4th of July Stories

I had a great fourth, and I hope everybody else did too. I brought my L4 to the party we went to, and my dad brought his 24/7 and Photon III as usual.

Before it was dark, my mom was taking pictures. The batteries in her camera died right in the middle of the party. Her camera takes 2x123A's so I gave her both of mine from my L4. I dropped that batteries that didn't work from her camera, into my L4. As the night went on, I started to use my L4. Amazingly, it had not yet dropped out of regulation! Considering the two batteries wouldn't even let my mom's camera be on, (it's not a digital either), I was amazed that they could power my 5 watt L4.

My friends were amazed by my L4. I had shown some of them pics from the internet, but none of them had seen it in person and thought it was really small. They were amazed by how bright it was. I was impressed. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

My dad's 24/7 was cool while we were dancing. He put it on the three color flashing mode, and also the two color flashing mode. The kids were picking it up and looking at it, and I saw some of the adults commenting about it.

I went to a small park near the Pike Place Market and watched the Seattle (Elliot Bay) fireworks display from there - though I had what could best be described as an "obstructed view" during the 2nd half of the show because there were too many people standing up in front of me and blocking my view. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

I did whip out my 50mW green laser before the fireworks started and flashed it around a bit, though I couldn't zap the trees at Myrtle Edwards park because a building was in the way. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

So I never got much use of my flashlights today, but I did get to see and hear a good part of the fireworks show.
Oh, and I heard somebody say the phrase "Tiajuana Toliet Cracker" for the first time since I heard it on The Simpsons awhile back. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Pike Place Market you say. I went to Seattle once. I vividly remember Pike Place Market. It is a great place. It was my mom's favorite part of Seattle.

Sorry you didn't have "front row" seats. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

I just had a good idea, thinking about your 50mW laser. Since I will probably never buy one, because of cost, why doesn't somebody buy a whole bunch of lights, and rent them out! They could stock up on lights, and rent them out for a week or so. I would like to rent a high powered laser and maybe even a Surefire M6. That sure would be a lot of fun.

I spent the 4th with my sister's family in Columbus, Wis. It's a typical small town with a full parade at noon and a fireworks display in the evening at the fireman's park. From where I was sitting to watch the fireworks, I could see some presumed flashaholic walking around the roofline of his house with a pretty bright light. He was wandering around there most of the time that the fireworks were going on. He might have been looking for fallout, it was in the general area for that.

I was having fun with my Arc AAA UV light, my sister's kids were digging up things to light up with it. I also was performing some basic tricks with my lighted yo-yo, but that's getting pretty far off topic. It's time to put more sunburn lotion on, I got it pretty bad at the parade. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Oh, I forgot to mention something.

At the party that I went to, there was a family that had a baby. They brought a special, no-spill cup for the baby. It had a bunch of red 3mm LEDs on side the cup. When there was a liquid in the cup, it activates the circuit, and makes the LEDs flash. When it was completely dark, you could see the cup flashing from a good distance. I thought it was pretty cool. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

i went to see t3 with some friends, (i was so darn close to the screen! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rant.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif ), and afterwards we went to a local school to watch the fireworks.

it was pretty fun...

[ QUOTE ]
IlluminatingBikr said:
Oh, I forgot to mention something.

At the party that I went to, there was a family that had a baby. They brought a special, no-spill cup for the baby. It had a bunch of red 3mm LEDs on side the cup. When there was a liquid in the cup, it activates the circuit, and makes the LEDs flash...

[/ QUOTE ]
Speaking of "forgot to mention", there was a woman who brought her 11 or 12 year old daughter, and that kid had a red/blue flashing LED earring, and a pacifier (!) that had multicolor LEDs that flashed...I saw red, amber, yellow, baby-poop-green, and blue in the pacifier's handle. Apparently, she got them somewhere along Elliot Way near the large park. Probably near the same place I got my blue flashing LED "belly lite" last year, and the Skyliner LED message light the year before that.

