Going Automated – The Climb #173

Thursday 13^th July 2017

Today I went automated.
Ever since I bought the house nearly 3 years ago, I’ve wanted Philips Hue so I could change the colour of the lights. The problem is that Philips Hue is really expensive. A starter pack with 3 bulbs will set you back a good £150. And with GU10 bulbs costing around £50 each – of which I’d need 18 – it’s not cheap to kit out the house. And that’s if the slightly larger than usual GU10s fit in the sockets.
But I’ve constantly kept an eye open for them to go on sale, telling myself that one day I’d buy some.
And then the Amazon Prime sale happened earlier this week and a starter set of normal bulbs went on sale for close to half price.
I also picked up an Echo. Everyone tells me that voice is going to be the next big revolution and people who have the Amazon Echo say they love it. I want to be able to work without wearing headphones all the time (especially as my expensive wireless Razor headset is broken), which means something that could play audible or spotify.
I also sometimes listen to podcasts or audiobooks when in the kitchen
But I guess the main draw for me is being able to control the lights with my voice. Now this might sound lazy and to a degree it is… but I’d love to be able to lay in bed of night and read or listen to an audiobook and then when I feel sleepy just stop, rather than wake myself up by getting out of bed to turn off the lights. I suppose I could get a lamp… but controlling lights with your voice seems much more interesting.
So as they were doing an offer on dots, I bought an Echo and a couple of dots to put around the house.
I wasn’t sure I’d be in today so I got them delivered to an Amazon locker and went to pick them up this evening. The most annoying thing is that the Hue bridge needs to be wired. But everything else was pretty quick to set up and I can now control some of my lights with my voice.
I’ll probably wait until bulbs are on offer before I buy more but I’d like to try a GU10 to see if it would fit in my office ceiling. £50 is a big gamble though.
I’ve enjoyed instructing Alexa to turn on lights as I go to the bathroom as well as controlling spotify. It still feels weird not having a headset on, and after so many years of silence I’m already worried about my music being too loud (this is what happens when you spent your entire childhood living with an insomniac who moaned about you typing in your room after 10pm).
I’ve seen some awesome colourscapes that other people with hues have created, but at the moment turning my bedroom to any colour other than white makes it seem like I’m in some house of ill repute.
But I’m glad I’ve got my first bit of home automation now and I can use Alexa and Hue as a base from which to grow.
I’d hoped to get some editing done tonight but setting up my Alexa and Hue took a big chunk of the day out. Given that I’m swordfighting all weekend I’m hoping that I can get a load done tomorrow evening.
There’s actually a lot of other things going on right now as well. Nothing I can really talk about but before you get excited, it’s not writing related or some big surprise. That’s keeping me quite busy and has lead to The Climb being late on a couple of days this week.
I’m hoping that I start to get back into a schedule. I thought I was nearly there but this other thing has come along and blindsided me.
Still, I suspect with all the tournament stuff the next couple of weeks are going to be insanely busy.
At least I won’t have to waste time looking for the light switch.
If you want to follow more of my journey, then be sure to check me on my social channels. Likewise, if you’d like me to expand on any point mentioned above, please say so in the comments.