It's Christmas Eve. Everyone should be opening the last of their advent calendars... I've been following and enjoying MisaQa's "Mythical Creatures" advent calendar... this is the third year I've followed MisaQa and look forward to it every year. And speaking of advent calendars, I saw on BrickSet's RSS feed today that there will be a #6299 Pirate Advent Calendar next year??? Let's just hope LEGO doesn't screw it up next year and not ship them to the US like they did with the #7979 Castle Advent Calendar! I bought my two and I'm jonesing for another one.
Was surfing around Flickr looking for something to blog about and stumbled across this Christmas LEGO display. I really wish I knew some of the history behind it -- I don't think I've seen anything on this scale in the US, except the there's a similar LEGO Santa at the Orlando LIC... And I'm starting to wonder what they'll do with the LEGO Santa after the holidays (put it in storage, ship it back to HQ, or something else).
Anyway, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
New Racers Sets
Went to the Orlando LEGO Imagination Center today. There were new 2009 Racers sets on the shelf. I picked up #8124. The set includes two cars, and parts to attach to the fold out race track (to make signs and flags). The fold out race track is "t" shaped with Technic tubes, with tabs to enclose the box. The red plastic car on the one end snaps down onto the top of the box (clips that snap onto the Technic tubes).
It's a neat little set... I'm not totally convinced that I like the fold out track... but it makes the set portable and fold out into a nice "play set".
It's a neat little set... I'm not totally convinced that I like the fold out track... but it makes the set portable and fold out into a nice "play set".
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Custom Glass
In this post, there's pictures of modern arched windows that fit snugly underneath 1x6 & 1x8 arches, and modern square windows.
But the most amazing part are the overhead 12V lighting plates! I'm thinking the lights are bright LEDs; hopefully they give off low heat. He has an example of the lighting plates illuminating the inside of a restaurant.
Train Show (Dec. 20 & 21, 2008) Tampa, FL
Just to let everyone know, GFLTC will be a the 4th Annual Tampa Model Train Show and Sale at the Florida State Fairgrounds on December 20 and 21, 2008. The layout will feature a display of the skyline of the city of Tampa built in LEGO bricks. Hours are: Saturday 9am - 5pm; Sunday 10am - 3pm. If you're in the area, check us out.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
BrickBuildr's Short Term Roadmap
So, I found out it's about 50 posts before Google's spam filters kick in... that's good to know. :)
Over the next few weeks as time permits, Brickbuildr will undergo a few changes...
I hoping to integrate the web-site with OpenID. Rather than go into details, if you've got a Flickr/Yahoo/Google account, setting it up to use OpenID is pretty easy -- both Google/Yahoo support OpenID. Bottom line, I want to add some features to BrickBuildr (ie. tie your Bricklink store with your ID, tie your Brickshelf account (if you still have one) to your ID, point people to your MOCpages account, etc.), but before I can do that, you need to be authenticated (are you who you say you are?). Once authenticated, you can edit your "profile"!
I'm finding out that grabbing images from Picasa is almost as easy as grabbing them from Flickr. Now all I have to do it make some changes on the back end (the database) to start looking in both places... and if people use other images hosting web-site (like PhotoBucket), I need to take that into account as well.
There's a few other changes I'd like to implement to iPick-a-Brick... A 'sold out' button any can hit if they call about a part and it's been sold out... Like to do a 'sold out' watermark to go over the part once this button has been hit...
I'm sure there's a few other back-burner projects for the web-site, but I can think of them now... If I do, I'll blog about them... or if you'll have any suggestions, let me know.
Over the next few weeks as time permits, Brickbuildr will undergo a few changes...
I hoping to integrate the web-site with OpenID. Rather than go into details, if you've got a Flickr/Yahoo/Google account, setting it up to use OpenID is pretty easy -- both Google/Yahoo support OpenID. Bottom line, I want to add some features to BrickBuildr (ie. tie your Bricklink store with your ID, tie your Brickshelf account (if you still have one) to your ID, point people to your MOCpages account, etc.), but before I can do that, you need to be authenticated (are you who you say you are?). Once authenticated, you can edit your "profile"!
