What I did on my Holiday Staycation, 2020 Edition – Ad Hoc

I’m very lucky. I perform for a business that closes down for the holiday seasons, from December 25th to January 2nd.

For me, this is a period of decompression. Not just since I have the time off from operate, but simply because all of my colleagues do, as properly. There’s no strain to check out e-mail each working day and, must anything at all urgent pop-up during that period, persons can normally text me.

But typically, in addition to spending time with relatives and pals, I choose this time to discover new things and to tinker – functions I not often have time to do in the course of the 12 months.

Here’s this year’s checklist.

1. I put in a Ring Alarm Method that involved the Ring Alarm Retrofit Kit and the current property protection wiring. I figured out a whole lot about house security wiring and, extra importantly, how the home stability current market is getting disrupted by the Internet of Factors (IoT).
2. I kicked my Vera Edge residence controller to the curb and constructed a new household automation program from scratch making use of the open up resource Household Assistant program, a Raspberry Pi 4 and a GoControl HUSBZB-1. (Entire post to appear.)
3. I started out finding out YAML. Even while you really don’t have to crack out a programmers text editor to use Property Assistant, if you want to create more complex automations or get very precise in how you configure the user interface, you have to use YAML. This also assisted me in my future endeavor.
4. I acquired how to handle Ruby offers so that I could install and configure Jekyll to publish this weblog. (Comprehensive publish to arrive) Jekyll can help you develop static websites so they are truly rapidly and, most importantly, unhackable. I have experienced way far too several WordPress instances get hacked and repairing them was a key PITA. Jekyll is also configured making use of YAML.

   Do I seriously need to have to do this? I indicate, a primary site on WordPress.com is low-cost, quickly and reliable.

   Of course not. I just want to learn one thing new.

   After I determine out how to customise Jekyll themes and import posts from WordPress, I’ll most likely host the documents on GitHub Pages. I’ve been contemplating managing the static internet site from a Raspberry Pi 2 B on my household network, but this could possibly be far more difficulty than it’s really worth. I ran out of time all through this vacation break, so acquiring this functioning will take a little for a longer period.

What did you study this calendar year?