How to wait actively with faith, hope and confidence.
www.bible.com/reading-plans/12447/day/3
Posts
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It is finished
The car repair that is ?. Today, the Santa Fe was picked up, repaired and returned to our house after 215 days of waiting for a fuel pump.
How long is 215 days?
7 months and 1 day
Or:
- 18,576,000 seconds
- 309,600 minutes
- 5160 hours
- 30 weeks and 5 days
- 58.90% of a common year (365 days)
It was a long time which included a rental car, a car loaded to us by a friend and a loaner from the dealer.
Some of the back story.
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Smart Home
I’m beginning to get more and more interested in the Smart Home or home automation now that it seems like there is a unifying standard that is beginning to take hold with several of the big players in this market place.
So, what is a “Smart Home”? Well, according to these guys…
A smart home refers to a convenient home setup where appliances and devices can be automatically controlled remotely from anywhere with an internet connection using a mobile or other networked device. Devices in a smart home are interconnected through the internet, allowing the user to control functions such as security access to the home, temperature, lighting, and a home theater remotely.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/smart-home.aspIt started innocently a couple of years ago with a spur of the moment decision to buy a Google Mini speaker which was followed by a couple of smart plugs. Nothing to crazy but when were watching TV in the basement it’s “Hey Google, turn on/off the lights”.
In spite of being in deep with Apple products and services, I’d basically ignored the Apple Home app and products, until recently.
I started getting interested in upgrading my stereo, specifically the upstairs speakers in a way that would allow me to stream audio, initially Apple Music, to these existing speakers from the Pioneer receiver in the basement. However, the receiver is quite a few years old now and had no such capability. What to do? Well, a little internet searching and voila, a relatively inexpensive solution was found.
I settled on the Belkin SoundForm ConnectAudio Adapter with AirPlay 2. A few days later thanks to Amazon Prime it arrives at the house.
But in the meantime I was still contemplating updating the speakers, after all they are 15+ years old and a couple of things have changed over the years. With streaming in mind a new speakers had to work with Google and now more importantly with Airplay 2. More searching and product reviews on Airplay speakers etc. and the Sonos One was looking pretty good but pricey. Then I remembered that I’d looked a speakers in Ikea of all places and they have some bookshelf speakers that are Ikea branded Sonos products. The Ikea speakers had the features I was interested in and almost half the price of the Sonos One. This was on a Sunday and on the way to church we drive right by Ikea so a nice new pair of SYMFONISK wi-fi speakers came home with us.
SYMFONISK speakers The setup of these speakers had a few bumps along the road but after doing a factory reset on both the install went flawlessly. Streaming away in stereo to my heart content. But hey, what about the old stereo receiver speakers?
Well, the Belkin SoundForm adapter arrived on Monday and gets hooked into the Pioneer receiver and now I have another Airplay streaming device that can send the audio to both downstairs and/or upstairs speakers. Very nice, but still a minor detail to be resolved to make them easier to use. The stereo upstairs speakers are powered by a separate pair of power amps that have to be turned on. While the Pioneer receiver and all it’s components can be managed from upstairs by the multi-room remote I got way back in the day, the separate power amps require a trip to the basement to power them on. Smart Home to the rescue.
I re-purposed one of the smart plugs from a light that I hardly ever used to the power amps in the basement. Now I can power up the amps and the Pioneer receiver from upstairs and stream whatever from the iPhone/iPad etc. to the upstairs stereo speakers in both the kitchen and/or living room. I’m liking this!
This Smart Home stuff is now looking pretty interesting! Remember the “unifying standard” that I mentioned at the start of this post? It’s “Matter” and “Thread” and Apple, Google, Amazon and others are rapidly adopting this standard in their software and hardware. A good article explains all this is on The Verge called “What matters about Matter the new smart home standard”
Matter is a common language for smart home devices designed to simplify everything about the smart home, from purchase to setup and everyday use. Its biggest promise is making smart devices work with each other across platforms and ecosystems, no matter who made them. No more checking for the “works with” HomeKit, Google Home, or Alexa badges — Matter devices work with all of them. It’s also entirely local, so gadgets should respond more quickly. Yes, Matter should make your smart light bulb work just as fast as your non-smart light switch.
https://www.theverge.com/22832127/matter-smart-home-products-thread-wifi-explainerThis is now my new criteria for smart home device purchases and I’m looking forward to experimenting with a few more devices in the future.
