That Time We Talked About Christmas Lights

This is episode number 119 of The Homeowner Show. Whether you DIY or looking to hire, we're here to help you find the best information and options for you and your home. My name is Kevin Hackett, and here with me is Craig Williams.

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to The Homeowner Show.

We're glad that you could be with us this time. We hope that you are with us many, many other times. That sounds really, really weird. Every time—

Every time.

You say time, it's very weird.

Well, I'm kind of disappointed right now. I, I don't know why this is bothering me. I don't have the bottom to this pen.

Yeah, it's just broken.

It's suddenly like the most disappointing thing in my life ever.

What? It's just a— it's just a plastic Junk pen.

Shut up, Kevin. It's my pen. I'm disappointed.

Okay.

I just realized that this— the bottom's gone. I could lose my ink, Kevin.

I think you've already lost your ink. Well, okay.

Let's hope so.

Yeah. Uh, your dog probably ate it. Who knows?

That could be the case.

Speaking of, is she in here?

No, we kicked her out. Yeah, she wanted to sit by the heater because it's quite chilly outside.

Yes, it is.

But then she was lured with Yeah, I remember that. So, Clara's not in here at the moment.

Okay.

So, but I'm sure she'll be back for another episode.

Yeah, and if you're wondering who we're talking about, just go look at one of our pictures online on Facebook.

She's the photobombing Aussie.

Yeah, she's in most of our pictures.

Yeah, like she poses and everything.

Yeah, I know.

I don't know how she knows how to do that. I don't either. Like most dogs like sit down and like look away from the camera.

Not her.

No. Yeah.

Oh man.

It's like the only time she's polite.

Well, she's a good dog.

I mean, like, you know, when like she acts normal.

Oh, that may be true. Well, how you doing, man?

Doing all right.

Yeah?

So, I know— so, I had a question for you.

Okay.

So, a few weeks ago, you were telling us that you had inadvertently filled out an online form.

Oh, yes. It wasn't inadvertent, it was vertent. Invertent, if that's a word.

But had gotten— you thought you were talking like the power company or something like that?

Yeah, yeah. So, what had happened was I—

See, this is always good. Anytime you see what had happened was.

What had happened was.

See, this is like when you get caught shoplifting.

That's right.

See, what happened was.

By the way, that only happened to me once that I got caught. So, have I ever told you that story?

Yes.

Okay. We don't need to like lower the credibility of the show.

Just continue on with the actual story.

OK. So, I feel— my wife actually said something to me, and it was from our energy company, which is Entergy, with the T. They basically said, hey, we're working with solar companies currently in your area. you know, if you want a quote type of thing, right? So I did. I went, I decided, you know what, I'll go fill out the form. So I filled out the form, and within moments I got a phone call. Yeah, I mean, the chum was in the water. It was, it was right there. So guy came out, and he was at my house for like 2 hours. He was here for a long time. I mean, you, you've had people come out to your house before, and you've got a larger place than me. Were they

out here for 2 hours?

Oh yeah.

Yeah, it takes a while. And, and I think part of it's, I mean, He's a good salesman, nice guy. He's been in sales for a long time, it's obvious. Um, and it was pretty simple. He went through, he went through my bills, kind of, you know, added everything up. And, uh, one thing that's interesting, and I think this is a misunderstanding from a lot of people, is solar companies aren't interested in providing you 100% solar.

No.

That, that doesn't actually work.

Um, most cases they can't.

They can't. So 50% is what they try to hit. Uh, well, it turns out that, that my house is, is viable. The, the, you know, where the roof is, the slope, you know, where it faces, the trees, all that kind of stuff. It, it will work. Might have to do some trimming of the trees in order to do it. But we went through the whole thing, and, um, at first I was like, look, I think this sounds— it seems a little silly to put in a solar system without a battery. Seems a little silly. Um, I think that it would be smarter to put in a battery. He's like, sure, we can quote that in. And he was like, we only, we only use Tesla batteries. We won't use anything else. So there's,

there's other stuff out there and people will sell them to you, but we won't. They just— I really do think the company was a good company.

Um, and so Tesla makes a good product.

They make a fantastic product. Yeah, I mean, whenever it comes to a battery, you're not going to buy a better one than Tesla. Period. So went through the process of talking to the guy, got the quote, and, um, they, they doing some pretty interesting things. One of the things they're doing is right off the bat, they're gonna send my energy company— if I, if I sign the contract, they're gonna send Entergy a $2,000 check.

Mhm.

To cover my bills for as long as $2,000 will cover my bills.

Interesting.

Yeah, so that equates to about 2 years for, for my house. Okay, with the solar, what, what I would be paying, you know, the, the 50%—

Minus the 50%. Yeah.

Right. Um, but the problem, and this is the big problem, is Without the Tesla battery, it was gonna be about 75% of my cost. Um, only I was only gonna get 50% from them. So I, I'll just make the, the numbers easy. So we basically, we spent about $200 a month on energy costs, which is actually pretty good. Sure. Um, So 50%, if they're subsidizing 50% of my solar with solar, theoretically I would pay $100 to solar and $100 to the energy company, right? I was gonna pay more like $160 for the solar. So it doesn't really make sense from that financial standpoint, right? Um, if I added the battery in Then it gets steeper. So the

battery by itself is like $20,000.

Yep.

So I, I was— I knew it was expensive, and I was honestly thinking probably $12,000 is what I was thinking, but $20,000 was— You can get it for $12,000, but if it's not Tesla. Yeah, and the thing is, I would even have an easier time accepting that price if it was 220 capable.

Mm-hmm.

So it's not going to run my air conditioner.

Nope.

If it would run my air conditioner, I would be more likely to say, yeah, we can do that. But the fact that it's going to run just my 110 outlets, I'm like, yeah, a generator will do more than that easier. And so, um, he sent me— he actually, uh, contacted me back today. It's been like 2 weeks. Contact me back today. And said, hey, we've got some end-of-year deals. Do you want me to send you a new quote? I was like, sure. Um, I got it today. I haven't had a chance to look over it. Um, I don't think it's gonna be enough to make us pull the trigger. Yeah, right now. And part of the reason for us is we need a new roof. Yeah, it— they,

they would install it.

