Packing up the pixels

[therealbigjim]

Well I packed up all of my new pixels and ssc and assorted stuff and put them away today. Just was not going to happen this year. Beside an unexpected bathroom remodel and growing demands from my job and old age (I can't do 16 hour days 5 days a week anymore) , I just could not get ahead of the game this year. I will be putting up last years show with no changes. I doubt few will notice but I kinda of feel defeated.  I will start in the spring with an order of the remaining lights I need and will working on my sequencing earlier.....like when I get the show down and put away.  Anyway sorry for the rant....with it binging Thanksgiving I am thankful that I have a show and I can still put it up altho getting the bins out of the attic was a pain in the butt.

[tbone321]

Sorry to hear that but perhaps it may work out better in the long run.  These nodes are really not prime for fast last minute setup.  Quality will always be an issue and especially when ordered last minute during the season where the rush to get orders filled drops quality even more.  I would start working on it now for next year but take it easy.  You have plenty of time to mess with them and figure out what works and what has issues and how to deal with them.  I will be ordering more equipment but will wait until at least Feb to do it whenthings slowdown and the quality improves some.

[jnealand]

I don't think there has been a year yet that I have not put stuff back because I ran out of time.  Just yesterday I decided to give up on upgrading the star on my mega tree to LED rope light.  I have 12v rope light and tested it with a DSC, but there are to many other things to do to get it finished and I cannot put the mega tree up without having the star on top. So it is back to the incan star that is warm white when everything else is cool white.  Last year I did not put the pixel tree up until mid Dec and it may be the same this year since I still have not finished repairs to all the flex strips.  Never give up.  As we get older we just move a little slower.  I'm also thinking about not putting up the snowflakes on the roof just so I do not have to get up there.  I never have a problem adding things after the initial show is running.  Good experience to help in planning for next year.

[winwin]

Once you have you show setup and running with people enjoying it, you will have already done great. Maybe you wanted more but you will still make people happy and that is what counts.
Get the pressure down, have your base show running and then you can make modifications if you find a few minutes here and there.

(side note for Jim: if we can do it in the evening, I'll be happy to help you with the snowflakes.)

[arw01]

I have a hard time remembering the pressure is self induced!  I want everything to be perfect, but NOO one else will know.  Probably only get a couple of songs to start things off, then add a couple more over the next few days and maybe have 5-6 by the time christmas makes it. 

Last year's show will be great, and like jim said, maybe you get a few minutes here and there to work on adding a new piece or sequence etc.

Alan

[WWNF911]

I used to beat myself up about my display and about missing self induced deadlines but not any more. About 2009 I had a attitude reset indirectly from Richard Holdman himself. He said, and I quote "Just remember to have fun. After all, if your not having fun,.... whats the point?"

It was all to clear to me after that. I suddenly had no more worries, no more deadlines, my priorities were just about the joy of Christmas and seeing the faces on the little ones. They don't care how many lights, channels, or pixels, etc. The only one who knew it wasn't as I envisioned it was me. Now every little imperfection is character.  Your display will still be great even if it's not "done".

If people stopped by before and wanted to talk, all I could think about was how much time I was losing. Whats Christmas about that??? Now,... time? I have all the time in the world. We just have to take the time to absolutely enjoy the season. Fun? Ya,.. I'm having fun, just not too much. Falling off that ladder still hurts.   

[therealbigjim]

Well after a weekend trip to NC to have Christmas for my aging relations who can no longer make the trek to N. Florida, My light show finally went live last night.  I had a steady stream of watchers and many complements as I scurried about the yard finishing up. It seemed to take much longer getting the display up but I think it’s because I was attempting to do it 2 hours at a time after a 13 hour work day. On a side note....(rant) the price of lights both incan and led are just stupid. I have had several newer led light strings fail and was floored at what replacements cost. Solid color green and red led strings are not carried by Lowes or Home Depot and have been carried by Walgreens. The quality is suspect and several one year old strings failed while in storage.  It’s just another reason to switch to Pixels. I have 4 strings around the windows and at 19-25$ a string it just makes since to switch. Also lights in my area were short stocked so now when I need one or two replacement strings there are none to be found.  Sorry....just saying.

[arw01]

Not to turn this into a christmas light pricing rant, but I found a lot of christmas decorations to be short stocked this year and sold out long before December came around.  Maybe they are training us to pay retail?

Glad the show is up, mine's still really small and struggling with what to add in coming years to liven it up.

[meman]

+1 on putting the pixels away and going with just a few tweaks to last years show. Got pixelnet stuff from just about every coop all soldered up and sitting in huge pile in the man cave....just not enough hours in the day to create my vision yet.

++++1 on retailers playing it close to the vest this year. Last year was bad, but the game has officially changed; there will be no buying of "leftover" LED strings at a discount. Glad I got into this game early and created a substantial stockpile discounted strings over the past couple of years. Couldn't afford to do what we do at full retail.  Christmas is still two weeks away and a lot of big box stores in the Tampa, FL are are cleaned out of lights already.

Mike E.

[ghethco]

I feel your pain!  I didn't start the outdoor setup process until Thanksgiving break (I have a modest display since this is my first year) and found quickly that I wouldn't have time to do everything I wanted to do.  I started reading, learning and ordering stuff last year at this time, but time gets away from you and I also have a very demanding job.  I still managed to put up a nice little display and it will be bigger and better next year.

Gary