Ghosts

Its the 29th of Feb. so lets watch some ghosts on this strange day that only appears every four years

There are Good People Too

This article about Dan Price, the boss of a card payments company in Seattle who
introduced a $70,000 minimum salary for all of his 120 staff - and personally took a pay cut of $1m.

Is giving me the feels.

https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-51332811?utm_medium=10today.ad3li.20200228.421.1&utm_source=email&utm_content=article&utm_campaign=10-for-today---4.0-styling

Positively Thrilling

Something beautiful for this Friday

From Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychobilly

And not a single reference to Mojo Nixon.
 
Mojo released his entire catalog for free back in 2009 I wanna say. I gobbled it up and it lives in the ether on my Google Play music app.

Some contest is probably due here.

Ive been going thru some app preference changes lately and reevaluating what I like and what I want to change. For no other reason than wanting to try something new, I decided Pandora would get the boot and Spotify would be my new go-to. While learning what made Spotify special, I also dusted off the Google Play app and set that puppy to shuffle. Shuffle magic reintroduced me to that bookshelf of cd's and numerous downloads from days gone by.

Up popped Mojo and damn if he doesn't put a smile on my face. 

Modern Annoyances

My car Bluetooth stopped working - partially. Half way thru a Boogie Monster podcast on the way to work it went kaput. Only "Media Disconnected" seemed to be the issue because it clearly showed Bluetooth still available on both my phone and car. I could still make a hands free call - if I ever made phone calls.

So of course that meant trouble shooting, and google searches, and more google searches, and testing, and removing apps, and factory resets, and reinstalling stuff.

Time.
So much time dedicated to this.

Time spent trying to resolve the issue and time spent considering alternatives.

Bluetooth in my car is not something important for survival. Its not on the first layer of Maslows hierarchy. But still, its something Ive come to enjoy and rely on. It improves my daily commute to and from work. It keeps me informed and entertained.

And its an annoyance that consumes too many brain cycles when it has a hiccup.

This morning it automagically started working fully again. Not because of any steps I took or time I spent researching how to fix this. It just. started. working.

So now we wait.
Wait until it happens again.

Toothbrush?!?!?!?!

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/pdfs/FacialHairWmask11282017-508.pdf

Just a Thought

For no particular discernible reason, I have been thinking about something that happened in our family long ago. For some reason Im hearing an echo I never heard before now. Its strange. Why now? What happened, happened when I was too young to realize what was going on. I have no memory of the event and only snippets of the story. But the echo started yesterday and now I cant not think about it.

How did my father feel in the following days and weeks and months. 

Constraint

The following article encapsulates an idea thats been rattling around in my head for some time now.
The flip side to the tyranny of choice is the liberty of constraint.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-weird-strategy-dr-seuss-used-to-create-his-greatest-work?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Enjoy - and hopefully, it will inspire you.

Is anyone else seeing this?

The internet is full of FIRE (Financially Independent Retire Early) enthusiasts who beat the drum of living your best life by socking away a ton of your income with the promise of being able to live on your hoard and maintain a lifestyle free from the grind. So many preach varying degrees of frugality and living below your means.

Just a random walk down the intertubes today resulted in...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-biggest-ways-people-waste-money-11560523181?st=ebhvcm1s5qdrqgg&mod=pkt_ff

Its all very Puritanical.

You're suffering for your sins of profligacy simply because you buy coffee at Starbucks each morning before you head into that soul crushing job. That same job with a salary that provides more than enough cushion if only you could control your spending and save more to invest your way to freedom.

You cant scrimp and save your way to freedom.

You still need a salary that provides for your future. One that will allow you to send your kids to college and free you from the fear of bankruptcy due to that hospital bill you really had no way of planning for.

We're all adults here so I get it - you need some agency with your money and spending it on red 17 at the casino 52 weekends of the year is probably gonna put you on the path to ruin. But telling me that making my own laundry detergent and skipping a little luxury in the form of Starbucks in the morning is not the path to financial security.

With that said - I finished reading, "The Rich Don't Always Win: The Forgotten Triumph over Plutocracy that Created the American Middle Class, 1900-1970" by Sam Pizzigati and all I can say is....

Run out and get this book and read it before you vote in the presidential election this year.

Not the Derek You are Looking For

Hey look! Im in the news

https://www.wcgazette.com/story/2020/02/20/news/colfax-grad-featured-on-helicopter-magazine/31826.html

OK, its not really me but it proves that those Google Alerts are still scouring the intertubes and keeping me up to date on any shadyness that might be going on.

Change

Its really never too late to change.


Banks and credit unions
Credit cards
Web browsers
Rental and house
Cities and states
Jobs
Insurance companies
Countries
Savings level.
Spending level.
Music apps
Friends
Religion
Laundry detergent
Phone carrier
Attitude
Political parties

Smart Light

In our house we have accumulated a variety of smart plugs, smart bulbs, and smart wall switches that all provide a specific solution for different lighting needs in the house.

Outside we have a really cool garden border with a built in channel carved out of the backside for rope lighting. We have on the following Teckin timer. Whats great is Amazon already provides some tools in the Echo app we leverage to turn this on at dusk and off at sunrise. And bonus - this outdoor smart plug gives us another outlet we can use for lawn decorations during the holidays.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KB63CYN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1



In the bedrooms and living room we have lamps plugged into the smart plugs from Dlink and WeMo

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BB2MMNE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1



In the kitchen and dining room there are ceiling lights that leverage WeMo light switches.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DGEGJ02/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1



Also in the kitchen and at the front door as well as the office ceiling fan, we screw in smartbulbs by a company called MagicLight.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VQJYYYR/ref=twister_B082CYBDLG?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1




Lastly - or maybe firstly since these little numbers have been in the house before Echo made an appearance - we have smart light switches that control the front porch lights. They aren't WiFi or internet connected but provide smart with a simple control program and LCD screen to punch in your latitude and longitude and program it to turn on or off with sunrise or sunset. Just brilliant

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003AIKQZ8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1



Everything is working in harmony because Echo. But of course I cant leave well enough alone...

I found a great little wall switch with timers from 1 minute to 30 minutes that would be a terrific solution for the bathroom fan. And as I do most times, I'm going to try out one and see how we like it for the master bathroom before I buy another for the spare bathroom

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IB0ZJXE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

In addition to that new product, GE has come out with a very inexpensive dimmable smart light switch that would be perfect to replace the dining room WeMo switch.

https://www.cbyge.com/pages/pdp-smart-switch

So heres what Im hoping to do when Mark gets some free time - he's my resident electrician. :)
Install the new timer in the bathroom and take the existing WeMo light switch from the dining room and use it for the overhead light in the same bathroom. Take the new GE dimmer light switch and install it in the dining room.

Will this be the end to the iterative madness that is home automation at our place? What do you think.