Oh, the solar company would?

They would. But he told me, he said you're gonna need a roof soon, so it doesn't make any sense to do that. They're also a roofing company, so they could, they could roll it all into one package if I wanted them to do that. But anyway, uh, we're still kind of hanging out on it. I don't, I don't think we're gonna wind up doing it.

Do you, do you remember what the, the total cost was gonna be with it?

Yeah, it was, um, If I remember, it was like $60,000. Is that with or without the battery? That's without the battery.

Without the battery. So yeah, so looking at $80,000.

Yeah, looking at $80,000. I mean, like, with the battery, like, for some people, that's—

I mean, like, that's their house.

Oh yeah.

You know, and depending on what part of the country you live in, I mean, like, that's, that's a starter home.

Sure.

Um, not, you know, not here. No. And not in most places, but like in rural places.

Sure.

And, uh, you know, I'm trying to think of some That wouldn't be an unreasonable price for like a starter home in like an Arkansas. I mean, I've seen them, I've seen them for that price.

Absolutely. Even, even like upstate New York, you know, there's— you can find stuff for, yeah, for cheap. I mean, so we say for cheap, I mean, that's not necessarily cheap.

$80,000 is nothing to sneeze at.

And everything's relative, right? I mean, I, I actually at one point, um, I had a call from a, from a place in the Washington, D.C. area saying, hey, you know, would you be interested in coming and working for us? Um, I did some quick research on how much it was gonna cost and my house was gonna be like 3 times the amount that the house was where I was living.

Yeah.

And they were like, yeah, but the pay is gonna be comparable to be able to pay for that. Like, I didn't know it's that much, you know.

Similar issue in Maryland for me.

Okay.

Yeah, well, actually, I, I remember that interview very distinctly because At one point, um, there was— I think there was like 7 people on the panel that were— it was a remote interview, like over Zoom. This was several years ago and before Corona, um, before Zoom became so popular. Um, but like one of the guys just kind of stops the interview, goes, hey, like, like, why do you want to leave Texas? Like, why do you want to come here?

Right.

And to which I had to honestly reply, I don't.

No, I really don't. I like it here.

Yeah, no, I'm doing this interview as a favor. Someone asked me if I would do it.

And here I am.

So, here I am.

Yeah.

Enjoy. Right, right. You're welcome.

Yeah, but I think the whole point there is it's relative, right? I mean, your pay scales in those areas are going to be—

So, were they planning on financing it out over 20?

I had options. I could finance it, and our credit's impeccable, so we, we don't have an issue there, right? Um, I could have financed it for anywhere up to 25 years. Yeah, so I had lots of—

and so, and again, that's where you look at it and go, oh well, that's how they can match my—

Right. So yeah, and, and I guess that's part of the other thing is like when you look at it that way, you go, okay, I'm, I'm not paying only 50% a month. I'm not. I'm paying more than that for 25 years. Yeah, it just, it's not affordable. No. And it doesn't make sense right now for some people.

It doesn't make sense, particularly if it doesn't work, right? You know, and so like, if you get stuck with this $80,000 paperweight that's not producing what it was supposed to, right?

You're screwed.

Yeah.

And now I will say that they— this company specifically guarantees that it will produce what they say it will produce.

Yeah.

And if it doesn't, they are going to pay you money. Oh, every single month that it doesn't produce what it's going to. And he said they're not going to—

They're not going to adjust the system?

Well, they— that's what he said. He said, our policy is, and it's in their, it's in their rules or whatever, right, that if it doesn't produce, um, that you, you get paid for that. And then he said, if it happens more than a couple of times, you will see another panel on your roof.

Yeah, that's what I would expect.

We will come fix it. Yeah, you know, they're not gonna just pay you money, they're gonna put a new panel up.

Yeah. So that makes more sense.

Yeah. So anyway, it, it's a lot of money. And, and for me, I'm, I'm less concerned about the dollar amount, the, the large dollar amount. I probably should be concerned about that, but where I really needed to, to know is like, can you get me to where you're matching what I'm currently paying?

Right.

And if you can match what I'm currently paying and I can eventually own this outright Okay.

Yeah, then we're talking.

Maybe we can have a conversation.

You know, the— I think the other big issue for me is, you know, a lot of these guys will tell you that, well, it, it will increase the value of your property.

Oh yeah, he, he tried to tell me that.

And, you know, but like, I can't see it increasing the value of my property by $80,000.

No, and, and, and he, he tried to tell me that that was the case. Because basically he said it's, it's wonderful because a buyer comes in and is like, oh, I get solar, I get solar, um, because I, because I, current owner, would have paid it off. Well, you will when you sell it. I will whenever I sell it, right? So, um, they theoretically, you know, get solar on their house for free, right? But, but you're gonna try to tell me that, um, Like a third of my house is gonna be increased, right? That much? No, it's not gonna happen. Not because you put a bunch of light reflecting panels on my roof.

And part of— I mean, like, which maybe if like everyone in the neighborhood had it, right?

But like, the comps don't—

no. Yeah, anybody can look and go down the street and go, well, like, that one's selling for $70,000 less and it's the same house.

He actually asked me, he was like, hey, do you know anybody in your neighborhood who has it? And I was like, no. Did you see anyone on your way in that has it? And he said no. And I said— he said, if you find anyone, let me know. And I'm like, well, I probably won't because I don't care that much. And the fact that you haven't seen anybody in my neighborhood have it yet should tell you something.

Yeah.

You know, I don't want to be the only person in my neighborhood that has solar, you know. And, and it makes sense for the energy company because it's reducing draw on their system.

Yep.

And it's putting it back into their system. It makes all kinds of sense, but it's just not affordable. And, and one day I think it will be. Yeah, but now it's not.

And this is always the problem with new tech. Yeah, is it's so stinking expensive for the, you know, the early adapters.

