Nagel Family Website

Blog changes

Hi, and thanks for stopping by! We've made some big changes to the blog - including shutting it down! With social networking and micro-blogging these days, there's no need for us to blog. So check out the latest on our homepage, and thanks for visiting.

I finally got some good video of my lights this year!

Of course, I’m using the Mr. Christmas Lights & Sounds of Christmas with an FM Transmitter. There are 6 channels with 4,186 total lights on the house. The lights are on from 6-9 each night, although we usually turn them on closer to 5, and won’t turn them off if there are cars outside watching the lights.

I also have some nice photos, which I’ve uploaded to the gallery – check them out!

Once you’ve seen the lights, if you like them, please vote for me at Bronners!

This entry was posted by Eric on Friday, December 7th, 2007 at 8:42 am and is filed under Christmas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

I realized a problem that I’ve caused with this year’s light display. As I drove down the street on the way home from Cub Scouts, there was a car blocking my driveway. So I pulled over, and then another car pulled over. They weren’t going anywhere, so I drove around & looked at other lights.

When I came back, there was a different car in front of my house, and 2 people in the driveway. Luckily, they moved when they saw I wanted to get in. Looks like the light display and sign really helped gather attention this year.

This entry was posted by Eric on Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 at 8:42 pm and is filed under Christmas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

I’ve had quite a few people email me about adding an FM transmitter to their Mr. Christmas Lights and Sounds of Christmas. I’ve done it to both models (the 20-song version that I had last year, and the 40-song version I have this year) and used 2 different methods. I’m not sure which is better, but here’s the general idea (sorry – no photos yet. I sold my old one, and I’m not taking down the new one now).

First, remove the back plate from the unit. Then remove the screws in the deep holes, and carefully open it up. The speaker has 2 wires going to it from the main circuit board: white & orange.

Either solder a speaker wire where the existing contact points are on the speaker, or splice into this orange/white cord. Drill a hole in the side of the unit & push your wire through there. Now you have an external audio cable. It either has an end on it, or it raw wire.

I use the C. Crane FM Transmitter for my set-up. Once you have this unit, follow the directions on this page to expand the range of it.

Now you either need to cut the wire of the C. Crane unit or somehow otherwise hook it up to the wires coming from the Mr. Christmas. In my set-up, I had 2 male ends, so I bought a Female-to-Female Coupler from Radio Shack to hook it up.

Turn it on, and adjust the audio on the Mr. Christmas. Now, adjust the audio input on the FM Transmitter so when the Mr. Christmas hits the loud notes, you notice the red light come on the transmitter. If the red light is constantly lit, it’ll cause static on the other side. It’s very delicate.

If you found this post useful, please vote for me at Bronners!

This entry was posted by Eric on Tuesday, December 4th, 2007 at 9:31 am and is filed under Christmas, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Well, it’s not Forbes, but I was interviewed for an article in American Baby Magazine (December, 2007 issue). They had questions about my Christmas lights; in particular, how much it costs to run them each year. Last year, it only brought up my bill $5.00. This year, I’m expecting an increase of $11.25.

Speaking of the lights, I plan on recording the video this weekend, once I get the camera back from my brother.

This entry was posted by Eric on Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 4:55 pm and is filed under Christmas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Oops – with November starting on Thursday this year, Thanksgiving is early. Very early. Only 2 weeks away now. I thought it was 3 weeks away! Well, there goes a week that I was going to use for Turkey Trot training and finishing up the lights!

Last night I picked up the Cub Scout popcorn order and with a few of the other helpful parents, sorted it all out. Now there’s lots & lots of popcorn in my house, waiting to be picked up. I hope a lot of parents come today to get theirs.

Somehow, I convinced Steve to run this morning, so I went to his place at 7AM and we ran down to the lighthouse and back. My GPS reception wasn’t that great, but I’ve posted the run at MotionBased.com. It was kind of cold – I should’ve had a wind-breaker layer on. Overall, I’m happy with this run. Hopefully I can run again Monday morning.

So today, I’ll be putting up more lights, adding the FM transmitter to my new Mr. Christmas (and this time I’ll take photos & post a tutorial) and hopefully be done with the lights, except the trees on the front lawn which I haven’t built yet.

This entry was posted by Eric on Saturday, November 10th, 2007 at 9:43 am and is filed under Christmas, Fitness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Hey everyone – be sure to head on over to Bronners and vote for my house! While we’re not live with this year’s display yet, I want to get some early votes in.

As an update, I received a large box extension cords yesterday, should receive my new Mr. Christmas today (updated for 2007 – hard to find!), and am still waiting on 600 more lights and extension cords from another vendor.

Last year we had 2,300 lights choreographed to 20 songs over an outdoor speaker. This year, we’re adding some lights (600 lights on 6 balls hanging under the porch, 450 swag lights on the upper gutter, and 600 lights on 2 “trees” on the front lawn – total is now 3,950 total lights) choreographed to 40 songs over a quieter outdoor speaker and FM radio. Oh, and Santa will be seen, poking around in my office window (on some nights).

Only 3 weeks to go!

This entry was posted by Eric on Thursday, November 8th, 2007 at 9:11 am and is filed under Christmas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.