Konnected alarm system

Technology and Gadgets

$22 a month. That's $264 a year. That's how much I pay for the monitoring of my existing home alarm system. But we don't "arm" our system very often, because we have one of these:

I know, he doesn't look very intimidating - but at ~60 kgs., he's got a really deep, impressive bark. Walk up to our back gate at night sometime, and you'll hear it, that's for sure. And at night, you can't see that he's a fluffy cuddle bear - for all you know, he could be a Rottweiler, ready to rip your throat out.

But in actuality, there's probably only 2 weeks a year where we actually arm our system - now that works out to $132/week of monitoring while we are vacationing somewhere out of town. Being Scottish (i.e. cheap), I have long felt that this was too much money to be paying for services that we don't really use. We live in a pretty good neighbourhood, and we've never had a break-in attempt since we moved here in 2005. Besides, did you know that most alarm companies don't even call the police? Yes, the first thing they do if your alarm goes off, is they call people on your contact list. If they reach someone, then they have the ability to request a police dispatch. Elapsed time for all this to occur? Probably 15 minutes - trust me, I've been the guy who got called when a friend's system got tripped. The perpetrator had loads of time to gather a few valuables and had slipped out the back long before the police and I arrived.

Old alarm panel (note missing common wire for zones 1-4)

Enter Konnected. In truth, it's been a few years where I have thought about doing something about our alarm system. But each time I looked into it, there was some tech issue preventing me from moving further. A month ago, I saw something on TV, and when I searched for converting existing alarm systems to Wi-Fi monitoring, Konnected appeared at the top of the search. It looked pretty easy online, and I'm pretty handy with the DIY stuff, if I do say so myself. After ensuring my system could be replaced (virtually any wired alarm system can), a bit of Googling and research, I bit the bullet, and ordered the Konnected panel. I also ordered the Samsung SmartThings hub, as it seemed to be easy to set up, per the instructional videos.

Konnected board installed (with much simpler wiring!)

Setup was mostly as Nate describes in the installation video. But one hitch for me, was that my old alarm system installer used a common ground with four of my wired devices. Not a huge issue, except that my siren/speaker is one of those four devices, along with a motion sensor. See, the motion sensor needs aux power, and therefore must share the common ground with the siren. But for the Konnected siren circuit, they have adopted an unconventional, reverse voltage state deployment. i.e. There is +12v on the negative pole of the alarm terminal in the siren off state; when triggered to on, the pole goes to 0v, thereby sounding the siren. My fix for this was to remove and re-install the siren in a new location, allowing me to re-wire with two conductors, and connecting to the Konnected board as instructed. The problem then, was that my siren was just a dumb speaker, so I had to order an actual siren, as the speaker needs a siren driver. With a small jumper wire bridging the zone 1-2 common to the one for zone 3-4, all of my sensors are working properly. I added a SmartThings wireless sensor for my garage door, as it was not part of my old system. Another thing I added, is a leak sensor, which is a good idea if you have your own hot water tank. Now using the SmartThings hub and the associated iOS, I can monitor and control my security system anywhere!

Total costs were as follows:

1. Konnected panel kit $89 USD
2. Samsung SmartThings hub $80
3. Honeywell siren $30
4. SmartThings wireless contact sensor $24
5. SmartThings water leak sensor $24
6. Ikea Tradfri Zigbee repeater $10

I found that removing the old system (incl. the metal housing), attaching a plywood panel, and labelling and cleaning up the wiring took the majority of the time. I followed the step-by-step instructions on the Konnected.io site exactly, and had no surprises (except the siren issue, which was specific to my wiring). So for about the same as a year's worth of alarm monitoring, I have a new, smart-home monitoring solution!

Simplifying my travel world

Travel Gadget Organization

Now that I've re-joined the business travel world, I need to get re-acquainted with the ins and outs of being a proficient, efficient frequent flyer. Sure, I've still been flying at least a couple of times a year; at least once for vacation, and maybe one annual business trip. However, on my most recent flight, I managed to get tripped up at US customs (forgot to update my Nexus info - doh!), and while fishing out my passport from my messenger bag, I snagged a loose cable and it pulled out a bunch of little things onto the floor in the security screening area. I felt like such a rookie!