Yep. Or early adopters. Adopters. And, and also, I think that like everything, I think the technology will, will become smaller. Um, it'll become more affordable, it'll become more viable. It's just, it's It is the best option for energy because the sun will shine.

Yeah.

So it's the most logical thing to do.

Every 12 hours.

Yeah, they're just not set up for it. Yeah, I mean, our, our infrastructure here in America is not set up for it.

I don't know that anyone's is.

No, I don't think so. And, and it's just because it's new technology.

Yeah.

And, and I say, I say that it's been around for 25 or 30 years. Yeah, but it's just now become viable. Well, and like, it's still not viable really.

I think, I think we're just sort of hitting the stride of like people actually, like consumers wanting it.

Sure.

You know, like I, I bought a, um, one of these, uh, rechargeable batteries for our cell phones.

Okay.

That has a solar panel on it.

Yeah, I've got one too.

So that I can put it on my backpack if I go hiking.

Yep.

You know, and it even says on the thing, it's like, look, the solar panel is not going to produce that much electricity. I mean, like, you really need to have this thing charged before you go out.

Yeah, you charge it before you go out, and then it needs to be in direct sun for like 12 hours. Yeah. And it might get like 25% full, which is better than nothing. Better than nothing. And it is renewable. So if something happened, you set it out, it will renew itself. So yeah, it's a great, it's a great idea. Um, and, and I think it, it will catch— I really do believe that it— this is going to catch on. more than it is. Look at the RV industry. It's almost unheard of to buy an RV that is not pre-wired for solar.

Oh, really?

Yes. They're almost all pre-wired for solar.

I actually think that's— well, not RVs in particular, but I actually think that Tesla cars are going to be the thing that innovates solar to the next level.

Yeah. It just makes sense for them to put solar on their exterior.

It's coming.

You know it's in the back of their head.

They're, you know, that's in the R&D department. Sure, it's coming.

It's just a matter of making it viable.

Yeah, well, because, I mean, you have such smaller surface area. Yep. You know, you need, you need much more efficient panels and converters in order to make that work. But they're working on it. Yep. And once that happens, it's gonna change the game for homes.

I completely agree.

So, but that's not what we're here to talk about.

No, it's not at all.

Although you wouldn't know that from the last 18 minutes. That banter was longer than normal.

Um, no, we're gonna talk about Christmas lights. I mean, it is Christmas season. Yes. And I don't care what you say, coronavirus, we're gonna have a good time. Yeah, and suck it. Yeah, exactly. And so I— what, what— there's a couple of things here that I think we should talk about. And the first thing that I think we should talk about is I mean, do you have lights on your house?

Not yet.

Will you?

Yes.

What is— what will they be like?

By edict of my wife.

Oh, the honeydew.

Uh-huh.

Okay, so at your house, what does that entail?

Um, usually it involves me doing a candy cane wrap around the pasture fence that faces the road, right?

And that is not a— that's not a short fence.

No, it's a long— that's a long job.

It takes a lot of work.

I like it though because my feet stay on the ground.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, and so we're going to talk about that a little bit.

So, so at my house, um, also no one can see my house from the road anyway.

That's true. It would be stupid for you to put— I mean, it's for me, for your— and I don't care, you and your family, right? So at my house—

The tree is up though.

Oh, it's already up?

Oh yeah.

Yeah, we, we— okay, well, we normally have ours up. Are you slacking? Yeah, but, but we have—

How dare you?

We had problems.

What would baby Jesus think?

Well, do you really want to go there? You don't want me to go there. Um, I'm not going there, Craig.

Stop it. No one asked.

Stop looking at me. Um, No, we, we normally put it up the Saturday or, or Sunday, uh, after Thanksgiving. We are always traveling on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We're coming home from our Thanksgiving and we either start getting stuff down that, that afternoon or the next day. The tree goes up then. We had trouble getting home.

Right.

We had vehicle issues, uh, and so we didn't get home when we thought we were gonna to anyway. It's going up either tomorrow or Saturday. So yes. Um, we don't do tons and tons of lights. We have them. We have those icicle lights.

Yeah.

Uh, we, we have quite a few of them.

The twinkling icicle lights?

No, they're just regular, normal hanging lights.

Okay.

And we— both of my kids like really love the blow-ups.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, they love the blow-ups.

Do you guys have those?

Yes, one.

Uh-huh.

Small Anna.

Small Anna, like from the movie?

No, it's in Elsa. We have an Elsa.

Frozen?

Yes.

Okay.

Frozen, it's Elsa, it's not Anna.

So, one sister but not the other.

Exactly.

Okay.

And we have— it's not a blowout.

The non-magical sister? Is that the— am I thinking that right? The non-magical sister?

No, Elsa's the—

You said it was Anna.

No, but I lied. It was Elsa.

Okay. 2 strikes with baby Jesus.

Yeah, exactly. So, they each got to pick out something and my son picked out a puppy, but it's not a blow-up. It's just a— it's a puppy that's got lights on it. You can tell it's a puppy, but it's, it's not a blow-up. So they wanted one of those huge massive ones, but those things are super expensive.

Yeah.

And they're huge and they take up a lot of room whenever you're not using them.

Yes.

Right. So anyway, all that to be said, um, man, you drive around some of these neighborhoods, especially in Houston, And there are some pretty impressive places.

It gets competitive.

It really does. And, and like, there, there's a Dr. Seuss area. You've been to that place before over in The Woodlands?

Oh no.

You like drive through and it's like a whole, like the whole story of Dr. Seuss, like the, or the, the Grinch. Oh, okay, the Grinch.

And like, you know, a lot of times there are people out like dressed up and stuff.

Yeah. And then also like serving hot chocolate and wassail and that kind of stuff. And, um, who has the time? I don't know. Um, and then there's, there's other places that do— like, there's a, there's a whole, a whole neighborhood that has like candy canes. Like, every house has a candy cane out in front of it. So there's some cool areas. Um, but I will tell you that probably the craziest place I've ever been was in— when I lived in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Mm-hmm.

There was a house there. It was not a massive house. It was a normal house in a not huge neighborhood, and the guy had in his yard over 100 blow-ups. Okay, think about that for a minute. In a normal— in, in a huge yard, that's a lot of blow-ups.

