Distractions and Floundering

Now back to my regular program. It's been hectic, especially with other non-writing-related activities going on, but here goes...

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He rubbed his dust smeared lip with the back of his forearm and spat. As he stood back to observe the carnage, his eyebrows knit into part worry, part sinking, what-the-heck-did-I-get-myself-into discomfort. Never before had such a rank odor knocked him aside so handily. It reeked of mildew, sewage-- even death.

The echo of cars rang in his ears, causing him to peer back over his shoulder. He stalked over and slammed the garage door button before returning in a huff. No sense in allowing gawking neighbors to witness this mayhem.

One swift kick to the washing machine released the aching tension in his shoulders finally. "How the bleep did this sock get sucked into the washer drain pipe?"

The disgusting culprit wedged firmly in the impeller. No implement could reach it, save his bare fingers. Scrabbling at the tangled mess, the surefire sound of tearing cloth made him purse his lips. A final yank and it came free.

"That ought to do it," he said, replacing the drain valve and plate cover. A smirk creased upon his face. He knew there was no way in hell he would pay a damn plumber for this. That was his meal ticket.

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So anyway, I spent this week somewhat productively. Unfortunately, it wasn't in writing. I fixed our water heater and our washing machine and some computer issues in my uncle's office. I can't really take full credit though. YouTube and Google are my friends. It's amazing what you can find on the internet these days to make sense of common-day troubles.

None of these are my day jobs, but it does feel good to fix things. I think it has to do with some buried manliness. Grunt. Make fire. Cook meat. That sort of thing. Seriously though, maybe it's easy to fall into small victories as a sense of accomplishment.

It's the same reason people fall into watching soaps and learning all the sordid details of wacky plotlines within, or get obsessed with points in a videogame.

I'm still committed to the craft and improving my writing.

 

Whenever I read old stuff (and when I say "old," I literally mean stuff I wrote like between five minutes ago and decades earlier), I cringe.

But hey, that's why we keep at it! Keep on keeping on! Hope this was entertaining for you. Until next time..
- TL

Other Home Security Options

In case you're interested in some other solutions, we looked into...

Foscam IP Camera

First, we tried a Foscam Camera -- it actually worked well in monitoring and checking in on the home with ease. It even had a way to have a minor alarm when someone came in and text or email me pictures.

• The problem was it wasn't easy to turn on and off motion-detection without scripting.
• I setup a script for myself, but my wife couldn't enable it on her own. I'm sure I could've whipped something more up here, but it didn't seem worth the trouble with other options available.

Ultimately, I returned it.
 
Canary

Simplicity then became the name of the game. Something that both my wife and I could use. That led me to Canary. This is one of the new IndieGogo-backed home security-- and my brother-in-law is one of those backers.

• Loved what they had in Canary, but it isn't available until July 2014. Hopefully, more to come on that one.

Given the timeframe, I opted to look elsewhere and wait-and-see how my brother-in-law's experience is with Canary to compare. Canary and Piper are most like each other, but Piper was already out and had a few other differences (at least in initial plans) that I'll share.

Vera Home Automation

This one is really, really awesome. My step-brother has been looking at this for a while. Really customizable, really neat. Strong z-wave support.

• It's much more modular and componentized in terms of adding pieces. Depending on what you like, that may not be for you.

One of my wife's other requirements was something simple and more unified. So while I liked Vera, we opted to start with the more simple controller, Piper. I would still consider Vera though for more complex home automation. I'm waiting to see more of my step-bro's setup on this to compare.

Piper Home Security

I may have mentioned that two months back, our home was burglarized. That's taken me away from doing some of the things I want to do (writing, consulting, etc.), but I have found a "working" solution now. Here's the run-down:

Traditional, Central-monitored Security
Way back, we used to use traditional security through ADT, but we canceled it when it became more of a hassle than it was worth.

• The issue I had with the traditional, centrally monitored system was that we often had false alarm triggers. They would contact the police and the police would get upset for having to deal with non-issues.
• Door and window sensors may have improved since that time, but ultimately, even when triggered, there was no way for me to know for sure whether it was a real security threat if I was not at home myself.
• We would get calls asking us whether we would like to dispatch the police and wouldn't know if it was really a problem.

Sort of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?

And, in the name of privacy, it's not exactly like we wanted ADT to monitor a camera for us. A little too big brother for us, if they even allow that sort of thing.

Thus, since our break-in, we began to look into self-monitored systems with camera capabilities, as we felt they better served our family.

(Note: I have some technical chops -- not that any of the setup of these were super tricky-- but in case you're using any of this as a basis for your own setup)

We elected to go with Piper after exploring some other options.

Piper
They released in Jan/Feb 2014. Also very new, and so, still working out some problems and what-not. I've experienced very few problems and it is working well for us. So far, we love it.

Pros:

• Simple, unified unit - with camera and a few other sensors.
• My wife and I can both enable/disable the system and monitor the house from our phones (Canary allows the same)
• We can also work with some simple z-wave enabled devices, like floor lamps and door/window sensors (Canary has this as a stretch goal for now; Vera allows for this, with a wider array of testing across z-wave products)

Nit-picks (not really true cons in my book):

• My wife was unable to connect remotely at one time. That said, I had her kill the app on her phone and restart it and it worked fine.
• Like any of the above solutions, you may still need to do some configuration. Piper works with uPnP, but I didn't have this enabled, so I opened port forwarding on my own (not that complex).
• Only supports z-wave for light/plug switches and door/window sensors. Thus, don't have support yet for z-wave locks, thermostats, etc.

While the HD camera is not the best video quality in the world, it does have a unique fish-eye view that can be separated into four quadrants and zoomed in. The main gist for me is to be able to tell if there's a real problem more so than identifying the culprit.

Conclusions
At the end of the day, smaller, all-inclusive solutions like Piper probably work best for smaller homes. You can start simple and add to the z-wave accessories, as you see fit (as we have).

I see burglary deterrence as a multi-step process:

• Dissuade the burglars from considering your home - through signs, locked doors
• If they break in, have a warning method to scare them off (minimize theft)  - dogs, alarm sirens, etc.
• Immediately alert home owner of potential threat - notification of motion, sound, sensor trips to let me decide whether to call the local police.
• Help the police in capturing them - store recorded video, photos as evidence
• Third-level support: neighborhood watch, be friends with neighbors, trusted circle

Common sense and Piper can help with all of the above potentially.

At the end of the day, unless you want to spend a fortune sealing your home off like a fortress, if someone wants to get into your home, they will. You just want to dissuade, scare, monitor, alert, and be safe. You just hope your loved ones are not there when it happens and that the police can do their part to catch criminals.