I'm finding out that grabbing images from Picasa is almost as easy as grabbing them from Flickr. Now all I have to do it make some changes on the back end (the database) to start looking in both places... and if people use other images hosting web-site (like PhotoBucket), I need to take that into account as well.
There's a few other changes I'd like to implement to iPick-a-Brick... A 'sold out' button any can hit if they call about a part and it's been sold out... Like to do a 'sold out' watermark to go over the part once this button has been hit...
I'm sure there's a few other back-burner projects for the web-site, but I can think of them now... If I do, I'll blog about them... or if you'll have any suggestions, let me know.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Adding Old Content
I've been slowly moving my LEGO-related blog content to BrickBuild's blog. I've written a script to do it automatically, but after adding about 20 or so blog entries, Blogger's spam filters kick in, complaining with a "Blog has exceeded rate limit or otherwise requires word verification for new posts" message. So it's been frustrating to say the least.
Right now, most of the posts are saved as drafts, then I go through the process of updating the links & pictures references. Most of the content is old, but fun to look at, even years later. If I find something relevant, I'll update the date so it pops up on the front page of BrickBuildr... I especially like this post about LEGO Sunflowers -- took me forever to find the picture, it wasn't where it was over on 1000stiene.de, from a few years ago.
Also, to let everyone know, I'm working on getting Google's Picasa integrated with BrickBuildr...
Right now, most of the posts are saved as drafts, then I go through the process of updating the links & pictures references. Most of the content is old, but fun to look at, even years later. If I find something relevant, I'll update the date so it pops up on the front page of BrickBuildr... I especially like this post about LEGO Sunflowers -- took me forever to find the picture, it wasn't where it was over on 1000stiene.de, from a few years ago.
Also, to let everyone know, I'm working on getting Google's Picasa integrated with BrickBuildr...
Monday, December 1, 2008
Brickshow 2008
Despite the controversy and personality behind the Toy and Plastic Brick Museum, I really admire the work Dan Brown has put into getting the museum off the ground. I met Dan when he first approached COLTC to create some displays for his museum. Dan's background was in corporate salvaging. Up until then, Dan had been collecting retired LEGO models used in various LEGO stores & roadshows. The LEGO group sold Dan many broken models, and with Dan's love for the hobby, he hired several individuals to help restore them.
Dan had also bought a retired school building in Bellaire, OH -- he's spent hundreds of thousands of dollars (and the last few years) bringing the museum up to code; and hundreds more making it all legit both with local authorities & with TLG.
As an observer, I've thought that several of Dan's ideas & approaches with regards to the LEGO community has been bass-ackwards. Then again, Dan was running a business, not mayor of a community. But even from a business perspective, his approach seems unpolished and a little bite-the-hand-that-feeds him. However, his perseverance is paying off... earlier this year, Dan announced Brickshow 2008 on the heals of BrickFair in DC. And without much fanfare, he's release some of the first pictures from it on Flickr. The building is looking better, the rooms/displays look good, the turn-out looks small, but for the most part, it looks like a museum.
Dan had also bought a retired school building in Bellaire, OH -- he's spent hundreds of thousands of dollars (and the last few years) bringing the museum up to code; and hundreds more making it all legit both with local authorities & with TLG.
As an observer, I've thought that several of Dan's ideas & approaches with regards to the LEGO community has been bass-ackwards. Then again, Dan was running a business, not mayor of a community. But even from a business perspective, his approach seems unpolished and a little bite-the-hand-that-feeds him. However, his perseverance is paying off... earlier this year, Dan announced Brickshow 2008 on the heals of BrickFair in DC. And without much fanfare, he's release some of the first pictures from it on Flickr. The building is looking better, the rooms/displays look good, the turn-out looks small, but for the most part, it looks like a museum.
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