Yeah.

But he's— it's, it's a small yard. He had over 10,000 lights Like not the little bitty lights, like the big bulb lights strung up in trees and on his house. And in his garage, it was a 2-car garage. In his garage, he had— the entire space of the garage was set up with 6-foot plastic tables with, with villages.

Mm-hmm.

And he sat in his driveway in a full Santa costume handing out candy canes, and people would line up for blocks and blocks to come by and see this place. It was one of those, like, you can see it from outer space types of places. And, and so one day I was like, I was like, hey, tell me about, tell me about your house. Like, how do you power this? Do you have like extra batteries? He was like, no, no, no, no. I, you know, I used to blow fuses all the time, but, uh, then I converted everything over to LED, and you'd be surprised at how little it cost on LED. Like, no, actually, I probably wouldn't, but, um, he still had to

buy all of it. Oh, I mean, and he always had new stuff every year. Yeah, he always had new stuff. I, I, if I was his neighbor, I would hate him so much, and I would hate all the people that came. Oh yeah, and get home from work. Exactly, I would hate that. But anyway, so, so I, I guess there's, there's this there's this topic around like, do you put your own lights up or do you let somebody else put your lights up? And what are the pros and cons to that? Like, um, I don't know, like, I, I think that there's, there's, there's a point where it becomes dangerous to put your own lights up.

Oh, for sure.

Right?

I mean, my opinion, anything more than one story.

Yes.

It becomes dangerous.

I, I completely agree. I mean, and, and part of that is getting on your roof is dangerous.

at all. Yep.

Um, and depending on the pitch of your roof and how many angles and all that kind of stuff— I mean, not to mention the fact that it's fall, so there's leaves. I mean, there's a lot of, a lot of dangerous things. So I guess the thing that I would, uh, want people to know is that there are services that are professionals that'll come out and put your lights up. And not only put your lights up, they will design the way your lights go up. You can tell them what you want. You can tell them what you want. Yeah, they'll do it for you. Or if you want it different every single year, they'll do it

different. I mean, you're paying these people to do whatever you want them to do, and they're professionals. They've— many of them are licensed and bonded.

Like, there's some companies, that's all they do.

All right. Yeah, they can make it. I mean, part of it is because it's— it can be a very lucrative business.

Sure.

You know, I mean, who, who really wants to get up on people's roofs all day? Yeah, um, not very many people.

So, well, and they like— a lot of them subsidize through other, you know, like one of the big ones around here is, um, Perfect Light.

Oh yeah.

And so like they do like a lot of landscape lighting and different things like that. So they, you know, this is just their busiest season because they're focused on Christmas lights as well as everything else that they normally do. Um, so, but, but, uh Yeah, it's, it's, it's just an— it's an interesting business for sure.

Yeah.

Uh, have you seen these guys that show up and, and do this, this stuff?

Yeah.

I mean, they're pretty organized.

They're efficient.

Yeah. So I mean, like, what would take me like 2 days, they're knocking it out in like an hour, right?

Well, they've got a crew, you know. Um, but I, I think probably where this really becomes beneficial if you're hiring someone to do it is many of these places offer a cert— a full kind of a full-service service, right? To where they store your lights for you, right? Like, you're paying them a certain amount of money every year, they keep your lights somewhere, or sometimes they own the lights.

Yeah.

And you're just, you know, quote unquote renting them. from them. They'll come and put up whatever you have.

That probably works out better for you in the long run.

It probably does. Um, but you don't have to store it. You don't have to put it up in an attic, get it down from an attic, unstring all the lights, all of those sorts of things. So—

And just, just the, the fact that I wouldn't have to unwrap a strand of lights.

Oh yeah.

And like, does this one work?

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Does this one work? Well, all of them but for 5, right?

Exactly. Which, uh, that— so I, I guess part of me is I, I want people to know that if you don't know that kind of service is available and you're like, I don't really want to— I want lights to be put up, but I don't really want to do it— pay someone.

Yeah.

They— there are people out there that do that. However, if you're gonna do your own, I think there are some things that we want people to know.

Yes.

Some safety things, right? So first of all, Anytime you're working with electricity, I think you need to be careful just in general. So from the onset, plug your strands in before you put them in, right? Make sure they're working. Make sure all the bulbs are working. Replace bulbs that aren't working. Um, and check for, you know, kind of visually inspect the, the electrical line.

Like, gingerly remove those things from whatever storage they were in because like they will— some of those will break very easily. Yeah, especially the bigger bulb.

Yeah, the bigger bulbs are very susceptible to that.

Yeah.

So, you know, visually inspect the, the cord, make sure there's no nicks or cuts in it, you know, anything that could spark. Because let's face it, most of the time you're putting these things up on a timer, and if you're not home and those come on and there's a spark, boom.

Yeah.

You're screwed, right? And so it's worth your time to just visually inspect, make sure that all the lights are in good working condition before you put them up. And, um, if you put them up, make sure you're using the right ladder. So I know this is— this probably sounds crazy, but don't use a metal ladder when you are trying to put up electricity. Okay, so just find a wooden ladder. Uh, these fiberglass ladders— I was gonna say fiberglass.

Yeah, wooden ladders aren't as prevalent as they used to be.

No, they're heavy and clunky and get splinters and fall apart. They are awful. Yeah, but the fiberglass ones, lightweight, they're lightweight, durable, they're cheap. Yep. You know, get one of those. Make sure you're grounded. Yeah, because otherwise it could be bad. So don't— Shocked is fun. And yeah, to watch.

Exactly.

The next thing that I, that I want people to know is know the difference between indoor light and outdoor light. And don't put indoor lights outside.

Oh yeah, it—

I mean, they're not made for that. They will short out. They will not work. You will be frustrated. You did all this work. They're probably not going to go up in flames, so I don't think you have to really worry about that. Um, they're just gonna die. They're gonna die, and then you will have spent hours of your time. You would— I guarantee every— how many people do you know that put up their lights and to get done and walk in and be like, I feel so good about myself. Everybody's like, I hate life, I'm never doing that again. You know, where's the wassel? Like, give me something.