I went to the beach to set off my explosives...it was extremely crowded and everyone had illegal fireworks. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif After about a half hour of fireworks the smoke was like thick fog...I spent the next half hour playing with my flashlights...the beam looked so cool! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

My wife and I went down to the Brooklyn waterfront to see the Macy's fireworks, they were AWESOME!! Lot's of LED flashing gizmos all around like Craig's experience. I had a red lightstick and my LSH-P and turquoise AAA my wife had my new CMG Sonic, which she used to help a girl bike messenger find her money that fell out of her purse as she rode by. A great Fourth, just as the fireworks were reaching their crescendo a car a few families away turned on it's stereo system and the station began playing Barry White's version of Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are", made me sad for the loss of a great American Talent, but also very proud to be an American and a part of such a great and diverse culture!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif

I just found out while typing this that my sister and her boyfriend of 10 years just got "covertly" married last night on the lake near their home in Tennesee!!! Another Fourth of July suprise!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

TSG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Hey Biker, I was at Santa Barbara for the 4th, forgot what beach it was but it was off Garden and Carmillo? Nice fireworks, and great weather. Some of the people were pissing me off though. Near the street on Carmillo some families sectioned off public porta potties and labeled them as their own. Signs would say something like ''Lopez Family Only, Don't even think about asking''

I also brought my L4 and my GF had her E1e+KL1, I was suprised that not that many people brought flashlights and had had some families follow me from the beach to the street.

Sounds like a 50mW green laser would have really looked like Luke Skywalker's light saber with that much smoke in the air. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[ QUOTE ]
V8TOYOTATRK said:
Hey Biker, I was at Santa Barbara for the 4th, forgot what beach it was but it was off Garden and Carmillo? Nice fireworks, and great weather.

[/ QUOTE ]

I believe you are talking about West Beach. SPARKLE (Santa Barbara Patriotic Association for the Return of Kabooms to Light the Sky for Everyone) put on a nice display there. The weather was great, but it was very hot -- at least for Santa Barbara. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

We made our own fireworks display with some mortars, and a lot of bottle rockets. It is a lot of fun shooting it off yourself, I think it is more fun than just watching someone else do it. I also had a couple of fellow CPFers out for the fourth (Aragorn, and Matthew Ung) We had a great time shooting off fireworks, and lighting up the smoke with our lights! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif I also lit up some neigbors about half a mile away with my green laser. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[ QUOTE ]
bwcaw said:
I also lit up some neigbors about half a mile away with my green laser. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

What kind do you have? Sounds like you had a lot of fun.

Went to a pig roast. It was my first one,,, darn good eatin. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I was stuffed. Hung out there most of the day.

Didnt watch the fireworks here in town actually!,, I was on HERE! LOL

Biker, I have a 5mw. green laser pointer from Z-bolt. (it was a gift from Aragorn) I don't think any CPF'er should be without a green laser! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

The 4th of July is my favorite holiday and I always cram a lot of activities into that day.

I got of up at 5:00 AM to throw 3 briskets into my smoker so that they would be ready in time for the block party that we hosted.

Had to head off at 7:00 AM with my daughter to participate in the parade with our Indian Princess tribe. We had a great time and were blessed with cloudy skies and temps in the low 80's instead of the usual mid 90's. This event was even more special than usual because it was our last time to don our Native American regalia. The Y is redesigning the program and due to PC issues, it will no longer be centered around the American Native theme. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif

A bunch of neighbors came over at 5:00 for the block party and we had a great time with good company and awesome food (the briskets turned out great).

After the party, we and some of the neighbors headed off to the fireworks show. Had a great time visiting while wating for the show to begin. The fireworks were great! This year, we parked away from the mall and although we did not have as good of a view of the fireworks, it only took us 15 minutes to get home instead of the usual hour or more.

Got home around 10:00 and since the drought has eneded, we got to shoot fireworks. We stayed out until 12:30 or so lighting a bunch of fireworks from my stash. In fact, my stash is now gone. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif It sure was fun! We shot lots of bottle rockets and shells/mortars. We ended up shooting a bunch into the gutter because the explosions sounded really cool and the all of colored sparks and flames flying out of the gutter were great! During the periods of heavy smoke, my ARC LSP made a great beam in the air. I used my LC-100 to light up the street for our cleanup.

It was a great Fourth! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Made my yearly pilgrimage yesterday early morning to "The Wall" in D.C. and 'talked' with a few of my buddies.

Semper Fi!