More automation, Solo, Stuff to do

Yesterday my buddy Matt stopped by the house. I 3D printed some adapter he is going to try to use to do some Honda maintenance. I had not seen him in person for quite awhile. I know Matt back from my running club days but we have also had a few adventures doing projects on his 2019 Tesla Model 3. He still has it. The car now has over 110,000 miles on it and has needed very little maintenance/repairs over that 7 year period. I have never held onto a Tesla more than 3 years so it was good to have a first hand example of how the car can hold up over the longer haul.

I have been getting the itch to make my window coverings “smart”. The venetian style blinds on my windows are not in good shape. The issue is smart blinds which can be controlled via a remote, an app or your voice command are not cheap. I priced one out on the biggest window in the house and it was around $450. The idea for me would be having the shades automatically go up at sunrise and go down at sunset. Quite often I neglect to close my blinds which gives the outside world a clear view to whatever is going on inside, not ideal.

So although I am not quite ready to sink that kind of money into replacement e-shades I did take a step towards window covering automation by buying a “robot” that will open and close the hanging curtains over the slider in my bedroom. The robot is attached to the curtain rod and then rides on it to open and close your curtains. It works with various style curtains including roman style which is what I have. I figure this will be a good way to test the waters to see if making at least some of my window coverings smart is cool to me or not.

My girlfriend is going to be out of town all weekend. It will be the first time I have had a weekend that does not involve her in quite a long time. I already have a number things in my head I want to get done to keep me busy. I will kick things off with a live stream tonight. I have several small repairs around the home I have been dragging my feet on as well. I would like to get some of those things knocked off my mental checklist.

I will try to balance enjoyable activities in there as well. I would like to get some wheel rides in and possibly play some pickleball although technically I am not supposed to be doing things like that until my stitches are removed. I also will have both Elsa and Mia under roof all weekend so I am sure we will have a few adventures together.