Jeffrey Clos
Bio
I am a lifelong inhabitant of Michigan. I decided to do something therapeutic and write a blogging website. www.inyerself.com
I touch on all subjects but my focus will be on Life Experiences, Technology, Home and Self Improvement.
Stories (39/0)
We Lived For Friday Night Hockey!
I was telling a story the other day regarding an observation a friend and I made a few decades ago. He and I were coming up the ranks in our weekly Drop-In Hockey and Adult Hockey leagues. We were young, and together we were looking around the locker room and noticed we were the youngest in the locker room. It is incredible how fast the tides have turned. We are now the oldest in the room.
By Jeffrey Clos2 years ago in Unbalanced
"Amazon" Too Darn Convenient!
I get it, we should be supporting our local stores, but Amazon is "too darn convenient." I was an early adopter of Amazon and have found just about every way to utilize them over the years. There is no denying Amazon appeals to the masses with over 200 million users.
By Jeffrey Clos2 years ago in Journal
Puerto Rico is a Place of Beauty Best Experienced Outside of a Pandemic!
My wife and I first experienced the craziness of COVID in March of 2020. We had long planned a Puerto Rico trip to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. As the dates rolled closer, it was becoming more and more apparent COVID could affect our plans. After much consternation, we both opted to proceed ahead with the thought, "what could go wrong."
By Jeffrey Clos2 years ago in Journal
"Screaming" WIFI Speeds was my Goal
For years a small group consisting of my friends and me have competed to have the most reliable and speedy internet service. We often joke about the old dial-up 2400 bps (Baud Per Second), which graduated to the 44K modems that hit the market many years ago. This was replaced with the 56K modems, and then we were off to the races. We had an extra turbo boost, and we had made noticeable gains, but this was taxing to the existing telephone service. I remember many instances where we downloaded something and left the computer to complete its task overnight. It was an accomplishment when we saw it successful the next day. Often, it was revealed the session had timed out or lost connection halfway through. "Mission not accomplished."
By Jeffrey Clos2 years ago in 01
My Journey for the Ultimate "Smart Home" Part 8
Over the last several years, we have seen tremendous leaps and bounds from the technology available to us. One such "giant leap" has been in the home cleaning market, specifically the robotic vacuum. There are several players in this market, but I bought in early on the iRobot line of Roombas. I have purchased no less than five units over the last few years. I can honestly say all of these are still used today. I will focus on my three favorites below. The laziness in me always welcomed the idea of having a robotic device clean my house while I was away. The delight has been in seeing the improvements which come from each new release.
By Jeffrey Clos2 years ago in 01
My Journey for the Ultimate "Smart Home" Part 7
Intelligent Assistants seem to round out one's smart home. There are many to choose from, and I am guilty of using multiple versions. Google has their version with Google Assistant, Amazon has Alexa, Apple has Siri, and Microsoft has Cortana. Each of these has its strengths and weaknesses, but they are intended to make our lives easier.
By Jeffrey Clos2 years ago in 01
My Journey for the Ultimate "Smart Home" Part 6
In an earlier post, I spoke of a Smart Door Bell. Sometime back, I had decided to extend the Arlo System I had. I was interested in adding cameras to our house as we had some "incidents" around our last house. In other words, we wanted to keep honest people honest. Having our house monitored seemed to be a good idea as we always seemed to have something happen, and somebody in the neighborhood was looking to see if anyone had footage of an unfortunate event.
By Jeffrey Clos2 years ago in 01
My Journey for the Ultimate "Smart Home" Part 5
Our new home purchase came with a belt-driven Liftmaster Garage Door opener with the latest MyQ technology. We had switched from a chain-driven unit without smart capabilities over to a Chamberlain Belt Driven unit with our previous home. To say this was an improvement would be an understatement. While chain-driven had proven reliable over the years, the sound alone was reason to change. Don't get me wrong, chain-driven openers work well and are best for heavy wood doors and oversized 2-car and 3-car garage doors, but the sound is the most significant negative. Some will say the chain-driven units are more economical in cost, and with proper maintenance, the chain will last longer than a belt will. These individuals are correct, but there are many positives to a belt-driven model.
By Jeffrey Clos2 years ago in 01
My Journey For the Ultimate "Smart Home" Part 4
Adding to the list of intelligent items within the house would be my use of intelligent lighting. There are many options available to us consumers. I currently use several options from Philips, their Hue branded line of smart lights. I had invested in my last home and quickly replaced all of these bulbs before moving with standard LED lighting. There was no way we would make our move to the new house and not bring these Hue lights.
By Jeffrey Clos2 years ago in Lifehack
My Journey for the Ultimate "Smart Home" Part 3
As was the case with our previous home, I wanted to have smart locks installed. I had worked with Kwikset, and it proved to work as advertised. When purchased, it was part of the Amazon Key package. This included a locking system installed on the main door, which would control the deadbolt. A keypad faced out and could assign codes to specific people or family members. As an added bonus, the system would work with Alexa (Through Amazon).
By Jeffrey Clos2 years ago in 01
My Journey for the Ultimate "Smart Home"! Part 2
When we moved to the new home, I needed to bring over certain functions and features we had become accustomed to at our old house. One such feature was a Smart Sprinkler Controller. This was one of my later purchases for our previous home, but I could get quite a bit of use out of it throughout the late Spring and Summer of 2020. Through my experience, I found a Smart Sprinkler Controller much easier to use than the old analog Rainbird controller previously installed. Working within a phone application was much more straightforward, with many more options for water control.
By Jeffrey Clos2 years ago in 01
The Highs & Lows of Crowdfunding Part 1
Crowdfunding was always appealing to me, as it was exciting to see what technological ideas someone could bring to the market based on monies invested by Joe Public. Someone could build a better mousetrap, market the item themselves on sites like Indiegogo and Kickstarter, and people like myself could buy in. Generally speaking, you could buy in with a "contribution to the project at a discounted amount to receive one of the first units off the production line. There was always the option of just donating to the cause with a few dollars, and you could feel good about being an original backer.
By Jeffrey Clos2 years ago in 01