TR Forums

just brew it! wrote:

If I come this year I'm willing to carpool with someone from the Chicago area again. As noted above, won't know if I can make it until closer to the actual date though.

If you go, Ill carpool with you again Otherwise if you cant, at least with all my car repairs it should be able to make it without any issues this year.

Why is the lake in two pieces? Is it broken? It looks like there is sand in it. Clean the filters, maybe?

Just a note to keep the thread alive, less than 3 months to go, can't believe how fast this is coming at us! Got confirmation we have the grill reserved, it should be the one with the multiple heat sources again, not just the one big surface. I'm not going to start the official attendee list quite yet but if some of you could speak up and share the latest thoughts on go/no go I'd appreciate it. I've got a feeling that without the fanfare of being the 10th BBQ we might get a few less people this year but if I'm wrong I'd like to know soon.

I'll be able to know if I can come this year in mid June. I do plan on it though. Also, side note, I have been making a photo journal of the Wasson Cup on its adventures. The cup got bored sitting on a shelf and demanded to go on my travels.

ClickClick5 wrote:

...I have been making a photo journal of the Wasson Cup on its adventures. The cup got bored sitting on a shelf and demanded to go on my travels.

OMG... This needs to become a thing every year. I bet we could get some of those pics on the front page to pimp the BBQ...

I'll amend my earlier not-likely to somewhat-likely. If I come, I'll likely be Amtrakking it.

I want to come to the bbq ,but resent events & new jobs have me tied up. As my daughter has a heart murmur that we have to go back the in 6 months to find out what there going to do.

It is looking more likely than not that I can make it this year.

Fish, you know Shawn and I will be there, and Ivan, and our other two dogs we acquired this year(!). It's also possible that I'll have a friend or three show up additionally, but I'm not sure yet.
Looking forward to it

drfish wrote:

ClickClick5 wrote:

...I have been making a photo journal of the Wasson Cup on its adventures. The cup got bored sitting on a shelf and demanded to go on my travels.

OMG... This needs to become a thing every year. I bet we could get some of those pics on the front page to pimp the BBQ...

LOL! Paris would have been great but I had already given it up by then.

Also I am a confirmed (duh) with a possible +1.

...I gotta remember to send Scott a note to post the two month warning on the front page next week...

Per the discussion on the front page I want to put a little more emphasis on the streaming aspect of the BBQ this year. As nice as it was to talk with FlyingFox and Leor a couple years ago when I did the HatCam thing it was more effort than it looked like and only a couple people used it. This year I'm thinking we go a different route for streaming since it's likely fewer than a dozen or so people will watch anyway, we might as well make it a better experience for them. I'm thinking something along the lines of a Skype group chat or a Google hangout , maybe? I also want to move the camera to different locations or stream more than one view. We can do Livestream again, it was much better last year than previously but it's just so passive and only allows for txt chatting of which there was minimal... The other challenge is that most of the people reading this in this thread are probably coming to the BBQ anyway so how can we bring more attention to the idea and find out what (if anything) people want out of a BBQ steam?

I was chatting with the wife about this and we're going to try and come again. No furloughs this year to hold us back. Unfortunately, she's not the nerdy/geeky type but keeps up with some of the nerd/geek talk. Am I the only guy trying to drag along a not-so-nerdy wife? Also, my 2 year old will be there. Is there any way you guys can bring the gigantic bubble thing I saw in the pictures before? She LOVES bubbles. And, is the water warm enough for her to go in? Now, time to find a place to stay... suggestions? I forgot where I looked last year.

drfish wrote:

Per the discussion on the front page I want to put a little more emphasis on the streaming aspect of the BBQ this year. As nice as it was to talk with FlyingFox and Leor a couple years ago when I did the HatCam thing it was more effort than it looked like and only a couple people used it. This year I'm thinking we go a different route for streaming since it's likely fewer than a dozen or so people will watch anyway, we might as well make it a better experience for them. I'm thinking something along the lines of a Skype group chat or a Google hangout , maybe? I also want to move the camera to different locations or stream more than one view. We can do Livestream again, it was much better last year than previously but it's just so passive and only allows for txt chatting of which there was minimal... The other challenge is that most of the people reading this in this thread are probably coming to the BBQ anyway so how can we bring more attention to the idea and find out what (if anything) people want out of a BBQ steam?

Livestream/Ustream/Justin.tv are nice but like you said they are relatively "passive" Like I said, much better experience would be to get a proper PoE-powered PTZ cam (for example, from Panasonic) with an optical zoom and use the free DDNS service (for example, Panasonic's own viewnetcam.com) to let others access the cam through browser and control its motion/zoom or maybe even use the "2-way audio" feature (though it might have some issues with some browsers and might require extra equipment like an external speaker/microphone). That doesn't really take a lot of upload bandwidth (you don't need to stream at 1080p especially if the cam won't support it) and is a PERFECT solution for an outdoor cam and you can re-use this cam for some other purposes like video surveillance for your homes (just add a good DVR/NAS and let it constantly record stuff) or whatever.

For indoor stuff - just set up some web cam near some table and just "group call" with other Skype users or Hangout or whatever other client you'll use

Or, if you really have serious issues with upload bandwidth, just make a lot of photos/videos and upload them later to a proper public album at Flickr or similar place You can do something "fancy" with these, too - for example you can use DJI Phantom's drone and a GoPro cam for making videos (just make sure to have some spare batteries and try to NOT fly it near water, especially during a windy weather).

I've got another question, what time does the event usually start?

