Being a long time geek and open source advocate I’ve finally decided to start an open source project for home automation. I’ve always dreamt of being able to wake up to my curtains opening and my heat turning on rather than the usual “beep! beep! beep!” that beckons me to work each day. How about checking on the house when I’m away or open the front door while I’m in the back of the house. The possibilities are endless and my ideas are just beginning to flow.

The project is called Open Automator and it can be found on Source Forge’s site. Its still a very basic framework but its coming along well. It works using the Insteon protocol that communicates over the power lines in your house. Its very similar to the X10 of yesteryear but with updated speed, reliability, and redundancy. It costs a little bit more but it will be well worth it. These devices can be found all over the internet from sites like smarthome.com.

This first rendition will be geared toward the iPhone and Simple Home Net’s EZServe which communicates via an XML socket connection. That being said, I will be making this application very flexible allowing for many different types of implementations, not just Insteon either. The application is Java based with Maven being used for building and dependency management. This will be coupled with Spring and Hibernate to manage database and model view support. The final product will have Jetty and some sort of SQL engine rolled in to make the application extremely portable and platform agnostic.

I will be writing a lot more about this project in the months to come as well as recording some online videos about how it works and how to set it up. I would like to make this product as simple as possible so its usable by the masses. Just because its open source doesnt mean its going to be complicated. If you are interesting in being a developer please let me know.

I’ve waited too long to take the plunge and start the tool collection I have always wanted. For years I have had an assortment of tools scattered between my various toolboxes, my car, and the friends who like to ‘borrow’ them. Now they finally have a place to call home.

Although I have never owned a chest like this before I feel good knowing they are Craftsman and guaranteed for life. Having used them in other shops and hearing only good things from all my friends I know they are going to last. The price wasnt too bad either. I also opted to stuff the drawers even more with a new set of 150 piece metric and assorted SAE sockets and wrenches. Now if only I had a real shop to put these in. For now, my front stoop and back yard will have to do.

Not that kind of college bar. I built this bar in my apartment with the help of some friends my sophomore year in college. It came out pretty well considering I was 19 years old and didnt even have a proper table saw. Literally, we had a table and a saw. Anyway, behind the bar we put in shelving in the middle and enough room for a decent size fridge. On the floor we cracked old tiles and laid out a random mosaic pattern. The bar itself was built out of a 2×4 pine frame with beech veneer covering all sides and doubled up on top for added strength. We finished it up with a coat of stain and a few coats of urethane. It was well worth the effort and got tons of use over the years. Hopefully the new owner the apartment is still enjoying it today.

After many many car trips to random houses in the bay collecting 100 year old chimney brick and a days worth of laying we are finally done. We chose a herringbone pattern which was a little more complicated but totally worth it. The whole project was pretty easy just time consuming. A little research, making sure your patio is square, and grading the dirt before the sand is all you need to do. More pictures and a video will follow once the lighting and beds are done.

My roommates and I just moved into a beautiful house that has been completely redone except for the yard. Two months later, 750 free bricks on Craiglist, many trips to the hardware store, and a sod delivery we are almost complete. Here is what it looked like before we moved in.