Home Automation 101

Ok, so for pretty much the entire fall, my tape measure & I were attached at the hip (& quite literally too).

"Will this fit here? How much room do I need there?" - I imagine all new homeowners probably remember the drill well. 

But now that the furniture buying, moving & assembly is done, I've been busy upgrading my home with all sorts of residential tech toys.

Yunno, completely unnecessary sh!t like a wifi thermostat, smart controlled entertainment hub, room-to-room audio, remote home security services, security webcam network, wireless lighting system, smartphone commanded garage door controller, remotely operated deadbolt, so-on & so fourth.

Hmmm... ok, perhaps it's not all so unnecessary after-all. For the sake of argument in this post, let's just call 'em all pieces convenience tech, yea - we'll go with that for now, lol.

Simply put, I've now become obsessed with controlling even the most mundane of activities even when I'm miles away from home - all in an attempt to make my new spot a smarter one. 

So while I no longer need to pull-out the hammer or paint brush nearly as often, I now live in front of my computer & pretty much know my 16-character wireless network WEP key by heart after performing so many initial setups to get my smart devices & components to play with one another. But I'd say the optional upgrades have all been well worth it thus far.

Admittedly, it was a bit of a challenge, trying to limit my purchases to pieces of tech that I thought were likely to catch-on, or would soon become the standard versus those trendy fly-by-night tech ideas that simply aren't practical in real-world application.

But I think I managed to make a lot of right choices in that regard & I've even been saving a few coins when it comes to my monthly utility payments, as a result, so I'm most definitely glad I decided to make the place a more efficient one.

For the spring, I've got my eye on a remote controlled window shading system for the living room (who's got time to get off their ass just to open & draw-back window shades, lol). But seriously, as with my previous tech investments, it's just a matter of researching my options before settling on the right manufacturer & product.

By next winter, I'd really like to get my hands on some sexier, newer & (most importantly) more energy efficient appliances for the home. Help me Lord, I've clearly got myself a bit of a problem here.