Recently, while waiting in line at Starbucks for my morning caffeination, I saw something shiny in the sale bin (turns out it was the zipper). I didn't know what the item was, but it had already found its way into my curious hands. Of all things, it turned out to be a travel office organizer - a place to keep your miscellaneous cables and items neatly stowed while you are dealing with the adversities of business travel. It has the elastic straps like the GRID-IT! systems, but it zips closed, keeping everything neat and tidy.

It holds virtually all the things I/we need when travelling abroad. I have another Cocoon GRID-IT! that has some other things that we don't use as often, and it slips into my larger suitcase if needed. Here are the essentials, that in my opinion, work well for two people that have two devices each.

• Bose SoundLink Micro bluetooth speaker
  A travel must for playing music from your iPhone or watching a movie on the iPad, the sound from this tiny speaker is nothing short of remarkable. Edit: When I need to save weight, this stays behind. If I'm not taking it, I put all the stuff in an even smaller little bag.

• USB power bank
  You use your iPhone lots more when travelling, whether taking pictures, using Maps to navigate, or searching for the next place to eat; don't end up stranded without power! I recently upgraded to a 5000 mAh one (flat red device pictured) as it will give at least one full charge for my iPhone 12 Pro. Get one that has more capacity than you need makes it heavy, and more likely that you won't bring it along every day.
• Multi-port USB charger
  Rather than bringing a charger for each device, get yourself a multi-port charger, like the Qualcomm triple port one, pictured. Newer ones are available with USB type C ports. Make sure it has enough oomph to support charging an iPad and iPhone simultaneously. 
• Short USB power cords
  
  
  These are easy to find at the dollar store, online or sometimes devices come with short versions; you don't need long cables for charging, so why bring them? I do bring one other longer Lightning cord, just in case you need to use your iPad/iPhone while replenishing the battery. Plus, I need two Lightning cords if I want to charge both my iPad and iPhone simultaneously. Edit: I found this 3-way USB charge cable, and have added this instead; it allows me to charge 3 devices off one port.
• Travel adapters
  Most places we go in Europe can be handled with these simple two-prong, round pin adapters. Since pretty much all chargers for electronics are already dual-voltage, you only need to convert the North American prongs to the local outlet style. I bring at least two, as sometimes you can use the shaver outlet directly for other devices.
• Right-angle headphone adapters
  I often use my own headphones on the airplane, but sometimes the 4-pole mini-plug (because there's a microphone pole) screws up the 3-pole connection in the armrest socket. These handy little things are only a dollar or two on eBay, and work to both prevent audio connection issues, and inadvertent bending or breaking your headphone connector (more on that in another post).

I usually tuck this organiser into my checked or overhead bin luggage, as I don't normally need these items (except the headphone adapter) on the flight. I reserve the space in my personal carry-on item for things like food/snack items, noise-cancelling headphones, and iPad; that way there's always space to stuff my (bulkier) jacket or sweater in once we've completed boarding.

Originally published Sept/2012

This must be phase 4...

Retirement Life

Since I'm now entering my third year working (barely) in the TV and film industry as an extra, I guess I'm now officially entering Phase 4 of "The Four Phases of Retirement" - Reinvent and Repurpose. When I started doing this "background" work (called BG in the industry), I thought to myself, "I'll give this a try, and if I get bored, I'll just stop doing it.". Admittedly, there has been some other engagements that I have booked through my Principal agent for commercials, video shoots and still photo modelling, but most of what I've been doing for the last two years has been BG.

"I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV" (Supergirl)

As mentioned in the previous post, there are days of paralytic boredom... sometimes 5 or 6 hours of waiting around before you even get to set. But after a while, you get to meet some great people, and look forward to those BG bookings where you have lots of friends there to help you while away the time. There are also lots of funny things that happen on set, especially when you have fun actors and/or directors around.

Like the day that Kevin Smith was the guest director on an episode of Supergirl; to keep us entertained, he walked through the BG crowd between takes, with boxes of Timbits. And while I'm not the kind of guy that gets star-struck, it is pretty neat working on a set where you are standing next to some Hollywood A-listers. But after a while, the novelty of standing next to Jessica Biel for a couple of hours does kinda wear off.