It better be spiked.

Better be spiked. Exactly. Um, more Sailor Jerry, please, right? Um, so I think that you need to know, are you putting up indoor lights or outdoor lights? And there are ways to tell. Like, not only that, A lot of the packages will tell you that it's waterproof or whatever.

Yeah, I mean, like, they're usually pretty clearly labeled.

Clearly labeled. One of the telltale signs, um, that you need— Are they cheaper? Are they cheaper? You also wanna make sure that you see that little UL seal. You know what I'm talking about? On the back of the package, there's this little circle and it says UL listed underneath it most of the time, which basically means that it meets the standards. of the industry. Um, most of them do, but—

Do you know what UL stands for?

Yeah. Yes. Unlisted. I don't know, actually. I don't know. It's a UL seal.

UL seal.

But that just means that according to the American National Standards Institute, it's fine to use.

It's not— Sounds like a fake. The American National Standards Institute.

Go look it up, man. That's all I'm saying. I— it probably is fake.

I'm saying it is. I mean, it just sounds like the worst possible name that, like, you know, it evokes credibility, right?

Oh yeah, I'm with you. So the other thing is people don't have outlets everywhere around their house, right? Especially on the outside. So you're gonna have to use an extension cord. Make sure you're using a good extension cord. Yeah, not an indoor extension cord. And when I'm talking indoor extension cord, if you can see both wires, like, yeah, you know, glued together.

Together. Yeah.

You know, it's a brown or a white, you know, extension cord. That's an indoor cord. Do not use it. Even these green ones, you know, a lot of these, uh, green ones that you use for like a Christmas tree or something, don't take it outside and use it, right? It's— that could go up in flames, so don't do it.

Yeah, a lot of people don't like to use the orange ones because they're like, I have the bright orange ugly thing going. Yeah. Okay, so they make outdoor That's right. Extension cords that are black and green and yellow and—

And oh, by the way, the orange ones don't show up orange at night.

Right.

When people are coming by to look at your house—

They're not looking at your extension cord.

No. And if they are, well, screw them.

Well, I mean, one big plus for the orange one is during the day you're less likely to run over it with a lawnmower.

Right.

So, which, that could be a whole other set of problems.

It's kind of why they made it orange to begin with, right? It's a safety issue. issue. So make sure you get a good, a good cord, something that can carry, you know, your 15 amps, those sorts of things.

Well, and here's one I see all the time, man.

Like, if it's old and you feel like, you know what, I could probably just wrap this with electrical tape and it'll be fine, stop yourself, slap yourself. Yep.

Throw it away. Yep. And go get a new one because they're cheap.

Yeah, I mean, first of all, it is not worth it. And, and really, you can get an orange 100-foot cord for like $15.

Yeah, there's a reason it's like a $10,000 OSHA fine to get caught with one of those in a service vehicle.

Yep.

So it's not safe.

Nope, it is not. And the other thing is, so when you're running the extension cord, you're going to have a place where you plug something into that. Don't let that just hang out on the ground, right? Right. I mean, there's they make little spikes that you can put in the ground, like little stakes that'll just keep it up.

Oh.

So you can buy those, they're cheap. You can buy them at box stores or Amazon. Um, just something to get it off the ground. So anyway, don't ever splice your wires. That's stupid. Don't do that.

Yeah.

Just, you know, I guess use common sense, um, on, on this sort of thing and you know, if at any point you feel like this might not be the safest thing, it's probably not.

It's probably not.

Probably not. So be safe, be smart. We want everyone to enjoy their Christmas, and we want people to enjoy your lights. And so be safe and smart. So, and the other thing is, I mean, you can Google some of this stuff, right? Like, you can— yeah, you can find like, what are the things I need to be careful about? What are the common mistakes that people make?

You can check that out online and, uh, or you can just listen to this show.

Well, that's kind of where we're getting our information right now.

Yeah, yeah, we're disseminating all of the pertinent information here today, now. Yeah, so exactly, save yourself some time.

Now I have another thing I want to bring up. Have you ever seen a light show?

Yes.

Are they not the best?

They are.

I mean, I remember the first time this stuff like came out and the guy, I don't know where he lived, the guy that did the first one It went viral. I mean, oh yeah, it was unbelievable. He's he's playing the the Trans-Siberian Orchestra stuff. Bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum.

I think you can still find that video on YouTube.

Oh yeah, and and there's tons of them now, right? I mean, they're all over the place. But one thing you'll find is the good ones are not everywhere.

Okay.

And there's a reason for that. Like, if you, if you, Craig, decided one day, listen, I think what I would like to do is have a Christmas light show at my house, what would it take?

Um, someone else doing it.

It would absolutely take that. Yeah. I mean, the, the guy, the guy that did this to begin with had a dedicated computer just for that. Just for that. And he was a computer programmer by trade. Like, the guy really knew what he was doing, and he just came up with this on his own, right? Um, but, uh, I, I, I've done some research on this because I remember when it came out, I was like, that's the coolest thing ever. I'm gonna do that. Yeah, I'm gonna do it. And then I realized, well, they use like 10,000 lights or more.

Yeah.

Thousands and thousands and thousands of lights. Like, I gotta store those, I gotta put them up, I gotta take them down, I gotta service them, I gotta put them in a pattern. Like, I can make them into a tree in the middle of my yard. Like, I gotta do all this stuff. And that was just half of it. Like, yeah, the setup is really the easy part.

Yeah, hanging the lights.

Yeah, hanging the lights is the easy part. And, and when I look at those setups, I'm like, that doesn't look easy.

Yeah, I mean There's nothing easy about it.

Nothing easy about it. But if you wanted to, let me just tell you, you can buy, you can buy stuff that will help. Um, they, they are much more readily available than they have been before. But most of the time you're gonna have to have, like, for a big display, you're gonna have to have a minimum of like 64 channels on, on this deal. Because you think about it, like, every blinking light, every light that you want to control has to be its own channel.

