i might just be a young pup around here and don't want to be the younger guy hanging out in the back soaking up info without giving too much input :-|

I don't mean to call anybody old by anymeans just get that alot, ecspecially when i'm riding my motorcycles.

[ErnieHorning]

How does one sign up? Anything special to bring? Tim said that he would create some type of sign-up method shortly and provide details of what to bring and times.

Apparently the Viking/Packers game is at 3:15, it will be on somewhere also.


… it might be very helpfull to learn a bunch of new stuff that most likely isn't all that new to those who have done this for a while now.It’s interesting meeting people in person, you get the personality that you cant get from the forums. People will sometimes tell you their trade secrets that they don’t share worldwide.

What is the general age group of members here?Don’t worry about age. There can be people from high school to beyond retirement. I’ve never noticed age being an issue.

[dirknerkle]

Don’t worry about age. There can be people from high school to beyond retirement. I’ve never noticed age being an issue.

Good deal. I've been 39 for quite some time... :roll:

[theatretch85]

Wow, never realized there were other people into this right in Apple Valley! I just bought a house near 145th and Pennock in Apple Valley, I have been doing lights at my parents place for the past several years, was on the news one year with 37,000 lights "The Scheuerlein Family" if anyone remembers seeing that display. That show was pre-vixen btw.

I'd be interested in attending though dont know what halloween plans will get in the way of that. I am 24 I will most certainly be attending a halloween party at a friends place the night before so I will see how things go from there, haha.

Also, I'd be interested in buying some of the "yourbroadbandstore" enclosures, I have a couple ren 24SS's and ren 8SS's coming that will need something to put them in.

What enclosure do people use for the ren 8SS's? I know I saw somewhere that the 24SS's fit in the 2000 case....

[mnmike3]

Vikings/packers game is very important to have on the must have list for the mini :D

[bmcgeeny]

Vikings/packers game is very important to have on the must have list for the mini :D

Lets see, I will have my laptop with my aircard, so I can do the game and the mini at once.

If you can get there, you can learn more in one afternoon than you can in a month on the forums.

Last year at the fall mini I met most of the minnesotans. The legendary Erni Horning was there and if you want to see the neatest Merry Christmas sign (not to mention an antique Renard) talk to Ernie. At the spring mini, the infamas JRock was there. He must be indepenantly wealthy because it would take me 30 hours a day to build and sequence all the stuff he has. He came 4 hours from Spencer Iowa

I went over to the Wisc Mini in Fremont. I was the only DIY guy there. It's fun to impress folks who never seen a built it your self controller. Most were LOR people and if you can beleive this, I learned more about Vixen watching Micheal do a LOR demo than I had in months of playing with Vixen. (Got home and tried to do the same tricks on Vixen he did on LOR and guess what, most of them are in both in some way or another)

People think I'm nuts to drive 4 hours one way to visit with a bunch of "light heads" but the Buzz is pretty phenomenal.

Looks like we are getting a lot more DIY folks around Mini-soda. That's cool.

[ErnieHorning]

... if you want to see the neatest Merry Christmas sign (not to mention an antique Renard) talk to Ernie.
I can bring both to the mini. The Renard(64) that you saw was the second board in exsistance.

I'll see if I can find the first one, though it's a little bit bigger and only had eight channels. Who knows, it might even still work.

[bmcgeeny]

I can bring both to the mini. The Renard(64) that you saw was the second board in exsistance.

I'll see if I can find the first one, though it's a little bit bigger and only had eight channels. Who knows, it might even still work.

I'm so impressed with the way you walked me through repair on my Renards I'm going to bring a couple along and show them off. I''ll bring a couple of the finished show controllers with the 15' 12' 9' and 6' cords

Oh I got the mega tree 64 down in size too and might bring that along.

Oh hell, I'll just load the trailer. What time does Tim go to church. We can meet as soon as he leaves and have 30,000 lights up before he gets home.

It would take 3 of us 15 minutes to put my 10' mega tree up. He'd flip a burger if he came home and it was blinky flashy.

[ErnieHorning]

He'd flip a burger if he came home and it was blinky flashy.Yah, we could prime up that neighbor across the street that already hates him before the season even starts.:p

[ErnieHorning]

Just posted on PC:

OK, lets make this official:

The "OFFICIAL UNOFFICIAL FALL 2009 MINNESOTA/TWIN CITIES LIGHTING ENTHUSIASTS GATHERING (aka MN Mini 2009.2)

When: Sunday November 1, starting at 1pm.

Where: The Fischer residence, 16700 33rd Ave N, Plymouth, MN

Who: You, assuming you want to make the trip, like hanging out with lighting geeks, and want the chance to hopefully learn some tips to improve your display.

Costs: 'Admission' is free. If you'd like to bring a snack to share during the gathering (chips/cookies/bars/whatever) that would be welcome. If you'd like to stay for dinner (that is, the evening meal) feel free to also bring a side dish, we'll come up with some sort of main entree (burgers, sloppy Joes, what not, nothing too fancy). Don't feel you *have* to bring something to come/stay.