Closeup on "Salvation" when the world learns about the asteroid 

The other fun thing about doing BG, is pretending to be someone else. I was booked on a show called Salvation as a Colonel in the US Marines; it was a "continuity" role, so each day, I showed up to put on my uniform so that I could walk the halls of the Pentagon, or sit at a briefing in the Oval Office. Not something everyone gets to do in their day-to-day job, that's for sure.



Probably the most fun so far in this "Reinvent and Repurpose" phase of retirement, was a commercial gig I booked for the Rocky Mountaineer (you can read more about it here). It's a train trip that takes you from Vancouver, through Southern BC, and winds its way to the Rockies, ending in Jasper, Alberta. It was two days of "work", which entailed riding on a beautiful train, through amazing scenery, and pretending to eat and drink throughout.

At the end of 2018, I summarised my reinvention stage with:

• 56 days on set
• 455 hours as an extra
• 15 TV shows
• 4 feature films
• 1 movie of the week
• 2 zombie encounters
• 4 days in the White House
• 1 promotion to ‘full bird’ Colonel
• 6 meetings with the President (not that one)
• 2 nuclear crises averted
• 32 auditions
• 9 callbacks
• 3 commercial gigs
• 1 lead role
• 2 photo shoots
• 21 assorted pastries
• 2 dozen doughnuts
• 23 books read
• 8 Netflix shows watched
• 3 nights in Whistler (thanks Jeff!)
• 2,039 kms auto
• 3 train trips (one real, two on-set)
• 2 plane trips (one real, one on-set)
• 1 visit to the North Pole

 Anyhow, I think it is safe to say that I have officially been repurposed.

Entering phase 3

Retirement Life

It's early 2017. A full year since retirement, and Vacation Time has been fun. But in the winter, it's too cold in my garage to do woodworking, so I started thinking about, "what else can I do"? I did a bit of trolling on some job sites, using search words like, "occasional" and "temporary". I even reached out to a friend who does brand work, to see if they needed anyone to help out once in a while. I quickly realized that while I had marketable skills, the ad hoc level of work that I was willing to do was simply too ground level for me. e.g. manning a registration desk at a conference was not something I was ready to put myself through.

So a couple of months later, I'm at a cocktail party, and run into an old friend. Talk quickly turns to what I'm up to, and after finding out that I'm retired, she says, "you should be auditioning for commercials!". Yeah right. That's like being a real actor. I suggest that I might be up for something a little more basic, like extra work. So she referred me to a friend who runs a background (BG) agency. I sign up, get some photos taken, and literally a couple of weeks later, I'm on Supergirl!

What the heck?!? Yes, on my first day as a BG, I was pulled into two scenes where I either sat next to, or interacted directly with the actors. What a trip! Ok, so it's not a show that I would normally watch, and the acting is, well, not that great. But for a former IT professional, this is a significant departure from my daily activities.

Ok, truth be told, there is a ton of sitting around, waiting in an area called background holding. You receive a call time the night before with some wardrobe instructions, and after you check in with the background wrangler(s) and sign some paperwork, you get processed by wardrobe; this usually means having the costumer look you over, and if necessary, have you change into something different. Then you go through the hair and makeup department, and then you wait. And wait. Sometimes, the wrangler will keep you informed of what is happening on-set, sometimes you have no idea what is happening. But you meet other BGs, and often strike up conversation about other shows or BG activities.

After what might have been a couple of hours, or sometimes half a day, you get called to set. The BGs stand off to the side, and an Assistant Director, or sometimes one of the wranglers will give you instructions on what to do when they call for action. For the most part, you really just behave normally, except that you have to mime conversation. Whatever action you are performing, walking down the street, sitting in an audience, or being a doctor in a hospital, you do the same thing for each take. They change the camera angle three or four times, so you might have to do the action again, or if you end up behind the camera or some rigging, you get relaxed back to holding.

My first couple of days on set were very long - 15 hours! You get fed throughout the day, and there is always a table or tent set up with Craft Services, which we call Crafty for short. I made sure that I brought a book, as there can be long stretches with no activity. Will this be a regular thing for me? Let's find out.

Working towards phase 3

Retirement Life

I spent the better part of a year in "Vacation Time", the first phase of retirement. I didn't spend the entire time doing woodworking, as I also used some of my new free time to fix up all of those niggly little things on my 1967 Mercedes 250SL roadster. I bought it back in 1998 or 99, just a bit before the dot com crash... a good idea in retrospect, otherwise my investment would have turned into a significant loss.

