Online Home of Derek Meister
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Barack Obama’s speech to Virginia, given during the middle of a rainstorm, is a wonderful spot of inspiration in what can often seem like dark times.
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After a few weeks of setup, the Meister House is ready for Halloween 2008. Since we had the lights up to show to some friends, I took a few minutes to walk through the setup to show both our indoor and outdoor decorations.
We’ve got over a hundred animated figures inside the garage, all waiting for the kids to come and press their buttons or trigger their light sensors. Outside, we’ve got animated skeletons, giant inflatable decorations and a new entry: the computerized graveyard light show.
I’m looking forward to seeing the kids and their families and friends that always make the Halloween night a lively one here at the Meister House.
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If you remember the videos a few years back of elaborate Christmas light shows synced to music, you may have wondered how you could do something similar for your own holiday decorations.
In the process of planning my own Halloween decorations, I discovered that there’s an entire industry that has sprung up around helping make displays like that possible for anyone, with the only limit being the time and money you want to invest.
Now, instead of hand-built electronics, you can buy unassembled light controller component kits from companies such as Light-O-Rama or D-Light Designs. Prices for 16-channel kits range from $120 and up, with pre-assembled kits being as cheap as $200.
To create your computerized light show, you’ll need sequencer software. The program I used for my own Halloween light show is called Aurora, available for purchase for $100, though there are a wide range of programs at different price points, including some free, no-frills command-line programs.
If you don’t have the time to create a light show and sync it to music, you can even find pre-programmed sequences from companies such as WowLights Productions, along with a number of other light show product packages.
Having assembled the pieces for my Halloween light show, I can say that it’s definitely not a cheap holiday project, but I can say that the sense of satisfaction when the lights come alive and dance to the music I’ve synced them to makes it worth every dollar I’ve spent.
I just finished listening to the audio version of The Graveyard Book, read by author Neil Gaiman, courtesy of my Audible membership.
It’s a great all-ages story for the Halloween holidays, especially as read by Gaiman. He has a real skill with storytelling, both in the written and spoken sense.
I went down to the local Board of Elections for Poll Worker training today. It was interesting seeing the process behind election day preparations. I’m glad I volunteered, as looking around the room, I was definitely the youngest person there. And in an increasingly technology-based world, it’s important to get some tech-savvy volunteers there for the growing number of electronic voting machine questions.