Agenda: Very informal. We'll probably just hang out and talk. If you have display items/controllers/techniques/etc. there will be plenty of time for that. If you have videos/pictures/whatever to show, we can do that too. Basically we're going to informally 'hang'.

Vikings/Packers game: Oh, that... When the game starts (3:15) we can throw it up on the big TV, but hopefully keep the Christmas talk going as well.

RSVP: If you're planning on coming, please respond to THIS thread, or email me at w e b m a s t e r <a t> f i s c h e r s p l a c e <d o t> c o m so we can have some sebance of an idea of who is coming. Note: If you're reading this on a forum other than PC or CC, please RSVP on one of those two forums, or email me, as I'm not monitoring threads elsewhere. If you decide to come at the last minute, that's fine too, but advance notice is appreciated.

To those with schedule conflicts: Sorry 'bout that, but this late in the season it's hard to find the 'perfect' day. Feel free to come/leave when necessary. I have another meeting here in Plymouth at 7pm that I need to lead, so I'll be leaving no later than 6:30 and maybe a bit earlier. The rest of you can stay as long as my wife doesn't throw you out

Feel free to post this elsewhere. The more, the merrier...
__________________
Tim Fischer
http://www.plymouthlights.com
Visit and Join the Christmas Lights Webring: http://lightwebring.fischersplace.com
Need a webhost? Great hosting starting at $3.99/mo!

[rkhanso]

Plan on me being there. If something comes up, I'll reply again.
I'll bring something to munch on - it may be store bought, though.
Roger
Buffalo, MN

[mnmike3]

Not sure if i'm going to be able to make it. i really want to but have a TON of stuff to do around the house, my girlfriend decided to throw a get together at my house (where she does not live) in the near future and the house is a disaster with halfway finished projects everywhere you look. also my computer crashed and i lost all my blinky flashy stuff i have been working on since early sept so its back to the begining to try and turn the lights on thanksgiving night like I was planning before.

i will post here again if i decide to put everything else off and come to the mini

[bmcgeeny]

Hey,
Anything anybody wants to see. Ernie can you think of anything. Parts? need.

Need Copper? I still got a bunch.

I just loaded up 2.5.0 something on the flash drive. I am bringing that and a laptop, I also have a Ren 24 mounted up on the test panel. Thought if any of the LOR guys want to look at vixen they can play around with it.

Will bring a completed one to show off too.

What does it take to run a LOR board off Vixen. Might be kind of fun to try that.

I'll need to be out of there by 4:30 or 5 but should be fun while it lasts.

Mike I hope you decide to make the drive. I think the learning curve would actually make the time spent driving worth your while.

[dirknerkle]

I still holding out hope I can attend, but it's looking more and more grim as the night wears on...

dang...


-dave

[theatretch85]

I think I might try and make it at some point, but depends on when I finally roll out of bed in the morning.

[mnmike3]

officially not going to be able to make it today. my 90 year old grandma had a small relapse again with healing from an injury quite a few months ago so we are going to the home to see her today. hopefully i will be able to make it to the next mini ans i would love to come and learn some new stuff

[ErnieHorning]

Anything anybody wants to see.

I have no idea, I'm just bringing a bunch of stuff.

I found the first Renard. If anyone has a female-female 9-pin RS232 adaptor, we could see if it still works.


What does it take to run a LOR board off Vixen. Might be kind of fun to try that.
I have the LOR plug-in for both Vixen 2.5 and 2.0/2.1. Never used it before but my understanding is that you set it up simular to Renard.

Mike, sorry to here that you can't make it. Maybe the next will be closer to you too.

[tfischer]

Hi all!

I've never been a member here before, since I'm a lowly LOR guy, but since so many of you who came yesterday were "DIY guys" that frequent here, and brought all kinds of cool stuff, I figured I'd better come check it out.

Just wanted to say a big THANKS for everyone who came, brought stuff (including all that food!), etc. It was a lot of fun meeting some of you and seeing the rest of you again.

And I wish I would have seen this thread sooner -- if I had known you wanted to set lights up for me I would have left them out in the driveway :)

Later all, and you might see me lurking here from time to time :cool:

[g2ktcf]

Hi all!

I've never been a member here before, since I'm a lowly LOR guy, but since so many of you who came yesterday were "DIY guys" that frequent here, and brought all kinds of cool stuff, I figured I'd better come check it out.

Just wanted to say a big THANKS for everyone who came, brought stuff (including all that food!), etc. It was a lot of fun meeting some of you and seeing the rest of you again.

And I wish I would have seen this thread sooner -- if I had known you wanted to set lights up for me I would have left them out in the driveway :)

Later all, and you might see me lurking here from time to time :cool:

Welcome to DIYC...we don't care what hardware you use!!!!