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drew . beer / blog

don't judge me by my code, but by my uptime.

when we bought our house in 2013 i spent a lot of time to setup my network upstairs in the bonus room where my home office was. it seems like a good place and worked well the first year, then summer hit. i totally under estimated how hot it was going to get up there. i delt with it for a few years, and just a few weeks ago finish the main install. this is the DC under the stairs.

poolBot is a Raspberry Pi based pool controller. its responsibility is controlling and monitoring the swimming pool and spa, this is a DYI solution to overpriced pool automation platforms.

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my first adventure into the smart home world was a nest, it was the first thing i could control from my phone. talk about life changing. then came smartthings, which is a decent platform in itself, but then add google home, rachio, smart meters, weather stations, and the 50 other different vendors that are part of your home.

this documents my integrations, and how i use them with node-red, dashboards around the house, and google home.

NFL + Traffic Light

i bought this traffic light about 15 years ago from ebay. i never really knew what the plan was but i had this old circa NY decor look going on in this appartment i had. so i figured i needed a traffic light. eventually technology caught up and a Raspberry Pi became available, and i knew i had to do something with it. until recently all it did was blink based on a simple ssh script. now sundays are a blinking party.

I modified a MXVI-4000 Nerf Blaster for office warfare, i wouldn't dare get into a battle without eye protection.