Bill Ward’s Brickpile

Last Saturday was the February 2012 meeting of BayLUG (Bay Area LEGO Users Group) at the Museum of American Heritage in Palo Alto.

I wasn’t able to stay for the whole meeting, but I did bring a couple of things I’d been working on – a gas station and the head of Kermit the Frog. I entered the latter in our contest, whose theme was “Movies,” and won the adult category! There were lots of members with minifigs, parts, and sets for sale, and a few people bringing their latest projects. For the kids, there was an activity where they could build things to make up a town layout. And of course our vendor Angel was there with his bulk LEGO which was as popular as always.

You can see photos of the meeting on my Flickr account.

This past Saturday, Matt Walsh came to the BayLUG meeting and bought some parts, and built this cool little mechanism. Watch the video and he explains how the whole thing works.

We just had another planning meeting today to go over the various things that need to be done for Bricks by the Bay 2012. Things are coming together, but there’s a lot more work to do.

Registration is nearly sold out – as of this writing there are only 14 no badges left! Get ‘em while they last! There is a waiting list, and you can always come to the public day.

Whether you’re married, single, dating, engaged, or anything in between, have a happy Valentine’s Day.

If you’ve found love, celebrate it. If you’re looking for love, may you find it.
(Click the photos to see more views of those models.)

Preliminary pictures of the minifigs from the new LEGO Hobbit / Lord of the Rings sets are out (thanks to Total Film)…

What do these figs have in common? They’re all men! They should have included Galadriel (Female wood elf leader), Éowyn (niece of Théoden-King of horse riders), and most importantly Arwen (high elf princess), at least. Maybe the female characters will eventually turn up in sets, but given LEGO’s enthusiastic support for girls with the new Friends sets, you’d think they’d at least be somewhat sensitive to this issue!