Smarter Home

Here are a few products for making your home smarter. From automated and web-based controls to electronic notifications and more.

Eaton Home Heartbeat Home Awareness System
iControl Home Monitoring System
Z-Wave Wireless Lighting System

Dead Like Me

If you've never seen it, you should start catching up! I recently came across this series on a commercial/ad somewhere (tv, online, etc) and decided to check it out. It seems it started as a series on Showtime that is now syndicated on the SciFi channel.

After one episode, I was hooked. Although some will likely not find the humor in this show, others will see it. This show is clever and witty and humorous, while at the same time being synical, moody, sometimes dark and twisted. From the episodes I've seen, the show is also thought provoking, encouraging thought about life, circumstance, death, and what comes after.

Oh yeah, you might be wondering what it's about, well here's a high-level. Somewhat angry girl dies oddly and becomes one of several grim reapers. Both she and family left behind have difficulty copping with new situation. Want more? Watch the show on SciFi, currently Tuesdays at 7 and 8 US Eastern time!

You've got to check it out for yourself to really appreciate the cleverness of this show. Give it a try, and enjoy. I told you you would. :)

Note: Having originated on Showtime, there is adult language (f..) at least twice in each episode. The SciFi tv version has been edited (i'm pretty sure), but if you watch the series on DVD it is unedited.

Personal Blog - Part 2

In continuing my search for a new home for my personal blog, i still have not found exactly what i'm looking for. Perhaps if i could pinpoint what it is that i'm looking for, it would make the task easier.

I did see that Google/Blogger has a new version in beta. I will likely look into it further, however walking through their brief overview, it still seems like the same Blogger which i am trying to get away from.

I want something with a web2.0 look and feel, that can be customized to some degree, while maintaining it's dignity as a whole and unified site (my and all other blogs) unlike myspace. At the same time, it must be easy to use and fast and easy to create and manage the customizations. It would be nice if their were social aspects like linkedin or vox, without the heavy advertising or locked in themes of vox.

Anyhow, the search continues...

Personal Blog - Part 1

I looked into using VOX, and although I am not currently planning to use VOX for my personal blog, I am continuing to look for an alternative. Ideally, I would like tagging support and the ability to customize it somewhat to add links to external web2.0 sites but I want a cohesive and organized site (i refuse to become a member of the waste that is myspace).

I could always host my own personal blog and use an open source CMS, however i was hoping to include my personal blog as part of a community, instead of isolating it to myself.

but on the other side, by joining my personal blog to a community of bloggers on an existing site, i do not want to feel that my posts are no longer mine. By that i mean, if i decide to move elsewhere, i want to be able to export my posts in a standard xml format that i can take with me. i don't want to feel locked into a particular server forever, much like i do with my blogger account now, that just makes me hesitant to keep toiling away to add content.

How to Start a Startup

Here's what seems to be a pretty good discussion of how to start a startup (although I haven't read it completely yet). By the sites name, i'm guessing that it was written by Paul Graham, so to him goes the credit.

To Technical

While watching the recently released movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Willy Wonka in his vast wisdom had some valuable advice to offer.

He becomes somewhat annoyed with the children, who keep reminding him how much more they know than any of the others. When they begin to tell him a technical reason that something cannot be done or that it's not scientifically possible, his response is simple yet profound. He simply tells them to stop mumbling, that he can't understand a word they are saying.

After seeing this a couple of times, a revelation comes to me. He's making an important point. Don't question. Don't hesitate. Don't let the illogical hold you back. Follow your heart. Find a way to make it happen. Even if you have to import Oompa Loompas from Oompa Loompa Land, make your dream a reality, whether in a chocolate factory or elsewhere.

High View

It's an amazing scenescape, almost unbelievable, and in my mind simply incredible. Flying at thirty thousand feet, looking down from above the clouds, a vast landscape of valleys and mountains is laid out. It was something I had never before experienced, the higher clouds casting shadows on the landscape, possibly even raining on the lower cloudscapes. Intensely bright sunlight overhead creating a rainbow through the top layer down the landscape. Even an airplanes shadow cast on the landscape moving through the rainbow. And in all of this, there was of course no true land, no physical earth to be seen, only the clouds and sun and rain and wind to create this view that words fail to describe.

Moving Overseas

Check expatfocus.com and transitionsabroad.com to help with the decision.

Investment Infomation

www.dividendachievers.com lists stocks that have raised their dividends at least ten years in a row.

RealtyTrac.com is a foreclosure and pre-foreclosure website that might be useful in finding off-price real estate.

Your Butt, Somewhere Else

It always gets to me when i see people discard their cigarette butts anywhere and everywhere. Whether car window, sidewalk, parking lot, flower bed, or lawn, it gets me. I've seen perfectly beautiful areas tainted by butts. It's ridiculous, they are such a small and simple things to dispose properly, perhaps they are so small that noone thinks they have an impact? The world and many of the people in it may disagree.

That said, here's my official statement on smoking:

It's not my place or position to tell you to smoke or not to smoke. Smoke till you combust if you want, but don't take our world out with you. Don't stick your butt where it doesn't belong.