Anyhow, it didn't need much work really, but I had been noticing that the value on hagerty.com had been climbing substantially, and since it was mostly collecting dust, I decided it was time to sell it. I ended up doing most of the little things on my own, and then had one minor spot of rust taken care of at the body shop. Three days after listing it on craigslist, I sold my little baby.

Later that year, we decided it was time to get another dog, a Bernese Mountain dog, to be precise. I immediately reached out to the breeder who we got our first one from, and she indicated that she had yearling that had been returned. His name is Buddy, and he had more energy and size than the original owners could handle, so he became my new retirement Buddy.

The first phase of retirement

Retirement Life

I attended a seminar put on by my financial planner that featured the author of a booklet named "The Four Phases of Retirement". I won't go into detail, but the four phases were listed as:

1. Vacation Time
2. Plunge into the Abyss of Insignificance
3. Trial & Error
4. Reinvent & Repurpose

My last post addressed the potential way to avoid #2, so I managed to stay firmly entrenched in Phase 1. Mere weeks after my announced retirement, one of my university chums suggested that I join him and some other mates on a ski weekend in the Swiss Alps. What better way to enter Vacation Time, than to go on a ski trip to Saas-Fee!

After a very boozy, four days in Switzerland, I was back in Vancouver, with loads of time on my hands. What to do now? That's where the "honey do" list came into play. You all know what I'm talking about. All of those little jobs that you kept putting off, saying that, "I don't have the time to get that done". But now, you don't have that excuse anymore.

So the jobs on the list slowly got ticked off. Some were just little 1-2 hour tasks that should really have been done ages ago. Some were monumental, multi-day, or week-long projects that took planning and some level of skill to finish. But slowly, the task list got whittled down, until there were none left. Back to vacation time? No, since the wifey didn't have the vacation time (she's still working), no new travel plans were on the horizon.

Enter the woodworking hobby. Since I'd accumulated the tools and some skills during the renovations of our house and above-mentioned tasks, I thought I'd putter around the garage doing woodworking as a hobby. And so, RC Board Works was created.

Retired. Now what?

Retirement Life

It's funny. You work all those years trying to achieve financial independence so that you can retire, but most people don't have the faintest idea what they will do once they do retire. Given that I had started thinking about it a few years prior to my exit from Company A, I had been doing some reading about how to retire.

I'm going to get the quote incorrect, but I read an article that suggested that one needs to "master the art of being irrelevant". Huh? What most people struggle most with retirement is the sudden transition to... nothingness. For most of us, the latter part of our careers represented the most value, highest status that we can or could achieve. To go from that to being no one, is too hard for many to adjust to, and quite often many end up going back to work, simply to fill that need for being... needed. So this article I read, talked about transitioning, during your working career, to a less relevant individual. I can't say that everyone can do this the same way, but I started doing everything I could, to no longer being "the man".

You see, I was often the man you would go to in order to solve the problem. The guy to bring to the presentation to make the executive pitch. The presenter that the marketing team wanted to take on the roadshow to talk about the new products. The problem solver that got us out of that issue with the customer, and secured the next purchase order. The leader to bring the team together, even though things were going to hell in a handbasket (what does that even mean?).

So instead of being "the man", I started teaching others to be... well, me. Rather than just give the presentation, I'd say, "I'll give the pitch this time, but I expect you to watch me, and then be able to do the same the next time.". Even if I knew that resolving the current challenge would take less time, I'd push the individual(s) to learn how to work it out, so that the next time, it could be done without me. It's a hard thing to do - we've built our professional careers around self-importance and promotion; indeed, how else would one get ahead, if you're not going to boast about your accomplishments? But as one co-worker once told me, when you're leaving a company, it's not about you anymore.

Did it work? I would say that without a doubt, yes. Sure, there is a transition period where you feel a bit abandoned... from hero to zero, as we used to say. And as much as you'd like to think that you will stay in touch with "the old work gang", it doesn't happen. Sure, you go for a few lunches here and a few beers there, but they don't really want you around anymore - you're the free-wheeling retired guy, and they resent you for it. Similarly, they still have the drudgery of the day-to-day work, and let's face it, you don't want to be dragged down by that anymore. So after a few months, you're on your own... get used to it.

Next: The first phase of retirement