Yeah.

And you start to think about it, it— the, the things that they do, like they'll do a— let's talk about like a wreath, right? They'll put a wreath on a, on a, on a window that might have like 4 different blinking things that it does, right? And so each, each strand has to have its own little controller, controller. And those, those controls, each channel can cost up to $20 each just for the module that will control it.

So I, I'm gonna ask a technical question. Are these like DMX lights or are they like MIDI?

No, no, no, most of them are—

Are they MIDI sequenced or like—

Oh yeah, well, it— I think it depends. I think they have different, um, different frequencies, um, depending on which, which one you go with. I think there's different ones. I think they're, um, You know what, I don't want to say because I don't remember.

You don't remember?

I don't remember.

So like DMX is what you typically use to control like stage lighting.

Sure.

And so like, and you can run a MIDI sequencer through a DMX system, but then like it changes some when you start using like LEDs, and because that's a whole different light, light control, right? Um, but you can still, you could have like an overall control board that just does the sequencing for you that then speaks to all those different kinds of things.

Yeah, and that's, that's basically what you do because you're using, you can use incandescent fluorescent bulbs, or you can use LEDs. It's smarter to use LEDs just because of the electricity. The electricity, right. Um, but what you have to do is you have to buy this mod, you know, the module that will control all those things, and then you have to buy the software that will write the code basically to do what you want it to. And so you have to know how to do all of that. You have to know how to, how to install everything. You have to know how to program everything, how to use the software. Um, you know, how are you gonna let people listen to it? Are you gonna put massive speakers out in your yard? Are you gonna buy a low, low-power FM transmitter

and let people listen to your car? All these kind of things. It sounds amazing. It sounds completely unreasonable.

I'm exhausted just hearing you talk about it.

So, but I mean, I, I will say, if you have one of these, let us know. Yeah, I want to know. I want to hear from you and I want to know how long. Yeah, how long did it take? Yeah, right. How much planning? How long did it take? You know, and you can't include your engineering degree as prep time. No, I just want to know from the moment you say it's time to start setting up for this year to the moment it runs for the first time fully functional, what— how many man-hours? Yeah, are in that? Because you're probably not doing it by yourself. You probably got a team of people that are doing this for you.

Which, by the way, have you, have you been to Santa's Wonderland?

I haven't. We— so my wife and I actually talked about doing that this year, and just with COVID and everything, like, we just decided, I think we'll, we'll not go this year. But it's over in College Station.

Yeah, I was gonna say, people didn't know, it's a, it's a local, um, Christmas theme park. Yeah, it's— I think it's basically open 2 months out of the year. Um, totally worth the trip. Yeah, I mean, we've been several times. I mean, well, and we used to go back in the day when it wasn't even a theme park, it was just like a drive-through light show, right?

Um, it's come a long way since then.

Yes. Um, but the, but the drive-through light show is still there.

Okay.

Um, and I, for some reason, I'm thinking they altered it this year to make it more COVID-friendly. But, um, anyway, like, that, that whole thing is nothing but Automation and light sequencing and, yeah, and different things.

It's, you know, if you like, if you want the full show, I mean, like, that they do it. Yeah.

I mean, it's, it's pretty incredible.

It is.

So, I mean, they've even got ones that, because they have a couple of ponds in the back and they have like light sequences where it looks like there's dolphins jumping through the water and frogs peeking out and all, you know, just all kinds of funky stuff. Sure. So Um, I imagine this can be as, you know, as simple and/or as complex as you want it to be.

Yeah, I mean, you can definitely do— like, if you've got a, you know, you, you don't want a huge setup, you want a medium-sized setup or whatever, you can take that 64-channel down to probably a 32-channel and make it much more manageable. The, the only problem whenever you do that kind of thing is like I, I feel like you, you will be disappointed. Yeah, you're always gonna want like, I could have, right? Or, or, or next year I would have— should have just bought the 64, right? I'm gonna go buy it now.

So, well, is it, is it one of those where like you buy the 32 or whatever and you're stuck with that, or is it like expandable?

I'm sure it's expandable. So I mean, I, I've never bought one. I don't plan to buy one.

But because that makes more sense to me if like if I could start smaller and kind of dip my toe.

Yeah.

And, and, you know, figure it out a little bit.

And the thing is like they're not as— they're not as expensive as you might think. Like you can probably buy the control module and everything for like $100. That's not bad. Um, but I mean, think about the number of lights you have to buy. Well, yeah, I mean, and you have to buy the software. So I mean, you're, you're in this for— I mean, the people that are doing this, they're, they're in it for Tens of thousands of dollars typically. No, I mean, it's expensive.

That's ridiculous.

Yeah, but if you want people driving around your neighborhood and listening to things outside of your house, do it. I've never wanted that. Why, Craig? Come on, bah humbug.

I know, I'm, I'm, you know, Merry Christmas to me and my family. You stay away.

Yeah, I want to go to your house. I don't want you to come to my house.

I'm gonna sit quietly on my porch.

Yeah, exactly.

I don't need you lurkers.

No. Well, and, and for me, it would be so silly for me to do something like that at my house. It's a closed neighborhood. Yeah, I mean, it's in here, but y'all can't come see it. Yeah, I would have to do video and then— no, that's stupid. Like, I would superimpose it all on a video.

Yeah, well, I, I'll tell you something, uh, interesting I heard this week. We have not had him on the show. We've talked about him coming on before, but he's my friend Connor Mack.

Oh yeah.

The friendly neighborhood roofer.

Uh-huh.

So, and he and I have done a couple of projects together now. He's super, super good guy. He made a post earlier this week about putting Christmas lights up.

Mm-hmm.

And he was saying, he's like, like the number one mistake I see people doing is using staples and nails.

Oh, seriously?

And he's like, people do this all the time. And it's like, it's one of the big causes of roof damage.

Right.

And leaks from people, you know, stapling their roofs or driving nails into their roof. And he's like, look, they make clips, right, specifically for this.

Yep. Just buy the clips, use the clips. Yep.