I'm looking forward to the WIFI AP suspended from a balloon concept. That sounds really cool!

Losergamer04,
I think there's probably a higher than average number of wives at the BBQ that are a little more tech inclined but I wouldn't let that stop you, you don't need to be a nerd to enjoy the TR BBQ (but it helps!). I think Alex was pretty enamored with the giant bubble thing last year and made some kind of verbal commitment to take it up a notch this year, I will confirm. The water temp is anyone's guess, come prepared to swim and prepared to be disappointed that it's too cold to swim, the lake can change temp by 20°F in less than a day depending on the wind. Hotels in the area are all fairly decent, there's a big cluster of them on Felch St, Hampton, Holiday Inn, Best Western, and Festival I think. The BEST place is downtown, City Flats, it's a little spendy but not terribly and quite awesome. We usually hit high gear around 1:00 or 2:00 but people start showing up anywhere from 11:00 to the night before.

JohnC,
I've got a few IP/PoE/PT cameras laying around, I just don't know about the bandwidth, I'll have to run some tests. Setting that sort of thing up is certainly something I'm comfortable with though so that's not a barrier.

FroBozz,
Yeah, I gotta find time to play with that too. I'd love to get a decent signal down to the beach at least but it's possible less exotic solutions are just as capable.

I was digging around and I found a beach house that's not much more than a hotel but it's far to big than what we need. Anyone interested in sharing it with us? It's a three-night minimum, though.
http://www.lakem.com/vacation-rental-ho ... =5/22/2014

FYI that's less than 5 miles north of our cottage.

That reminds me, can people start posting or PMing me if they are planning on staying Friday and/or Saturday night at the cottage?

Also, Ellie has a super minor surgery scheduled for July 14th, shouldn't be a big deal at all but I think I might suggest any Friday night activities either happen at the cottage or at a local dining establishment instead of our house like last year. We barely all fit in our house last year anyway!

If I can make it, I will probably stay Saturday night again. Just need a spot to pitch a tent.

I took vacation in August, figuring on a later bbq. I'll start working on getting that time off. I sure hope to make it again this year! Was great last year! Everyone was so friendly! I'll confirm as soon as I can.

Hot Dogs and Smores at midnight again this year?

drfish wrote:

FYI that's less than 5 miles north of our cottage.

That reminds me, can people start posting or PMing me if they are planning on staying Friday and/or Saturday night at the cottage?

Wow, that would be nice being that close. Then it's semi-official, any takers to share with us? It's got 3 rooms, so 2 would be available. PM me if you're interested.

I really wish I could camp but the kid is too young and the wife HATES camping.

I was thinking about going to the BBQ this year as a road trip... but I got tickets to see a few bands that weekend (Aerosmith, Styx, Bryan Adams, Slash, and more...) was not a hard call for me... besides my GF would kill me if we skipped out on this music.

How many DD-WRT routers would it take from the signal source to get to the beach?

I think we could string 2-4 bridged routers together and get to the beach..........if the last one is at the top of the steps...........some routers and extension cords is all we should need I would think.

I should have a couple I could bring.

drfish, is it still DSL? Is it in the building closer to the road, or the one at the top beach?

If you need more than one extra router to bridge the gap, it might be easier to just string some Cat5/6 out to the top of the stairs. You're going to be running extension cords anyway (unless the plan is to put each router on a UPS).

Dposcorp wrote:

How many DD-WRT routers would it take from the signal source to get to the beach?

Just one with appropriate Pringles cantennas. Bridging a whole chain of routers would really slow things down as each in the chain has to de-NAT and re-NAT the datastreams.

Or just run a long piece of cat 5/6. Run it inside a length of garden hose in case it gets stepped on.

Captain Ned wrote:

Or just run a long piece of cat 5/6. Run it inside a length of garden hose in case it gets stepped on.

Or string it off the ground, above head height. Plenty of trees/structures to hang things from.

just brew it! wrote:

Captain Ned wrote:

Or just run a long piece of cat 5/6. Run it inside a length of garden hose in case it gets stepped on.

Or string it off the ground, above head height. Plenty of trees/structures to hang things from.

Might make cornhole even more challenging, though.

Captain Ned wrote:

Dposcorp wrote:

How many DD-WRT routers would it take from the signal source to get to the beach?

Just one with appropriate Pringles cantennas. Bridging a whole chain of routers would really slow things down as each in the chain has to de-NAT and re-NAT the datastreams.

Or just run a long piece of cat 5/6. Run it inside a length of garden hose in case it gets stepped on.

One router acts as the main, and does the NAT and DHCP........the others just act as extenders. The reason for not going cat5 is because the repeater extend the signal coverage, as those of us that have attended in the past know that signal strength varies in different areas.

There are different ways to link routers with DD-WRT on it.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Linking_Routers


I was talking about extending the area of the wifi, and keeping the signal strong, to overcome the interference from Captain Ned's shirts

If you have not seen the fireworks show we put on its quite an event! We do the fireworks ON the beach while you watch at eye level (from the deck above) with the aerial breaks over lake Michigan. I will not have as much expendable income this year for fireworks, we just bought a house! If you are interested in contributing I would like to do it a little differently this time around. Instead of asking for pledges I would ask that you simply PayPal me prior to the event so I do not have to guess/front any significant amount of money. It does not take much if everyone chips in to put on a heck of a show so dont hesitate to throw in even just $5(trust me it adds up quick). Please simply PayPal me with the message BBQ FIREWORKS @ [email protected] and your money will go straight to making big booms and pretty sparks for the fireworks show on the beach!