I’ve been going to Maker Faire since the very first one in 2006. My club BayLUG has had a large exhibit there every year since the first one. I’m going to be there again this year, and hope you can come and say hi. In honor of the 20th anniversary, here’s my newest model, Makey the robot:
Category: Journal
Administrivia about Bill Ward’s Brickpile
Brickpile mentioned in blog post about LEGO colors
I saw a comment recently appear here that was a trackback from a LEGO blog I hadn’t seen before: History of LEGO Colors: The Incredible Changes They Went Under (Buka Bricks) which cited my article Grey, Bluish Gray, Stone Grey, or Blay? from years ago. Apparently the original article was in Turkish, and was translated to English. The author of Buka Bricks is Pinar Alsac. It always tickles me when one of my posts gets seen or referenced in other languages and countries.
LEGO Train Track Geometry in 2026
I got a new comment on my Track Layout Geometry page, a trackback from this great article about the current state of affairs in LEGO train track: LEGO track planning software – a guide by LEGO train nerds
The Great American Road Trip – A BayLUG Collab
Every year BayLUG holds a holiday show in Palo Alto at the Museum of American Heritage, and for the past few years this has featured an annual themed collaboration. This year’s theme is a tour of roadside attractions around the United States, featuring models representing a variety of places around the country.
I’m still here
What do you say when you haven’t been doing anything to talk about? I haven’t built any new LEGO models in a while … somehow over the course of the pandemic my work area where I built stuff has become a collection pile for junk! But I’m really excited about the new season of LEGO Masters coming up next month, and hoping to watch the Australian show which just started this month as well.
Why I’m only doing the City Advent Calendar this year
Over the past few years I have followed a tradition of blogging each of the LEGO Advent calendars every day from December 1st through 24th. I’d buy the 2, 3, or 4 calendars produced by LEGO that year, and each day during the lead-up to Christmas, I’d open that day’s models, and build, photograph, and blog about them. But this year I’ve decided to only do the City Advent Calendar 60268. (CW: Harry Potter)
New LEGO Conventions page
I’ve added a new page about LEGO Conventions to this site, with links to the conventions’ websites, and for the events I attended, all the trip reports / travelogues / photos I’ve posted on this site about them over the years.
Follow me on Social Media / Micropolis Houses
I’ve recently been trying to up my social media game, and want to post an update and reminder. I’ve started being a bit more active on Instagram and Twitter, and I’ve been posting on my Facebook page for a while now, but if you’re not following those then now’s a good time to start.
Talks at Bricks by the Bay 2018
For the first time in a few years I gave my Brick Geometry and Studs On All Sides talks at the Bricks by the Bay LEGO convention in Santa Clara, CA. I updated both presentations for this event by adding a few new pages in each one.
New Article: Sorting Time
I’m catching up on my backlog of unsorted elements that have been building up over the past few years, and wrote an article about the process.
New article: Becoming a MOC Builder
I’ve just published a new page on the site on Becoming a MOC Builder.
New page: LEGO Train Types
I’ve added a new page to the Reference section of my site, LEGO Train Types which outlines the various types of train sets LEGO has produced over the years.
Reverse Engineering Contest IV
My solutions to the challenges in the Reverse Engineering Contest IV group.
Like us on Facebook
I’ve set up a Facebook Page for BBTB, so if you’re more into Facebook than blog reading these days, you can find me on there.
“LEGO didn’t make those specialized parts when I was a kid”
Have you ever been talking about LEGO with someone who said “LEGO didn’t make those specialized parts when I was a kid”? It happens all the time at shows. Whenever we have a BayLUG exhibit at a model train show or museum or Maker Faire, or on the public day at Bricks by the Bay or other conventions, there are always adults coming through who look at the clever uses of parts in our MOCs and make a comment like this.
Back Online
You may have noticed this site has been down a lot lately.
Colors and Sorting
I’ve been recently going through my LEGO collection adjusting some of the organization with respect to color. With all the new colors from the Friends sets coming in, I’ve been really at a loss to find an organization system that is consistent and clear, both while sorting and while looking for parts, and takes into account the vast differences in available parts across the color pallette.
Set up my room at last!
I moved this past March from Mountain View, CA to El Cerrito (just north of Berkeley). In the process, I had to consolidate my bedroom and my LEGO studio into one room. That’s fine, as the new room is plenty big enough, but there was a small disaster during the move that prevented me from finishing setting up the room until just now.
Flickr Changes
Have you seen the latest stupid decision from Yahoo? They’ve not only completely redesigned the Flickr user interface, they’re phasing out the Flickr Pro account system. According to this article from Mashable, they’ve stopped selling Pro accounts, and they’ve taken away almost all the advantages that Pro account holders have had. In fact, it would seem that Pro accounts now have a smaller maximum file size than free ones (50MB vs 200MB, 90 seconds vs 3 minutes for video)!
BayLTC at TCA 2012
The Bay Area LEGO Train Club displayed a train layout at the Train Collectors’ Association Cal-Stewart Spring Meet, in Santa Clara, California, on March 2-4, 2012.
Wrapping up the Living LEGO-cy Show
The last day of BayLUG‘s annual “Living LEGO-cy” show and teardown took place on Sunday, January 15th. My pictures from the show are below. This is an event we do every year at the Museum of American Heritage in Palo Alto, CA, as a fundraiser for the club and for the museum. This year we had excellent attendance, with a peak of 841 people coming through on the 30th, which was the most people we’ve had in one day since we started keeping track (and charging $2 admission).
Setting up my LEGO studio
I’m writing this from my new LEGO studio, which is a work in progress that I’m in the process of setting up.
