Arrived home to the smell of baking biscotti.
Category: Home Living
Lying low
It was a day to lie on the couch and read. The study drug made staying close to home the wiser choice.
Debugging the light switches
Perhaps this is why most people do not automate their homes! Today, I fixed a few glitches in our “smart home.” For example, when a particular scene (a group of lights) was selected, it turned on, shut back off, and then turned back on again. Generally, the smarts are hidden; light switches, for example, look and operate just like regular switches. We do like the extra layers of control, such as turning off all the lights by voice command as we leave our home.
Rest and good aromas
Lazy day following another energy-sapping round of shots this week. While Dwight cooked, I read, napped, and looked forward to dinner. Everything smells wonderful, including fresh-baked focaccia and lentil soup. He made enough for tomorrow, too, when he sees his mom for lunch.
Framing e-ink
Installed e-ink picture frames in our front hall to display our photos. They rely entirely on ambient light, in this case, overhead high-CRI (Color Rendering Index) wall washers. Each frame has a rechargeable battery lasting up to a year on a single charge, with display refreshes managed via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Setting up the leftmost frame and adjusting the overhead lights are tasks for another day.
Look, don’t sit!
On our Sunday morning walk, we spotted furniture set up on the substructure of the 10th Avenue Bridge: unexpected, possibly art, and an expense for the city to remove. This afternoon, we relocated a watercolor from another room and adjusted the placement of these Craftsman pieces. Much like the morning’s installation, our arrangement is essentially decorative.
Testing the limits of AI in the Global Foods aisle
I wandered the aisles of Whole Foods seeking a jar of preserved lemons for a cod recipe Dwight found in Cook’s Illustrated. “A bit posh,” I thought, but played along. When I suggested he make them himself, it was clearly a bridge too far. A Google AI search identified the Global Foods aisle as a possibility, but the shelf was empty. Fortunately, a nearby stocker reached into the dark recesses of the shelf and pulled out the final jar.
Scenes from a Sunday morning walk
As planned, I crossed the Hennepin Avenue Bridge while Dwight continued to Plymouth Avenue; I’m not yet firing on all cylinders. Picked up peaches at Trader’s for a chicken dish Dwight’s planning. Emptied our almost empty mail box: flyers for County Attorney in the upcoming primary convey the importance of this role against a vindictive federal government.
Minimizing visits to Urgent Care
Arrived today: silicone food containers. Excruciating pain from a tiny shard of glass embedded in my foot from our old glass set brought me to Urgent Care twice. Although these containers are expensive, I don’t expect them to generate any Urgent Care copays. They’re oven-safe to 450°F, so I’ll just need to watch out for burns instead.
Eliminating trial and error with a dynamic breaker map
Mapped circuit breakers to outlets, appliances, and lights on a floor plan, then added a QR code to the breaker box linking to it. There are a few orphan outlets left to figure out, but adding them to the digital plan later means I won’t need to update the physical QR code.