This has been fun for TP'ers in the past, plus anything that combines three live webcams, X10 powerline control technology, THE HULK, and Homer Simpson (D'OH! ;-) has gotta rank up there on the geek scale ... and it is all hosted at The Planet! ;-)

The Controllable Christmas Lights are up and running. And as in years past, there is a charitable aspect as it raises awareness and voluntary donations (over $20,000 so far) for Celiac Disease Research at the University of Maryland - this is something my kids have, so it is personal for me.

I turned it on early today since European Surfers have been asking and it's cloudy ... but the lights look a lot better at night.
So surf on by, have fun, and Merry Christmas! ;-)

Hulkster,

Awesome.

-Kevin

Wow, seems like just yesterday I was creating havoc with your halloween lights hulkster.

As always, looks great man.

Yes!!!! Awesome - Another year at your house!

Thanks guys ... glad you enjoy the display ... getting a bit of snow right now at the house as can be seen on the webcams.

That's cool! I should probably get back to work now...

Welllll ... since it IS hosted at ThePlanet, I think you need to monitor/control the Christmas Lights to insure your network is working correctly ... or at least that's what I would tell your boss! ;-)

Lol, just like me. Always trying to plug my projects...

But yours has a very important message behind it. For those that don't know, it's Celiac Disease. So consider sending a donation if you're enjoying his site and have a few extra dollars around. Komar does a great job at making sure it goes to the right organizations.

(Many of my relatives have Celiac Disease)

Those of you with kids might like this picture - SpongeBob SquarePants after a snowstorm ...

Thats funny, looks like spongebob on crack

Nice. It's always a wonderful time of year when we can control christmas lights for charity.

As was pointed out yesterday, the reindeer appears to have some ... uhhhh ... GAS!

Or maybe he ate a bad burrito ...

While perhaps it it just the reflection from the snow and the red polar bear next to it, I did go outside and light a match - BOOM! ;-)

What the..?

That's really cool. I'm happy to be able to get all the lights around my house hooked up and working. lol

Technology brings Christmas Cheer to remote Alaskan villiages & Galena, AK responds by donating $1,000 to Charity ... so now it is the KIYU Burrito Reindeer! ;-)

It's too bad you aren't into celebrating holidays or anything, Alek...

Yea, I'm a real party pooper ... especially during the Christmas season ... ;-)

Here is the 2008 version ... HO-HO-HO! ;-)

Good thing you limit it to 5pm MST(6pm CST) or I wouldn't get any work done!

In the spirit of the holidays: http://blog.theplanet.com/2008/12/09/happy...rom-the-planet/

*sigh*

HEY ... you forgot to put a picture of the postcard in that post (perhaps intentional!) ... so I'll do it for 'ya ... ;-)

Forgot. Yeah. That's what happened.

Incredible, both the 2007 and 2008 displays are awesome...how long did it take for you to set everything up?

I start in mid-November and get it mostly done in ~week ... nice to get it done before the cold snowy weather comes in.

Having done it for a few years, the lights and inflatables go up pretty quick - D'OH! ;-)

That's awesome... do the neighbors pitch in with your electric bill? LOL.

Pitch in? Look at all the extension cords, their the ones paying for it all.

Per the Circuit Analysis and Electrical Layout at the bottom of the Christmas Lights Webcam Page, it's actually only a couple of bucks a day .. well worth the ton of Christmas Cheer and ten of thousands raised for Celiac Disease.

Congrats on winning the KFC competition!

How long do you think it will take before you get tired of your year's supply of KFC?

When that happens, don't hesitate to let us know how we can help by taking some of that off of your hands.

LOL Kevin - I may have made a "mistake" having the $1,000 cash grand prize donated to Celiac Charity rather than spending it on Pepto-Bismol ... or lets see if I'll need new jeans (see picture below) a year from now after eating a lot of Extra Crispy Buckets! ;-)

Actually, I'll be giving away most of the KFC coupons for things like Scouts, neighborhood summer picnic, and I've already chatted with some charitable organizations to help people who are less fortunate.

That's awesome!

I've always wondered how those "free year of _____" deals worked.

Now you need an inflatable Colonel Sanders snowman!

This is coooool..... liked it a lot

Cool, one week of set-up is not bad. I think it's great that you use this project to support charity!