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Following are questions that I am frequently asked by people regarding the display: I do it for a couple of reasons. I like doing things that I have never done before and learning in the process, but most of all, I do it to give children the same awe inspiring full of wonder experience that I had as a child at Christmas time. What makes all of the work worth it is that child & parent telling me how much they enjoyed it. The look in a childs face as they watch the show is priceless to me. That's what makes it all worth it. It is currently taking me 7 full days with some help 3. You've won alot of awards for your display, is there any house out their that can beat you? This is a funny question that I often get asked. To me, it is not about competeing with others. The Laguna Niguel Park & Recreation puts on a great holiday light decorating contest that I have been participating in since 2006. The "Holiday Decorating Display Awards" are a means to an end for me. The contest posts entries on their awards list which are posted to their website, and handed out at the Christmas parade. That is alot of visibility. It gets my display location out to alot of people that would not otherwise know that it even existed. This gets them to the display so that they can see it. It's all about sharing the work that I have done with others. The awards are great only because it provides a filter of those entries to people. The awards flyer tells them that we have gone out and looked at all entries and we deem these entries a must see and it depicts where they are located on the map of the city. That is a valuable resource. Again, to me it is all about the opportunity to share all the hard work that I have done with others. 4. I noticed that you received awards from the city for every year except 2010. What happened, did you not decorate that year? Yes, I did have the display up and running in 2010, eventhough it was a tough year due to all the rain. What happened was I mailed in the application instead of hand carring it in, as I have always done, and apparently it got lost. The city stated that they did not receive it. As a result, I found out just how much the exposure from that contest helps as the number of spectators was way way down that year. A big disappointment. 5. How do you get the show music into my car radio? I built an FM transmitter that broadcasts the audio from the show controller in stereo on 90.5 FM. I picked this station because it was an easy number to remember and the station for the most part was just dead air. The transmitter broadcast power is 0.25W which is the highest allowable by the FCC. Transmission only occurs during the hours of the show for a little over a month. It does not broadcast year round. 6. You must be a mad scientist, what is your background? I am a US Army veteran. 7. Do you go out and look at other displays? Of course, I love going out and looking at Christmas lights. It's the kid in me. Plus see what others have done gives me ideas for new additions to my own display. I just wish more people decorated.
8. Are there other Christmas Light Displays that you would recommend? Yes, definitely. On my links page I list a number of displays, some of which are linked to their websites. There are not many that do what I do in coastal Orange County California, synchronized light to music, in fact right now (2011) there are only 2 that I know of in the beach cities from San Juan Capistrano to Fountain Valley. There are a few in Lake Forest and I believe Orange/Anaheim, but not many. And I am not talking about the "Show in a Box" type synchronized light show that you can buy at the store, stake it into the ground out front, plug in the lights into it, then it plays pre-recorded synthetic music through a small speaker on the side of the device that you can barely hear with your car window down. I am talking about real custom shows synchronized to real orchestral or band music. 9. After you get your lights up, what is it that you fear most from happening?
1. Why do you do this?
2. How long does it take you to put the display up?
I am a degreed OCC transfer student, a degreed Electrical Engineer from CSULB and have completed graduate work at USC. And no, I'm not a mad scientist, although my wife sometimes think I am as well.
RAIN! Without a doubt, rain. Water and electricity do not mix. When it rains my GFCI breakers pop, inline fuses blow, which causes lights out. On a rainy night, you'll find me out front running around disconnecting power cords from GFCI outlets to connect them to non-GFCI outlets to get the lights back up and running again.