Author: rexplex

With a bachelors degree in history, I turn wrenches for a living. I’m most at peace when I hear the wind in the trees or the gurgle of a brook. I’m a believer in the Renaissance Man, as epitomized by DaVinci engineer, artist, soldier, statesman. As Heinlein said, “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

A Modern Tent

As much as we love the ger, it’s too cumbersome for shorter trips or space constrained sites. I decided we needed a modern family tent, because the wee ones are too wee for separate tents.

First attempt at rust repair.

It’s been bugging me for a while that there is rust visible around my tow hooks, so I decided to try to make my first (of many {Never buy an East Coast truck}) efforts at rust repair.

The panel around the tow hook was black when it left the factory , now it’s rust, with black highlights.

Living room update (part 2)

Project creep (and my parts still aren’t in the country)

I’m sitting with the wife one evening talking about the wall. She mentions that a friend had a deep red accent wall and it looked great.

The entertainment center is going on the only wall in the room that works as an accent wall, now I have to paint it. Of course, the other walls in the room are a pale yellow and they will look terrible with red, so I have to paint the entire room.

Cleaning up the (music) library

We are an unapologetic Apple house. Phones, tablets, computers, even an AppleTV in the family room. When you use Apple products in the manner which they are designed they really do just work.

That being said, when you start to do things that the folks in Cupertino hadn’t planned on, it gets challenging. This is also probably true for Windows environments, but Mac users are really accustomed to things that just work.

Happy New Year. Happy New Network.

Lots of curse words and money thrown about unexpectedly.

It seems that my wireless router had reached its effective end of life, or at least the end of my fault tolerance.

Whenever my wife and I watched television, the router would go for about five – ten minutes and then require a reboot. This didn’t happen to the kids. It may be because our shows are high def, and theirs are cartoons. It is about six years old and doesn’t support all the latest protocols, so I decided to upgrade.

What makes a smart home?

I’m not even sure.

I’ve got some lights that turn in when my alarm sounds in the morning. I’ve got some lights that turn on when the sun sets, and others that turn on when it rises. My thermostat knows to adjust the set point when no one is home, and my front door unlocks when I pull into the driveway.

Does that meant my home is smart? I’m not so sure

Living Room Update (part 1)

A place for the grownups

The new house has both a family room and a living room, where the old house only had one, so I’ve been one entertainment system short since we moved. Also, my wife and I like to watch some things that a bit too adult for the wee ones, so it will be nice to be able to watch an episode of Vikings while they are playing on the Switch in another room

When I bought the seating last Christmas (we got volunteered to host and had ZERO furniture in the room) I decided that I was going to decorate this room.

I don’t believe there is a single room in the house that doesn’t have hand me down (or road side found) furniture. I want a room that looks designed & planned.

This is going to be a room for the grownups.

Smart home platforms & protocols

When you finally start looking at home automation, it’s easy to get lost in a sea of technology, platforms, protocols, and marketing hype. The goal is to make sure that you spend money on equipment that will work together and continue to be supported in the future.

As of January 2021, there are three major platforms – Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomeKit. There are probably hundreds of manufacturers who support some combination of these platforms. Personally, I use HomeKit with equipment from probably a dozen manufacturers.

Adding smarts to an old house

This summer, as I invoked Siri to light up the dinner table on the patio, my father-in-law’s girlfriend said, “You have a smart house?”

I’ve never really thought about it, but I suppose I do. I’ve got lights that are tied to sunset & sunrise. I’ve got lights that turn on if the wife or I come home after dark. I can control the HVAC system from anywhere in the world.

It’s not something that I consciously set out to do, it just slowly happened over a course of several years. In this post I’ll describe some of the lessons about “smart homes” that I’ve learned the hard way over the years.

Automate your bills – The two bucket method to reduce monthly bill paying stress

I read an article years ago (can’t find it now) about using two checking accounts to simplify and automate your finances. After trying to explain it to a friend recently, I decided to write it down.

This financial hack will make it easier to pay all your bills on time without any ongoing effort, thought or stress on your part.