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Kraken
The biggest advantage new variants have on us is our behaviour. The real Kraken is no longer the virus – it’s our monstrous level of indifference to the pandemic’s ongoing, and inequitable, carnage.
The Kraken -
Chaos
Whatever turmoil or confusion you’re walking into today, remember that Jesus is in control of your chaos. And more than that, he’s calling you to get on top of the chaos with him.
From:
Follow The Rabbi: Day 3 • Devotional
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More Apple Cool-aid
Since retiring in 2017 I’ve switched away from PC products to Apple and over the years I’ve been getting in deeper and deeper. MacBook Pro, several iPhones, several iPads, a watch, TV, AirPods and several services.
Yesterday, I received a notification about my monthly bill for Google’s YouTube Music which we use because we have several Google Nest speakers around the house. It seemed a bit expensive. And now Google has opened up a bit and will support Apple Music. As it turns out Apple Music is a few dollars a month less that YouTube Music so the switch is on.
But hey, what about Apple One? I already have iCloud 200GB which is bundled, Music is in there, Arcade I don’t care about (I’d rather have News) and then there is TV+ which I’ve used on and off. Apple One seemed like a good deal for a couple of dollars more that YouTube Music.
Now we’re in very deep, guzzling the Kool-aid, and generally liking it!
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Things they don’t tell you
You know, those “things” that you discover by experience that “somebody” could have told you about, given you a heads up, perhaps a subtle hint or something rather that discovering it cold turkey.
Many of these “things” seem to be age related. As you get older have you ever found yourself thinking “I wish somebody had told/cautioned/warned me about this?” “Why didn’t by parents/grandparents/close friends/co-workers tell me that this might happen?”
Here is a recent “things they don’t tell you” that I’ve experienced.
After an ostomy your farts are no longer under your control in any way shape or form and they are now stored in a bag.
They tell you all kinds of other stuff and some stuff you just seem to know. In an ostomy somewhere on you intestinal tract it is diverted onto a stoma (opening in the body) and your intestinal output (aka poop) is diverted into an ostomy bag. This bag needs care. My first into to this care was “emptying 2x per day and changing 2x per week”. Turns out there are exceptions to this when things go wrong (aka there is a leak) but generally true.
But along with poop your farts have been diverted into the bag too. Farts can be pretty smelly but now they are mixed and allowed to marinate with the other contents of the bag, poop. This does not enhance the situation.
These bags have a charcoal filter at the top for venting the gas and in my experience so far with two different bag types these gas releasing filters can work quite differently.
That’s the gas filter at the very top center Bag type #1 allowed a pretty free flow of the gas. Also, the charcoal part did very little to neutralize the smell. Since the bag is on the front of your body and under your pants and shirt the fart flow out of this bag, up the inside of you shirt and exits the collar right under you nose. Not pleasant at all especially if you’re eating dinner with friends ?
Bag type #2 has a very similar looking charcoal filter valve but it’s way more restrictive. The result is farts accumulate and the bag blows up like a ballon! ?Now there is this big bulge under your clothes it’s a little uncomfortable and you’re left wondering if it will explode or the whole bag will detach unexpectedly from your body. Neither has happened yet but the thought is pretty scary. The solution? “Burp the Bag”. This is similar to the emptying procedure but the only goal is to let out the gas. This would be best done outside in a nice light breeze but it’s winter in Winnipeg and this option is a little less feasible at -25°C. Lot of air freshener and working to prevent stinking up the entire house is the name of the game. The “burp” can be pretty intense with a collection of marinated farts.
Probably a super close friend who’s experienced an ostomy would clue you in to the finer points but, I guess like a lot of life, experience is still the teacher.
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Birthday Lego
For my birthday I was given several Formula 1 Racing themed gifts, one of which is a lego set of the Mercedes F1 car.
I’ve never had a lego set of my own so this is a bit of a first. We’ve bought lots of lego for the grandkids over the years but this is my first solo build and I had a lot of fun doing it.
Here is the result!