It was a great tip. I mean, because I, I guarantee you there's people out there, you know, using, uh, like a coax staple gun, you know.

Not to mention the fact that it, it's just— how easy would it be to just drive that right through the wire?

Happens all the time. Yeah.

Yeah, so between that and— Not that I've ever done it. I mean, between that and the fact that the clips are just plastic and they're cheap. Yeah, you know, they're easy. If you break one, you get another one. They're cheap. I mean, they come in packages.

They're not, they're not like the best user experience on the face of the planet, but they're usable.

Yeah.

And they're functional.

Yeah. And well, and don't put a hole in the roof. And how many— I mean, you, you're around people's exterior of their houses quite a bit, like Do you ever see them just— that don't ever come down?

Yep.

Not, not the lights, but the clips. The clips. Yeah, they just leave them up there. No, leave them up there. Nobody notices them unless you're next to the roofline.

I notice them.

Yeah, but you're next to the roofline.

Lazy.

That's true.

Just take them down.

Yeah. Oh, that's actually a pro tip. No, take your lights down. Thank you. People don't like seeing them after New Year's. No. No, take them down after New Year's.

I barely like seeing them at Christmas.

No, no, no, no, no, they're great at Christmas. I love them.

But it makes, it makes me like them less if you leave them up all year.

Oh yeah, no, absolutely. Take them down after New Year's. Don't turn them on before Thanksgiving. Don't take them down until after New Year's, but take them down.

Take them down.

Take them down.

Yeah, the one when I see them, like, they're up in June. Like, come on, man, have you no shame?

That's just because Hobby Lobby has started putting them out, so they think they can put them up. Yeah, it gets earlier and earlier every year. It's the worst. I agree 100%. What's your favorite Christmas movie?

My favorite Christmas movie?

Yeah, do you have one? Man, it's a good question. I put you on the spot.

Yeah, well, I'm like, I'll go classic.

I like Christmas Story.

I think I think we've talked about this because you don't like that movie, do you?

I do not like that movie.

Yeah, it's because you're an American.

Well, it's because I'm I'm something that I'm not gonna say. I don't. I I used High Gun. No, no, no, no, no, no. Don't put me in that category. You know me better than that. But I, I don't know, I've just never— I— and you would think that that movie would be right up my alley, knowing, knowing some of the movies that I like. You would think that would be right up my alley.

Yeah.

And I just— I, I don't know why it would just never was a thing in my household. Nobody in my family likes it. I think that's part of it, right? Like, your family likes it, you watch it every year, it's a, you know, it's something you remember, it's a— then it becomes a classic, right? And for me, it just— I don't know, just never hit the mark. So anyway, do you want to know mine? No, not now. Okay, doesn't matter, does it? I have like 40 anyways.

You have 40 Christmas movies that you like?

Probably.

What's your favorite?

Um, I think my favorite's probably— probably my favorite is The Santa Clause.

Like the Tim Allen? Okay.

I love that movie.

Uh, but it's funny, or—

I, I, I just, I like the story. Um, I like the— I like Tim Allen. Um, I don't know, it's fun. So, but I also, I'm a huge fan of Elf.

Okay.

I really like Elf. See, I like— I—

that's, that's one of those I'm like, it's all right. Yeah, like, I don't, I don't get the cult appeal.

I, I don't necessarily either, but I like the movie.

Yeah, no, it's, it's, it's good. But like, if, if you were to ask me, okay, Craig, like, we, we have to start eliminating Christmas movies, and you said, okay, like, here's the list, like Miracle on 34th Street, It's a Wonderful Life, Christmas Story, uh, Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Home Alone, Home Alone, Die Hard.

Yeah, sure. Elf.

Let me tell you which one's going first.

Elf's first?

Oh yeah.

Okay.

I mean, like, like, because it's a comedy. Like, it's not— yeah, I mean, like, and, and like, and I love Bob Newhart who's in that movie.

Sure he is.

He's great in that movie.

Yeah.

It's just—

It's not your thing.

And like, I know probably people are gonna be like, look, there's a box of Elf cereal on my shelf right now.

I don't think that movie merits its own cereal. All right, okay, point taken. But, um, it's funny, so people are gonna chastise you for the Elf thing, they'll chastise me for the, uh, Christmas Story thing.

Yes.

Oh, I, I will tell you though, one of them's deserved. Yeah, we all know who's right. Um, we— I will say that I love, love, love It's a Wonderful Life.

Oh, it's fantastic.

It's, it's there's so much about that, that movie that, like, to imagine what it would be like to never have been born and to figure out whether or not you're making a difference in the world, like, that's huge. Yeah, I think, I think that just fundamentally is, is huge. Um, but I also like, I also like stuff like White Christmas and— Oh dude, that's a great one. And, and I mean, I like Miracle on 34th Street. It's not my, my favorite, but I do like it.

Uh, well, okay, so like, you know, you know, it's on the chopping block, right? It's either Miracle on 34th Street or Elf. Which one's going?

Uh, for me personally, it's, uh, Miracle on 34th Street.

That's, that's the one that's getting kicked out?

Yeah, for me it is.

Really?

Yeah, that's a tough one though. It's not tough. No, it is. It's not hard at all. No, it is because, it is because Um, I, I think that there is some sort of sentimentality behind Miracle on 34th Street, and there's not the same sort of sentimentality behind Elf, but I enjoy Elf more. So for me, it's tough for that reason, um, but it's an easy decision for me. Yeah. Okay, so between, uh, Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life, which one is it?

To get rid of?

Uh-huh.

I would probably get rid of Miracle on 34th Street.

Okay. Yeah.

Between those 2.

Yeah. That's— I know. And this is a— I'll also say I love Home Alone. Uh-huh. I love that movie.

So Home Alone or Elf?

Home Alone stays.

Home Alone. Oh, so Elf gets the boot.

Elf's out.

Really?

Over Home Alone. Mm-hmm.

All right.

I like Home Alone.

It's a good one. My kids crack up at that movie.

Oh, it's so good.

I have to remind them that there's certain behaviors in that film that are not repeatable, right?

Many of them, actually.

You can laugh at that.

