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We've been using Smartthings since I got into a Kickstarter for their products. Over the years, we've used the ST hub to control a lot of GE light switches, dimmer switches, and zwave devices. In 2021, I read this articleabout running Homebridge under Docker on our Synology NAS.

Coaching Consult with Andy Lee

As part of buying track day insurance for a year via OpenTrack, I've been offered a consulting session with Andy Lee. 

I was getting my gear ready for our next AutoX and was having some problems with connections between the Kiwi ODBII Bluetooth, GoPro 7 Bluetooth/Wifi and TrackAddict Pro on my iPhone 7.

I started by resetting the wifi connectivity on the GoPro 7 (Preferences > Connections > Reset). The result was that the GoPro then creates a camera name and SSID/password credential. Because I had done this a few times, I had multiple entries for the SSID and Bluetooth connections on my iPhone. I deleted all these to get a clean slate.

For the project, http://building-addresses.ucsc.edu, I decided to combine a few training opportunities for myself into an easier to support system. As I prepare to retire, I'm going back to production systems and getting them off AngularJS/MongoDB and into Drupal which will make for easier maintenance and longer life span.

At some point in our home remodeling project, we were about to lose our concrete guy due to weather. It was a El Nino year, so of course we were grading and pouring during the winter! 

So we got a thought. Instead of losing our concrete guys, maybe we should expand our scope. So we had them grade what was already a pretty flat and unused section of side yard and pour a 20x20 pad. We figured at some point we'd install a greenhouse.

As I get into more photography, I started thining about how to get some shots up on this site. Years ago I had followed a tutorial to do simple Flexslider slide shows. 

The Starting Line is a class held by the Sports Car Club of America (https://www.scca.com). After taking the Evolution School class back in October, I had been quite impressed with the level of instruction from the SCCA instructors. SCCA had a deal for $325 that included a year of membership and discounts on events. So I joined up.

As part of the exterior remodeling, we added 2 tanks to the house to capture water for yard use. We get our water from the stockholders membership, but we’re on wells that can run low during drought.

Our approach was to drop in a flat 2000 gal tank under the deck as the primary source. We fill this tank with the downspouts from about 1/4 of our roof. It only takes 1-2 rains to fill this tank up.

After living with a noise that seemed to come from the right front of the car, I finally dug in and did some research. This noise is described as "howling" you'd hear when you blow air across the top of a bottle. For me, this happens at speeds between 25-40 while running at a constant speed. In fact, one way to confirm is to see if the noise stops when accelerating (it does).