I'm terrible at setting goals and sticking to them.... Well... Getting paid to achieve them does seem to make a difference.... But at home...
So what do others have on the cards for next year? Can be home automation related, personal life, whatever...
My work colleagues all seem to be getting married or having kids.... And my retired neighbours are all jet-setting / caravaning throughout the year.... Not exactly conducive to home automation projects Personally I'd like to find more time to spend on my projects here...
Another year closer to my inevitable demise. Likely from tragic accident but could be long term crippling pain caused by my physical failure.... Pretty routine I think....
If Karma is involved it feels like cats, polar bears and Australian's will likely be responsible for your demise, if your German Shephard doesn't lick us them to death....
With any luck, I'll be fortunate to hear of everyone else that expires in the calendar year 2024.
And I'll hear my wife utter, every night without fail, how "that didn't go well" when seeing aging actors and personalities that we grew up with on TV.
2024 is going to be the BEST year yet, as long as my son doesn't have to come here to resolve any issues my wife has with the home automations (that would be my worst year yet).
I don't get excited about elections that have no good candidates to choose from (my opinion), and candidates (both front runners) with rabid followings that can't be receptive to discussions around countering opinions.
I'm always up for a healthy debate or exchange of ideas. Unfortunately that isn't where the US is at right now.
Oh yeah, just realised this was my thread and not the Cartoon's one...
As always, tongue-in-cheek, but does seem a little harsh now that I read it back for those invested in the US. A great country and great people, which deserves a more intellectual political conversation, but has it's international reputation being ruined by a few bad eggs.
Most news nowadays is too depressing, I tend to watch UK panel shows, even repeats, to keep the nightly mood light.... (I can choose what I want).
One of my sons gave me a Christmas gift last year - some guitar strings and a "coupon" to pay for some guitar lessons. Long-term wish of mine to learn to play guitar. So finally I am going to start it up this January. Soon I'll be yelling "I've got blisters on my fingers..."
That and:
Get to losing the "Covid 25" that I gained staying home snacking and eating way too much of the excellent food that my younger son cooked for us during that time
Clean out the garage, which has stuff from my mom's and my wife's mom's house. They both passed unexpectedly within a month of each other in 2022, and we have to the make hard choices about what to keep and what to donate/dispose of.
Make travel plans for 2025, as wife has finally agreed to retire at the end of 2024. Word of warning to you Straya types...pull up your drawbridge and close your shutters, the 'Merican invasion is coming.
Enjoying the days as they unfold. Not going to worry about what the future may or may not bring. Just want to celebrate being on the top side of the earth while it lasts.
Will explore Matter as it matures and plan to return a bit to creative writing about smart home gear.
On that note, beginning as I intend to go forward. Ordered an Apple TV 3rd Gen WiFi and Ethernet.
It means just 14 years left until nearly every system running today has the clock screwed. E.g., the end of civilization as we know it.
(Y2K was mostly noise. I was worried about 32-bit epoch time back in 2000 already -- and at that point I'd only been using UNIX systems for about 2 decades. Now it's 24 years later and it still isn't fixed, and embedded systems with 32-bit epoch time just keep proliferating.)
That I have purchased my last piece of network hardware and configured all my network interfaces properly with VLAN, router rules and private VPN to keep the wife and myself safe for the next 10 years.
Now I can kick my feet up with that journey and focus on what really matters and that is family with my kids and grandkids, friends, maybe my work.
PS. If you know me I am still Mr. Tech Support for the Family from Thanksgiving through Christmas. That is a never-ending role.