If you ever do that, then you're out. You're getting a lump of coal.

Exactly.

Um, so yeah, I love, I love that kind of stuff. So do you have a favorite Christmas song? Do you like Christmas music?

I— so I, I'm not a big fan of Christmas music.

Okay.

Um, I mean, there's Christmas songs that I like. Um, but like, in— I'm like, if, if you make— if you were to make me like— see, because I think there's different kinds of Christmas music.

Oh, there is.

I pretty much hate anything that's come out in the last 30 years.

Okay. Um, I'm fine with that.

I think it's just like regurgitated.

Yeah.

That's no good. And like, and then people that try and write original stuff, it's just like, it, it's so, um uh, bland as to what it's actually saying. Yeah, I mean, it's like winter and chilly and cool and love, and it's like you're not saying anything.

Sure.

Um, so it just bothers me.

And now that being said, there's been quite a few people who have popularized some, some Christmas songs in the last 30 years. Sure. I mean, Mariah Carey being one of them who's popularized some songs. Like what Christmas songs? I Don't Want a Lot for Christmas. I'm trying to— I don't want a lot for Christmas.

Oh, that was, that was around before her.

It was, but she popularized it.

Sure.

And with a whole new version, and it's like, it's super popular because of her. Yeah. So I mean, but like original stuff, that doesn't stick very often.

No, I, I will, I will say there one, uh, one exception on that for me And I think this was several years ago now, but, uh, Jars of Clay actually did an original Christmas album.

Okay.

It was like— it was— I think it was pretty much nothing but original music.

Yeah.

And it was good.

Was it? It was really good. It probably was the best thing they put out.

Wow.

That's how fights start, Kevin. I know, I know. And lots of people would fight me on that, but I'm sticking to my—

you don't like them? Like, at all?

I— no, I just— not that I don't like them, I just didn't— they weren't, they weren't nearly what a lot of— in my, in my mind, they weren't what a lot of people made them out to be. Okay, so that would—

we'll talk about this later.

Okay, I liked other— I liked other bands better than them at the time.

Okay.

So you also have to understand some pretty fundamental things about me and the way I grew up, and that whole genre of music was not really something that I listened to much.

Sure.

So when I was introduced to them, I was—

Oh, was it much later?

Oh, um, I was introduced to them probably, I mean, years after they were huge, but they were still around. I even saw them live in concert once, and I was kind of like, they kind of suck.

Really?

Yeah.

Live?

Mm-hmm.

Oh dude, I've seen them live a couple times.

So good. But again, yeah, it's, it's, it's based on kind of the where I grew, how I grew up and where and when and, and all the things. I was not exposed to that kind of music, and so at the time I was kind of like, yeah, subpar. But that's that. So I will say that Mercy Me is a really good Christmas album that's all original stuff. I like their stuff. But beyond that, um, I definitely have a favorite Christmas song.

Which is?

Sleigh Ride by Leroy Anderson. Leroy—

I don't even know who that is.

Um, he's a composer.

Okay.

And it's the, uh—

That's not to say that he's not somebody impressive. No, I don't know many names, right?

He's— he is— he's an impressive person.

Okay.

Um, Um, but it's, it's, it's instrumental.

Okay.

It's, it's like a— it's like I played it in band, you know, a lot of, uh, a lot of bands and orchestras and stuff will, will play it. But it's, um, I love it.

Yeah.

It's, it's— you, you know the song.

Did you like it because of the part you played?

I partly—

okay.

I mean, I played trumpet in band, and so it was, it was a very fun part to play. Yeah, on trumpet. But this song is just— it's, it's super classic. I mean, you, you would know the song if you heard it. It's super classic. Um, it's got some jazz to it, and, um, it's unique in, in some ways.

Yeah.

Um, it's, it's just a fun— it's just a fun song. Sleigh Ride. Sleigh Ride's my favorite Christmas song in general. And so in that version of it, it's the The best one.

So what I, what I, what I need to see is if Motown ever did like a Christmas album, because if they did, if they did, somewhere in there it'd probably be my favorite.

Um, they probably did.

They probably did. I need to, I need to do some research on this.

Yeah.

Um, because that, that's probably like, that's some of my favorite stuff.

Yeah. So, okay. Well, well, here's the challenge for the people that are still with us listening to us just ramble. Um, Um, what's your favorite Christmas movie? And what's your favorite Christmas song? I'm curious. Yeah, let us know. Send us a message. Let us know.

I definitely want to know how right I am about A Christmas Story.

I'll tell you what, man, like so many people love that. Between that and like National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, uh, which, which I do like. I like that one. Um, but Man, it's my— so many people I know would hate me for saying that I don't really like Christmas Story. Yeah, but I think people either love it or hate it. I don't think there's much in between.

I've never, I've never really met anybody that hated it.

I just don't, I don't care for it. It's not that I wouldn't say hate, but I just don't.

Yeah, I've met people that told me they don't, you know, like, it's not that movie for me, or it's like, I didn't like it, or whatever. But like, to hate it? That'd be impressive.

Yeah, I mean, they're out there, people. I guarantee people are out there today.

If you are— if you're one of them, I want to hear from you. Okay, I want to know who to block on Facebook. You're out.

We were friends until I found out that. Now you are out.

You're out.

Yeah, you have no chance. Yep. All right, I, I—

it's that special time of the show where we say if you haven't hit the like button, hit the like button, leave a review. Do all the sharing, all the fun stuff.

Yep. Please, please.

It's Christmas.

That's right. And thanks for downloading the episode. We hope you enjoy it. Hope your Christmas is wonderful. You know, we got a new vaccine coming out, a couple of them.

You taking it?

No.

Okay.

So it's coming out though.

It's the new thing, Kev.

It's the new thing. People are gonna do it.

Someone can get you one for Christmas.

Christmas. Please don't. It's gonna be wasted. Um, but yeah, um, hope you're having a great Christmas. Hope, uh, hope everything is wonderful in your world. Thank you for downloading the episode, and, uh, we're here every Tuesday. So until next time, we'll see you later. See ya!